French 2nd Hussars

Here's that other cavalry unit I mentioned in my last post: French 2nd Regiment of Hussars. Hussars in general are one of the most iconic military units of the 18th and 19th centuries and the Napoleonic Wars are no exception. With their brilliant uniforms and (oft exaggerated) feats of daring do, the hussars leave a striking image in peoples' minds. Thankfully Italeri produce an excellent set, worthy of the hussars' glamorous reputation.

The 2nd are the hussar regiment that fought at Talavera. Since that's the smaller of the two battles I'm focusing on, it only made sense to take care of it first. The 2nd won't be the only regiment of hussars I paint up, though it will probably be the only one for a while. The 3rd Regiment will be needed for Salamanca at some point down the track, but for now the 2nd will fight alone.

The two elite company figures don't actually come from the Italeri French Hussars set. Instead they come from their French Imperial General Staff set, and are intended to be bodyguards drawn from the Imperial Guard Chasseurs a Cheval. The structure of the uniform is (to my understanding) virtually identical, so it was an easy stand-in. The sculpting style also matches between the two sets, so they fit together just about seamlessly.

I wasn't sure how well the colour scheme of the 2nd would work on the tabletop. Brown dolman and pelisse seemed to me at first to be a rather dull choice. In reality it compliments the bright blue and silver very well and I'm superbly happy with how the unit came out. I'm itching to send these men careening into some vainglorious charge, but there's still a little more to do before I can try for a proper game (though I am, at long last, getting close).

That's all for today, hope you liked it.

Cheers!