GAPS Range.

28mm figures for Gwalior, Afghanistan, Punjaub and Scinde.

BIG BATTALIONS

In order to re create authentic large battalions some packs compliment each other. For example codes  GAPS 33 to GAPS 42 inclusive. These sets of figures expressly designed to facilitate larger scale wargames recreating the classic big battles of the era; such notable clashes as Meannee and Hyderabad in Scinde, Maharajpore and Punniar in Gwalior, Ferezoshah, Mudki. Aliwal, Chillianwallah and Gujerat etc in the Punjaub, or of course any fictitious set-to you dream up from the recesses of your imagination. In the illustration immediately above, we have shown how HM 24th Regiment might be represented at the Battle of Chillianwallah (13 Jan 1849), in the 2nd Anglo-Sikh War. The 24th, relatively recently arrived in India, paraded pretty much at full strength, against the infantry's wartime establishment, which is to say with 10 companies, fielding just over a thousand officers and men between them. Of the ten companies in a conventional regiment or battalion of the line, two were 'flank' companies, the grenadier company on the right of the line, and the light company, which generally skirmished in front during the early stages of an action,  before being recalled to take its place on the left of the line. In the armies of the EIC's Bengal and Bombay presidencies some regular Indian regiments were designated as either grenadier or light regiments. The British Army differed, in that while it too had a number of light regiments, it did not have any grenadier regiments.  

       The companies were grouped into left and right 'wings', formed either side of the colour party. Wings were commanded by officers of field rank, (major or lieutenant colonel), and the whole regiment or battalion by the commanding officer, (the senior lieutenant colonel). By the middle of the 1840s British regiments on the Indian establishment were permitted a 'second lieutenant colonel' (as they were known). It was not uncommon for the senior lieutenant colonel, who might hold a brevet in the rank of colonel, to be elevated to command the brigade, in which scenario the second lieutenant colonel took over the duties of the commanding officer. Regiments did not remain at full strength for very long. Average company strengths generally dwindled from 90-odd to 60-odd in fairly short order, and eventually sank to 40-odd. An additional factor to consider is that there were sometimes fewer than ten companies with the regimental main body. We've structured these codes the better to enable you to range across a spread of unit strengths, according to scenario, personal preference, rule set or budget. 

        Generally speaking there are two different types of code for each class of regiment, a principal code, usually running to 16 figures, which will provide you with all the specialized figures you will need to serve as the hub of your unit, and then a smaller 'Alpha' code, this time consisting of only four figures. All four figures,  which is a sufficient quantity to portray one company, are rank and file figures in centre company dress, Just how many centre companies you field either side of the colours is up to you. This way you get to go small, medium or large, as it were, in respect of your unit strengths. Of course you will also have the option to spread your spending, by starting small and adding more companies over time.  So, in the larger code, designed to provide the hub of the unit, you typically get 8 x flank company figures and 8 x command figures. In most cases the latter consist of two company officers, two ensigns, a sergeant-major, a drummer and two serjeants or havildars). Generally speaking the flank company men are rendered distinctive by 'wings' of white worsted wool arcing over the shoulder from front to rear. The EIC grenadier or light regiments did not have specialist flank companies as such, while shoulder wings were worn by everybody in the regiment, including the officers, albeit theirs were not of white wool, but were ornately embroidered combinations of gold lace and thread. 

        Note that in Queen's Regiments the practice in respect of wearing wings on shell jackets seems to have been inconsistent for a number of years. Eventually it became the standard practice for flank companies not to wear wings on shell jackets, but between the 1830s and the mid-1840s it is clear that some regiments did and others did not. Where our codes are expressly associated with a given regiment, we have shown flank company wings on shells only where there is good evidence to say that they were indeed worn in that particular regiment. Typically we have required a contemporaneous and credible sketch or watercolour from life to provide positive evidence for wings. Otherwise, in the absence of such evidence, our default assumption has been that they were probably not worn in that regiment.   

        To facilitate your unit planning, the photographs below show exactly what you get in each code. Note that GAPS 42 consists of two mounted field officers, one in a frock coat and the other in a shell jacket,  which are entirely suitable to be used with any of the categories of unit in the 'advancing battalions' codes.