Loading a flintlock musket was a drill of nine or ten separate motions, and it began at the teeth. Each paper cartridge held a measured charge of powder and a lead ball; the soldier bit the twisted end open, tipped a little into the priming pan, poured the rest down the barrel, and rammed ball and paper home before he could present and fire. A trained man managed perhaps three rounds a minute. Santa Anna's infantry carried British-surplus "Brown Bess" muskets and powder of famously poor quality, which sent many of their volleys high; when the columns reached the Alamo walls before dawn on 6 March 1836, much of the close work was done with the bayonet.

King & Country's figure shows the soldado at the third step of the drill, biting the twisted end from a fresh cartridge, his bayoneted musket held ready in his left hand. He wears the Mexican line uniform — a dark blue coatee with red collar, cuffs, and lapels, white crossbelts over the chest, a black shako with a brass plate and a red-white-green pompom — with a canteen slung at his hip and white campaign trousers gone grey at the hems. Tellingly, he fights in huarache sandals rather than boots, as many of Santa Anna's conscripts did on the long march north. Line him up with Santa Anna's Soldier Reaching for a Fresh Cartridge, Santa Anna's Soldier using His Ramrod, and S.A.A. Soldier Advancing Firing to build a firing-line diorama that runs the whole load-and-fire cycle.

Model: RTA130 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set