Thursday 3 September 2015

Austrian Dragoons and Chevaulegers - Perry 28mm

First units painted after the house shift. More Austrian cavalry - Dragoons and Chevaulegers. The Dragoons were battle cavalry often concentrated with the Cuirassiers (who look very similar but they also have breast plates). The Chevaulegers tended to be used as light cavalry like the Hussars, so took a greater role in scouting and reconnaissance, in addition to battlefield use.


Which are which you might well be wondering? This is what I wondered too when I got the packs from Perry Miniatures, as they are very similar. In fact the riders are identical other than the command figures! The major difference is the horses, the Chevaulegers have smaller horses than the Dragoons, though this is not really noticeable from a distance. Also the Dragoons come with a standard bearer, and the Chevaulegers do not.

Why do the Dragoons and Chevaulegers both look so similar if they have different roles? There is a vastly confusing history of uniform changes and reorgnisation for Austrian Dragoons and Chevaulegers, see Peter's excellent Blunders on the Danube blog for more detail of this! It also seems to be common practice for wargamers to paint their Dragoons in white, and Chevaulegers in green so as to be able to tell the difference more easily.  I was going to do this too, but then decided to paint both regiments in white. Why? Well I liked the light blue facings of the Klenau Chevaulegers for one thing. And the other reason was so that it is less of a stretch to use BOTH regiments as either Dragoons or Chevaulegers if required if they are all in white!


So after that overly long explanation, here are some pics, first up Regiment #5 Ferdinand Dragoons with dark green facings.






And here is Regiment #5 Klenau Chevaulegers with light blue facings.







Lastly, here's a picture showing the difference in horse sizes with the two horses in similar poses closest to the camera making this obvious. Smaller Chevauleger horses to the left, larger Dragoon horses to the right.

27 comments:

  1. These are pretty as a picture! One of the Chevauleger regiments wore light green which is a nice difference too. I'm glad the twins made the horses different sizes, these details count in my book. Keep 'em coming, any chance of a battle report? Have fun, Jeremy

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    1. Thanks Jeremy, yes nice to have the horses correct, though I've yet to see the heights of different men represented (e.g. taller grenadiers or shorter lights).

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  2. Reasonable "long explanation" and in a way I concur with you Mark!
    Awesome painting on your cavalry, the strong contrasts of white and regimental colour facings really make your cavalry figures stand out of their bases - top notch brush work Mark!

    cheers,

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    1. Cheers Phil, yes a little versatility doesn't hurt!

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  3. They look great, Mark,. and I too like the Dragoons having bigger horses, You WILL have to paint at least ONE Chevauleger regiment in Green coats eventually, though!

    BTW, Joe also chose to do the white coated, light blue faced Klenau Chevaulegers, using Sash and Saber figures, It is a very attractive uniform!

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    1. Thanks Peter, yes no doubt some green coats will arrive sometime!

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  4. Very nice work Mark.
    You will have to bring them around for another game at my house soon.
    My French and Saxon Cuirassiers are looking for something else to run over..... :)

    Chris

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    1. Cheers Chris, yes I look forward to it, running down the French and flunkies that is! ;)

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  5. Great work! Nice touch to have larger horses for the dragons. Both white and green jacketed chevauleger appear in my Austrian army.

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    1. Cheers Jonathan, yes I've looked at your armies several times, very nice, thanks!

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  6. Very nicely done.
    I had been looking at the perry site and trying to figure out what the difference between the types was. Glad that I wasn't too far out when I didn't notice anything =)

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    1. Thanks Ulf, yes it is a subtle difference!

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  7. Great work on these guys Mark!

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  8. The austrians are a delightful army to own. White is such a martial colour - even better than red! Striking and attractively presented, Mark!

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    1. Cheers Ion, yes I agree white looks great!

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  9. They look superb Mark (as do all the units that you paint so well).
    House moved, check.
    New units painted, check (and on-going, of course).
    Is there an outing planned for them soon? (Perhaps not quite as grand as your Waterloo game, mind!). Looking forward to it, whenever it is!

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    1. Yes thanks James, must get onto a game!

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    2. Yes thanks James, must get onto a game!

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  10. Splendid colors and great details on them, well done Chasseur!

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  11. These are really good looking cavalry!
    I was thinking to paint Austrian dragoons as Regiment 6 (Riesch) as they are said to wear blue breeches - just to better distinguish them from light cavalry. But I can't find any pictures of dragoons in blue breeches... Did they really wear them?

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    1. Thanks yes I was also going to that unit like that and may still do so. Information is uncertain on it from what I've seen, but for wargaming purposes I think go for it! :)

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