British Infantry Square

To date I have painted 21 of the figures for my diorama of a corner of a British Infantry square. (2 mounted senior officers, 2 junior foot officers, 1 trumpeter, 2 drummers and 14 infantry figures, one of which is a Sergeant). That means I am about half way through the painting session, and the remainder of the figures will all be infantry.

The British Infantry Square as of 1st December 2008, half way there.

The British Infantry Square as of 1st December 2008, half way there.

I had initially planned the layout of which figure was to go where, but I had not researched how a British Infantry Square was built on the battlefield. That lead me realise that the square was formed by companies, which meant that my original painting plan would be wrong. So I have totally changed tack, and will paint enough standing and kneeling infantry figures so that I can represent two different companies, one on each flank of the square.

The original layout plan

The original layout plan

In a British Square in Napoleonic times the hollow centre contained the colours, officers, drummers, wounded infantry dragged in from the faces of the square, possibly some guns and/or cavalry. Obviously it is not possible to squeeze all that into a diorama of just one corner, but I hope to be able to create 3 ranks of standing and kneeling infantry on each of the two sides, backed up by a junior officer and Sergeant for each flank, and at least 1 senior mounted officer. Next to the junior officers I will place a drummer and have the colours right at the back of the diorama.

But lets get everything painted, decide on the size of the base, and take it from there.

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