French Cavalry of the
Line
The French army's cavalry was key to
many of its victories. The light cavalry was made up of the chasseurs
a cheval, hussars, and lancers. They were used to forage and scout
for the enemy. The medium cavalry (dragoons) were used for pursuit
of a broken enemy. The heavies, cuirassiers and carabiniers, were
used as shock troops on the field of battle. French cavalry of the
later wars is well represented in 1/72 scale.
The Chasseurs a Cheval of the Line
started the war in a hussar-style uniform, but by 1808 had their own distinctive
digs. HaT Industries makes the only suitable set for these fellows,
and it is a beauty.
Hussars were certainly some
of the most colorful of the cavalry. Italeri's French Hussars set
works very well for hussars of any nation.
HaT has released a set of
French Lancers, but I have not been able to obtain them yet. I'll
post some scans once I do.
French Dragoons have a very poor
reputation today, but its important to remember what a tough job they had.
With broken down horses and heavy equipment, they were asked to act as
light cavalry. With no armor they were asked to act as heavy cavalry.
In addition to all this they were to act as mounted infantry, dismounting
and skirmishing on foot! HaT and Italeri have each put out a set
of French Dragoons.
The heavies in the French army were
the Cuirassiers. These men had steel breastplates and heavy swords,
and would charge en masse to break the enemy line. Esci and A Call
to Arms have both released cuirassiers.
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Esci French
Cuirassiers
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The best way to obtain French cuirassiers,
in my experience, is to convert them using the bodies of Italeri carabiniers
and the the heads of Italeri dragoons. This is a fairly simple conversion,
and produces spectacular results.
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Converted
French Cuirassiers
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This page last updated July 13th, 2002
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