Author Topic: Which British Regiment to Paint? (Read 2693 times)

gatetraveller · « **on:** 09 December 2009, 06:14:02 AM »

I am posting this for a good friend of mine. He is building a WW1 collection and wants to portray specific units with his miniatures. He is using all Great War figures.

He has picked his German and American units, but does not know which British one he wants to portray. Does anyone have any suggestions that I could pass on to him? It would be helpful if you could provide a background for the unit that you suggest.

Thank you all for any assistance!

Will Bailie · « **Reply #1 on:** 09 December 2009, 09:54:02 AM »

Can you provide any additional details? The British army was a very different creature in 1918 than it was in 1916 or 1914. Infantry, cavalry or artillery? Western Front, Italy, East Africa, Balkans, Gallipoli, Mespot, Palestine? Grizzled trench veterans or fresh faced idealists? Regular army, Territorials, Pals?

My personal recommendation is for the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Find your pal a copy of 'Goodbye to all that' by Robert Graves, should give him all the background he needs (and more, especially of the true horror of the Western Front, all that bloody poetry!)

gatetraveller · « **Reply #2 on:** 09 December 2009, 01:21:12 PM »

Sorry about that. I know that he is thinking Western Front, Late War.

I'm guessing Regular Army, but that's probably not absolutely necessary.

Will Bailie · « **Reply #3 on:** 09 December 2009, 02:00:46 PM »

OK, then. By late war (say 1918), most of the British (and Empire - Canadians, Australians, etc) battalions would have been similar. Some divisions and corps (Guards, Canadians, Australians) had developed particularly good reputations, but by and large, all units had been through the same school, and "Fritzie" was a harsh schoolmaster!

The British (etc) Army had developed an elaborate system of unit patches. These would have been the primary visible distinction between different units. Here are the patches as worn by the Canadians:
http://www.kaisersbunker.com/ceftp/patches.htm

And the Diggers:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-badges/patches/inf.htm

Sorry, couldn't find any for the British army, but I'm sure that there is an Osprey on them somewhere!

Plynkes · « **Reply #4 on:** 09 December 2009, 02:14:29 PM »

Quote from: Will Bailie on 09 December 2009, 02:00:46 PM

The British (etc) Army had developed an elaborate system of unit patches.

It's odd, we know that they did - Those colour photos of the patches themselves prove it. A Tommy with all the correct patches on looks like a cub scout who has raided the shed where Akela keeps the merit badges. ...And yet you rarely see them on actual photographs from the front. They seem to entirely inhabit the world of Osprey colour plates and the eye-candy pages of Warhammer Great War. What's with that?

Will Bailie · « **Reply #5 on:** 09 December 2009, 05:47:08 PM »

Well, I don't know about the Brits, but the Canucks seem to have worn theirs. It's often hard to pick them out on B&W photos, especially when the soldiers are covered in mud, but here are a few photos that show formation patches. Sorry, I couldn't get all the images to show, but if you follow the links you will see them.

Georges Vanier, future Governor General of Canada