The lost GMB flags for my British cavalry have surfaced, and those appropriate to the three Dragoon/Dragoon Guard regiments have been bestowed upon them with all due pomp and ceremony... As well as some white glue! There was probably some karma at work here. The post on the Canaanite army that Ken gifted me with has been in the "must do" queue for quite some time, and I finally got around to it. When I opened the Really Useful Box that I had them stored in, it had some "in process" figures within, and in my pre Historicon preparations, I found that I had swept the flags into the box as well, as I knew the cavalry was at the top of the list to do after the convention. Lost flags - found!
The guidon of the 3rd (Queen's Own) Dragoons is a very bluish green, almost a turquoise hue. The Hamilton-Smith diagrams show the green if this regiment as being a rather dull shade more towards the yellow than the blue end of the spectrum, which is how I painted them. In keeping with the unit's white lace, the fringe is silver.
Here they are in their splendor! The flags of the Dragoon Guards are square, like those of the Life Guards and the Horse Guards, because the Dragoon Guards descended from the regiments of Horse, which were heavy cavalry, while the Dragoon regiments have the swallow tail guidons associated with their arm of service. as noted previously, few if any British cavalry regiments carried any of their flags in the filed after 1812, but not so for my lads!
The 3rd (Prince of Wakes) Dragoon Guards standard has a white field and gold fringe, in keeping with the regiment's white facing and yellow lace. The three feathered cap of the regiment's namesake is prominent, if less easily distinguished due to the white feathers on a white field.
The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons have the usual guidon shaped flag. In British cavalry regiments, the first squadron caries the Kings standard, and each of the other squadrons has a regimental flag. Ordinarily, the King's standard has a crimson field, whereas the regimental flags have their fields in the facing color. Since I like the aesthetics of the flags matching the facings, most of my regiments carry their Regimental colors. I will use some of the left over King's colors for units that GMB doesn't list flags for.
The guidon of the 3rd (Queen's Own) Dragoons is a very bluish green, almost a turquoise hue. The Hamilton-Smith diagrams show the green if this regiment as being a rather dull shade more towards the yellow than the blue end of the spectrum, which is how I painted them. In keeping with the unit's white lace, the fringe is silver.
British Dragoons and Dragoon Guards, 1803 - 1812
Unit
|
Title
|
Facings
|
Lace
|
1st Dragoon Guards
|
King’s
|
Dark Blue
|
Gold
|
2nd Dragoon Guards
|
Queen’s
|
Black
|
Silver
|
3rd Dragoon Guards
|
Prince of Wales’s
|
White
|
Gold
|
4th Dragoon Guards
|
Royal Irish
|
Dark Blue
|
Silver
|
5th Dragoon Guards
|
Princess Charlotte f Wales
|
Green
|
Gold
|
6th Dragoon Guards
|
Carabiniers
|
White
|
Silver
|
7th Dragoon Guards
|
Prince Royal’s
|
Black
|
Gold
|
1st Dragoons
|
Royal
|
Dark Blue
|
Gold
|
2nd Dragoons
|
Royal North British
|
Dark Blue
|
Gold*
|
3rd Dragoons
|
King’s Own
|
Dark Blue
|
Gold
|
4th Dragoons
|
Queen’s Own
|
Green
|
Silver
|
5th Dragoons
|
vacant
|
--
|
--
|
6th Dragoons
|
Inniskilling
|
Yellow
|
Silver
|
* white lace for men
British Dragoons and Dragoon Guards, 1812
Unit
|
Title
|
Facings
|
Lace $
|
1st Dragoon Guards
|
King’s
|
Dark Blue
|
Yellow
|
2nd Dragoon Guards
|
Queen’s
|
Black
|
White
|
3rd Dragoon Guards
|
Prince of Wales’s
|
White @
|
Yellow
|
4th Dragoon Guards
|
Royal Irish
|
Dark Blue
|
White
|
5th Dragoon Guards
|
Prncs Charlotte of Wales's
|
Green
|
Yellow
|
6th Dragoon Guards
|
Carabiniers
|
White
|
White
|
7th Dragoon Guards
|
Prince Royal’s
|
Black
|
Yellow
|
1st Dragoons
|
Royal
|
Dark Blue
|
Yellow
|
2nd Dragoons
|
Royal North British
|
Dark Blue
|
White*
|
3rd Dragoons
|
King’s Own
|
Dark Blue
|
Yellow
|
4th Dragoons
|
Queen’s Own
|
Green #
|
White
|
5th Dragoons
|
vacant
|
--
|
--
|
6th Dragoons
|
Inniskilling
|
Yellow
|
White
|
$ Officer’s lace was gold or silver
@ 3rd D.G. changed facings to blue in 1815, then yellow in 1819
* Officer’s lace gold; men’s lace white until 1813, then yellow
# sometimes described as blue-green
Flags/banners always look impressive, which helps the figures look awesome on the wargame table top...lovely sight of the British "1815 Waterloo - Union?" Cavalry Brigade Peter!
ReplyDeletecheers,
Not quite the Union Brigade; I chose the regiments for their varied facing colors! :-)
DeleteThe addition of flags dress up your British cavalry nicely. I like the GMG flags a lot.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them, Jon. I love the flags with them as well.
DeleteMost fetching Peter. They finish off the units nicely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, James!
DeleteThe units certainly look good. Nice to see the standards.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joe! I was definitely remembering your own Greys as I was painting mine!
DeleteA lovely selection of regiments, and the standards provide the perfect finishing touch.
ReplyDeletehank you, Lawrence!
DeleteGreat flags that really dramatize already excellent figures
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words, Garry!
DeleteThe flags look pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteThe flags look pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray; Glad you like them!
DeleteVery nice results!
ReplyDeleteThanks, David
DeleteVery nice, love your flags!
ReplyDeleteNice flags, finish the units off very well.
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Peter,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post - I needed the information about flag shapes for dragoons and you have spelled this out perfectly.
Reason: I have both GMB flags for 1st Dragoons; I will use the regimental colour for the 1st; I wanted to know if I could use the crimson King's colour for the 3rd Dragoons (by adding a 'Roman I' either side if the single 'Roman I' of the 1st) and the information you give says YES!
Bravo, for this info.
James
Thanks, James, glad to be of service! I am also glad that your cavalry will carry their flags, regardless of foolish an aesthetically challenged orders to the contrary!
DeleteThe badge of the 3rd Dragoons ("Royal") might or might not be bit different from the 1st ("King's Own"), but if you aren't super picky about these things (I am not), it should work fine.