The line infantry tactic was utilised, mostly from the 1700s to the early 1900s and consisted of lines of troops firing volleys at the enemy. They would form different types of formations depending on what was required for the battle. For instance the British formed large squares of infantry to defend against the French during the battle of Waterloo. The British tactic was so effective it put quite a dent in Napoleons personal body guard called The Imperial Guard that had never retreated before that day. The French had employed the same square formation many times before as well. One of the most infamous occasions was when they invaded Eqypt and took on the Ottoman Empire and won.
Although relatively effective, the volley firing would only last for the first few minutes of battle before discipline would inevitably weaken and troops would fire at their own discretion.
Alright, history lesson over hehe.
You read the battle report of Orks Drift the other week and saw the infantry for the 31st Praetorian Guard. Today I finished them off properly by highlighting, fixing up little blunders and basing them.
I hope you like them because I bloody love them!!!
Im hoping to have another battle soon with these chaps and this time they’ll be looking for a bit of payback after the slaughter at Orks Drift so stay tuned kids.
Notable characters:
Lieutenant Burrows. Well liked by his charge but not so much by his commanding officers. He’s a loose canon but a cunning warrior and tactician.
Private Hook “Hooky”. If you are as familiar with the movie Zulu this chap doesn’t need any introduction hehe. I wanted a couple of bare headed troops and this guy oozed character so he became “Hooky”.
Private “Best Beard” Owen. In the movie Owen was the welsh singer who geared up the troops for battle. In my little army he’s notable because he has the finest beard haha.
Private Zane (Sniper)
I still need to finish off the Veterans and Command squad and I’m also thinking a small band of militia would be cool for this group too. I’m enjoying painting and determined to finish this project before I throw myself too much into the next one.
Heres the group shot minus the tank.
Cheers gang
IRO
Great stuff mate, they really do look the part now, and high-five on going the extra distance with the green cuffs! I’m surprised that you didn’t go for the red trouser stripe though – any reason for that? Don’t get me wrong – I like them in navy, but usually the trouser stripe gets picked out. I’m still struggling with that flag though bro… it needs to be Welshified!
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Thanks man. The reason I didn’t do the stripe is because everyone else does hehe. I was tempted but after staring at them for a considerable (unhealthy) amount of time I decided on no stripe. As for the flag, did you see Marvin’s comment?
Here ‘tis
By the way, you’re English flag is quite correct – the 24th Foot in 1879 were still nominally an English regiment known as the 2nd Warwickshire. They became the South Wales Borderers in 1881. A bit of nerd lore for year!
He has my back hehe but in all honesty it was just an easier flag for me to paint. Thanks again. I may have mentioned I the first post that I hoped you, in particular, would like them. 👍🏼👍🏼
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Mate, I absolutely do love them, so don’t worry on that score! I’ll just have to ignore the flag… 😉
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Hahaha ok. Are you Welsh?
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Yes mate – I thought you knew! 🙂
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Maybe I forgot. I went to Wales as a kid for a camping trip and loved it. So I’m guessing you can speak fluent welsh? Have you seen the Ali G bit where he’s trying to learn to speak welsh?? Haha
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For all the nastiness of British colonialism, these are brilliant.
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Ahaha couldn’t agree more. They did uniforms well but not so well on human rights.
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That’s a perfect summary, IRO 😀
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Very, very nice mate. Raising the bar with every new post just lately, great stuff.
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Aww shucks pal, nice of you to think and say. I’m enjoying the painting immensely this year which, as you know, isn’t usually my favourite part of the hobby. I’m not sure why I’ve changed the game a bit this year. Maybe I’m just sick of all these unpainted miniatures staring up at me, haunting me haha. I’ve still got few more chaps for this army but the drive is strong.
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Good to hear. As good as your conversions are it’s the painting which really brings them to life so try and stick with it as you are good at that too!
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Thanks mate. I’m slowly getting better. I’m enjoying the highlighting.
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They are awesome mate. It took me a while to work them out. I was wracking my brain trying to work out what the figures were.
A couple of points of interest … hook portrayed in the film as a malingering drunkard was in fact a model soldier and a Methodist lay preacher to boot, and although it was a ‘Welsh’ regiment it took a fair few of its recruits from Liverpool.
But you just have to love this bit : https://youtu.be/XSEU5zHgcTc
The escaped cattle bit was evidently added in by Stanley Baxter as the Zulu’s weren’t allowed to be paid due to the Apartheid rules. So the cattle became the payment….
Ok I will shut up now 😱😱😱
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Haha it’s a great scene. Do you think it was true? Yes I knew that about old Hooky. I wonder why they decided to portray him the way they did? That’s Hollywood I guess. Apparently Freddie Krueger was just a really nice lollipop man as well. Glad you like them mate and Vic Miniatures do an amazing range if you’re interested.
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From what I heard it was simply that Hook sounded dodgier than Hitch or Jones. And as for characters Darth Vader being the Green Cross Code man always made me giggle.
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Haha
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Love the Praetorian guard! I still regret not buying the box way back when.. 🙂
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Me too man, me toooooo!
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When you make a squad, do you name every single character?
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I like to haha but not always. For me it’s fun to do and makes them have even more character. Every miniature for the pirate island project will have a name and back story though.
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I don’t know how you could keep track of that many names lol.
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Well… I just look up the blog posts haha. Otherwise I’d be wondering in a dark forest calling for my mum
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Zulu+ 40k= awesome.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Hehe it’s a great recipe
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You do 19th century infantry uniforms perfectly – you should definitely do more! 🙂 Individually, close up, they look great but as a group terrific. The thin red line of these Praetorians makes for a really impressive spectacle. Very impressed with the figure, bags of character about each one of them. Hooky looks hard as nails.
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Thanks Marv. I was hoping you’d like them. Really enjoyed painting these guys. Tempted to do more but I’m trying to stay the course this year and get some projects finished. Who knows, later down the track I might add more though. I enjoyed the facial hair painting hehehe. Not sure if you saw the chap with the black moustache and flavour savour but he’s kind of cool hehe.
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Great stuff mate. A triumph.
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Aww cheers Warbs. Where’ve you been man, I’ve missed ya hehe
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Great stuff mate! Love the look of Burrows, he’s got a great pose. Good of you to paint them in such nice bright colours too – makes it easier for the orks to aim at them!
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Hahaha living, breathing targets.
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Great work here mate – the unit looks brilliant. You’ve done a great job on bringing out the quality in Vic’s sculpts here!
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Hey hey Gday man. I hope you’ve been well. Thanks, they’re so much fun to paint and I’m loving the aesthetic even more than I expected. Tempted to just keep adding to this army and make it THE CENTRE PIECE ARMY of my collection. I’m on line now looking at Praetorian Rough Riders for them.
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