This is a "What are they" post. I bought a unit of these on ebay because nobody wanted them, so they were dead cheap and I thought they might be useful for something, but looking at them now I'm not sure what they're supposed to be. I put these two pics up on facebook asking which army they represent and got lots of likes but no answers, not even rude ones!
The two officers on the left have been converted from Britains hollowcast German infantry by changing the heads and arm, the infantryman marching on the right is a modern white metal casting and has no marking. The officers have green epaulettes and trouser stripe, the infantryman is wearing gaiters and a blanket roll. It would be easy to say French but the uniform isn't quite horizon blue and the Adrian helmet was in widespread use by armies worldwide for decades.
It was only after taking these photos I realised that the paintwork needed quite a bit of touching up, which is fine but there are fourteen of them so I don't really want to get into a whole repaint if I can avoid it.
Can anyone suggest which army they are supposed to represent? I was thinking WW1 Greek or Italian, any other ideas?
Beautiful pieces Brian, especially fortunate to find fourteen of them! They do look like Italian WWI era troops to me. The Adrian helmets, grey-green colour (Grigio-verde), and the officer's cap do seem to be similar. Nice find and a great bargain!
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to find a ready made unit and I was pleasantly surprised to pick the lot up for £10 + postage, well worth the gamble of not knowing what they were!
DeleteI was thinking WW1 Italians too.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thanks Alan, that's two votes for the Italians making them firm contenders!
DeleteBrian, Italian nationalist units often adopted green piping on uniforms from the 1850s, would not be surprised to see later units continuing the practice. And Italians did use this grey colour uniform in WW1. Actually, have noted several gamers raising Italians for 54mm WW1 games, so expect some envious eyes.
ReplyDeleteMichael