Scots Grey - Commanding Officer

This figure depicts Lieutenant Colonel Henry Darby Griffith, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons, or Scots Greys. Griffith led the Regiment at the Battle of Balaclava, during the charge of the Heavy Brigade. Sadly, Griffith was one of the first casualties of the Greys as they started their charge. Unfortunately he was struck in the head, probably by a carbine bullet fired by a Russian cavalryman. So he only took part in the very first minutes of the action. That said, he seemed to have survived, because a check of the Balaclava casualty roll lists him as slightly wounded during the battle.

The figure is a Strelets plastic Scots Greys officer from the "Charge of the Heavy Brigade" box. He is mounted on a Douglas Miniatures metal horse:

Brigadier General The Hon. James Yorke Scarlett

Finding a suitable figure to represent Brigadier Scarlett, the commander of the British Heavy Brigade was more challenging than I first thought. According to the sources at my disposal, Scarlett wore an unconventional uniform at the Battle of Balaclava. It seems that he wore a dark blue frock coat that was devoid of rank or insignia, and underneath he wore cavalry breeches and probably a Heavy Dragoon tunic. Some sources suggest that he wore an unofficial helmet, with a raised peak - probably to accommodate his spectacles, as he was very short sighted. Other depictions of Scarlett show him in the same dress, but with a heavy dragoon helmet, but with a black feathered plume. Whatever helmet he wore during the battle it took a hefty blow from a Russian sword and was pretty much ruined.

As a sources for the figure I found a general figure in the Scruby Crimean war range who is wearing a frock coat, but with large epaulettes and fringes. In the Strelets plastic Heavy Brigade there is a mounted dragoon senior officer, but he has the wrong tunic for Scarlett. So it would have to be a conversion job. Here is the Scruby general figure:

As can be seen the figure matches the Douglas horse on the left quite well, but the head and shoulder detail had to go. Here is the same figure with the strelets head added, but with shoulder detail still to be removed:

And, here is the final version of general Scarlett:

The Heavy Brigade

Here we have the first three regiments of the Heavy Brigade - the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, the 2nd Dragoons, Scots Greys and the 5th Dragoon Guards.

British 5th Dragoon Guards

Here we have the third regiment from the Heavy Brigade, the 5th Dragoon Guards. These figures are B4, Heavy Dragoon, mounted on BH1, British cavalry horses. At the time of the battle of Balaclava, the Heavy brigade consisted of five regiments of heavy dragoons - the 5th and 6th Dragoon Guards, the 1st Dragoons, 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) and the 6th Dragoons.

The Scots Greys    

The latest addition to the British cavalry force is a painted unit of Douglas Miniatures B2, Scots Greys. These were fun to paint being a bit different, but I had real trouble with the swords. Most broke off and had to be replaced. The way I did this was to drill a hole into the sword hand having filed down the stump of the old sword. This hole can be carefully opened up to form a groove. The new sword is made from a thin strip of metal from the lid of a bean can, which can be cut with a good pair of scissors. The point is shaped with a quick trim and the new sword slots into the groove with some super glue to hold it in place. I decided that one figure should carry a guidon. This was sourced from the internet, sized and duplicated to get both sides. I added some cotton tassels, which were painted gold.

British Heavy Dragoons    

Here is the first of three regiments of British heavy dragoons to join my army. Made up from the Douglas Miniatures one piece casting (see earlier posts) they represent the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, which was one of the five regiments that made up the Heavy Brigade in the Crimea:

Coming soon will be the Scots Greys.