Recommendations for British officer types - I have chosen (25th Jan)

[Red Orc]

I find myself short of a couple of British officer types, and my google-fu is weak today. I've been to Foundry and most of the range I've been trying to find seems to have disappeared, I can't find anything I'm happy with on Empress, and I'm generally having no luck, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has any good suggestions. Oh, Redoubt is probably no good because their figures seem significantly taller than the Ironclad/Artizan/Westwind etc minis that make up the bulk of my VSFery.

The first needs to fit (more or less) with a bunch of Glengarry-wearing 1879 chaps (my Torchwood:1891 'UNIT' unit...) - so he needs to not wear a pith-helmet or home service helmet, probably needs a pistol (and I'm happy with a sword) and preferably, be a Victorian analogue of this chap (Captain Yates of UNIT, from 1970s Dr Who episodes) -




The second officer I'm after is an older more senior chap that I can use as a force commander. I don't so much care if he wears a pith helmet, home service helmet, a cap of some kind or is bareheaded. He just has to look like a suitable command figure (and because I'm not planning to put him in a unit, it might not matter so much if he's taller).

I won't exactly say I'm at the end of my tether, but I would appreciate any suggestions, Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks.

[Plynkes]

Not sure why the officer has to wear the same headgear as his men. Officers can wear whatever they feel like wearing, providing it is regulation (and often even stuff that is not). But...

In the Warlord British Zulu War plastic Brits set there is one beardless Glengarry head on each sprue. Perhaps some kind LAFer could be found to donate you a spare one. Get yourself a suitable body (Empress Zulu War officer would do the trick), perform a bit of head-surgery and Bob's your uncle.

[Froggy the Great]

I've got one of those heads.  PM me if you want it.

[Red Orc]

Not sure why the officer has to wear the same headgear as his men. Officers can wear whatever they feel like wearing, providing it is regulation (and often even stuff that is not). But...

Oh, exactly. I just don't want Captain Yates in a helmet. I know this is VSF and all, and pith-helmets are almost de rigeur, but I'm trying to get together one unit that doesn't have any pith-helmets at all (actually, I have a unit in Home Service helmets too). He doesn't have to wear a Glengarry, I don't much mind if he's bare-headed or wears one of those round peaked caps that I think of as being blue or one of those round pill-box hats (that were later adopted for bellboys in 1920s hotels - I think there's an officer wearing one on the Empress site)... I'm not sure what hats British officers wore between 1870 and 1900, but really, just an un-pith/Home Service helmet head/figure will do.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll bear it in mind, though I'd rather at the moment try to get a whole figure than involve myself in any head-butchery, as I lack the essential confidence in my skill to make it look at all convincing.

And thanks Froggy for the offer. You are great, but you already know that.

[Plynkes]

I'm not sure what hats British officers wore between 1870 and 1900, but really, just an un-pith/Home Service helmet head/figure will do.

Leaving aside such oddities as Fusilier busbies and Guardsmen's bearskins, for your bog-standard infantry officers I think the options are basically Glengarry, peaked forage cap (which you can see examples of in the Empress range) or helmet (after 1878, Shako before that) really. The bellboy hat is I think more of a cavalry thing at this point.


I notice your game is set in the 1890s. During this decade the Glengarry was phased out for all but Scottish infantry, and replaced with the slightly different "Austrian" field service cap (quite similar to a Glengarry, but with no ribbons hanging down and with fold-down sides). The fine fellows in the foreground of this pic are wearing them:




So that's another option (but not one I've seen any figure manufacturer's provide for us). But you are okay with Glengarries for the early part of the decade.

[Malamute]

I notice your game is set in the 1890s. During this decade the Glengarry was phased out for all but Scottish infantry, and replaced with the slightly different "Austrian" field service cap (quite similar to a Glengarry, but with no ribbons hanging down and with fold-down sides). The fine fellows in the foreground of this pic are wearing them:




So that's another option (but not one I've seen any figure manufacturer's provide for us). But you are okay with Glengarries for the early part of the decade.

What about some Royal Marines from either Old Glory or Redoubt Miniatures, or Studio Miniatures from their Boxer rebellion ranges. They are wearing the field service cap that Plynkes mentions.

The Redoubt figures are not their usual large figures that you have mentioned earlier and they can be purchased separately unlike the OG ones though come in a bag of 30 odd figures.

Studio Miniatures:
http://www.studiominiatures.com/Shop/Empire/The-Boxer-Rebellion.html

Redoubt Miniatures:
http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=d1907598335b7e35273723b82efc8a86

[Plynkes]

Of course, I forgot about Boxer Rebellion RMLI having those caps. 

[Malamute]

Of course, I forgot about Boxer Rebellion RMLI having those caps. 

It was your photo that jogged my memory.   

[Plynkes]

I know you said you didn't want to do head-swapping, so this is probably more for the benefit of other people who might be working along similar lines, but I just remembered that Empress themselves do sprues of separate metal heads that include Glengarry caps, so one doesn't need to purchase a whole box of Warlord plastics just to get a few Glengarries.

[Red Orc]

Thanks for the suggestions, esteemed chaps, Marines might fit the bill very well. I'm undecided as to what service these chaps are from (it is a made-up unit after all), the best idea I've had for them being called 'UNIT' is that they're 'Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials'. But in homage to 1970s UNIT, they're in rifleman green (close enough to 1970s battledress if figure) with khaki caps. I did consider the 'new' look of UNIT, but thought black uniforms and red caps were a bit... nah. I also alternate between giving them Army/Marine ranks, and Navy ranks. Sergeant Benton has to be Sergeant Benton (Petty Officer Benton or whatever is the equivalent jut isn't as good), Captain Yates could be a Naval or Marine Captain (or he could be Commander Yates I suppose), but 'Brigadier' Lethbridge-Stewart is sometimes known as Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart.

So, if they are naval, then Marines might be a very jolly way to go, and I'll stick to Army ranks - and thanks for the info on the different scales on those Redoubt figs, I hadn't even looked round the rest of the site since I found the Zulu Wars figs to be so large.

[commissarmoody]

Give them regular uniforms, so as they blend in better with the Civilans populations idea of the military. That way when there doing contry ops its easer to the government to offer dependability. Give them blue, or white caps.

[Bullshott]

Give them regular uniforms, so as they blend in better with the Civilans populations idea of the military. That way when there doing contry ops its easer to the government to offer dependability. Give them blue, or white caps.

Agreed on the uniforms - these guys don't want to stand out too much if they are to get their job done. I would use standard issue blue trousers with red stripe and blue tunics (as they are naval/marine infantry - any colour other than blue would definitely not go well with naval troops). Matching blue caps would blend in best with the rest of the population (as that's what home service and off-duty troops would wear).  Make the the facing (cuff and collar) colour on their tunic the main difference against standard army/marine uniforms.

[Red Orc]

Well, as I'm also planning on havingRoyal Aeronautical Corps troops - "Aetherines" - (I was building some of my own but I'm pretty certain I'll be putting in an order for Brigade's British with re-breathers) who will be in blue (with pith-helmets, don't want a Home Service pickelhaube in a balloon, but you want something that'll protect your head if you fall off the abseiling rope), and as a convenient way of marking that I want my UNIT troops to be an elite sharpshooter regiment, I thought rifle-green was the way to go; and as I wanted the them to pay lipservice to the '70s uniforms, khaki caps were the order of the day.

I know in some ways the equivalent of 1970s battledress would be a red coat or maybe blue (I have a couple of other redcoat units); but my forces straddle the standardisation of khaki, and perhaps khaki would have been better. But I like the idea of UNIT being an elite rifle regiment.

[Conquistador]

Well I was goiing to suggest the right hand figure from RAFM

http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RAF&Product_Code=RAF06733&Category_Code=BC

or second from the left figure in

http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RAF&Product_Code=RAF06734&Category_Code=BC 

or even these Canadian officers http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RAF&Product_Code=RAF06722&Category_Code=RR 

or these Canadian NCOs as a base to modify http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RAF&Product_Code=RAF06723&Category_Code=RR

but it sounds like you have good leads that more accurately reflect what you are looking for.   

Of course since I am not all that familiar with RAFM miniatures these might not even remotely be appropriate in terms of size.   

Gracias,

Glenn

[Red Orc]

Thanks for the suggestions Conquistador, there's some nice figs there and there's no reason not to use Canadian officers. But I think that the Redoubt Marines are in the lead at the moment.