Notice the two bearded men with axes and aprons — the battalion's pioneers, and among the most useful soldiers in it. Every British regiment kept a small pioneer section, a corporal and a handful of men equipped with axes, saws, billhooks and spades, who marched at the head of the column to clear its path: felling trees across a road, levelling a bank, throwing a rough bridge over a ditch, or building the abatis and breastworks that turned a position into a fortress. Like the French sapeurs they faced across the battlefield, British pioneers were allowed to grow beards and wear leather aprons, and they carried their tools openly at the front of the regiment, where the hardest labour of an army on the march began.

The seven-figure set is the colour party and pioneers of the Foot Guards — an officer, two ensigns bearing the King's Colour and the Regimental Colour, two sergeants with pikes to guard them, and two bearded pioneers with axes and aprons. It is the heart of a British diorama. March the rest of the battalion behind it with the British Foot Guards, extend the column with the British Infantry Marching, and set the regiment under Wellington at Waterloo.

Tradition of London model 0764. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Seven-figure set — an officer, two ensigns with the King's and Regimental Colours, two sergeants with pikes, and two pioneers. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.