"Spanish Dragoons - Heavy or Light Cavalry?" Topic

Hi

I'm in the process of building a Spanish force for use with Sam Mustafa's 'Blucher' rules (in the Peninsular) but not sure if Dragoons should count as 'light' or 'heavy' cavlary? Very grateful for any help.

Cheers Paul

I'd opt to Heavy

Sam counts them as light in his army lists for LaSalle 2. I can't see Spanish Dragoons being anything but light. They were poorly mounted and training for most of the war.

Mark

While they were probably poorly mounted and trained as Mark states, above, they were considered battlefield cavalry as opposed to "light horse" used for reconnaissance and screening.

I would consider them as "heavy" for movement and terrain restrictions but as "light" for close combat, with no ability to shoot from the saddle.

Jim

Size of horse is a big factor between light and heavy

Spanish had a major shortage of horses, so should count as light

If you look at an oob, each regiment barely fielded a squadron

John

Is "neither" an option? The poor quality of horses would have prevented them from being on par with opposing heavy horse. I suspect though that the poor quality of horses and the lack of training would have prevented them from being on par with opposing light horse. I think Jim's answer is probably as good as any.

Agree with Jim – horseflesh was a primary determinant if one was light or heavy cav

What nations cavalry should be similarly downgraded for poor quality mounts? I find it hard to believe the Spanish were alone in this situation.

For all the praise the French cavalry gets, weren't they notorious for taking very poor care of their mounts? That should count for something.

If we are considering them as the same as Hussars then Empire 3rd classes them as Light Cavalry and not Battle Cavalry, with "Del Ray" considered as Landwehr morale and others as trained militia.

Light Cavalry were capable of close order combat, although they would be at disadvantages against big horse, big men and long straight swords. I am not certain what type of swords they possessed, the images I have seen on Google seems to indicate they are straight and presumably reasonably long, so apart from quality I suppose they would have an advantage against actual Hussars or Chasseurs-à-Cheval in a tightly packed environment. Its an interesting question. It also depends on the rules; WRG Horse and Musket rules class them as Heavy Cavalry. I suspect you could class them as poor quality heavy or light.

I would consider them as heavy cavalry but bad quality. Their equipment, training etc would be as heavy ones, the quality of the horses and maybe morale/training give them a (much?) lower designation.