The hardest thing a soldier did was nothing. Long before he fired a shot, he stood in his rank and waited — and at Waterloo the waiting was murderous. For much of June 18, 1815, Wellington's infantry stood or lay on the reverse slope of the ridge while a French grand battery of around eighty guns pounded them, hour after hour, roundshot tearing files out of the line. They could not reply; they could only close up over the gaps and hold their ground. To stand still and take that, then come to the make ready with steady hands when the order finally came, asked more of a man than the firing ever did. Discipline was mostly the discipline of waiting.

The figure stands at the make ready in full marching order — musket brought up vertical and the hands moving to cock and present, the pack with rolled blanket and mess tins on his back, bearskin and full dress. He pairs directly with the kneeling version to make a two-rank line caught at the same instant. Build the moment across a firing-line diorama: set the French Imperial Guard Kneeling Make Ready in the front rank beside him, a French Imperial Guard Tearing Cartridge still loading behind, and a French Imperial Guard 2nd Rank Standing Firing as the volley breaks.

W. Britain model 36177. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.