After a poor showing in the war of 1672, the quality of Dutch infantry had been much improved, and by the start of the 18th century they were widely considered to be amongst the most able and steadfast of troops in Europe. It was generally accepted that the most important role of infantry was to provide as heavy a fire as possible, and in this regard the Dutch are usually credited with developing a new form of drill – firing by platoon. The earlier drill required a battalion to stand in ranks of between three and six deep, and for each rank to fire in unison, producing up to six volleys, followed by a pause as everyone reloaded. By contrast, firing by platoons involved the same battalion line being subdivided into many smaller platoons, each of which still fired by ranks (generally just three), but at their own pace, independent of the other platoons. This was easier to manage for the officers, and meant the fire was more constant, without the long pauses while the whole line reloaded, during which the enemy knew they were relatively safe and might choose to rush the line.

The poses in this set are well matched to a firing line of three ranks, with one third of them presenting, one third loading and one third ready. While the poses have some variety for each of these operations (particularly the loading), all of them are well done. The command figures are also in a range of appropriate poses, beginning with the sergeant, who would be standing in the interval controlling the platoon, and is presumably here reminding the men to aim at the enemy rather than too high. Next is the flag-bearer, who would be behind the centre of the line, and is here casually resting his burden on his right shoulder. The drummer is clearly not actually beating his drum, and while commands to the firing line were sometimes communicated by the drummers, here it would seem that verbal shouts have been deemed sufficient. Finally an officer watches proceedings, ready to issue fresh orders when required. All of these poses are very suitable and useful.

In the early 18th century, military clothing still closely followed civilian attire, which is to say soldiers wore the suit. This was made up of a large coat with big cuffs, a slightly shorter waistcoat, and breeches, all probably made of wool. Stockings and buckled shoes covered the lower legs, and on the head the previous wide-brimmed hat was by now routinely made into a tricorn. Three of the figures in this set are grenadiers, distinguished mainly by their unique headwear, which here is a soft cap with stiffened front plate, a turnup round the base, and a pompon on the top of the bag. Dutch grenadiers wore several styles of cap, which would evolve into the mitre, but those here are as good as any. The command figures are essentially in the same clothing, but likely to be of finer quality. The ensign, drummer and officer have lace decoration engraved on their coats, and the drummer has false sleeves down the back of his coat, a traditional feature in this period that referenced the cassock worn in former times. As gentlemen, both the ensign and the officer have full wigs, and both also wear a sash as a further mark of their rank. The last figure also seems to have a gorget at his throat, which was another common sign of an officer. In short, all the clothing on display here is accurate and appropriate.

For the men, equipment begins with a waist belt, from which a sabre is slung as well as a scabbard for the bayonet. Most also have a powder horn on the right hip, which could either hang directly from the belt or from the broad belt slung over the left shoulder which also carried the large ammunition pouch on the same side. In the case of the grenadiers, they used this pouch for their grenades, and had a second, smaller pouch attached to the front of their waist belt for flintlock ammunition. However in this set most of the line fusiliers also have this second pouch, which seems to be an error as we could find no evidence for this practice, and there is no obvious reason why it would be done. The sergeant has no firearm, and so none of the equipment associated with one, but he does have a sword, perhaps of better quality than that of the men.

By 1701 all Dutch infantry carried the new flintlock, as do all these figures, and they all have a socket bayonet fixed. The sergeant holds a halberd, which could be used as an offensive weapon, but was more a symbol of his authority, and also useful for keeping privates in line and their muskets from aiming high. The ensign has only his sword for protection, as does the drummer, but the officer also holds a spontoon, or short pike, which again was largely a badge of rank rather than a practical weapon.

The sculpting of this set is pretty good, with nice if not particularly delicate detail. The muskets are not all that well done, and most of the bayonet scabbards are incredibly short – far too short to accommodate the bayonet, or indeed anything more than a pocket knife! The crown of the tricorn hats is also a problem area, because here they have been done as a cylindrical shape when they should be a dome. The figures all have a noticeable amount of flash on all the seams, sometimes more still, and there is excess plastic in the places you might expect to find it – around the sabre scabbard and between musket and body, so these are not a particularly clean set of models, and will take some work to make the best of them.

The ensign in the bottom row has no flag on his staff, which will please some customers, as it is certainly easy to attach a paper flag here. The staff is of a good length (52 mm, which is 3.75 metres) and has a spear-head finial. Our first reaction to the drum was that it looked like one of the enormous examples from the previous century, but in fact drums like this were in use by the Dutch at the start of the wars with France, and were only gradually replaced with smaller, more modern ones during the period. So at 9 mm deep (65 cm) this is an example of the earlier model, and so less often seen as the War of the Spanish Succession progressed.

The make-up of Dutch armies was complicated by the use of foreign regiments and troops hired from other states, particularly those in Germany, but Dutch troops constituted the majority of most of the armies operating in Flanders, including those directly under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. Their contribution to the successes achieved against Louis XIV and his armies was therefore critical, and this set is a good depiction of them in a firing line during those crucial years. Issues such as the shape of the hats and the excessive use of second pouches are unfortunate, but this is a very useable collection of figures which are nicely posed and blend well with the rest of this range from Strelets.