The Poinsettian Rifles

It’s high summer here in the UK, but perversely I’ve been painting another edition of my Christmas-themed Army of Advent. I felt my Advent infantry corps could use some Jäger marksmen and sourced some from Hagen Miniatures of Germany. This is a group of German Jäger from 1750-1780 in Austrian service.

It’s a nice little group, the ‘hunters’ variously loading, aiming or firing their rifles at their targets. One rifleman has discarded his tricorne and appears to have a longer musket rather than a shorter rifle. This is clearly deliberate by the sculptor and I wonder if there is a reason for this?

For a Christmas theme, I decided on the Poinsettia, a large red flower with deep green leaves. In the USA in particular, and elsewhere, the Poinsettia is associated with Christmas and used in decorations.

And so, the Poinsettian Rifles were born. I thought that their uniform should reflect the plant and so I’ve given them an appropriately riflemen green uniform to reflect the leaves of the Poinsettia.

The flower’s red appears in their waistcoats and breeches.

As a final flourish, the men sport a Poinsettia in their tricornes.

As with the rest of the Army of Advent, they find themselves in ankle-deep in snow.

There are seven figures in total, so I may as well show them all:

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

• 

• 

---

• 

• 

• 

---

• 

• 

---

• 

• 

The intention is for them to stand decorative guard over the Christmas season and, as with all the other Adventian regiments, they’ll need a plinth to stand on. This I am working on (plaque, paint and varnishing needed) and will present when December arrives in…ah… around four months time!