Imperial Infantry, Second Afghan War 1878-80

Imperial Infantry, Second Afghan War 1878-80

I have been intrigued by an illustration entitled "Route Marching 2nd Battalion Queen's 1879 Peshawa, India". This shows British infantry in the transitional khaki tunic with home service blue trousers with red stripe and covered foreign service helmet. The 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Battalion The Queen’s (Second) Royal, Regiment of Foot, were both in Afghanistan at this time and the illustration could be of either regiment, despite the title, and they were ultimately amalgamated. With these illustrations in mind, I asked Carl Robson to swap the Perry Sudan War infantry head with covered helmet, with the Pontoonier Miniatures British Infantry body. This was from expert advise I received from Ethan "Mad Guru" Reiff to create the "definitive" British infantry from the Second Afghan War. Ethan encourage me to commission the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot of Maiwand fame. I wasn't sure how this experiment would turn out, so in deference to the memory of the 66th, I asked Carl to paint the Queen's instead. I am very pleased with the result. The swap enables the figure to carry the correct equipment for this war and to have an appropriate helmet.  The pouches were black leather, not the white shown below, but this gives an idea of how the equipment looked.