Del Prado Napoleonic Units Number 2....French Guard Lancers

Lancers of the Guard - Dutch on the left, Polish on the right

The Dutch Lancers or as they were officially known: 2e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers de la Garde Impériale

The Polish Lancers or as they were officially known: 1^er Régiment de Chevau-Legers-Lanciers de la Garde Impériale. These are not available in the Del Prado range but came about as the result of a paint conversion by Old Painter Bob, and very nice they look as well!

What is not to like about a French Guard Lancer? I was rather pleased with the two units above, especially as I had the full command group for each although the trumpeter for the Dutch Lancers was acquired separately. These form part of the Guard cavalry selection I have along with the Horse Grenadiers and the Chasseurs a Cheval. In due course I will add the Empress Dragoons but for now I am in the rather embarrassing position of having nearly twice as many Guard cavalry as infantry!

Whilst on the subject of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard I recently took advantage of the Naval and Military Press Easter sale to pick up a copy of the tome you see below.

A great doorstop of a tome and a high quality reprint although the plates of the original version are now prints rather than glossy photographs. A snip at £7.99 down from £35!

I own an original edition of this work that I acquired at a boot sale but it is without the dust jacket and is in what I believe is known as ‘bumped’ condition. The cover and the body of the text look at though they have had an argument and there is a huge gap between them. For all that it is a cracking read though and I am very pleased to have a new version of this classic title.

Del Prado Units Number 1....Dutch Carabiniers

3rd Dutch Carabiniers being inspected by a passing general - in this case Jean Victor de Constant Rebecque

Of the three regiments of Dutch - Belgian heavy cavalry at Waterloo the 1st and 3rd regiments were Dutch whilst the 2nd was Belgian. All were similar looking with regimental differences being limited to (as far as my limited research has taken me) facings. I have a single unit of these fellows in the Anglo - Dutch army and I rather like them. The pose is one that I favour for horse units of any type really, standing at the halt ready to move.

I would have preferred this pose for the Horse Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard but instead we have them sitting bolt upright on horses at full gallop - far too animated for my taste as even the Guard Chasseurs are only ambling along at a steady trot.

This post is designed to be the first in an occasional series featuring completed units from my Del Prado collection. The figures themselves are due to have a second coat of gloss varnish with the bases finished in matt but other than that they are in pretty good order.

The Dutch component of my collection will be expanded in due course as I rather like the idea of adding some light cavalry and artillery at some point but that will be something to think about in the future.