1st Continental Dragoons - Fife & Drum Miniatures

All 8 poses of the 1st Continental Dragoons, circa 1777. (Click to enlarge)

I was able to paint all 8 of the new Fife & Drum 1st Continental Dragoons as samples yesterday - that's a pretty good painting pace, finishing 8 cavalry, from start to finish, in one day. I always paint at least one of the figures complete - start to finish - because this gives me a better feel for how to paint the rest of the figures: i.e what order should I paint the various bits and pieces of equipment and cloth. Once that first figure is painted, then the others follow more quickly.

Here are the new product code numbers for each of the eight new figures:

AC-010  1st Continental Dragoon Officer, pointing

AC-011  1st Continental Dragoon Standard Bearer

AC-012  1st Continental Dragoon Trumpeter

AC-013  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper with Shouldered Sword

AC-014  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, rested Carbine

AC-015  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, Firing Pistol

AC-016  1st Continental Dragoon Trooper, Firing Carbine

AC-017  1st Continenal Dragoon Trooper, Reloading Carbine

1st Continental Dragoon Command (L-R): AC-013 Trooper, Shouldered Sword; AC-011 Trumpeter; AC-012 Standard Bearer; and AC-010 Officer (click pix to enlarge)

Another view of the command figures, same order left to right. Obviously the Trooper with shouldered sword is not part of the command group - it was just convenient to photograph the figures in groups of 4 figures.

The figures are sculpted such that one could create a regiment with a more formal appearance, an open order skirmish appearance, or a mix of the two. For a more formal looking regiment, use the four figures shown in the two pictures above. For example, you might select one each of the officer, standard bearer and the trumpeter plus nine of the trooper with shouldered sword to create a squadron or regiment  of 12 dragoons.

The you could add one each of the four skirmishing poses (firing pistol, firing carbine, reloading carbine or rested carbine) to bring your wargame unit up to 16 figures, which is probably a good number to have in most AWI games. The skirmishers could either augment the strength of the unit, or if you base your cavalry on the standard 2-inch square base, you could remove one stand of "formal" dragoons and replace it on the table with two individually-mounted skirmishers.

1st Continental Dragoons skirmishing (L-R) AC-0016 Firing Pistol; AC-014 Rested Carbine; AC-017 Reloading; and AC-016 Firing Carbine (click pix to enlarge)

If you want a more open, skirmish order look to your regiment, then I would recommend selecting the officer (pointing to where a target is) and perhaps the firing pistol and firing carbine and reloading figures. Then, you could have a reserve in your skirmish line consisting of the trooper with the carbine resting on his right thigh and perhaps even the standard bearer and trumpeter posted in the rear with the reserve line. I would use the standing horses for the skirmish poses.

I elected to paint the 1st Continental Dragoons in their earlier brown coat with green facings uniform, which is kind of drab when compared to the more spectacular red coats of the British 16th Light Dragoons that I painted last week. The regiment later converted to a blue coat with red facings. I used the brown  coat since that is likely what the regiment wore during the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777-78, which my AWI Continental army is modelled after.