It is October 30th, 1813. The day is cold and damp – sleet has been falling during the early hours, and the Bavarian infantry of General Wrede are lined up for battle in the centre of his line near the town of Hanau, blocking the retreat of the French. They had thought they were facing a disorganised, defeated French rabble, but now know they are standing against the emperor himself and the bulk of his army, defeated but not destroyed. Suddenly a shout is heard – French cavalry is approaching, so the men quickly form square, knowing that they are relatively safe from even the finest cavalry in Europe just by staying together. But they are not safe. The French have advanced a battery of around 50 guns to within range of the Bavarians, and will soon be tearing great holes in the formation with grapeshot, creating horrific scenes as men were scythed down where they stand. With the squares severely weakened, the French cavalry will then charge, overrunning three squares and putting the rest to flight. Napoleon will have won the day once more, but his days of glory are fast running out.

The above incident illustrates both the strength and the weakness of the infantry square. Standing shoulder to shoulder with bayonets pointing in all directions was an effective defence against cavalry, but also provided a perfect target for artillery or concentrated musket fire, causing large numbers of casualties. This set of Bavarians in square offers us both these facets, so we will begin with the standing men. All are more or less stationary, holding their musket to the side at various levels in order to present as thick a mass of sharp points as possible. On the whole, simply standing firm was enough to achieve the goal, but naturally some might choose to engage an opponent who particularly threatened them, and so we see a few men thrusting their bayonet further forward, just to make absolutely sure everyone stays well clear. We particularly liked the man thrusting his bayonet upwards as if toward a mounted attacker. Perhaps striking with the musket over the head was not the most common action, but basically all the standing poses here look reasonable to us, and when placed together offer a pleasingly varied and realistic tableau of what a bayonet wall would have looked like. There are no kneeling poses, but not all armies used a kneeling front rank.

Strelets have also provided a number of casualties, which as we have said would also be an essential part of any infantry square scene. The first such man is stretched out and does not look at all realistic as a fallen man, but works well as someone who has been dragged back inside the square after being wounded, although we would have preferred to have lost the musket that still rests by his right arm. The other two prone men are fine, and our favourite here was the man on his belly but with one arm raised. The downed man in the last row is also an excellent pose, and one that is far too rare in the hobby since it must have been a common sight, so Strelets must be praised for provided such realistic figures, and thereby acknowledging that battles were terrible bloody events with thousands of individual tragedies.

Finally we come to the command figures in the bottom row. The drummer is not a great pose. His left arm is very badly positioned, so it would have been extremely difficult to beat his drum as he appears to do. It is also worth noting that it would be pretty unlikely that a drummer would be using his drum while inside a square being attacked; drummers would be busy dealing with casualties instead. The man with the flag is fine, and as can be seen, no actual flag has been provided, which will please many that like to add their own paper flags as desired. The officer is also an awkward pose however, as he draws or sheaths his sword while pressed very firmly against his body – a very flat pose, and the only one in the set.

We have seen several sets of Bavarian infantry from this manufacturer in the past, and this set matches the others perfectly in terms of appearance and sculpting quality. All the men wear a rectangular knapsack held by two shoulder straps connected by a third across the chest, which was first introduced in 1808, and they all also have a rolled greatcoat strapped to the top, which first appears in 1809, so this provides the starting date for the set. For most this look persisted until the end of the Napoleonic period, but the officer wears a sash, which was replaced in April 1812 by a gorget at the throat, so he has a smaller period of validity.

The sculpting of all the Bavarian sets has been outstanding, and this is no different. Detail is plentiful and very well proportioned, so not excessively deep but still visible and well done. With the exceptions already noted, the proportions and stance of the figures is also excellent, so these are very attractive figures to look at even close up. The quality of sculpting is matched by the research, which means the figures wear the correct short-tailed coat (long tails for the officer) and the distinctive Bavarian Raupanhelm helmet, again beautifully detailed. As there is no plume, these men are fusiliers rather than elites, although the tuft and cockades are both missing from the left side of the helmet. One small detail is that the crest of the officer's helmet is noticeably thicker than that of the men, which is again quite correct. A few of the poses wear breeches tucked into gaiters, but most wear campaign trousers, which seems reasonable. The usual kit items such as pack, cartridge box and sabre are all present and correct, but for some reason no man has a bayonet scabbard - ironic given what they are currently engaged in doing. The musket is correctly done and nicely sculpted, however.

The lovely sculpting is not spoiled by an excess of flash, for while there is some it is minimal or non-existent in most areas and only noticeable in a couple of small locations. The missing tuft, cockades and bayonet scabbards are hard to understand on what are otherwise great sculpts with everything done correctly. Likewise the rather awkward officer and drummer poses are a blemish on what is otherwise a great set of realistic poses. So putting these small issues aside, this is generally a lovely set that is a perfect companion to the other Bavarian infantry sets from Strelets, and of course is useful for far more than just the square.