tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097902935093601429.post4846361541088215875..comments2024-03-19T12:07:05.186-07:00Comments on MAIWAND DAY: c.1878-80 Afghan regular army Guard cavalryMad Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668417524454209192noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097902935093601429.post-73975345889361717742012-09-11T13:48:29.767-07:002012-09-11T13:48:29.767-07:00Those look good hope you get time to post more pic...Those look good hope you get time to post more pics of your collection!Willie Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061421971813106397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097902935093601429.post-59592329165561654482012-09-10T00:51:45.045-07:002012-09-10T00:51:45.045-07:00Thank for your comment, Silver Whistle.
I've ...Thank for your comment, Silver Whistle.<br /><br />I've been watching in awe as your Isandlwanda supply and baggage elements have been growing like very beautiful weeds! I am a bit jealous, and need to something similar with Afghan ground-cover below canvas-draped stacks of ammo boxes and other supplies!<br /><br />Hi, Rob,<br /><br />You'd have to remove the French Dragoon epaulettes, but other than that... I think they would do pretty well in a pinch, so to speak, so long as the French Dragoon horses are not ornately furnished. In the handful of newspaper illustrations I've seen of Afghan regular cavalrymen, their horse furniture looks pretty simple.<br /><br />I believe there is some difference in the exact shape of the French c.1870 dragoon helmet and the Bengal Horse Artillery helmet of the 1840s and 1850s, but it's not much of a difference.<br /><br />In fact, the reason I made that big mistake when first describing the Afghan Guard cavalry rigures, is I was thinking of a pair of Franco-Prussian War French Cuirassier officers, who I had converted to serve as Afghan regular army staff, ostensibly dressed in slightly fancier versions of the uniform worn by the unit pictured above.<br /><br />In general I believe there is a bit of a "Franco-Prussian War" look to the uniforms of some Afghan regular army troops from the war of 1878-1880, specifically these helmeted Guard cavalrymen, and the regular artillery, with these particular cavalry looking -- as you point out -- something like French dragoons, and the gunners looking something like Prussian artillery crewmen, the only difference there being that some Afghan artillerymen wore a peaked forage cap, and those who did wear helmets, had a more noticeably different style from the Prussians.<br /><br />I have collected a large number of Foundry 1870 Prussian artillery limbers with crews, which are the last big conversion project I need to do in order to be "done" with my 1878-1880 Afghan regular army. The Prussian limber crews were sculpted by the same Perry brothers who sculpted the Afghan artillery figures, so they make for relatively smooth head-swap conversions, using Afghan gunner heads and Prussian limber crew bodies. Each limber has a crew of 5 -- 3 mounted, 2 seated -- each battery has 3 guns, and for scaled-down use at Maiwand I raised 4 batteries, for a grand total of 12 guns. With 5 crew for each limber, that means doing 60 head-swap conversions.<br /><br />Even for someone as dedicated and myopic as me, it's a tall order!<br /><br />The good news is, if you do use French Dragoons as Afghan Guard cavalry troopers, all you'll have to do is clip off those epaulettes, there will be no head-swaps needed.Mad Guruhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03668417524454209192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097902935093601429.post-64535947769035891762012-09-09T18:58:40.728-07:002012-09-09T18:58:40.728-07:00They do look like French dragoons. What are the di...They do look like French dragoons. What are the differences in uniforms and horse furniture, and could Franco-Prussian French dragoons serve?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5097902935093601429.post-18093614973475212202012-09-09T11:02:04.274-07:002012-09-09T11:02:04.274-07:00Great looking unit, would like to see the rest of ...Great looking unit, would like to see the rest of the unit over th course of time.Silver Whistlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621423467123295954noreply@blogger.com