Grim Hammers

Another batch of figures from the Hobbit movies, this time a set of Dwarf Grim Hammers.  These figures were fun to paint though they turned out a bit more polished than the movie versions who are a lot darker metal.

Giving Boney a headache

Had these fellers for a good few year, they are from the excellent Perry Brothers.

The 95th Rifles were made famous in the TV mini series Sharpe and those green uniforms do stand out in age where bright colours were all in vogue!

The 95th Rifles were an elite unit of hard marching, sharp shooting light infantry that served in many bloody battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually they did not wear the classic red coat of the British army, but instead a dark bottle green uniform which gave them their nickname of the ‘Sweeps’ or the ‘Grasshoppers’ by their French foes.

They were equipped with the Baker rifle – a supremely accurate weapon for the period – which would hit single targets at ranges unheard of for the smoothbore muskets which most other troops carried.

They earned a superb reputation in the Peninsular campaign and later at Waterloo, being battalions that Wellington could rely upon. To help maintain the effectiveness of the companies, reliable and trusted men would be issued with a white tape around the arm distinguishing them as ‘chosen men’ and expected to inspire the rank and file.

To make up for the short length of their rifles, they were issued with wicked looking sword bayonets, long enough to give a parity against an enemy bayonet.