3rd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps

Here is the completed battalion. Figures given for the KRRC for EL Teb vary from 630 (Featherstone), 610 (Asquith) to 546 men and 19 officers (Preziosi). At 1:33 this would give 19, 18 or 17 figures. I have gone for the middle one mainly on the basis it would give two equal ranks.

The KRRC were at El Teb and Tamai comanded by Lt Colonel (brevet Colonel) Sir Cromer Ashburnham (1831-1917) his ADC was Lt Colonel William Lewis Kinlock Ogilvy (1840-1900). At El Teb four companies formed the rear of the right hand side of the square with the rest of the battalion inside the square. As a result of EL Teb and finding this formation rather unweildy for a force of over 2,500 men Graham, at Tamai formed two squares, one for each brigade which advanced in echelon. The KRRC formed the rear of the 1st Brigade Square.


Here is a single rifleman showing the KRRC's red piping on the front of the jacket, the cuffs and the collar.

This is my second completed British unit and I really enjoyed painting them. They were certainly much quicker to paint than the Naval Brigade; I got the whole lot done in three weeks. Next up is another 1st Brigade unit the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers.

King's Royal Rifle Corps: second batch

I finished the second half dozen figures today so only have six more to finish the unit. Hopefully, I will get them done this week. This batch includes the bugler and the last one will contain the officer.

King's Royal Rifle Corps: first batch

I finished half a dozen of these today. They are the first Sudan figures I have completed for nearly two months. Now they are done I am glad I went for the green jackets as they look different. I used to have an Osprey on the Zulu war which had a picture of the 1879 KRRC uniform in it but I sold it on eBay earlier in the year so I based the uniform on a cigarette card illustration of the uniform of the 1880's.

THE KRRC had 610 men in the 1st Brigade, under Buller, so, at my 1:33 scale, that would make 18 figures, one of the bigger British units. This batch includes a sergeant and the the next group, which is under way, includes a bugler. TSATF rules make no use of musicians but the Perry figures are too good to ignore.

The unit which fought in the Sudan was the 3rd Battalion which had been moved from South Africa to Malta. It was from here that it was called up to fight in Egypt in 1882. In South Africa during the Zulu War it saw action at Ginghilovo, Hlobane (where Buller won his VC), Kambula and Ulundi (where it was also under the overall command of Garnet Wolseley). It stayed on in Africa for the 1st Boer War, now under the command of its CO in the later Egyptian and Sudan campaigns, Lt Col Cromer Ashburnham. It was engaged at Laing's Nek, Ingogo and Majuba Hill.

For an enjoyable novel about this, not very well remembered, conflict with the Boers read John Wilcox's Last Stand at Majuba Hill.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Stand-Majuba-Simon-Fonthill/dp/0755327195/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-5958963-9779040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193001007&sr=8-1

Let's hope Wilcox manages to get his hero, Simon Fonthill, into the Sudan!