Although they had been allies of the French in the past, the end of the 18th century saw Bavarian troops serving alongside those of Austria, against the young French republic. However, in 1805 the Bogenhausen Treaty pledged Bavarian military support for Napoleon’s France, and from then until 1813 their troops fought beside the French, as well as against the uprising in the Tyrol. When arrayed in a firing line, Bavaria’s infantry were initially formed three ranks deep, then later this was changed to two ranks, and then reverted to three ranks again in 1809.

The bulk of the poses in this set will come as no surprise, since they are equally split between those firing and reloading. In general all of these poses are fine, although we thought that a couple of the firing ones are supporting their musket with the left hand much too close to the lock, which would have been less stable. The handful of extra poses provide some command figures and some extra ordinary soldiers in more random positions. The first such man, at the start of our fourth row, is hard to interpret. He holds no weapon, and appears to be touching his left ear, but we cannot guess why this particular figure was designed. The two prone casualties are both rather neatly laid out on the ground, and the falling man is also a useful casualty figure, although we thought it looked a bit like some dance move, perhaps because he continues to hold his musket upright. The drummer in the next row also seems to have been hit, and has dropped his sticks as he recoils, making him a very unusual drummer pose, although as Strelets have made several compatible sets of Bavarians, all with drummers, they have the luxury of delivering something a bit different here. The flag-bearer too is unusual as he is kneeling whilst holding his flag aloft, which is perfectly possible but not ideal, and again since several such men have already been made, there is room for this sort of variety. Finally, the officer is in yet another unique pose, holding his sword high in the air while also holding a pistol in his left hand. He does not seem to be fighting an enemy, so again a somewhat odd but not impossible pose.

Strelets have made many sets of Napoleonic Bavarian infantry before this one, and these firing poses are clothed and equipped in the same manner as their earlier comrades. The uniform is that introduced from 1799, with the tall crested Raupenhelm helmet, without a plume, being the highlight. All wear the short-tailed coat with square lapels, and breeches and gaiters, with many having campaign trousers over these. Their equipment narrows down the date range, because all have a rectangular knapsack held by two straps on their back, linked by a third strap across the chest, which was introduced from 1807. To be more picky, we would say that the rolled greatcoat on top of this knapsack was only introduced from 1809, although it may have been stowed this way beforehand, despite wearing it rolled across the body being the previous method. They also have the usual cartridge pouch on the right hip and sabre on the left, but there is no evidence of a bayonet scabbard anywhere, even though everyone here has one fixed. No one has any sort of water vessel either, which seems unlikely, but a few have a bag or haversack on the left hip.

The drummer has chevrons running along both sleeves, as was normal, but lacks the wing epaulettes and plume on his helmet, both of which were common but not universal. The officer has longer tails on his coat, and he wears a sash around the waist, which remained a mark of rank until after 1812, when it was replaced by the wearing of a gorget. That he wears a helmet rather than a bicorn means that he dates from no earlier than 1805. He has no kit apart from his sword scabbard, so no holster for the pistol that he carries, nor any obvious location for its ammunition and tools. Perhaps he is normally mounted, and such things are on his saddle.

The sculpting is of the same high calibre as the previous sets in this series, with great if occasionally shallow detail, and good proportions. However there do seem to have been problems with the mould-making as this was damaged some of the figures. The third man in our second row has a much rougher finish than the rest, and the proportions of his helmet are quite poor, so rather stands out. Generally there is not a lot of flash, but some have rather more than the others, and the second figure in our second row is for some reason covered in it, which again is down to the mould. The belt supporting the flag is partly missing too, so it is not a set without its problems. However, the one separate item – the officer’s sword blade - fits into his raised hand very nicely. Since there is no flag attached to the nice long staff, this will have to be supplied by the customer – something some people prefer anyway.

As with the previous Bavarian sets, the helmets lack the tuft and cockade on the left side, so that and the apparent lack of bayonet scabbards and water bottles are the only issues with accuracy. The poses are mostly conventional and so very useful, with a few much more unusual and random ones thrown in to add interest without sacrificing the core poses everyone wants to see in abundance. Sculpting is great, but issues with the mould make this less of a perfect product than it should have been. Nevertheless, it certainly delivers what the title promises, making what is now quite an impressive range of figures for the subject.