Although the British had used light infantry many times in the 18th century, and their value was widely appreciated, many conservative elements in the Army disapproved of them, seeing them as conducting war in an ungentlemanly way, and so not to be encouraged. Nevertheless, the standard battalion was supposed to have one company of light infantry in its 10 companies, and these were sometimes brigaded together into composite units. There were also rifle units, but the first line regiment to be entirely converted to light infantry was only in 1803, when the 52nd began appropriate retraining. Others would follow, and as the Napoleonic wars progressed, a significant number of regular British infantrymen were classed as ‘light’, yet before this set was released there had been very few figures for these men.

As this set depicts the men on the march, there are really only two main poses here. Seven of the repeat poses are marching with left foot forward and musket resting on the left shoulder, in a fairly relaxed stance as might be taken when simply moving from one place to another. The remaining three look more like they are manoeuvring on a battlefield as they have their musket at ‘shoulder arms’, but both poses are well done and appropriate. The multiple models of similar poses allows for a realistic, imperfect body of men to be portrayed, and this looks good with these figures.

The four command figures are also moving forward, but not in a stiff, parade-like fashion. The first pictured is the sergeant, holding his musket on his right, and both the bugler and ensign are also walking forward in a fairly casual manner. The fact that the bugle is left dangling from its cord, and the colours are cased, adds to the apparent lack of urgency. The final figure is the officer, who is walking whilst carrying a cane. This would seem an unusual vision when on the march, and still less when in action, but perfectly likely when in barracks, so while any officer might well have a cane, we were not convinced this was the best marching pose.

Those companies and regiments deemed to be ‘light’ wore much the same uniform as the centre companies, as they do here. The usual laced coat, campaign trousers and gaitered shoes are topped off with the shako, of the 1806 pattern, which was worn by all prior to the introduction of the 1812 ‘Belgic’ shako, and retained by some light companies as late as Waterloo. This has the forward peak and front badge which vaguely resembles the correct hunting-horn emblem, plus the cockade and short plume at the top of the crown. The wings on the shoulders of the coat are the other sign of a flank company, and all of this has been correctly done here. The sergeant, ensign and officer have their waist sash, and the bugler the coat with decorated sleeves as usually seen on musicians. The sergeant has also been sculpted with his three chevrons on both sleeves, a style that seems to have been unique to light companies.

The equipment these men carry was exactly the same as for centre companies, including the squared ‘Trotter’ pack, rolled greatcoat, cartridge pouch, water bottle and haversack. All the privates here have this complete array, along with the scabbard for the bayonet, and so are correctly equipped. The sergeant has the same, and the bugler lacks only the cartridge pouch, as you would expect (although strangely he does have a bayonet – for fixing to what?). The ensign and officer carry only their sword, so again, no problems with this aspect of the set.

The sculpting is pretty good, and although occasionally detail goes a bit astray, for most people these will be more than adequate. What will disappoint some is the amount of flash, which is on virtually every seam, and usually in sufficient quantity that it needs to be removed before any painting is attempted. The chosen poses mean there is almost no excess plastic, however, so some careful trimming will produce good results.

One unusual feature of this collection is that the colours are cased, which is not often seen in this hobby, though it does reflect the reality of the march much better. The total length of the staff, including the finial, is 36 mm, which is about 2.6 metres to scale. By regulation the whole should have been about three metres in length, so this is on the small side, although the difference is not particularly noticeable.

This is one of those sets with not much to talk about because it delivers a collection of figures that are simply doing what it says on the box, and doing it with good accuracy, appropriate poses and reasonable quality. The connoisseur of small plastic figures might not find much here to quicken the heart, but to wargamers and those largely starved of Napoleonic British light infantry up until now, this is a very useful set that helps to fill a hole in the market that has persisted for a remarkably long time.