I've been working on a commission over the past few weeks for some 10mm Napoleonics, so not as much painting time for my own projects, but I did manage to get this unit done - the first of the light infantry for my British 1815(ish) army. The original plan was to paint them up as the 52nd, but on a moment of impulse I decided to go the harder route and paint them up as the famous 71st. I just couldn't resist their distinctive blue bonnets and dicing.
No flag bearers in this unit, as the 71st didn't carry them on the field at Waterloo, and I wasn't able to source any flags even if I did want to add them. The officer isn't entirely correct either, since his sash isn't worn diagonally over the shoulder, but I'm not too worried about that. I couldn't find a definitive answer as to whether or not the 71st had its own pipers, and if so what tartan they would have worn. It seems plausible they did still have them at the time of Waterloo, but in any case I didn't have a spare piper model so decided not to bother anyway.
I was good to paint buff coloured crossbelts, pack straps and musket straps for a change. I found some photos of 71st re-enactors wearing belts that were a darker buff compared to the buff colour of the turnbacks, so decided to go with the darker colour, which stands out a bit better on the tabletop. The lighter buff of the collars, cuffs and turnbacks tend to look like white from a distance.
I'm quite pleased with how the blue bonnets turned out as well. I didn't want to make the blue too bright or saturated, but equally it had to be clearly different from the regular black shakos. I read somewhere that the bonnets were a dark blue, so it seemed to make sense not to paint them too bright.
All in all, a satisfying unit to have painted and added to the collection. I'm still planning on painting the 52nd eventually, especially since they did apparently carry their colours into the battle. Units always look better with flags on the tabletop!
