Military Miniatures

After a mammoth painting session the British Infantry Square is almost there.

The problem I have is stopping myself from adding more (extraneous) figures. My original intention was to have a small number of mounted dragoons in the middle of the square, but to be honest, the middle of my corner of the square is full enough as it is.

So I have decided to stop with my current layout. The infantry square will have 2 part sides. Each side will have 1 front rank of infantry firing and 1 rear rank of infantry loading or preparing to fire. A Sergeant with his ‘halberd’ is keeping one side of the square in line. Each side will have its own officer, trumpeter or drummer. I will retain 1 senior officer on foot and 2 senior officers on horse.

Layout of the Infantry Square showing the last 3 figures to be painted.

The layout is roughly as shown here, with the three figures still to undercoat and paint in their final positions.  If you look at the left of the picture you can see the Sergeant using his halberd to keep the rear rank in line where one of the infantry has fallen to the ground, wounded.

The final shape of the base has not yet been decided. Although I favour the square shape shown here, I wanted to bring in some movement by means of having 3 or 4 French heavy Dragoons charging one face of the infantry square. To have the Dragoons very close to the square would not be so realistic. Putting the Dragoons some way away, charging one flank of the square, would lead to an unusual and off balanced shape. Nevertheless I think I will undercoat and paint up some French Heavy Dragoons and try them in different positions to see what works best.

The British Infantry Square seen by French Cavalry

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.

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

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.

After a short break, I have managed to complete another 6 British Infantry figures for the square.

Completed British Infantry figures for the square.

I now have infantry figures painted in different battalion colours such that two sides of the square can now be represented. One kneeling infantry figure has had his hat cut off and a bandage painted on in place. Which makes that area a bit more interesting. I am still struggling with the fact that the plastic 1/72 scale infantry figures are not as detailed as the 25mm or 54 mm lead figures that I am used to. The next stage is not only to paint another 20 figures to complete the scene, but to adapt some of those so that they do not all look alike.
But painting and altering and adapting kits is the fun of military modelling!

My British Infantry Square in 1/72 scale is progressing, albeit slowly!  There are now another 6 figures to join those already completed. So, joining the square are a trumpeter, 2 standing infantry, 2 kneeling infantry and a Sergeant.

In order that not all the figures are exactly the same, I have altered one of the next batch to be undercoated. One kneeling soldier has had his hat cut off and replaced with a bandage made from “Miliput”. He and another 6 figures have been undercoated and are drying, awaiting painting.

Towards the middle of the British infantry square I planned to have at least 2 mounted senior officers plus a couple of dragoons.

The two senior officers are now complete, and the number of figures ready to be put into the British Square is slowly increasing!

I had already undercoated the next 10 infantry figures ready for painting. But the undercoat has lifted from 5 of them. The reason for this undercoat coming off in patches is not clear to me. All of those 10 figures were degreased at the same time as the horses and other figures on this page. The only thing the 10 infantry have in common is that I used a new white undercoat bought from a “Pound Shop” (a very cheap shop). Maybe this cheaper undercoat aerosol is not so flexible as the one I normally use. So I am now going to have to remove all the white undercoat and then respray with my nomal grey undercoat that I have been using for many years.