Monday, January 5, 2015

Great Britain: 2nd (Coldstream) Guards

    The 2nd (Coldstream) Guards is the oldest regular regiment in continuous service in the British army, Its origins date back to the English Civil War. It was originally raised as a regiment in the New Model Army by General Monck in 1650. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Regiment saw service in Egypt, fought at Copenhagen in 1807, and was sent to the Peninsula from 1809 on. There it participated in the battle of Talavera as well as the Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos and San Sebastian, the battles of Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nive, Nivelle and the investment of Bayonne. The 2nd battalion of the regiment participated in the ill-fated Walcheren expedition in 1809.
During the 1815 campaign in the low countries, the regiment fought first at Quatre Bras, where unlike the 1st Foot Guards, it was not heavily engaged. . At Waterloo, the regiment was famously part of the defenders of the Hougoumont chateau. Its losses that day were 348 killed and countless more wounded - extremely heavy!


The 2nd (Coldstream) Guards - 28mm Old Glory Figures. I was uncertain as to whether all the companies should wear the white plumes of Grenadiers (as in the Fusilier regiments), but looking at this re-enactors website, it appears the usual company plume distinctions were preserved (verified); I will have to correct that. 


I have painted all the companies with shoulder wings, which I believe is correct*, and for the Guards, the wings are in their dark blue facing color, rather than the red used by the flank companies of Line regiments. * see comments below - further research shows that the wings were  indeed limited to the Flank companies, although the 8 center companies had broad dark blue shoulder straps piped white. 


I need to order some more GMB flags - the Foot Guards Colors were unique in that the design patterns of the King's and Regimental colors were reversed, with the Regimental colors having the overall Union flag design, and the King's colors being crimson. To make things much more complicated, there were three different versions of the King's colors for Guard regiments (Colonel's, Lt. Colonel's, and Major's), and often even duplicates of these patterns due to the wear and tear caused by the ceremonial duties of the Guards. The Regimental flags were even more abundant, one per company, each with different badges/emblems upon them. Despite this profusion of designs, only one Crimson and one Union pattern flag were carried by a battalion in the field at any one time... thank goodness!


I have chosen to paint the regiment with the white pants worn for dress occasions, as a way of making the Guards stand out more easily on the wargames tabletop. 


The motto of the Coldstream Guards is Nulli Secundus (Second to None) which is a play on the fact although that the regiment was numbered as the 2nd Foot Guards, its history of continuous service as is longer than that of the First regiment. 


With the addition of this unit, my British Napoleonic army is now up to almost 300 figures, and my total Napoleonic collection now exceeds 6,000 figures! It will probably top out at somewhat under 7,000 eventually. 

22 comments:

  1. Nice job on this famous unit!

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  2. Another great addition to your British force, Peter! As for uniform, did the guards not follow the same distinctions as the line regiments regarding shoulder wings? That is, only the light and grenadier coys with wings; center coys with worsted tufts. I like the white trousers.


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    1. Well,, it would make sense, being a Guard unit and all, that they all had the wings (like the Fusilier and Light regiments). Nothing about British Army uniforms is particularly logical though - layers and layers of tradition and individual idiosyncrasies. Reminds me a bit of the fictitious card game of "Fizbin" on Star Trek - the original series! :-)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v77SF4TFUoM

      All the illustrations I have show them with the wings, but I see the re-enactors have wings (and plume colors) by company type like a line regiment, other than the wings being dark blue, so I imagine they are correct. I'll see what more I can come up with as far as specific documentation.

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    2. Very nice unit, but I agree with the above that the centre companies had tufts.

      This is my main site for quick reference: http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/detail_uniteBR.php?rubrique=U&unite=3&nation=1

      I do usually try to distinguish my British elites: Guards, Light and Fusiliers by paint white rather then grey trousers, but I think really this may be not really grounded in accuracy.

      Great job on piping on the collars and sleeves.

      John

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    3. Really nice unit. I have enjoyed following your posts.

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    4. John,

      You're doubtless correct re: the tufts for the center companies, although even there it seems they may have had broad shoulder straps (in dark blue) unlike the straps of the Line regiments. ASs I said, further research pending.

      The piping was made much easier with a new Windsor and Newton series 7 000 brush courtesy of a tip off by Jon above!

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    5. Thanks, Neil, glad you're enjoying the blog. I see that you've been up to painting a lot of Tartan yourself! I am putting off my own Highland unit(s) as long as possible!

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    7. RE: W&N 7s

      Peter, how do you like the Series 7 brushes? Hopefully, they work at least as well as your current brushes. The smallest WN7 I have is the 00.

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    8. I really like them, Jon! the Army painter ones are pretty good, but the Series Seven are better. I got one each of the standard and Miniature in the 0 and 000 sizes, which are my usual standard brushes, aside from a big, cheap one for coats and pants and the like.

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    9. OK, checked my sources, and indeed, the blue shoulder wings apply to the elite companies only, the center companies had wide dark blue shoulder straps, edged white (also dfferent from Line regiments, but NOT wings. Thanks for the heads up, guy's. IO'll correct the plumes, but the non regulation shoulder wings will stay, obviously! :-)

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  3. Nice looking Guardsmen. Quatre Bra at six?

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    1. I hope to see you run your Quatre Bras game somewhere this year Joe, and even more to play ij it!

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  4. Nice work Peter. I agree with the choice of white for the trousers - back in the 80's the received wisdom was that this was the correct way to go, and I did the 2nd (a unit of Hinchliffe figures) accordingly. I'll stick with this for my new Front Rank units for exactly the same reason you have pointed out.

    I have only used W&N series 7 for the best part of eighteen months now. Even I find it difficult to ruin the point on those in anything less than a couple of months, although tend to overuse the 000's for things I shouldn't...

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    1. Yes, nothing else, the white trousers set them off more clearly on the table, even i they doubtless wore grey in the field.

      I do like the Serious 7 brushes!

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  5. They are quite splendid Peter, a most stalwart looking regiment and very elegant in the white trousers. Will they be rated as Elite in your games? I sort of assume that British Guards should be elites in most games, but I don't know enough history to be sure of that.

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    1. I'll probably rate them as Guard, but Elite would probably be more appropriate as there was no special selection process for soldiers that I know off (officers more a matter of connections and commission purchase).

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  6. Well done, I like them. My British Guard all have the shoulder wings; I agree that they should be distinctive.

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    1. Thanks, Mike.
      Now we just have to get King George III to agree with our position! :-)

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  7. Ditto you and the others; guards 'gotta' have white trousers!
    That's a most impressive total Peter. I hope to catch up to you...!! :)

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  8. I'm glad we at least have their pants sorted out,, if not their wings! :-)

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