The Light Brigade Assembles

Hello again.

After several months of painting anthropomorphic animals almost exclusively, I decided it was high time I included something else in my schedule. My Crimean War project went into winter quarters some time back (for the winter, in fact), but Spring manoeuvres have seen the British reach the lines before Sevastopol, where various Russians have been waiting for a while now.

But what British to do first? I have a Highland Brigade. I have a Guards Brigade. I have some British line infantry in both pork pie hat and Albert shako. I have the Heavy Brigade. And I have the Light Brigade, the ones my now 20-month old Border Collie took a shine to and took into the garden for further investigation last year. They survived the encounter, as did Harry, but, in case he took a further liking to them, the Light Brigade got first dibs.

I say "the Light Brigade", but it is actually only 80% of that formation. The figures are taken straight form the Magister Militum Light Brigade pack, which features 48 cavalry figures and two horse artillery guns with crews. The figures were split into 12 lancers (which obviously had to be the 17th Lancers), 24 Light Dragoons (neatly covering the 4th and 13th Regiments) and 12 Hussars. Hm. I need figures for both the 8th and 11th Regiments for the Light Brigade, so could only do one of them. The 11th got the nod. So, four out of five regiments in the Light Brigade are done, but a visit to either Pendraken or Magister Militum for another pack of Hussars is in order. To add insult to the very minor injury sustained, I do not have a Hussar figure in my British Generals pack, so will have to use a Hussar Officer as Lord Cardigan.

Each regiment of 12 figures also came with a standard bearer included, which was also a tad unfortunate. Being somewhat anal in my pursuit of accuracy, I know that the regiments did not take their flags into battle. Undaunted, I sought images of the four regimental flags required, but came up blank for this era. Undaunted, I uttered those immortal words, "What the heck", and duly set about using a few basic Napoleonic references to base the flags upon. My Italics are intentional. Not only are the flags not copied directly from any sources but they are also rectangular, not of guidon shape with rounded or pointed tails, so DO NOT COPY THEM because they are there merely to occupy the pole! If any of them are correct, it is fluke!!! I used some reference material as stated, so the 17th Lancers get the Death's Head and "Or Glory" motto of their later incarnation, but I cannot verify the accuracy of this image for 1854. You have been warned! In defence of my conjecture/ creativity, 10mm Crimean War is not a popular period for manufacturers or gamers, hence the lack of definitive, easily available details, and I want to be able to tell quite small figures apart from normal distances, so the flags will help with that.

Anyway, I hope you like the brigade so far. I will buy the additions required soon and finish it off, then find some enemy guns to go and assault perhaps...

G

The four regiments to date, with 11th Hussars and 17th Lancers leading, the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons n the second line.

11th Hussars. This flag IS based on the Napoleonic example for the regiment, but not entirely so.

17th Lancers, with the Death's Head and blue banner bearing the "Or Glory" motto. Crimean War era? Someone somewhere will know.

4th Light Dragoons, with another flag based on the Napoleonic example, the yellow chosen for the colour of their collars and detail from the aforementioned earlier flag. As with all four flags, however, I have avoided doing the awkward guidon shape.

13th Light Dragoons, based on the Napoleonic example again for the flag coloured buff to match their facings.