- Approximately 2.25” tall (54 mm)
- 5 unpainted highly detailed dragoons and 5 unpainted horses
- Packaged in a box
- Minor assembly required
- Recommend for hobbyists and miniature gamers 14 years and above
This Expeditionary Force boxed set of 5 mounted British Dragoon figures of a typical British unit from 1803 - 1815.
At the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, the "heavy" cavalry were equivalent to dragoons. They consisted of three regiments of Household Cavalry, seven regiments of Dragoon Guards and six regiments of Dragoons. The Dragoon Guards had been regiments of heavy cavalry in the eighteenth century, but had been converted to dragoons to save money. The heavy cavalry wore red uniforms and bicorne hats. From 1796, they were armed with the straight 1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword, a heavy hacking sword which was reckoned to be useless for thrusting, and also carried a long carbine. (The Scots Greys wore a bearskin headdress and had a more curved sword.)
The British cavalry was usually organized into brigades, but no higher formations. Brigades were attached to infantry divisions or columns, or sometimes acted directly under the command of the cavalry commander of an army.
British cavalry were excellently mounted and were reckoned superior to French cavalry if squadrons clashed, but because brigades and even regiments were rarely exercised in battlefield manoeuvres and tactics, they were inferior in larger numbers. Wellington in particular was highly unimpressed by the quality and intelligence of many of his cavalry officers. He said:
I considered our (British) cavalry so inferior to the French from the want of order, that although I considered one squadron a match for two French, I didn't like to see four British opposed to four French: and as the numbers increased and order, of course, became more necessary I was the more unwilling to risk our men without having a superiority in numbers.
