British Napoleonic Royal Horse Artillery

In the same way that the French Artillery was sold as a set of 5 figures plus a gun, so the same format is followed for the British Royal Horse Artillery. The crew consists of an officer with telescope, a gunner with rammer, a gunner firing the gun and two standing gunners. The gun is a 9pdr piece with single trail. Here are the crew, which were a recent ebay purchase that came with no gun:

Here is an original set purchased (and painted) in 1975:

British Riflemen

These figures are from my original 1975 collection and are finished in the uniform of the 60th Rifles:

Another Military Modelling Magazine Advert

This advert gives an insight into the Ros Ancient and American Civil War ranges. It was published in the June 1975 edition.

British Naploeonic Line Infantry - Stovepipe Shako

Another ebay find was this splendid unit of British Infantry wearing the stovepipe shako. They have been neatly painted as Light Infantry, although this appears incorrect, as these are Centre Company troops. Light Infantry should have the wings in the shoulder. As far as I can tell Ros did not produce a stovepipe command group - although I cannot be sure at this stage.

The Ros 25mm Figure Range

I have been trying to find an original list of the Ros 25mm figure range without success. However, I bought a secondhand copy of Military Modelling Magazine from February 1976, which must have been quite close to the demise of the range. An advertisement gives an indication of the range and includes mention of both ancient and American civil war figures. I wonder if the ancient figures were metal versions of the old Rospacks plastic figures? Does anyone know?

Here is the advert:

Napoleonic French Line Lancers

I took a closer look at the lancer figures and happily I was able to confirm that they are indeed by Ros. Here you can see the makers stamp, with the date 1975:

The horse is very typically Ros, with the over sized tail. The figures too are of classic Ros design, with the slightly over sized head and helmet. I doubt very much that the remnants of the lance pennant are original, appearing to be made from aluminium foil:

French Line Lancers - ebay find

I saw these figures on Ebay and I am convinced that they are by Ros. The horses are of a very similar design as others in the range. The heads have that over large Ros look about them too. However, I have never seen the lancer figures before, so cannot be 100% sure yet. I will have a better feel for them when I strip them down for painting.

Napoleonic French Line Artillery

Ros artillery figures came in sets of five figures, normally an officer, a man with rammer, a figure firing the gun with fuse and a couple of general figures. The was also a four part gun, barrel, wheels and main body.

Here is the French Line Artillery set:

Beginnings

This blog covers something that I have been thinking about for some time. In the 1970s my two brothers and I populated our wargames armies with a then new range of budget figures by Ros Figures, the same company that was producing 1/300 scale armoured fighting vehicles.  Between us we amassed a load of Napoleonic figures, mostly French, British and Prussian.  By today's standards these figures are crude and in some cases ugly - especially the French line infantry. I read on another blog that the Ros Frenchman was the most ugly wargame figure produced! Those who have read my 20mm Douglas Miniatures Crimean blog will know that I am a glutton for punishment; however, for me, Ros Figures mark an era when I probably had more fun with wargames figures than any other time.

The Ros 25mm figure range was very short lived. I am not sure when they folded, but it was probably in the late 70s, when the new Miniature Figurines and Hinchliffe figures appeared.

The aim of this blog is to record this short lived range and attempt to find samples of the whole range. Occasionally odd figures crop up on ebay etc and I have a fair number in my collection. From an advertisement in Military Modelling in 1975 I can see the range was mostly Napoleonic, but some ancients and American Civil War figures are also noted. These last two ranges are a mystery to me, but I am on the hunt for samples and I am sure they will show up.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has samples of or information about these figures.