Saturday 14 May 2011

Recently Painted No 27 Fitzhardinge's Dragoons 1692




The Monmouth’s rebellion scared Parliament into forming the first standing Army in 1685, among it six regiments of horse and two of Dragoons. It was constituted of six troops, raised by the honourable John Berkeley and named after him as "Berkeley’s Dragoons" it’s recruiting area for all of the troops was Wessex. Berkeley married Barbera Villiers, an intimate friend of the King’s younger daughter, Princess Anne. Thus came about the first title of the Regiment "The Princess Anne of Denmark’s Regiment of Dragoons". In October Berkeley’s Dragoons rode into London to be inspected by the King, a critical Commander, who was nevertheless impressed with them. For the next three years the regiment came to annual summer camp on Hounslow Heath. In the glorious revolution of 1688, the Regiment performed the same role as most of the King’s Army changing to William of Oranges side when the Monarchs position became untenable.


In 1689 Berkeley’s Dragoons saw their first action in Scotland fighting against those still loyal to King James. The following year Fitzhardinge took over the colonelcy from Berkeley and the title of Princess Anne’s Regiment fell into disuse. In 1692 the Regiment went to Flanders to fight against the French for six years, a tedious succession of marching and counter marching waiting to catch the enemy unawares. In 1692 they fought at Steenkirk, a badly orchestrated defeat in which Fitzardinge’s Dragoons lost 130 Killed, despite their conspicuous gallantry. The colonelcy changed again in 1693, when the Earl of Essex took over for almost twenty years. Two years later the Regiment helped to recapture the fortress of Namur. After the peace of Ryswick in 1697, Essex’s Dragoons returned to Yorkshire, a blooded Cavalry Regiment.

The figures are 15mm  by Essex Miniatures, bases are from Warbases and flags are by me! They're based up for BLB, there are 2 squadron's and two bases of dis-mounted Dragoons.

Thanks for looking
Ray













24 comments:

  1. very nice work mate.

    Darrell.

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  2. Very nice Ray! And a change of period too!

    Is this a new distraction or something you have been doing for a while?

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  3. @Kingsley - I've been painting this army up now for around a year, my pals painting up the French, hopefully we'll have a game by the end of the year, fingers crossed!!! Take a look at my labels, there's loads of other NYW stuff there too.

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  4. I really like the period and your minis. I'll keep in touch for further relases.

    Fabrizio

    www.torgauproject.blogspot.com

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  5. Nice paint job. Really good work on the flags, too!

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  6. Great work as always you talented bugger!

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  8. Yep, they are 15mm, I forgot to mention that in the post, which I've now changed. As for Essex figures, I think they're one of the better makes, sure AB are probably the finest for Nappies, but Essex figures are so easy to paint, with some AB I've found them a pain, after undercoating belts and such vanish and you really have to dig the detail out.

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  10. Proper British Cavalry with red coats!

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  11. Very nice painting mate. Look forward to seeing these on the games table at some point.

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  12. Great stuff! just thought to say it more concise... :)

    Cheers.

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  13. I love their little hats!! lol.

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  14. What a cool set there! Like zombie said, love the hats!

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  15. I agree - this is very good work, and even in the details like ranked-up spacing and the base finish.

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  16. Lovely unit again. And good work on the flags. Cheers, Michael

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  17. these look really nice! nicely done you got skills

    I have followed your blog..Could you follow mine too please?

    Sky Stock Analysis

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  18. I like the use of red and yellow. They look like little banditios to me! ^^

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