I am a basing fool

More French infantry, ready for varnish. 

The death march of rebasing continues, but the end is inching closer. I'm about half way through a batch of 100 French infantry. The cavalry are pretty much done, though I've a few stray figures to paint in order to finish off two units of French hussars. There will probably be more stragglers, but really I'm actually in a pretty good position - being able to add whole units to the order of battle without too much work.  Might be time for a new muster photo series?

I'm also not the only one that has been basing, I would urge you to go have a look at Unfashionably Shiny, where DC has been expounding on how he bases.  It's pretty thorough and well worth alook.

The Mad Minute

The Mad Minute is an exercise used in the British Army prior to the Great War which each rifleman had to attempt each year. 

From wikipedia, 

"The Mad Minute is best known as a bolt-rifle speed shooting event, which was derived from a pre-World War I rapid-fire exercise used by British Army riflemen, using the Lee–Enfield service rifle. The exercise (Practice number 22, Rapid Fire, ‘The Musketry Regulations, Part I, 1909) required the rifleman to fire 15 rounds at a “Second Class Figure” target at 300 yards. The practice was described as ; “Lying. Rifle to be loaded and 4 rounds in the magazine before the target appears. Loading to be from the pouch or bandolier by 5 rounds afterwards. One minute allowed”."

I note the unusual grip of the bolt and the use of the middle finger to fire, which I haven't seen replicated in any Great War figures. The Mad Minute was most famously used in the early border battles of the Great War. 

The video above is from a YouTube channel called "BritishMuzzleLoaders".  The author is a Canadian re-enactor and firearms enthusiast and has plenty of videos that are well worth looking at. Proving  yet again that our cousins in the terrifying reaches of the Great White North can not only fend off venomous beavers and savage man eating moose, but still manage to find the time to put together truly polished YouTube content. 

Highly recommended.