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Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

The second image is indeed Spanish, Russians of the period also wore red, I have joined a few groups for the period, trying to get the information ,and even there you hit a wall ! .So book purchased and in the mean time best guessing. The first bit of confusion was the box art, yellow facings, can I find a British cavalry unit active at the time with yellow facings....can I hell, so green facings it is,there were a few of them ;-)

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Cecil C. P. Lawson's "A History of the Uniforms of the British Army", Volume 1, includes some information about, among others, late 17th and early 18th century British cavalry standards and dragoon guidons. No colour plates but nice drawings and detailed descriptions. As it happens, a pdf is online. Check it out, it may be helpful.

http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Lawson_V_1.pdf

Another work that may be helpful, to some degree.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56830/56830-h/56830-h.htm

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

agree 2nd image is indeed Spanish, think it came from an old Spanish magazine "Dragona"

a good basic guide is "The Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars " by CS Grant, 2nd edition, lists as far as known colours for, tunic, facings,saddlecloths etc

Hanoverians also wore red tunics as did several other nations

hope that helps
stay safe
cheers Old John

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Thanks chaps, so far I have found Bavarian, French, Russian ,Spanish, and British Cavalry in Red ! the battles must have been very confusing.

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Hanover had 2 cavalry regts in red tunics, other cavalry and dragoons in white or white/grey, the Strelets WSS British cavalry set ideal for these as well as for other nations
cheers old John

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

More cavalry standards and dragoon guidons. Can't comment on how accurate they are.

https://www.pinterest.es/pin/461619030544163473/

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Thanks, they have either been "borrowed "from Warflag or Warflag have borrowed them ;-) Most of the issues as far as uniform I think I have got the answer, ie ensigns uniform, what are the things on the mucician/buglers back ? (false sleeves I am now told ) and what did they look like for painting ? best guess on that one as most artists leave him out of paintings, were his colours reversed ?, yes I now know they were. What colour were the officers wigs ? etc. In fairness I quite like not knowing as I enjoy the research and finding out. I have to say I am truly enjoying painting these guys, especially as Strelets have done a truly world class job on production, almost zero flash and almost zero mould lines !!! and given the hours spent removing them from Strelets figures past and present that is both a real surprise and a real time saver in terms of preparation to painting, I hope it is a sign of things to come. But the figures themselves are the best from Strelets I have ever handled, and cannot praise them highly enough, a proper WOW! moment when I took them out of the box.

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Alan Buckingham
Thanks chaps, so far I have found Bavarian, French, Russian ,Spanish, and British Cavalry in Red ! the battles must have been very confusing.
Umm...Yes! Just a bit....:smile:

The early 18th century is an interesting (and confusing) period so far as European military uniforms are concerned. Some 'Nation states' are emerging ie: France, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Austria and, from 1707 Great Britain; but other parts of Europe ie: Germany, the Netherlands, are principalities and kingdoms with their own armies. So...the 'catholic' nations (France, Spain) tend to clothe their armies in undyed (grey/white) coats; Britain has been 'red' (actually, a dull crimson) since the middle of the 17th century; Sweden tend to go for blue; Russia (with many exceptions) green for infantry, etc etc. But then the French clothe a fair portion of their Maison du Roi cavalry in bright scarlet, and have much of the rest of the Guard in blue. And quite a lot of the Russian infantry is clothed in Red, and most of their cavalry is any colour other than green.....

So far as England/Scotland/Britain is concerned two rather old book references have stood the test of time and I have been using these a lot in the last year. They are Michael Barthorp's Marlborough's Army' (illustrated by the late, great Angus McBride) in the Osprey MAA series (number 97). And Charles S Grant's 'From Pike to Shot 1685-1720', originally published by the WRG and since published in parts by others.

English cavalry was made up of 'Horse' and 'Dragoons', still quite distinct but becoming closer in tactical useage and clothing as time went on. 'Horse' consisted in Marlborough's wars of two household regiments, and seven 'line' regiments; and around a dozen dragoon regiments. Facings for the Horse were: blue (but possible yellow earlier!), green (3 x regiments), white, buff and (possibly) black (for 1 x regiment). The coat colours and facings of the two household regiments were already established - Horse Guards blue with red facings, Lifeguards red with blue.

Blue seems to have become a 'popular' facing colour for dragoon regiments.

The convention of reversed colours for musicians was starting to become established, and certainly infantry drummers had reversed colours. It is reasonable to think of line cavalry trumpeters also having reversed colours...Although NB: Bear in mind this is still the period in which each regiment is 'owned' by its colonel and if he says that the unit's musicians have, say, yellow coats with pink ribbons, then that's what they wear...! In Britain, formal clothing regulations for the army only come in a bit later in the 18th century.

All good stuff, if confusing: I'm just finishing off painting the best part of two boxes of the Strelets British cavalry as Wood's Horse (future 3rd Dragoon Guards; Green facings) and hopefully will have these ready to post to Strelets as a Contribution in the next day or two. They have been a real pleasure to paint, well defined detail and good all round.

But even then I'm looking at the next unit to join the painting queue for my Marlburian army, and noting that this (Cadogan's Horse) had Buff facings...but then changed to Green around 1710-11.....

Given the vague nature of the information available for many units in this period, it's a case of taking a leap of faith, employing a bit of intuition and artistic licence and going for it....

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

have a look here for some red coated regts

http://miniaturasmilitaresalfonscanovas.blogspot.com/2015/10/researching-dragona-vol-iii-n-5-c.html

stay safe out there
cheers Old John

Re: Uniform guide British cavalry WSS....

Thanks for sharing these links. I've also found sources difficult to come by for WSS uniform details.

I agree with other comments, the British Cavalry set has taken the Strelets range to a new high standard. The figures are verity beautifully done with some really good poses. The standard of this set and the French set (which is also lovely) bode well for all these samples of other cavalry sets being shown.

In my view the WSS range is Strelets most accomplished range yet in terms of sculpting, flash and pose quality. Congratulations to them.