"Review British Infantry Firing Line 1701-1714" Topic

"The provision of firepower was the most important role for the British infantry during the War of the Spanish Succession, and that was achieved with the firing line. Unlike some such as the French, the British adopted a firing line three ranks deep, to allow every man the ability to give fire (the French used four or five ranks deep, but not everyone could then fire their weapon). There were several systems for firing, but the common purpose of all of them was to pepper the enemy with fire until they broke or retreated, in which case the cavalry would be expected to follow up and complete the victory. By modern standards the muskets had poor accuracy for many reasons, but on a battlefield with much smoke it was often not possible to identify an individual target in any case, so the aim was to send as much fire in the direction of the enemy as possible, to maximise the chances of a hit. So speed of loading and firing was vital, and the British were widely seen as amongst those who were expert at this skill.

Clearly the most important poses in a set such as this are the three presenting or giving fire, which echo the three-rank structure of a firing line nicely. The front rank knelt, and the other two stood, leaning forward if necessary to avoid hitting their own men. These three are excellent poses. Three more poses are in the act of reloading, and we find a man dropping powder and ball down the barrel, another using his ramrod to secure them, and a third cocking his weapon. Again those here are good poses, and of course there could have been others depicting other stages of the loading/firing process, but these six cover the basics well…"

Full Review here

link

Amicalement
Armand

Bad…? Or because their are plastic?

Amicalement
Armand

No, just not as much traffic on TMP as there once was 😀

Very nice. I may get some for Imagis