"Correct colour for French line lancers?" Topic

What colours do you use for French line lancers?
I usually use Vallejo water based or Humbrol/Revell enamel. Is there a colour from those that anyone could recommend?

Many thanks

any dark green will do

If you're feeling especially realistic, remember that no one ever came up with a good colorfast green vegetable dye, and cut yourself some slack. "Any dark green" is close enough.

Ah, my kind of people. Relax. Enjoy.

I've used vallejo's Luftwaffe camo green as a base and then done some highlights on top of that.

Thanks, Setsuko – I'll try that. All the greens I've tried recently look much too light. I used to have a nice Humbrol dark green which was great for Rifles but I've run out and can't remember what it was!

wasn't the green of the lancers the same as the dragoon green?

I would think so. Line cavalry green, worn by chasseurs, dragoons, and lancers.

As a matter of interest – the officers would have higher-quality cloth with better dyes.

Would the warrent officers/senior ncos also have better-dyed togs too?

Probably not. The reason officers usually had better quality stuff was that they bought it with their own money. WO's and NCO's (and even some less monetarily endowed officers) would be stuck with government issue.

Did French Napoleonic Dragoons and Chasseurs use the same dye lots? I thought I remember that they used a more medium green for the Dragoons? Anyone?

not to my knowledge

Me neither. Foot troops of the line all wore dark blue coats, mounted troops of the line all wore medium green coats. Within the bounds of dye consistency, it was the same blue and the same green.

I blame Humbrol. If they'd called MC7 'Line Cavalry Green' rather than MC7 'Dragoon Green', they'd have both sold more paint and confused fewer people.

According to link Humbrol 101 enamel, now called "Matt Mid-Green", is the current equivalent of MC7 Dragoon Green.

In the 70's some illustrators showed Dragoons in a mid green and a lot of wargamers copied it but they were wrong – it is a dark green…

yes indeed and then the Humbrol French Dragoon Green was very bright as well.

Consider Humbrol 88 or 149. These are both darker than the MC7 – I still have half a tin of this, it is too light IMHO.

I use Vallejo 891 Intermediate Green for all my froggy green cavalry. Remember ‘colour scale', so the smaller you go the lighter green you use, but this looks good on 15 & 25mm. To my eyes, anyway 🤓

Our best source for French uniforms is Rousselot, in my humble opinion. I believe medium green is mistaken, shown by Osprey, just as they were wrong with the French Light Infantry uniforms.

GdeP

I only collect and paint figures for the Peninsular War in Spainm but as an aside, the Austrian chevau-leger regiments of the Napoleonic Wars are sometimes shown wearing a light green coat. I understand this was actually a dark green – about the same as French Chasseurs a Cheval (guard and line) Dragoons and lancers.

link

GdeP

I'd go with lighter colors for smaller figures.

Scale effect. Go lighter

At least in the early years, Russian dragoons and light infantry did wear a lighter green than the line infantry. Line infantry wore dark green that looked like black with a greenish tinge. Like French infantry blue.

Rousselot planches ( I agree go lighter for smaller figures):

I agree also go lighter the smaller the scale but don't make it light green.

Do we agree that there is scant / no evidence for lancer green, dragoon green and chasseur green being three different colours?

I am not so good a exact colours/shades, but I do remember that the draggon uniform in the Invalides looked quite lighter than a chasseur oficeers one. But that could also be caused by ageing exposure to the light etc.

Staring at the Rousselot planches, I cannot detect any difference in shade of green between the uniforms of the Chasseurs a Cheval, Chevauleger Lanciers or Dragoons.

>>Did French Napoleonic Dragoons and Chasseurs use the same dye >>lots? I thought I remember that they used a more medium green >>for the Dragoons? Anyone?

No.
'Troop types' and 'dye' have nothing in common in discussion. Factories, contracted by the government, created cloth to the required specification for the Army.

How those appeared, in and after use, varied dramatically. Climactic and simple washing conditions varied so effects did too.

'Lightening' figures for shade, fade and effect is permissible. Some books took it way too far, as noted. As always, beware second or third hand sources. But even primary sources failed, as does Rousselot on occasion.
Regards davew

@ Marcel

The trouble is that with a sample of one of each uniform type, there's no way to know if any apparent shade variation between the dragoon coat and the chasseur coat reflects a deliberate decision to clothe them differently, or just arises from supplier variation, etc. One might find the same difference between members of the same unit.

Indeed 4th. That is the question, but it leaves some options open for painting decisions.