"Which Figures to Use for The Blues - 1st Horse" Topic

I would like to paint the SYW regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) using Front Rank figures and I was wondering which figures I should use. Front Rank lists a "Life Guard" trooper and a "horse regiment" trooper in its catalog.

SYBC1 Life Guard Trooper
SYBC4 Regiment of Horse Trooper

Since the Blues started out as the 1st Regiment of Horse, but eventually evolved to Household status, I'm assuming that I should use the "horse regiment" casting instead of the "Life Guard" casting.

Agree or disagree?

It didn't become a Household regiment until late in the Napoleonic Wars, and was one of three 'coloured' regiments, originally styled 'the blue regiment of horse' (the others were the blacks and greens).

So, agree.

Bit of usless information

Its CO during the SYW was John Manners, the Marquis of Granby. He settled small sums on his NCOs after the battle of Warburg. Many of them bought inns with the money and named them after him. The Marquis of Granby is still a popular pub name. link

>>>Since the Blues started out as the 1st Regiment of Horse<<<

Why not the "Willie" D9 Trooper of Horse c1750? Perhaps too large to mix comfortably with other units of FR cavalry?

He was sculpted as a nearly dead ringer for CCP Lawson's illustrations of British horse regiments in volume 2 of his opus on the British Army.

I might well do them with the Suren figures if I paint them myself. If I were to use Dragon Painting Service, then I'd go with the Front Rank figures.

By the way, Fritz, I recall seeing a unit of Prussian "Brown" hussars on your site. I recall that they were Staddens. How do they look with your other figures – size, bulk etc? Stadden's horses are also among the best. All still available through Tradition?

GdeP

Pictures here for you, DAF:
link

And there's a rear view of the Blues uniform at the Morier section of H.M.'s collection online.

DAF- the Blues wore the same cut of uniform as the other Regts of Horse- most importantly with two cross belts- so a Horseguards (later Lifeguards) casting would be incorrect.
Remember the Blues and other Horse Regts wore cuirasses under their coats on service in Germany in the SYW, but not in the WAS

Connard- re useless info- the above regiment was and. is always known as 'the Blues'. But the 'Blue Horse' was a different Regiment. They were the 5th Horse in 1742, which became the 1st Horse in 1746, and ultimately the 4th Dragoon Guards after 1788.

PS The Blues did not become a Household Regiment till 1820.

The Blues were originally Oxford's Horse sometimes, known as Oxford's Blues. They were the Cromwellian component of the cavalry at the restoration, just as Monck's regiment became the Coldstreams.

Nice thing about building a British army of the restoration period is that it's possible to field the whole damn thing without breaking the bank.

Seneffe: can you substantiate your claim that the Horse regiments wore cuirasses during the SYW? I had heard this before but have never been able to find a source on this. If that is the case, guess what I'm going to be painting ASAP to use in our BAR rules games. That should level the playing field with the French.

DAF- Yes I can- though we have gone over this in previous posts about a year ago.
CCP Lawson, the most eminient British uniform historian of c17th-18th covers this in pp 144-145 of Vol II of the History of the Uniforms of the British Army.
He quotes directly an army HQ order from the Secretary of War Sir William Barrington on 5 July 1758 directing the Blues to be provided with cuirasses and skullcaps from 'HM stores' before embarking for service in Germany.
Lawson alsp states that the same equipment was provided to the 3rd and 4th Horse when they went to Germany in 1760.

DAF- just looked at wrote I wrote above. It looks a bit grumpy. Emphatically no grumpiness intended.

S.

Seneffe: no problems, my British army is very happy to hear this news. conversely, Monsieur Chevert's French army will be very unhappy. :)