Verre jager or far-hunter

 This is a quite unusual figure in my collection.

A "verre jager"or far-hunter during the siege of Leiden.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beleg_van_Leiden_(1573-1574)

The many ditches around the besieged city limited the use of cavalry or regular infantry. The ditches were too wide to simply leap across but vaulting poles alowed easy crossings.

The disc at the forward end prevented the pole from sinking too deep into the mud. At the other end there was a metal spike, so you could use the pole as a spear: ideal for raids.

The raiders were common peasants and they wore a white cloth or handkerchief around their arm as a field sign. They also carried a dagger behind their hip.

The figure is made from Airfix parts.

Mostly Airfix Collector series : the musketeer.

Head is from Aifix multipose series: British army.

I 

The legs are a combination of Multipose Japanese army and Collectors Musketeer. I used metal pins to rein-force the connections.

The head was further improved with long hair and a woolen cap. Both made with Green stuff. As you can see I use thin metal for belt. At this moment I use metal tubes from  a mayonaise brand 😂 It is a bit thicker than lead-foil.

The arms are from my spares box ( I think, they were Historex). At first I cut off the hands, so I could place them at the right place on the pole and in the right position. 

Painting is fairly plain, so I used earthy colours. In the first instance I painted the cap grey but it looked rather boring. So now he has a red cap, more interesting to view.

It makes an interesting addition to my 80-years war collection