Mannie Gentile: Toy Soldiers Forever: W. Britain "Millers Cornfield" set 31152 ; a closer look

Here's another W. Britain walk-around, this time of the Cornfield set that was retired a few years ago.

This is a particularly nice set and all of the figures are characterized by the fine detail, animation, and sculpting of what I am referring to the "second generation" of Britain Civil War soldiers.

This is one of the "The Art of War" limited series based upon the art of painter Keith Rocco. This set is number 164 of 600...I wouldn't exactly call that a "limited edition." The brochure contains a very brief overview of the action on the morning of September 17, 1862.

Here is a little video that I did on the subject of fighting in the cornfield:

As always, the packaging of this product is lush...which is always reflected in the price of W. Britain figures.

WBCW 301

This is one of my favorite company officer figures. Britians switching from pewter to steel swords was a master-stroke. The sheen of the sword is wonderful.

The pewter cornstalks are wonderfully painted and will go great with my home-made ones. (Mannie Gentile: Toy Soldiers Forever: My 54mm cornfield....with pumpkins!)

WBCW 304

I would have preferred that the regimental flag bearer had been upright, but this is otherwise a beautiful sculpt.

WBCW 299

Britains makes a wide variety of standing shooters, and these second-generation figures are wonderful.

WBCW 298

As much as possible I've tried to avoid duplicate poses, and fortunately Britains has a pretty wide palette of standing shooters.

One common discrepancy that one usually finds in W. Britain Civil War soldiers is that almost invariably the standing shooters have their bayonets fixed. This practice was avoided as it made loading both difficult and dangerous for the shooter.

WBCW 313

Although, as packaged as a Wisconsin guy, I've made him part of my 24th Michigan regiment, as they are all in the advancing position and my Wisconsin soldiers are all on the firing line.

My Iron Brigade is comprised of two 50-man regiments, one from Michigan and one from Wisconsin. Being from Michigan, I have an upper-midwest bias, and all of my Union batteries and regiments are from Michigan or Wisconsin.

I find that none of my casualties in repose include an item number.

WBCW 305

This is a very nice flag bearer, but I needed a figure that was in line and not advancing; my solution will be in my next post.

The years around 2012 are within the date range that I roughly refer to as "second-generation...that terminology is something that I've come up with just for my own reference.