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The Enigma of Dragoons
As some of you probably realise by now, I have been researching historic French regiments and their uniforms.
One thing which has surprised me is that many of the famous elite regiments in the French army were trained (and expected) to fight on foot or mounted. In LGDR the only way to capture this seems to be to raise elite dragoons. However, in the rules, dragoons are inferior to both horse or foot in their respective roles, so the notion of elite troops being raised as dragoons seems crazy as by definition they would be inferior to elite foot or elite horse, easily defeated by either.
Elite dragoons seem to be necessary for provosts or military bands, but these are not substitutes for key elite historical units.
What has surprised me is how widespread this dual-role was in Louis’ army.
The Garde du Corps was originally formed in 1419 from Scottish Archers before being expanded to be armed with halberds (when fighting on foot) or carbines (when mounted). From 1676 they had become fully-fledged cavalry armed with pistol, sword and carbine. A quarter of them were armed with rifled carbines.
The Gendarmes de la Garde seem to have evolved from various units in the 1500s, before being formally established in 1609 under the command of the Dauphin. At this point they were a pure cavalry unit, even though rather oddly the title Gendarmes de la Garde simply means Men-at-Arms which is more usually associated with infantry. There also seems to be some confusion as to whether the gentlemen Company of Lancers (100 noblemen who formed an honour guard) formed part of the ancestry of the Gendarmes having originally been attached to the Garde du Corps.
The Mousquetaires de la Garde (originally founded in 1622) was disbanded (as per Dumas’ novels) in 1646, but re-established as the ‘Grey’ Musketeers (1657) and the ‘Black’ Musketeers (1665). D’Artagnan was the Captain of the ‘Grey’ Musketeers from 1667 until 1673 when he died at the siege of Maastricht. What is particularly interesting about these units is that entrants for the musketeers had to be experienced foot soldiers before they could join the musketeers. At this point they had to learn to ride a horse, but perhaps because of their heritage more often than not fought on foot.
The Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde (horse grenadiers of the guard) had a similar heritage. It was formed from the bravest infantry grenadiers in the army in 1676. They were mounted and obliged to wear large black moustaches. So they could throw their grenades from horseback, they had a special cap (red, trimmed with fur) and carried pistols, carbines and curved sabres. Perhaps rather confusingly, they tended to fight on foot.
So we have 4 units who were very much elite, yet who don’t seem to fit into the rules. The Musketeers are probably the closest to dragoons and I guess the Horse Grenadiers could be raised simply as elite cavalry with grenades, though tactically they could not be used as they were historically. The rules do allow for ordinary infantry to be mounted, but the horses have to be replaced after every move, so that is hardly appropriate for elite units. I’m just curious if anyone ever managed to raise such historic units and if so how they did it?
Whilst musing on the subject of dragoons I also became curious as to their development in the 1700s. It appears that in France, the dragoons were indeed originally founded as cheap, flexible mounted infantry (just as in the LDGR rules). The first French dragoon regiment (Régiment de la Ferté) was raised in 1645, with another added in 1657. They were equipped with musket, pistol, sabre and shovel. The shovel was so they could dig in so they were clearly expected to fight on foot and consequently were not issued with cavalry boots. In the 1680s, more dragoon regiments were created specifically to implement the Dragonnades and oddly are pictured in contemporary prints wearing totally impractical cavalry boots with what appears to be rather comical green uniforms straight out of a pantomime. In 1684 with the huge expansion of infantry regiments, many new dragoon regiments were also raised, specifically as cheap cavalry, but these were disbanded in 1697. By the start of the War of the Spanish Succession, the French army had only 21 dragoon regiments, though some of these started life as converted horse regiments. This practice continued throughout the 1700s, one famous example being the 3rd Dragoons which was founded in 1649 as a cavalry regiment raised for the Duc d’Enghein (son of the Great Condé), renamed Bourbon-Cavalerie Regiment 1686, and Bourbon-Dragons in 1776 when it was turned into a dragoon regiment.
Compared to other armies the French army had very few dragoons. There is some evidence that French commanders during WSS didn’t really know what to do with dragoon regiments. They seemed to be used as a source for replacement troopers by existing cavalry units (or even infantry units where remounts were unsatisfactory) rather than for distinctive tactical purposes in their own right. The French seemed to hang on to Carbine-armed cavalry in the 1700s for far longer than other countries, so perhaps in the French army dragoons were seen as inferior Carabiniers? All this changed after the Revolution, of course! Names were replaced by numbers and many units were abolished. In other countries, cost considerations seemed to weigh more heavily and dragoons seemed to evolve into either combat cavalry (in a traditional heavy cavalry role) on heavier horses, or in fewer cases into a light cavalry role on their original lighter mounts for scouting/police duties.
With this in mind perhaps there is a need for a new kind of horse unit, a true mounted-infantry unit (not the LGDR definition of infantry mounted on horses that need replacing after moving) which does not have the disadvantages associated with ordinary dragoons, but which can be adapted to the dual role of these elite French units, and probably similar units in other armies of the time. They would still be relatively small in number because if they were costed as elite cavalry, you would need to raise 5 at a base cost of £95,000 in place of each elite infantry unit costing £17,500. That is a huge premium to pay just for the sake of being historical, and perhaps that is why I suspect it has never been seriously tried. However I am curious as to whether players have attempted to raise similar elite units from their own countries who were expected to be equally skilled on horse or foot, and if so how?
As some of you probably realise by now, I have been researching historic French regiments and their uniforms.
One thing which has surprised me is that many of the famous elite regiments in the French army were trained (and expected) to fight on foot or mounted. In LGDR the only way to capture this seems to be to raise elite dragoons. However, in the rules, dragoons are inferior to both horse or foot in their respective roles, so the notion of elite troops being raised as dragoons seems crazy as by definition they would be inferior to elite foot or elite horse, easily defeated by either.
Elite dragoons seem to be necessary for provosts or military bands, but these are not substitutes for key elite historical units.
What has surprised me is how widespread this dual-role was in Louis’ army.
The Garde du Corps was originally formed in 1419 from Scottish Archers before being expanded to be armed with halberds (when fighting on foot) or carbines (when mounted). From 1676 they had become fully-fledged cavalry armed with pistol, sword and carbine. A quarter of them were armed with rifled carbines.
The Gendarmes de la Garde seem to have evolved from various units in the 1500s, before being formally established in 1609 under the command of the Dauphin. At this point they were a pure cavalry unit, even though rather oddly the title Gendarmes de la Garde simply means Men-at-Arms which is more usually associated with infantry. There also seems to be some confusion as to whether the gentlemen Company of Lancers (100 noblemen who formed an honour guard) formed part of the ancestry of the Gendarmes having originally been attached to the Garde du Corps.
The Mousquetaires de la Garde (originally founded in 1622) was disbanded (as per Dumas’ novels) in 1646, but re-established as the ‘Grey’ Musketeers (1657) and the ‘Black’ Musketeers (1665). D’Artagnan was the Captain of the ‘Grey’ Musketeers from 1667 until 1673 when he died at the siege of Maastricht. What is particularly interesting about these units is that entrants for the musketeers had to be experienced foot soldiers before they could join the musketeers. At this point they had to learn to ride a horse, but perhaps because of their heritage more often than not fought on foot.
The Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde (horse grenadiers of the guard) had a similar heritage. It was formed from the bravest infantry grenadiers in the army in 1676. They were mounted and obliged to wear large black moustaches. So they could throw their grenades from horseback, they had a special cap (red, trimmed with fur) and carried pistols, carbines and curved sabres. Perhaps rather confusingly, they tended to fight on foot.
So we have 4 units who were very much elite, yet who don’t seem to fit into the rules. The Musketeers are probably the closest to dragoons and I guess the Horse Grenadiers could be raised simply as elite cavalry with grenades, though tactically they could not be used as they were historically. The rules do allow for ordinary infantry to be mounted, but the horses have to be replaced after every move, so that is hardly appropriate for elite units. I’m just curious if anyone ever managed to raise such historic units and if so how they did it?
Whilst musing on the subject of dragoons I also became curious as to their development in the 1700s. It appears that in France, the dragoons were indeed originally founded as cheap, flexible mounted infantry (just as in the LDGR rules). The first French dragoon regiment (Régiment de la Ferté) was raised in 1645, with another added in 1657. They were equipped with musket, pistol, sabre and shovel. The shovel was so they could dig in so they were clearly expected to fight on foot and consequently were not issued with cavalry boots. In the 1680s, more dragoon regiments were created specifically to implement the Dragonnades and oddly are pictured in contemporary prints wearing totally impractical cavalry boots with what appears to be rather comical green uniforms straight out of a pantomime. In 1684 with the huge expansion of infantry regiments, many new dragoon regiments were also raised, specifically as cheap cavalry, but these were disbanded in 1697. By the start of the War of the Spanish Succession, the French army had only 21 dragoon regiments, though some of these started life as converted horse regiments. This practice continued throughout the 1700s, one famous example being the 3rd Dragoons which was founded in 1649 as a cavalry regiment raised for the Duc d’Enghein (son of the Great Condé), renamed Bourbon-Cavalerie Regiment 1686, and Bourbon-Dragons in 1776 when it was turned into a dragoon regiment.
Compared to other armies the French army had very few dragoons. There is some evidence that French commanders during WSS didn’t really know what to do with dragoon regiments. They seemed to be used as a source for replacement troopers by existing cavalry units (or even infantry units where remounts were unsatisfactory) rather than for distinctive tactical purposes in their own right. The French seemed to hang on to Carbine-armed cavalry in the 1700s for far longer than other countries, so perhaps in the French army dragoons were seen as inferior Carabiniers? All this changed after the Revolution, of course! Names were replaced by numbers and many units were abolished. In other countries, cost considerations seemed to weigh more heavily and dragoons seemed to evolve into either combat cavalry (in a traditional heavy cavalry role) on heavier horses, or in fewer cases into a light cavalry role on their original lighter mounts for scouting/police duties.
With this in mind perhaps there is a need for a new kind of horse unit, a true mounted-infantry unit (not the LGDR definition of infantry mounted on horses that need replacing after moving) which does not have the disadvantages associated with ordinary dragoons, but which can be adapted to the dual role of these elite French units, and probably similar units in other armies of the time. They would still be relatively small in number because if they were costed as elite cavalry, you would need to raise 5 at a base cost of £95,000 in place of each elite infantry unit costing £17,500. That is a huge premium to pay just for the sake of being historical, and perhaps that is why I suspect it has never been seriously tried. However I am curious as to whether players have attempted to raise similar elite units from their own countries who were expected to be equally skilled on horse or foot, and if so how?
