Napoleon's wars were won by marching as much as by fighting, and what kept an army marching was the fife and drum. Infantry moved at regulated cadences — an ordinary step of about seventy-six paces a minute, a quicker step for closing with the enemy — and the corps of drums and fifes was the metronome that held thousands of men in time over hundreds of miles. The shrill fife cut through where a drum alone could not, and together they set the rhythm, relayed the calls, and lifted tired legs on an endless road. The Grande Armée could out-march any enemy in Europe — in 1805 it crossed the continent to trap an Austrian army at Ulm before the Austrians knew it had moved.

The six-figure set is the field music at the head of a line regiment — a mounted officer leading, a drum corporal with his staff, two drummers, and two fifers, in dark coats laced with the white-and-red chevrons of musicians and blue-plumed shakos. It heads up a French marching diorama. Fall the colour party of the French Line Infantry in behind it, march the French Line Infantry fusiliers in column, and post the French Line Infantry Grenadiers on the flank of the line.

Tradition of London model 0715. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Six-figure set — a mounted officer, a drum corporal, two drummers, and two fifers, 1815. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.