Tuesday 16 July 2024

Recently Painted (and Blooded!) 12th (Prince of Wales) Regiment of Light Dragoons

 In 1751, the regiment was officially styled the 12th Dragoons. In 1768, King George III bestowed the badge of the three ostrich feathers and the motto "Ich Dien" on the regiment and re-titled it as the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons. A young Arthur Wesley (later Duke of Wellington) joined the regiment as a subaltern in 1789. The regiment took part in the siege of Bastia in April 1794, which took place in Corsica, in the French Revolutionary Wars. Pope Pius VI was impressed by the conduct of the regiment and ordered that medals be awarded to its officers.

The regiment landed at Alexandria in March 1801 and, although its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Mervyn Archdall, was seriously injured in skirmishes, it saw action at the Battle of Alexandria later in the month. The regiment, under a new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Doyle, captured 28 officers and 570 other ranks of the French Dromedary Regiment (French: Régiment de Dromadaires) in an action in the Egyptian desert in May 1801. It took part in the siege of Cairo securing the city in June 1801 and then participated in the siege of Alexandria taking that city in September 1801. The regiment next deployed for the disastrous Walcheren Campaign in autumn 1809.

In June 1811 the regiment embarked for Lisbon and, under the command of Colonel Frederick Ponsonby, took part in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, the siege of Badajoz in March 1812 and the Battle of Villagarcia in April 1812 in the Peninsular War. It also undertook two charges at the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 before taking part in the siege of Burgos in September 1812, the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 and the siege of San Sebastián in autumn 1813. The regiment next advanced into France and supported the infantry at the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813. The regiment marched through France and arrived in Calais in July 1814 from where it returned to England.



The usual useful uniform guide that comes with the Perry plastic box set!

In the Waterloo Campaign, the regiment was attached to Sir John Vandeleur's light cavalry brigade. At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, the regiment charged down the slope to support the Union Brigade of medium cavalry. Ponsonby fell, dangerously wounded, in the melee.

In 1816, the 12th Light Dragoons was armed with lances after the cavalry of Napoleon's Army had shown their effectiveness at Waterloo and were re-titled 12th (The Prince of Wales's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers). In 1855, it reinforced the Light Cavalry Brigade in the Crimea after the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. In 1861, the regiment was renamed 12th (The Prince of Wales's) Royal Regiment of Lancers It was stationed in India between 1857 and 1860 in response to the Indian Rebellion and in Ireland from 1865 to 1870, before fighting in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in the late 1870s.

Thanks, Wikipedia - perhaps, one day, I should actually contribute when you hand round your virtual begging bowl??!

Now, here are probably far too many images of my version of the above, dressed for the Peninsula in their smart Tarleton helmets. SAs mentioned, they were "blooded" in our Sunday game, and acquitted themselves admirably, defeating and driving off a charge by those much-vaunted French lancers!






















I really do like the Perry plastic figures, particularly the cavalry, for the ability to create twelve (or more) totally individual poses, simply by altering the way the head is looking and the position of the torso and sword arm.

These chaps jumped ahead of the queue by dint of being required for last Sunday Napoleonic game at Barrys - now, they are safely tucked away in a cardboard box file, and I am back on my AWI project - more of which anon!

39 comments:

  1. Nicely done Keith I can’t remember now which regiment I painted for the Pennisular. I agree and love the Perry cavalry nice tough Wargames figures and beautifully sculpted

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    1. Cheers Matt - I did another unit of these a couple of years back for my War of 1812 collection - the 14th (the only cavalry to make it over the Atlantic, I believe) but in the new-fangled, French inspired shakos of the later era!

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  2. Fine looking horsemen, Keith, and lots of ‘em! A Sunday Napoleonic fight? Your BatRep must have slipped by my watchful eye.

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    1. Thanks Jon, and don't worry about missing the odd post, it happens to me regularly!

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  3. Very nice looking unit, good work on them and it's a lovely uniform. Good that they fought well on their debut too!

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    1. Cheers Donnie, I too think the light dragoon uniform looks good, and it was nice to have something go right on Sunday, against the general run of disaster!

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  4. Brilliant looking cavalry Keith.

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  5. Best reason to paint is to play....and these are done o well!

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  6. And they counted victorious in their first table action.

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    1. And yes, they were undefeated in their first action...a few better dice rolls from me, and they might have broken a French square....the officers would have been able to dine out on that for the next 200 years!

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  7. A fine looking regiment of horse

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  8. Great work Keith, and nice to see they have seen action even before their first parade. There are some nice cafes and restaurants in Ponsonby, and the Cavalier Tavern is good for a couple of pints.

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    1. Yes indeed Lawrence...I considered mentioning the Auckland suburb named after that officer...but decided not too!
      Hard times there at the moment, a well known eating establishment SPQR went into receivership/ liquidation just the other day....

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    2. That is a real shame. I had some lovely calamari there ten years or so ago. Lovely food.

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    3. Mmmm - I am not 100% sure I ever went although I possibly did once through work many years ago - apparently, there are vacant buildings all along Ponsonby at the moment - hospo took a real hammering through Covid and then we emerged into the so-called cost of living crises.....

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  9. Lawrence beat me to it. First action before their first parade. Very few units get that and none of mine. 😂

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    1. P.S. wonderful paint job as well.

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    2. Thanks for both comments Ben.....much appreciated!

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    1. It's very kind of you to say so Michal, but I suspect you could do something even nicer with them!

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  11. Nice unit Keith. I think I prefer the Tarleton helmet. Between the two of us we probably have every light dragoon regiment that existed.

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    1. Thanks Mark - I dont really mind the later shakos, I am just channeling the negativity of the time, when the traditionalists objected to the "Frenchification" of British uniforms!
      I only have three regiments in total; I don't know how many you have, but the light dragoon regiments numbered up into the mid-twenties or even more, I believe - so a bit of scope for a few more, if either of us feel the need!

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  12. How utterly splendid! Do you paint them two abreast as based or does the basing happen later? Just marvelling at your brush dexterity and all those straps.

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    1. Hi Michael - I paint them individually (although I do attach riders to their horses, some do not!) and then base them as the final part of the production line - you can see my process here ... https://1808534.blogspot.com/2021/08/new-arrivals-and-some-gnw-gunners.html

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    2. I see, I clearly make things much more difficult for myself and paint the bases as part of the process, mind you I can imagine that different approaches are required when producing much larger units like this.

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    3. I think there are probably as many basing techniques as there are wargamers, Michael....whatever works best for you!

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  13. Good job on the miniatures!
    I've donated to Wikipedia. It felt good. 😁

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    1. Thanks Stew....you are obviously a very public spirited person!

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  14. Can't have too many photos of those fellas Keith when you have painted them so well!
    Regards, James

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  15. Excellent work there Keith and a nice little potted history too:).

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    1. Cheers Steve - as noted, I cannot take any credit for the history, lifted straight from Wikipedia, but I am pleased you found it interesting :)

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  16. Great looking British horse in the iconic Tareletons, Keith. As with Wellington, I wish they never changed to shakos!

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    1. Thanks Dean, I am somewhat ambivalent about the headgear, but I do like the Tarletons, and I think they are a better fit for the Peninsula, which is how the rest of my Brits are dressed (excluding my 1812 collection, some of whom sport Belgic shakes!)

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  17. Cracking stuff Keith…
    A very pretty looking unit indeed…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, a classically British uniform from the Peninsular War

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