British Skirmishers- Rifle Brigade by Strelets

Of all the Crimean figures produced by Strelets, I think this set is my favourite. It has loads of good poses, crisp detail and has great figures, especially when compared to the British line infantry set from the same company. Fortunately the uniforms of the Rifle Brigade and line troops were very similar and so the set becomes quite versatile. Sadly no officer or NCO figures feature in the set, which is a shame.

On this occasion I have painted them straight out of the box as a unit from the Rifle brigade in light order equipment as skirmishers. The officer comes from the Hat British Light Infantry set, with a new head:

British Officers Campaign Dress

Three new castings from Old John in the form of British officers, based upon Minifigs S Range originals. The first figure from the left wears the Albert shako and a non regulation sheepskin coat. He depicts a member of the Rifle Brigade. The second officer, from a line infsntry Regiment, wears a sleeveless sheepskin jacket over his red tunic and has the popular undress cap on his head.  The third figure, also line infantry, is more or less in regulation dress, with the pork pie hat and blanket roll over his shoulder.

British Light Infantry 1854 

There are no figures designated as light infantry in the Douglas Miniatures range, but as they wore the same uniform as their line infantry counterparts it is possible to use ordinary line infantry as skirmishers. Apart from the light companies from line battalions and light infantry regiments, there were also two battalions from the Rifle Brigade in the 1854 British order of battle. The 1st Rifle Brigade formed part of the 4th Division, whilst the 2nd Battalion was part of the Light Division. 

In order to distinguish my British light and rifle troops from other line units I use the Douglas Miniatures figure B7 (Infantry Firing) along with line infantry officer figure B5. I removed the bayonets from the firing figures too. The unit stands out anyway, clad in their dark rifle green uniforms:

 

I have also used a seconded Hinton Hunt Crimean figure as an extra officer, as he was spare. You can see him lurking in the background with an advancing infantry figure (B6) also painted as a Rifleman.