British and Commonwealth Soldiers through the ages



Year Model Make Photos Historical Notes Figure Notes
43AD Roman Legionary Italeri Since Britain was Roman for 350 years and provided manpower for the army, the Legions have their place on this page. Caesar landed twice in Britain but permanent inclusion into the Empire dates from Claudius in 43AD. Stock Italeri Roman late Republic, one of only two poses in the set!
100-250 Roman Legionary Esci/Italeri Classic Imperial Legionary with Rectangular shield and lorica segmentata armor Stock Esci Imperial Roman
1415 English Archer Revell Archer at Azincourt. 5,000 English (mainly archers) defeated 25,000 French at Azincourt. After 3 major disasters at Crecy, Poitiers, and Azincourt, the French still managed to win the war Stock Revell 100yr war English. Bowstring is brass wire.
1648 Musketeer ACTA This musketeer wears civilian clothes and fights with a matchlock musket and a sword for backup. He could have fought on either side of the English Civil War. Stock ACTA ECW figure.
1808-1815 52nd Regt, Oxfordshire Light Infantry ACTA The 52nd wore the same "old" stovepipe shakos at Waterloo as throughout their campaign in Spain. Stock figure. Warning: a lot of the ACTA figures have their kit reversed, ie the canteen/bread bag on the the right and the cartridge box on the left.
1815 Foot Guard Infantry Revell Foot Guardsmen wore scarlet uniforms with lacing on the cuffs Stock figure. Lots of unwanted plastic in this set.
1815 95th Rifles Revell Popularized by the Sharpe series in their distinctive dark green coats. Stock figure. Distinctive face, not seen elsewhere.
1815 Highland Light 71st Regt ACTA The only Highland regiment in trousers. Stock figure
1815 79th Regt "Cameron" Italeri/ESCI One of the 3 regiments in tartan at Waterloo Italeri figure with ESCI head. Dastardly paint job.
1879 British Infantry ESCI Home service uniform and colonial cork helmet. Later campaigns in Sudan, Afghanistan saw khaki uniforms and puttees. Stock ESCI Zulu war Brit
1914 British Infantry Airfix/Hat Khaki uniform with soft cap and 1908 pattern canvas webbing. Stock figure.
1915 Australian Infantry Hat British uniform with leather 1908 type webbing and Aussie bush hat Stock figure
1916-1918 British or Canadian Infantry Hat British uniform with canvas webbing and gas mask. The original head with oversized helmet has been replaced with one from the ESCI WW2 British set. The rifle sling is a lead strip cut from a wine bottle wrapper. The sculting for this set is a bit on the coarse side.
1941 British Infantry Revell, Esci British infantry in colonial uniform. They could be fighting Germans and Italians in the desert or Japanese in SouthEast Asia. Stock figures
1944 Australian Infantry Airfix Aussie in New Guinea. Airfix figure had legs lengthened 2mm.
1944 British Infantry ESCI Standard temperate uniform with MkII helmet. Stock figure
1990-2005 British Infantry Revell Modern British soldier in temperate DPM camo and the SA-80 L85A1 assault rifle adopted in 1985. Not sure if equipment still up to date. This guy could be in Germany, North Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo. The figure has elongated legs as the Revell set is tiny.