"Ready to Fire!" was the second-to-last command in the firing sequence. The gun was loaded, the round seated against the powder bag, the friction primer inserted in the vent — a small brass tube with a serrated wire running through a friction-sensitive compound. The No.4 gunner stood twelve feet behind the gun with the lanyard taut, friction wire hooked, his thumb on the slack. When the chief-of-piece called "Fire!" he yanked. The wire pulled through the compound, the flash dropped through the vent to the cartridge below, and the gun discharged. The recoil rolled the carriage four feet; the crew immediately ran it back into battery.

The set captures that suspended moment between command and discharge. The lanyard man stands to the left with the cord pulled taut from the friction primer, the No.3 man at the vent, the No.1 stepped back from the muzzle with his rammer, and a fourth figure working the trail. All four wear the Union artillery uniform — dark blue shell jacket with red branch piping, sky-blue trousers with red stripe down the leg, forage caps and slouch hats interchangeably. Face the set off against the Confederate gun crew in 'Give 'em Another Round' for a Pea Ridge–style counter-battery diorama where both sides fielded M1841 howitzers, or pair with the 12 Pound Howitzer model and the Union Artillery Crewman to outfit a complete two-gun Federal battery.

W. Britain 31418 Ready to Fire! Union M1841 12 Pound Howitzer. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Seven-piece set: four Union artillerymen plus three-piece M1841 12-pdr howitzer (barrel/trunnion, carriage, accessory) on sculpted groundwork bases. Boxed.