"Ever dismount your dragoons?" Topic

Dragoons were originally intended to be mounted infantry, combining the mobility of cavalry with the fighting capabilities of infantry. In your tabletop gaming, do you dismount your dragoons and deploy them as infantry, or do you prefer to use them as cavalry?

(a) Yes, I always dismount and deploy dragoons on foot.
(b) No, I keep them mounted and deploy in cavalry role.
(c) I do both, depending on the tactical situation.
(d) I'd like to deploy them on foot, but cannot find (or have not yet purchased) miniatures to serve this purpose.
(e) Other ___________________________

Only when out of mounts

In my rules Dragoons have a "charge" (melee) value and a fire value. They can use either in a turn. As a "turn" represents about an hour of battlefield time we can dispense with the folderol of mounting and dismounting and horse holders and keeping special figures around for them.

Re: 19th Century colonial. C – with a good likelihood to be dismounted.

From Ambrose Bierce –

DRAGOON, n. A soldier who combines dash and steadiness in so equal measure that he makes his advances on foot and his retreats on horseback.

love the quote.

e) true story once dismounted them in front of a pub they moved back into the pub and never returned to the fray, had to use a horse unit to cover the gap :)
Cheers

C

C

ACW – I dismount them all the time.

C

I tend to use them solely as cavalry so B for me.

Mainly B, that is the most common way they were used in the Nap. era. I do use dismounted dragoons in skirmish games in the Peninsula. and I have a couple of foot dragoon units for the 1805- 1806 period, but then they are infantry all the time.

19th Century – dismount if Colonial, mounted for Napoleonics

18th Century – mostly mounted (depends on rules)

18th century, I have dismounted sections for my French dragoons, but seldom find the opportunity to dismount them on the table. More of a campaign thing when I need some foot in a certain location…

Regularly in ECW.

ECW – dismount them all the time

SYW – almost never

Napoleonics – never

ACW – dismount cavalry all the time; I guess you could say they are all dragoons (further to VCarter's great quote!)

WSS, C

Yes, C.

I do WSS,GNW era so yeah, at times some units dismount.

For Franco-Prussian era, then D.

D – as I need dismounted French dragoons to represent the regiments placed in the line at Fontenoy, facing the Dutch between Fontenoy and Antoing.

Will anyone oblige, I wonder?

E; I do colonials, so I have mounted infantry and colonial light horse/mounted rifle units (mounted and dismounted figures for each unit)

C

C

I only dismount them if they did so historically.

c: not often.

A typical instance might be to send them, mounted, to seize a strong point that they dismount to defend until help comes.

They regularly dismount in our Sharp Practice skirmish games, but not when playing larger battles.
Dismounting when on outpost duty seems to have been fairly common.

Not easy for lack of proper minis.

LoA, WSS – C