Today we look at a Brigade of Bavarian light dragoons - The 2nd Koenig and 3rd Leiningen Cheveau Legere, making up Brigade Durosnel, which fought as part of Wrede's 2nd Division at Wagram, 1809.
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| 2 bases light cavalry Dragoons / Cheveau Legere. Figures by warrior miniatures. As these represent 2 different regiments, each base has it's own facing colour. The 2nd Koenig has red facings, and the 3rd Leiningen has black facings. They both look like great uniforms to me. Certainly better than the multicam, or ACU rubbish we get issued with now. No cavalry standard issued yet ... still researching that one. Anyone got a link to a standard for these guys ? |
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| Here is a great photo of some re-enactors doing Wagram in 6 foot scale ... nice work. When we think about the 'time and effort' we put into miniature armies .. it is nothing compared to the time and effort these guys put into doing just 1 'figure'. The amount of research they must do is phenomenal. Therefore, pics like this are a great source of material for doing miniature armies I reckon. Note here the details on the saddle cloth - the small blue lozenge design on the white border around the edge. |
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| Problem is, to reproduce that in the correct scale, you are not going to see it too well on the tabletop. I have opted here for a much bolder blue lozenge on the white background. At 15mm scale, it stands out across the tabletop, and yells 'Ich bin ein Bayerische !' I have also used the re-enactor photo as a guide to doing the saddle baggage to the front of the rider - tried to pick out a matching shade there. |
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| A few little stripes of brass on the white webbing straps is not too hard to do depending on the casting, but it always seems to make a big difference when painting cavalry. Dont forget to do these when painting yours ! Its one of those little 1% things that really finish off a miniature. |
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| Likewise with the stirrups, and a touch of brass around the horse's harness - bridle (or whatever those bits are called). The stirrups and bridle are not a detail that you immediately notice .. but adding them in adds that little touch to finish the unit off. |
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| There we go - I think this shot compares quite well with the photo of the re-enactor above. Thats pretty much the effect I am looking for. I find with this particular shot as well, that the animation on these castings is really quite excellent - there is certainly a notion of movement and urgency about the figures. Great work from warrior minis on these Bavarian cavalry ! |
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| Cavalry standard looking a little bare. No worries - no rush, will fill that in soon enough. |
Great work, the green coats look very nice, I think I would have probably had some kind of nervous breakdown, if I tried to paint the lozenge shape on the trim of the saddlecloth, you definitely had the right idea there!! No idea about the flags really, if you haven't already try this link. Bavarian flag are usually pretty generic so you may be able to get an idea??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.warflag.com/napflags/flaghtml/bavaria.htm
Good to see your Bavarians coming together. I'm struggling with mine.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Pau.
As always, I enjoy seeing your units take shape! The re-enactor photo is stunning.
ReplyDeleteAccording to both Keith Over's book on Napoleonic standards, and the Osprey (on Bavaria by Von Pivka, 2 pages of flag info and several B&W illustrations), the Chevaulegers no longer carried standards after 1803. The Dragoons, however, continued to carry them. They appear to be essentially the same patterns as the Infantry flags, with the central square bearing the coat of arms, etc being blue with 2-4 rows of surrounding blue/white lozenge border for the Ordinarfahne, and the Liebfahne bearing the central devices on a white square, with or without the lozenge borders.
My own Bavarian Chevaulegers carry a standard, of course, despite the above!
Peter
Ah cool - I can see plenty of loopholes there for more creative license in the flag department.
ReplyDeleteFrom a practical wargaming point of view, its essential for discrete units to have a standard I think. From a historical fudging point of view as well, its not a difficult leap to justify having an unofficial flag either.
How is the style on the re-enactors though ? Huge respect to those guys for the time and effort they put in.
@Paul - take your time buddy, the stuff I have seen on your site was pure inspiration for mine. One thing I love about painting is the complete lack of deadlines. I had a very interesting introduction to painting miniatures when I was about 12 years old (I think), when by chance I ended up spending a lot of time with an older bloke who taught me a lot. Biggest thing he taught me was there was all the time in the world to do what you wanted. No rush.
Its an interesting story on it's own, so I should write a post about that one day soon.
Cheers all.
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ReplyDelete@wine - thanks for the feedback.
ReplyDeleteIm doing the Erichson fusiliers tommorow, so be sure to check that unit out. Even more obscure than the other Saxon sharpshooters in my collection (Pelet Fusiliers) the Erichson Fusiliers took a whole lot of research to find the definitive jacket colour.
Im sure my other readers will be eagerly looking fwd to seeing them as well ! It will be a very informative article.
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