Thursday, 30 April 2020

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


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19 comments:

  1. Phil30 April 2020 at 19:05

    Splendid uniforms and wonderful paint job rross, congrats!

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  2. rross30 April 2020 at 19:32

    Thank you Phil, tune in again in a few days for part two!

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  3. Stryker30 April 2020 at 20:29

    Some interesting and unusual units - very nice!

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  4. caveadsum14711 May 2020 at 02:54

    Lovely chunky Redoubt sub continental Indians and nice to see the two west Indian regiments, bit worried ,haven't seen a female figure on your blog for a while, are you alright?
    Best Iain

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    1. rross1 May 2020 at 06:55

      Thanks Iain chunky is a good description, they are big even by today's 28mm standards...when they first came out, they seemed like a completely different scale when alongside Dixon or Foundry figures. I don't have any ethnic ladies yet...I have planned for some time to get the Rani of Jhansi for the Indian mutiny era, but she remains a plan at the moment!

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  5. Ray Rousell1 May 2020 at 06:36

    I do like Redoubt figures, these look superb and are very colourful!

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    1. rross1 May 2020 at 06:57

      Cheers Ray ...the only challenge with Redoubt is the size, as mentioned above, they do tend to tower over other manufactures figures. Looking at the huge images on a PC monitor, I must admit I am not too happy with the basing I did on these...

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  6. Lawrence H1 May 2020 at 11:20

    Another nice collection Keith, and the flags look great. I have never seen these designs before, so it is always nice to see something new.

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    1. rross1 May 2020 at 13:35

      Thanks Lawrence...the flags are a mixture of conjecture and creative thinking. I found the Honourable East India Company flag pus their coat of arms on Google then used "Paint" to create standards I thought seemed reasonable ..either the facing colour of the unit or the HEIC design in place of the Kings colour...whether they bear any resemblance to what we're actually carried, I don't know!

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    2. Lawrence H4 May 2020 at 08:49

      Well, they look quite credible to me, and fitting for the place and era.

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  7. DeanM2 May 2020 at 09:26

    Stunning collection of Native troops, Keith. They certainly have some flashy uniforms.

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    1. rross2 May 2020 at 11:13

      Thanks Dean, yes the Empire units certainly add a bit if variety to the battlefield

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  8. Jonathan Freitag3 May 2020 at 13:57

    Love the guys in yellow!

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  9. Dmitry Svidlo4 May 2020 at 02:19

    Mmm. Delicious for eyes:) lovely looking!

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  10. Aly Morrison6 May 2020 at 11:03

    A lovely colourful collection Keith...
    I can’t think of anyone other than Redoubt who have made a comprehensive Wellington in India range...

    All the best. Aly

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  11. rross6 May 2020 at 13:14

    Cheers Aly - your BFF's the Perrys have made some of the Bengal Sepoys and they have the Brits in Round Hats but dont think they did Madras infantry nor any cavalry - as yet!

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