Tuesday 21 November 2017

The Regiment of Dromedaries

Over the weekend I started and completed the first mounted unit of the French in Egypt project, the Regiment of Dromedaries. 


Formed in April 1799 from picked grenadiers of the various Demi Brigades, absorbing other small camel mounted elements of the 85th and 88th Demi-Brigades de Bataille, and of the 21st Demi Brigade Légere, this in one of the most colourful of all of the French Army in Egypt - the first images of painted figures on the Perry website certainly caught my eye and started me on this project...I am such a sucker for eye candy. One of the drivers for the formation of the regiment was the scarcity of cavalry remounts and camels were an easily available substitute. At its peak the Regiment reached a a strength of 700 men, but by the time of the capitulation the strength had shrunk to 140 officers and men. 



These are great little figures from the Perrys to work with, although the white capes were a challenge. The unit appears to have operated chiefly as mounted infantry and I have chosen to do both the mounted and dismounted versions. The dismounted figures are under way and will be completed later this week. The camel holders sometime next month, when the next order arrives.


13 comments:

  1. These are so cool, Mark! Such great colors.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. The rather hurried photos don't really do them justice. The dismounted versions will be finished tomorrow night.

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    2. Thinking of the colours, they are quite similar to the Chasseurs d'Afrique of the late 19th - early 20th centruries.

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  2. Great looking figures Mark - camels are always cool! I have some OG Camel Corps for the Sudan that have never actually made it onto a table because we have not got the Dervish opposition for them as yet....Perry plastics one day maybe?!

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    1. Moved on to the next unit now...the dismounted version of these, then the first of the infantry.

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  3. Lovely work, and a nice subtle variation in the camel tones. Personally I think Napoleon should have forgotten about the Mamelukes and held on to a few squadrons of these - I can just see them charging up the slope past La Haie Sainte and confusing the British!

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    1. Yes I wanted to keep the camels light in colour - as is typical of Egyptian camels - so I used a base colour and just lightened or darkened the tone for each. From what I read the camel troops were not used as cavalry, but more as mounted infantry. Nonetheless they would have been impressive on those slopes in Belgium!

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  4. An unusual and top notch unit Mark, congrats!

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  5. Sigh... a long time ago, I had several of the minifig version. These are so much nicer. Maybe I will do the unit and a few of the Egyptian campaign units......after a few other projects. Great brushwork on these!

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    1. Yes they are lovely figures and this is such an interesting Napoleonic subject. I think this project will continue for some time yet.

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  6. Oh these are lovely! Great fun and nice and colourful.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. They are indeed great figures. I finished the dismounted versions last night.

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