Private McBain at the battle of Malplaquet

The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on September 11, 1709, was one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, which opposed the Bourbons of France and Spain against an alliance whose major members were the Habsburg Monarchy, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Provinces and the Kingdom of Prussia.
One of the private’s was called Donald McBain. This is his story and the one of his son , as it is told through time :
"I had two children at this time. Our wives were far in the rear. My wife gave my little boy to a commerad's wife who had a horse. The woman, hearing her husband was dead, rode until she saw me in the front of the line; then she threw the boy at me. I was obliged to put him in my habersack: He was about three years of age. As we were inclining to the right, the boy got a shot in the arm. I then got a surgeon and dressed it. I had neither bread nor drink to give him. I got a dram to him from an officer and a leg of a foul; then he held his peace and was very quiet all night ; in the morning his mother took him from me."
Another version of the story tells us that the infant was given to his father because the mother wanted to return home to Scotland from the winter quarters .Having no other choice because he was in battle , MacBain carried his son into battle during 3 hours .
During my last summervacation in Scotland , this story came to my attention at the Castle of Edinburgh. I saw a reconstruction of the scene with a mannequin . And I decided to make a miniature of it . Below the picture I took in Scotland .
As always I started with a rough model using resin parts and metal wire to make the pose of the figure .The head is from the Hornet range . The legs are spare parts from an old Historex model . This way I saved some time .And the hands are from the scrap box , they are resculpted to fit around the riffle ( also a stock item ).
The first layers are made from grey milliput .
Once the anatomy was finished I started with the uniform . A mixture of green stuff ( duro ) and milliput was used to sculpt the uniform . Because of the extra equipment of the soldier the riffle was placed and pushed into the soft duro to fit in . Dried overnight the riffle could be removed and further details were added , such as the leather belts and the buttons .The special sleeves of the uniform are made at the end .
The last details are the additional weapons and of course the child in the habersack .The scenery is made from milliput and Vallejo putty .Some home made cannonballs are spread around the figure .

http://www.theroyalscots.co.uk/page/the-expert-swordsman

BRILLIANT! Thanks for the accompanying story too!

My thoughts exactly.

Cheers Ken

Very nice and a great concept/story

Thanks for sharing the unpainted parts as well!

The story is alive.
Great work Marc

Marc

Marc,
Great job and well done.
Cheers
John

Love it
Tom

Now thats something different !!!

Good job on creating this little piece and a story i have not heard before.

Steve

McBain sounds like he was a bit of a rogue and a good story teller too

Nice work, Marc

Paul

Should that child look like being three years old??? I guess you dont have any kid yourself....

Thanks for the comments guys . Well Christian I had some doubts about the age of the child . In the museum where I first saw the display and read the story I could not believe that someone could carry a 3 year old in a haversack during 3 hours of fight . So I created I smaller child . A baby if you like . As the story gows the child was thrown in the arms of McBain. A 3 year old ?
And of course there is a detailed report about the battle , only this fact is not mentioned. Fact, fiction who knows ?
Below the real thing in the museum.