From John B: Friday Crew: 1848 Modena Dragoons (Lust) (84pts)

When I stumbled on 1848 (a lone warrior article on 19th century warfare) I quickly became absorbed by the Italian Wars of Independence. I also quickly discovered that the three wars also traversed uniform revolutions and seemingly few figure ranges were available in any scale. Well it turned out that this period between the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War/Franco Prussian War saw troops still wearing Napoleonic uniforms alongside nascent spiky helmet/kepi uniforms. So I have pundered all sorts of ranges to get what I want. However these figures are from a period relevant range. We won't talk about submarines and machine guns but lets say the 1848 inbetweenie era has a lot going for it. Today I have returned to the Italian peninsula after last years AHPC14 preoccupation with the 1st Schleswig Holstein War. The wars in Italy were fought against a backdrop of duchies and small states jostling with the big guys like the Kingdom of Naples, Austro Hungarian Empire and the odd French intervention. One such duchy the Duchy of Modena had a story that sums up the conflicted nature of the peninsulas occupants. The Duke of Modena remained loyal to Austria even eventually taking his whole army into exile to serve the Austrians.

In the first war of independence (1848/1849) the army remained in place and the revolutionaries set up a provisional government after the Duke departed on the first occasion. The small army of the Modena Duchy only had 1 mounted squadron of Dragoons who were disbanded but then reinstated by the provisional government. So these Dragoons can be men of Duke Francis V or men of the Provisional Government of Modena. Take your pick as it all happened so fast that uniform regulation changes were patchy at best or non existent - maybe an arm badge or a piece of cloth tied to headgear marked you as revolutionary while wearing the oppositions uniforms. The figures are actually Neapolitan Dragoons from Irregular Miniatures (Yorkshire UK) and are in their metal 20mm range.

I reckon I get another 20 points for lusting after painting these light blue dragoons for a fair while. And I get 8 mounted figures of the 20mm variety. Scoring is therefore 8x8= 64 plus 20 pts for the 2nd circle of the Abyss completed. TOTAL SCORE = 84pts

I agree that the mid-19th century is a very colourful period for wargaming.  At some point between 1845 and 1875 almost everybody fought anybody, and the contrast between Napoleonic uniforms and tactics and "progressing" technology is fascinating. The chaotic situation on the Italian penisula only adds to the fun, and these Modenan dragoons are great for that!. I guess this also (narrowly) satisfies the criteria for Lust, so I won't deny you your bonus. Another 84 points then, well done.

Martijn