Monday, January 12, 2009

Dragoons

I have recently received, primed and dry-brushed my first 10mm old glory dragoons. However, Cavenderia currently has no uniform designs for dragoons, no official colors etc. As Cavenderia has a rich equine tradition i.e. The festival in Twinj I believe the cavalry arm of the Cavenderian army will be of considerable proportion perhaps as high as 45%. The Prinz is hereby soliciting uniform ideas for Cavenderian Dragoons. Cavenderia was originally occupied by Hungary, then the Turks, the Venetian Republic and finally awarded to the family of Prinz Geoffrey by the Imperium for service to the crown and has become a haven for repatriated Catholic peoples of many races, hence about any background or colors would suffice. To the left is a template from Not by Appointment of an Austrian Dragoon. If you have any ideas please send them to me. I will also be fielding several Hussars squadrons considering the irregular nature of the Cavenderian people. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

10 comments:

tradgardmastare said...

Perhaps the influence of a Tradgardland exile could be seen in rose facings, with a green coat colour reminding the people of the units's origin as hunters/gamekeepers.
I very much look forward to seeing the 10mm dragoons - any plans for horse holders?
best wishes
Alan

Anonymous said...

You might breeze over to:

http://kuler.adobe.com/

and look at some color swatches. Although the tool is more designed for websites, it does have a skazillion combinations you should be able to draw inspiration from.

abdul666 said...

Hussars first: some uniforms from Twinj are already known of the 'EvEurope': black pelisse with white cuffs, black breeches and boots, white /silver braiding, buff (?) dolman, very dark brown busby with white plume; oddly enough red saddlecloth edged yellow / gold; the trumpeter may have a white dolman / red pelisse and a red mirliton (1st picture)?


Dragoons were less glamorous than true 'Horse', specially the 'initial' type acting as mounted infantry: what about mahogany coat, black facings, buff smallclothes? Sober, but perhaps specially fitting for Dragoons 'à l'ancienne' still trained and willing to fight (and skirmish) dismounted - of the type specially useful for coast and border patrols.

Red coat and waistcoat, black facings, gold buttons, light buff (or even 'chamois') breeches would be less subdued for Dragoons turning into 'true' cavalry?

Bluebear Jeff said...

I would note that the Dragoons should probably NOT be in the same uniform color as the bulk of Cavenderia's infantry (which is a light blue as I recall).

Red and white are two often-used colors for the mounted of blue uniformed infantry . . . but certainly other colors are possible.

Do you have a preference?


-- Jeff

abdul666 said...

In support of Tradgardmastare's suggestion, if the combination green coat / pink facings may seems audacious, it has historical precedents: several Napoleonic regiments of Dragoons and Chasseurs à Cheval wore such (and had trumpeters - drummers, for Lace Wars Dragoons?- in reversed coats!

Yet several choices remain to be done:
-waistcoat of the color of the coat, of the color of the breeches (if different) or of the facing color? This last may characterize *sergeants*: a reminder of the time when sergeants wore reversed coats (more of an infantry tradition, maybe, but precisely Dragoons were mounted infantryat first);
-breeches: buff (they were often of actual deerskin) or green? Maybe leather breeches, except for officers with green fabric ones (more confortable - more frequently replaced)?


Cavenderian culture being a patchwork / melting pot, your various regiments of Dragoons may reflect this diversity, i.e. be quite less homogeneously-looking than the infantry.

(Such a complex background may lead to original "troops" types, but it would require headswappings: for instance late 18th British Light Dragooons exchanging heads with Grenzers, giving you Light Dragoons in short coat and mirliton (you would have to add the flame) = the Dragoons of the WAS Arquebusiers de Grassin, and Grenzers in Tarleton helmet... For the ± irregular light infantry / militia landjäger you could headswapp between Grenzers and some Bashis...)


Regarding the flags, Dragoons and Hussars had divided guidons (by opposition to the square / rectangular standards of true 'Horse'); those of Hussars were sometimes even more 'divided', swallowtail-fashion).

The Cavenderian cross would be *absent*; if one follows the French example, they would display one rather large "sovereign's" symbol (in France by SYW times it still was Louis XIV's sun). The image of St. Sebastian as appearing on the infantry flags is probably too narrow to be visually satisfaying? Thus perhaps only the bust of the Saint?

abdul666 said...

The 'ventre de biche' / ecarlate association of the Condé livery (as worn by the Volontaires de Clermont / Hussards de Saint Victor / Legion de Condé) is interesting: perhaps you could reverse it, i.e. scarlet (or even a more purplish red) coat, 'ventre de biche' facings?

Prinz Geoffrey said...

Nice suggestions, I will start tonight on a tradgard inspired dragoons and I really like the de Clermont colors, perhaps Clermont colored coat with rose facings and red small clothes and breeches.

abdul666 said...

Three colors, two of them close yet clashing, could be... well, you'll see!
What about 'ventre de biche' (or orange, or carrot, or pumpkin flesh...) coat with strong Tradgarlander pink facings?

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

How about using the colors of the Hungarian flag -- red, white, and green -- as the basis for your dragoon uniform here? The coat could be one color, the breeches and weaistcoat another, and the facings a third. This might work reasonably well in some form for the eventual hussars.

Best Regards,

Stokes

A J said...

The Rumtopft Dragoons of Hetzenberg wear dark blue coats as opposed to the infantry's light blue to avoid confusion when they operate on foot - something they seldom do these days.