Another welcome addition to my British forces, this unit very nicely painted for me by Goya, for which my grateful thanks. Here are the boys of Hay's Dragoons, aka Scots Greys.
Being a dragoon outfit, they also have a dismounted function - just replace two of the mounted stands - the remaining mounted stand serves as horse-holders and all that, and carries the regimental Status minidice. Important work. Here they are showing off their dismounted set-up - just looking for a wood to stand in.
The men on the command stand and those on foot are Irregular castings, the mounted dragoons are all by Les Higgins, and all the horses are Higgins. According to what I've been reading, these fellows were able to fight against regular units of heavy horse, so they will probably be excused the usual "-1" for dragoons vs horse in mounted combat.
Plus one for being British? That has a familiar ring about it.
And let us not speak of soft penalty kick awards.
A lovely unit, Tony, and a Guidon of the Cross of St Andrew as well!
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter - yes - Goya has insisted on painting a solid contingent of what he describes as "Proto-Weegies" for Marlborough's troops, which is a joke which will certainly not travel well, but the intention is probably clear enough.
DeleteExcellent looking Scots Sir! Can't think what soft penalty you're talking about?
ReplyDeleteThank you Ray - the tackle which brought down Sterling on Wednesday made as much contact with me (watching TV) as it did with The Bold Raheem.
DeleteWere the 'Greys' not in grenadier caps at this time?
ReplyDeleteIt seems not. We did look into this - all references after 1695 or so seem to be to laced hats. Queen Anne is said to have granted the regiment the right to wear grenadier caps, but this seems to have been later than my unit (with Scottish, non-Union guidon) is intended to be, and may only have been awarded to the grenadier troop (they had a grenadier troop? I didn't know that either!). Confusingly, there are British dragoons in caps in the Blenheim tapestries, but there are a few howlers in there.
DeleteIt was the painting of Glenshiel I was thinking of but then that was 1719 so just after the WSS.
DeleteBeing a Scottish unit, will the dismounted dragoons make a late decision to kneel like their English comrades?
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I wouldn't fancy trying to get up again in those boots. This was an age when nobody's life mattered at all, so different politics?
DeleteSplendid stuff! Though I wasn't sure at first why the old Duke would need a cuddle from anyone on campaign - if word got back to Sarah there would be serious trouble. Hmm, time to brave a trip to the optician, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWell now - as far as I can tell the Duke was partial to the odd cuddle, but these are cuddies, which until thiis morning I believed was a good, colloquial Scots term for a horse, but I am now receiving feedback that it also means a donkey. Well, my soldiers call them cuddies, so there you have it. [Lie]
DeleteAfter all these years, the concept of the Dragoons still puzzles me. What did they do with all the horses when they dismounted? I cannot imagine how hundreds and hundreds of "unused" horses are managed during a great battle. Does anyone know?
ReplyDeleteThey didn't just jump on and off their horses, that's for sure! They had to call off horseholders (an appreciable fraction of the unit), and get the horses properly secured. If the dismounted chaps started moving, then either they left their horses behind or else someone had to arrange to move the horses to meet up with them. I have a book somewhere which shows how they did it, but I have just had a look and failed to find it! I imagine this was also a problem for ACW-type cavalry as well - Bruford's boys at Gettysburg must have had a lot of horses somewhere away from the firing.
DeleteVery nice unit and a useful addition to the British army. Definitely a +1 you know we like to get our money’s worth out of the troops
ReplyDeleteThanks Graham - I keep meaning to check up on why the Scots Greys were the grey dragoons. I've read that it was because earlier they had grey coats, and I've also read it was because they had grey horses, and I've read they were given the grey horses by the Dutch Horse Guards, in time of King Billy, so I really do need to check regimental histories and get this nailed!
DeleteVery pretty indeed Tony…
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite units…
All the best. Aly
Thank you Aly - they are good chaps. Their mothers will be very proud of them. +1, no question.
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