By 1815 the pike was a deliberate anachronism — a pole-arm in the age of the musket — and that was rather the point. A British sergeant carried his nine-foot pike not to fight cavalry but as the badge of his rank and a tool of his trade. With it he dressed the ranks, laying the shaft along the line to straighten it and tapping men into their places; with it he steadied a wavering company; and with it he stood in the colour party, the knot of sergeants whose duty was to guard the regiment's Colours and the young ensigns who bore them. The musket had made the pike obsolete everywhere but here, in the sergeant's hands, where it still meant authority.

The figure stands in command of his men — the pike upright in one hand, sword at his hip, the red coat with a sergeant's lace and the sash of rank, grey trousers and white-plumed shako. His proper place is the colour party, so build that diorama around him: set him beside the British 1st Foot Guards Colour he is sworn to guard, then dress the company he steadies with a British 1st Foot Guard Standing Firing and a British 1st Foot Guard Kneeling Firing in the ranks before him.

W. Britain model 36190. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.