Tuesday 10 June 2008

More Dragoons

We must, I think, sympathise with the travails of fathers in days gone by. There was once a time when a child, left to his own devices, might take up such unworthy pastimes as flute playing. And there was little the enlightened parent could do, other than perhaps chop off the head of one's first born's best mate. My current slow progress has, I'm thankful to say, nothing to do with flute playing.



An 18th C Hoodie Caught On Camera


For my next planned battle - Action!, from the Wargame - both sides will possess a full regiment of three squadrons. So its time to start recruiting my cavalry. First up is a second squadron of dragoons: the new two squadron regiment is shown in the photo. That leaves me with a further squadron to add to each side: something I'll do at intervals to add some variety as I work on the additional infantry units that I need.



Cuirassiers & Dragoons


Decently sized cavalry units will be something of a novelty for me. As youths my friends and I fought battles with Charge! rules, but with sadly understrength units. This was not down to any policy on our own part, but a result of the size of a box of Airfix figures, plus the inclusion in the box of such eccentric figures as 'trooper crouching behind dead horse and waving sword'. And somehow we never used multiple boxes of the same figures, but preferred variety: even to the extent of mixing in units from the AWI up to the ACW.


Military 'history' is an unreliable witness. So if we are to believe French accounts of the passage of the Somosierra, Napoleon smashed a Spanish force of 9000 men and 16 cannon, entrenched in a strong position, with little more than a single squadron of cavalry and his own iron will. Whereas, if we read Oman we discover that the Emperor sacrificed a brave squadron to no effect and was forced to wait for the attack of his infantry to develop.


My own metal heroes are subject to the same faults: my dragoons will willingly relate how they held back twice their number of cuirassiers at Blasthof. My cuirassiers will tell you that they overthrew the dragoons, who were only saved from total ruin by the intervention of their infantry supports. And my cuirassiers, it seems, do not perform head counts.

4 comments:

Der Alte Fritz said...

Putting your two squadrons together gives you some idea of how magnificent a whole regiment of three squadrons will look. I've always thought that while cavalry can be a pain to paint, at times, (because you are essentially painting two figures to get one cavalryman), the payoff is huge in terms of their visual appeal.

Keep on plugging away at the cavalry, you will be glad that you did.

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hello Andy,

I'll second Jim's remarks above. Cavalry are slow going at times, but the final appearance of two dozen or more cavalry is a pure joy to behold. Keep up the inspiring work.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Bluebear Jeff said...

I like the look of your lads . . . and I've no doubt that they are both brave units.


-- Jeff

old-tidders said...

Fine looking fellows.

-- Allan