Sons of The British Empire

Well I couldn't find any Victorian or Edwardian songs celebrating the multicultural nature of the Empire and its armed forces - funny that! There probably are some but my Google searches weren't able to find them, so I just came up with that catchy title all by myself.

Its an excuse for a parade of all my non European troops (and I mean ethnically, not geographically) from various colonial collections, so here we go. As there are 39 photos I think I will split it into two separate posts

The first batch are my Wellington in India collection which consists entirely of figures by Redoubt Miniatures. I have recorded the regimental numbers of some of the units but not others, and the cavalry were painted using some artistic license - I dont even know for sure they had lancers, but I believe its a traditional Indian weapon so didnt rely on the Poles to make it popular, as was the case in Europe..

First unit is the 13th Madras Native Infantry..

The next three are my conjectural cavalry units - they are small, with only 6 figures per unit

This is one of the unidentified Bengal Native Infantry units

And this is Madras Native Infantry

Madras Foot artillery crew

The big boss - Wellington and his staff around 1800

The 6th Bengal Native Infantry

The 3rd Bengal Native Infantry

Another numberless Bengal Native Infantry unit

2nd Madras Native Infantry

4th Madras Native Infantry

1st Madras Native Infantry

Finishing off this post are the only two non white units in my Napoleonic collection - two units from the West Indies for the War of 1812 - these are by Old Glory

The 1st West India Regiment - the colour(flag) is conjectural based on their facing colour being yellow

The 2nd West India Regiment - again, a "made up" regimental colour featuring the W India Regt devices I found on Google - they are probably Victorian but I am not too worried!

That's it for today - to follow over the weekend will be Sepoys and Sowars from the 1850s., NW Frontier and also the Kings African Rifles in WW1 East Africa

Reducing the Lead Pile

As a break from my themed posts, here are some images of what has come off the painting desk over the last week or so - progress has been slow but intentionally so, as I don't want to run  out of metal to paint!

Unfortunately, in terms of variety, I had chosen to paint up the left over Old Glory Colonial Highlanders and base them individually in case I ever get around to some kind of skirmish level game. The tartan this time is the generic "government sett" worn by several of the highland regiments, including the Black Watch and the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders.

I have three more painted but without the bases completed, and four unpainted, to finish these boys off

The officer and piper

Two privates advancing

Private and corporal

Another corporal and private

The last pair of privates

I mentioned in a previous post that our dog is getting a lot more exercise at the moment, and he is certainly not the only lucky canine - there are far more people out walking dogs these days than I have ever come across before. Following are a couple of images of a local kids play park about 1 km from our house, where we passed through today - I stopped and read the "historic" plaque the council put up - nothing particularly awe inspiring but its nice to recognise the history of  "ordinary" people too, so I trust it is mildly interesting.

The half size road signs are quite cool, all the paths have road markings too - for kids play and I guess some level of road code education!

Still great weather, as you can see, I think today up to about 20 deg C, which is pretty good for what is now late Autumn (fall) here.

Around 2 pm today I went to our local super market to pick up the weeks shopping - but when I saw the queue, I left again, and went back about 7 pm, when I didn't have to queue up at all to get in!

If you open the image up, you should be able to see the people queued up for 2-300m or further - tents are to provide shelter when it rains I think.

And finally, a story from the NZ press to show we have some pretty dumb people in this country....three strikes and you are out ( or in this case "in" ) I guess....

Take care out there and I will be posting again in two or three days.

Scottish Soldier - The Final Instalment

That has been a longer gap between postings than I expected, but responses were a bit slower at coming in - either the viewers are getting bored, or real life is getting in the way!

Anyway, I always believe in finishing what I have started, so here is the third verse of the song, and the last batch of figures. There are some chronological gaps, as I have no Scots in my Crimean collection for example - Mark had them all already - that's the same reason (but different person) that I have not Brits in my WSS collection.....

Verse Three

And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Who wanders far no more, and soldiers far no more
Now on a hillside, a Scottish hillside
You'll see a piper play this soldier home
He's seen the glory, he's told the story
Of battles glorious, and deeds victorious;
But he will cease now, he is at peace now
Far from these green hills of Tyrol

Chorus

Because these green hills are not Highland hills
Or the Island's hills, they're not my land's hills
As fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home

Scots Battalion of the British Auxiliary Legion, Carlist War 1830 - Perry

The 91st (Argyle) Highland Regiment, 1850's - Old Glory

The 74th Highland Regiment 1850's - Old Glory

The 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment 1850's - Old Glory

The 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders 1850's - Old Glory

The Seaforth Highlanders (in "truibhas"/trews) 1870's - Old Glory

The Black Watch 1870's - Old Glory

The Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders 1870's - Old Glory

The Cameron Highlanders 1870's - Old Glory

The Black Watch 1890's - Old Glory

The Gordon Highlanders 1890's - Old Glory

The Cameron Highlanders 1890's - Old Glory

The Seaforth Highlanders 1890's - Old Glory

2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, part of the 11th Armoured Division - Flames of War 15mm

The Highlanders Iraq/Afghanistan 2000-2015 - 20mm Liberation Miniatures

Just as a note, all the pre 19th century units in the above collections (with the exception of the Carlist War unit) consist of 15 figures on three men per element, 40mm x 40mm bases - my reasoning being two fold - the massed lines were starting to disappear as the 19th century progressed, and looser, open order formations coming into play, particularly in skirmish like colonial warfare, and also the Old Glory bags I used for most of these collections come with 30 figures, so two lots of 15 worked quite well - although often you have to buy 20 command figures separately, so that logic is not quite full proof!

Hope you enjoyed this box opening exercise as much as I have done - next up, some newly painted figures, although unfortunately, its MORE colonial era Highlanders that I had left over in the lead pile!

"A Scottish Soldier" - Verse Two

Verse Two

And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
Sees leaves are falling, and death is calling
And he will fade away, on that dark land
He called his piper, his trusty piper
And bade him sound away, a pibroch sad to play
Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside
Not on these green hills of Tyrol

Chorus

Because these green hills are not Highland hills
Or the Island's hills, they're not my land's hills
As fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home

AWI - 21st Royal North British Fusiliers - Front Rank

AWI - 26th Foot Cameronians- Front Rank

AWI - 42nd Foot Royal Highland Regiment - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 1st Foot The Royal Scots - Front Rank

Napoleonic - 21st Royal North British Fusiliers - Old Glory (I know they didnt wear the Fusilier caps in combat, but I like a bit of variety!)

Napoleonic - 26th Foot Cameronians - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 94th Foot The Scotch Brigade - Front Rank

Napoleonic - 71st Highland Light Infantry - Front Rank

Napoleonic - 94th Foot - Front Rank converted by adding light dragoon heads

Napoleonic - 79th Highland Regiment Cameron Highlanders - FR, OG and Elite figures

Napoleonic - 42nd Royal Highland Regiment The Black Watch - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 78th Highland Regiment The Ross shire Buffs - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 75th Highland Regiment - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 91st Highland Regiment Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders - Old Glory

Napoleonic - 92nd Highland Regiment The Gordon Highlanders - Front Rank

Napoleonic - 72nd (I think) Regiment wearing air tube helmets with Wellington in India - Redoubt Miniatures

I have to admit that I made an amateurs error when painting these about twenty years ago - many of these regiments were absent Europe for the entire period, being either in India, or elsewhere is the growing British empire - oh well! Also just to note, each unit has six elements - two flank, one command and three centre - I just cut them down to four so they would fit better in my photo booth.

Part three to follow in a couple of days!