Here Come The Cavalry

I AM about to paint the first mounted troops from my Armies In Plastic order for Project Kaiser, my plan to refight the Franco-Prussian War with 54mm toy soldiers.
First up is the box of "Mounted German Uhlans," which contains five horses, an officer, a bugler, three lancers and five pennanted lances.

The box, which cost £9.70 plus postage from Preston's Transport Models, has a sticker on the side showing £8.70

The horses come in a separate plastic bag from the rest of the contents and are in a different colour.

Ready to be opened

There is nothing quite like opening new packs of toy soldiers, and the uhlans were no exception, although I had not been expecting to have to fit troopers with their lances.

Horses are in all-action poses

However, the lances fit snugly but reasonably easily into holes in the troopers right hands. Neither the officer nor the bugler has a slot for a lance, which means I will have two lances left over.
All five uhlans have pegs under their saddles so they can be fixed onto their mounts, which have appropriately sized holes in their backs.
So far I have washed the figures in warm soapy water, lightly scrubbed with a fibre cleaning cloth and rinsed under a hot tap.
I am leaning towards painting two as Prussians, two as Bavarians and leaving one for possible future pairing.