RUSSIAN DRAGOONS, RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA

The Newest Addition to the Russian Cavalry Establishment: Dragoons.

In this post, dear readers, we report once again on a step in the steady progress of our Russo Turkish War era project.  Following from the dandy hussars and uhlans of the last two posts, we move to the more workmanlike dragoons. 

Pyotr Balashov Painting of Russian Dragoons transferred to a porcelain plate.

Left, unknown Russian source showing a dragoon officer (seated) and right, a detail from another Balashov painting of Russian cavalry showing Russian Dragoons. If not elaborate, the kit certainly comes across as elegant.

Smart-looking 2nd Dragoon officer depicted in the New York Public Library Vinkhujjzen Collection.

As is the case with most of the Russian cavalry of the era, information is spotty. Once again, I relied on a combination of sources to put together the look of these units.  As with the others, there is no figure line that has these Russian dragoons.  So I repurposed figures from another line--happily, this did not require the physical modifications involved with the Uhlans and Hussars—only color schemes for the Russian dragoon uniform.  

These figures began life as Argentinian Cavalry from the Perry Miniatures War of the Triple Alliance line, which were a close match, to include a slung rifle that would be characteristic of Russian dragoons.  I did shave down the prominent pockets, but that's the only physical modification. 

 

Here are the results. The diffuse natural lighting caused the colors to appear more washed out than they appear to the eye, the green in particular. As usual, you may click pix for BIG  PIX in this post.

 

2nd Dragoons 

My first assignment in the US Army was with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 2nd Dragoons. So of course I had to include a 2nd Dragoon unit in my establishment.  That plus the distinctive pink facings are quite dandy.

 

13th Dragoons

In my Russian Napoleonic army I have a dragoon unit sporting orange facings, so decided to reprise this orange on green combination in my post Napoleonic Russian dragoons. 

 

I originally went with a solid green kepi, but the absence of contrast or detail on the headgear made the figures look unfinished (at least to my eye). Happily, this is where having differing sources was a good thing.  I went with my preference from among them and added a band of facing color on the headgear.  Like the Dude’s rug in The Big Lebowski, it really brought the look together. I also opted for the added color of the medium blue cavalry trousers with stripe.

 

Next Up: Line Cossacks to Complete the Cavalry Contingent

 

Excelsior!