Thursday, May 25, 2023

71st Highland Regiment of Foot


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!

14 comments:

  1. Great job again Kevin ,the bonnets really set them off ,I love the Scottish regiments ,any chance of seeing the whole British collection out on parade hope your well kind regards jay

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    1. Cheers Jay. Yes, I'll post up some pictures of the British and Allied army soon. Still not a huge number of units done, but enough for the small games I usually play at the moment.

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  2. Very nice piece of work although I am personally doubtful that they wore buff belts. The pipers wore the same uniform as the rank and file I.e. no kilt. There’s a sketch of them by George Jones at Waterloo.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, I was unsure myself at first and had actually started off painting them white before deciding to change. A difficult question to answer definitively it seems, so I just had to make a choice and go with it. Thanks for the info about the piper, and for sharing the link to the excellent George Jones sketch. Not one I'd seen before.

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  3. Here’s a link to the sketch.

    https://www.antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/Battle-of-Quatre-Bras--The-71st-Highlanders-The-piper-suddenly-struck-up-the-Pibroch-and-followed-into-the-thickest-of-the-fight-2355071.html

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  4. Beautifully painted Kevin. Many contemporary prints and uniform descriptions show either buff or white leather so you can take your pick. Nice to see you have correctly painted the officers wearing a standard light infantry black shako. As already stated the pipers wore standard uniforms not kilts. Your best models yet, stunning x

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    1. Thanks very much Mike. Yes, I think the Blandford Colour series book on Waterloo mentions the standard black shako for officers, so I made sure to get that right. And you'll be pleased to see the green square on the dicing this time! ;-) I don't think Newline Designs does a piper in trousers (I could be wrong...), but it might be an easy enough conversion to make. I might well look at giving it a go at some point.

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  5. Splendid work there as always:).

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  6. I made a piper for the 71st from a Highlander by replacing the head and carving the kilt into trousers then building them up with putty.

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    1. I was forgetting there would be a head swap involved too. Great to hear someone else has managed it though. I feel more encouraged to give it a go at some point. Thanks!

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  7. Very nice work Kevin and interesting to learn a out the uniform details!

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