New Ebor WSS French Dragoons

[Arthur]

Mounted and dismounted French dragoons for the War of the Spanish Succession and the Nine years War (they'll do nicely for both). The humans are Paul Hicks sculpts while the horses are the usual Ebob mounts. 







Ebor have other releases on their website, mostly Great Northern War stuff (Russian infantry and Swedish cavalry in karpus). Also in the pipeline are cuirassiers with various headgear for the War of the Spanish Succession :





http://www.eborminiatures.com/

[GamesPoet]

It's only a matter of time before I purchase some figures from Ebor.

[jambo1]

More lovely figures from Ebor.

[The Grim Mariner]

I can see Nick getting even more of my money than he does now!

[warrenpeace]

Those French dragoons look good. I sent an email to Ebor some months ago asking if there would be some French dragoons in their lineup, but got no answer. So I bought some Foundry Casting Room instead. Maybe I can justify having a couple of Ebor French dragoon units too...

[Arthur]

You mean these ?



They're not the worst of the Casting Room WSS range (which is pretty dire in my opinion) but they're not great figures either. The Ebor figures are anatomically better (they're based on the same dollies as the infantry range) and are also far more accurate in terms of accoutrements and footwear (French dragoons never used ammo boxes slung from a shoulder belt and those turned down floppy boots only ever existed in the sculptor's imagination - French dragoons wore buckled leather leggings as correctly depicted on the Ebor figures).

[warrenpeace]

Yep, Arthur, those are the ones. I know that the footwear is wrong, and I'll probably have to try hiding that in some brushy terrain on the bases, or perhaps I'll do a little bit of work with a knife... Didn't know about the ammo pouches. I used to try to be a stickler about accuracy. However, I'm loosening up a bit. And I liked the attitude of these Casting Room figures, and the fact that there's 6 different poses. In the absence of any reply from Ebor about whether or not French dragoons were on the way, and in the absence of any real alternatives. I went ahead and ordered the Casting Room, but only 4 packs of them.

You're not even going to want to see the Casting Room mounted SYW French dragoons that I'm going to use as WSS dragoons! Those guys are carrying their muskets all wrong for WSS. However, again I liked the attitude of the figures and the fact that there were 3 different poses in the pack. I love using figures for WSS that avoid the "lock step" look that is so common in SYW miniatures. Anyway, I only bought 12 of those figures.

Only 2 of us in my area have 28mm WSS collections, but we have thousands of painted figures. Quite of few of these are from many years ago, before there was much accuracy available for the various national uniforms. It's better now. But these inaccuracies tend to disappear in the mass spectacle. And the 2 of us like the fact that we have figures from so many different companies and sculptors. Helps us avoid painting the same figure too many times. I do expect to buy some Ebor eventually, especially the Spanish figures.

[Arthur]

I'll take your word on the Casting Room mounted dragoons, Warren  

Yes, French dragoons never used cartridge boxes during the period. Until the mid to late 1680's; they wore crossbelts (one supporting the sword and the other a rather shapeless leather bullet bag) that were generally secured by a white waist sash, as shown below :



By the beginning of the Nine Years war, a new accoutrement had been introduced, with the sword and bayonet now being carried on a waistbelt which also had a bullet bag attached to it (figure H in the pic below). The fourniment - or powder horn - was attached to a very narrow shoulder belt which looked more like a thin leather strap.
 


(figures A and L depict the new line cavalry waistbelt and carbine shoulder belt respectively).

Here's what the boys would have looked like after 1690 :

[Stecal]

been waiting a long time for the Ebor Dragoons since Nick hinted at them last year.  Immediately ordered 4 regts.

[Rogerc]

Love these, shame I am not doing Franch, would love to do some with fur hats as Poles for GNW

[Blofeld]

Very nice looking minis  !
Thanks for sharing
Blofeld

[von Cyrillus]

Arthur, thanks for sharing 

[chema1986]

Any idea on when they will be available ?

[Ben Waterhouse]

They are the Bees Knees are they not?

[Arthur]

Any idea on when they will be available ?

They are now :

http://www.eborminiatures.com/products-page/wss-french-dragoons/