A British soldier was paid a shilling a day — and almost never saw it. The famous "King's shilling," pressed into a recruit's hand to seal his enlistment, was the headline rate, but the army clawed most of it straight back in "stoppages": deductions for his bread and meat, his washing, the powder for his hair, and the endless repair and replacement of kit. What was left, a penny or two, was his actual spending money, and even that often came months in arrears. Real riches, if they came at all, came from prize money or plunder, not pay. The men in this firing line did the hardest work in the army for wages a labourer would have scorned.

The eight-figure set is a firing line in action — a sergeant with his pike and seven privates firing, kneeling, ramming and biting cartridge, in red coats with white lace, grey trousers and the plumed Belgic shako. It builds the volley line of a British diorama. Extend the line with the British Line Infantry, form the kneeling front of a square with the British Line Infantry receiving cavalry, and throw the green-jacketed 95th Rifles out ahead as the skirmish screen.

Tradition of London model 0707. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Eight-figure set — a sergeant and seven privates, 1815. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.