As much as I enjoy writing the scenarios, they’ve been expanding just lately to the size of a George R. R. Martin fantasy epic and my recent article about the Artillerie de la Marine wasn’t much shorter. So let’s see if I can reign myself in this time, with a little article about two regiments of the cavalry of the Royal Guard of Napoleon’s Kingdom of Italy; the Guard Dragoons and the Guards of Honour.
As usual, these are 15mm figures by AB Figures. The Kewl Kidz would call them ’18mm’ nowadays, but as over 90% of my ABs were sold to me as ’15mm’, that’s what they remain in my world. The flags are by Fighting 15s.
As my surviving reader will recall, my Napoleonics are always played at the ‘grand tactical’ level using Napoleon’s Battles, where the man-to-figure ratio is roughly 1:100 and the smallest unit is a brigade or large regiment. However, like the Sailors of the Guard, and the Gendarmes d’Élite, the Italian Royal Guard cavalry ‘regiments’ were absolutely tiny, so are far too small to really be represented as separate units of any consequence. The whole lot combined would perhaps amount to only 8 figures at the Battles of Raab, Wagram, Borodino and the Mincio River, so these are something of an indulgence and I’ve done them more for the fun of painting them than their necessity in gaming. However, at the Mincio River in 1814 the Italian Guard Cavalry were were grouped with the Italian ‘Regina’ Dragoons as part of General Lecchi’s Royal Guard Division and the whole brigade would equate to 16 figures, so I’ll take that as my justification. 🙂
There was also a third, company-sized ‘regiment’, the Gendarmerie d’Élite, but they were only used as a headquarters and palace guard, so I haven’t done these.
Reggimento de Dragoni Della Guardia Reale (Dragoon Regiment of the Royal Guard)
The Guard Dragoons were initially formed in 1805 as a single squadron of four companies by merging two pre-existing units; the Horse Grenadiers and the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Presidential Guard. Further recruits were then to be drawn from men of the line cavalry regiments with at least five years’ unblemished service. Later that year a regimental staff was created and the unit was split into two squadrons, each of two companies. Each company had 105 men at full strength (24 of whom served as a dismounted section) and the regimental staff numbered 19, for a regimental total of 439 all ranks (96 of whom were dismounted).
In 1811 the dismounted sections were mounted and the company strength was increased to 140. A fifth (depot) company was also added, so the regiment now numbered around 719 men, with 579 being the full field strength.
The regiment’s uniform was very similar to that of the Empress’ Dragoons of the French Imperial Guard; namely a dark green coatee with white lapels, dark green collar and scarlet cuffs and tail-turnbacks, topped off with a brass helmet with leopard-skin turban (probably a printed faux version for the junior ranks, as in the Empress’ Dragoons) and scarlet plume. Like the Empress’ Dragoons, the horse furniture was dark green and had the unusual triple holsters that were a feature of the French Guard heavy cavalry regiments. Full dress breeches were white, though I’ve painted them in off-white campaign breeches (grey wool breeches were also worn on campaign). Swords were slightly curved, like those of the French Guard and had white sword-knots and brass hilts and scabbards.
The close similarity means that we can happily just use the AB Empress’ Dragoon figures, as the only differences are in terms of colourings.
The main difference to the Empress’ Dragoons is that the button-colour was white metal, so all officers’ distinctions were silver. The Italian Guard Dragoons also had white aiguillettes and lace edging to the horse furniture, whereas these items were coloured aurore in the Empress’ Dragoons. The junior-ranks’ contre-epaulettes were brass, resting on a pad of red cloth. Horses were ordered from August 1808 to be bays.
Trumpeters had a sky-blue coatee and horse-furniture. The coatee had scarlet collar, cuffs, tail-turnbacks and lapels. The lapels were heavily decorated with white lace edging and buttonholes; some sources also show lace edging to the collar. The aiguillette was white (note that I made a mistake in painting the contre-epaulettes white – they should be brass with red cloth backing). The helmet had a red mane and sky-blue full-dress plume and the houpette (i.e. the small tuft) was either red or black. Horse furniture was edged in white lace and the sword-knot was red. Trumpeters’ horses were greys.
In 1805 the regiment was presented with an Eagle of the usual French 1804 Pattern. The 1805 Pattern regimental standard was superficially similar to the French 1804 Pattern, though with red and green corners instead of red and blue and Italian armorials and inscriptions. Staves were black. In 1813 the regiment adopted the standard shown here, which was very similar to the earlier pattern, except for details of inscriptions and armorials. The Kingdom of Italy maintained the ‘lozenge’ style of flags after France went to the tricolour style in 1812. The regiment may well have adopted the 1808 Pattern Italian Eagle in 1813, but I don’t know for certain. This pattern of Eagle had a crown and was facing the opposite direction, wings that were more spread (however, AB don’t do this pattern and the French style is close enough).
Corpo Delle Guardie d’Onore Reale (Corps of Guards of Honour of the Royal Guard)
In common with much of Europe, the towns and cities of Italy often had small mounted corps of ‘Guards of Honour’, consisting of the sons of local gentry and land-owning gentlemen, who would turn out in uniform on special civic occasions and to escort visiting dignitaries. These corps were invariably of no military value whatsoever and simply existed as a uniformed social club for the local dandies and to add a little bit of ‘pomp and circumstance’ to local events. As such, various guards of honour had turned out to escort Napoleon when he arrived to proclaim the formation of the Kingdom of Italy.
The first four companies of Guards of Honour
However, Napoleon thought that these corps could become militarily useful and could help to tie the Italian land-owning classes to his cause. To that end, on 20th June 1805 he ordered the disbandment of the Italian city guards of honour. They would immediately be re-formed as four companies of Guards of Honour of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Italy. Each company would be named for a city and would be recruited from the following departments:
1st Company ‘Milano’ (departments of Olona, Agogna, Lario & Adda)
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ (departments of Reno, Crostolo, Panaro & Mincio)
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ (departments of Serio, Alto Po, Mella & Adige)
4th Company ‘Romagna’ (departments of Rubicone & Basso Po)
In 1806 a fifth company was added from the newly-acquired Venetian territories, titled ‘Venezia’.
Each company consisted of 107 men of all ranks, 40 of whom were a dismounted contingent. All the junior ranks were classed as officer cadets and to be accepted had to have a private annual income of 1,200 Milan Lira, which was to be paid to the state. They would then be commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants after two years’ service. The Velites of the Foot Guards had the same arrangement. All officers had a status that was one rank higher than their shown rank, so a 1st Lieutenant of the Guards of Honour was the equivalent of a Captain of the Line.
Each company was initially classed as an independent unit and each had its own regulations. This arrangement led to chaos and extremely poor discipline, so on 7th August 1806 a unified set of regulations was issued and Captain Gaetano Battaglia of the 1st Company ‘Milano’ was appointed with the acting rank of Major, to take command of all five companies, thus creating a de facto ‘regiment’.
Being young gentlemen, the Guards of Honour couldn’t possibly be expected to look after their own horses, so on 30th March 1807 a company of grooms was created. This company was formed of five troops of 25 grooms, each of which would be assigned to one of the above-named companies.
On 14th March 1808 an extra Lieutenant was added to the 1st Company, along with a small regimental staff, thus relieving Captain (Acting Major) Battaglia of his company leadership duties and allowing him to lead and administer the Guards of Honour as a true regiment. The dismounted elements were also mounted at this time.
Despite all this organisation and re-organisation and a theoretical strength of some 664 men, in 1809 the Guards of Honour for some reason could only manage to put a single composite company in the field with Viceroy Eugène’s Army of Italy. However, in 1812 the regiment went into a Russia at close to full strength. In 1813 the regiment, which had been almost destroyed in Russia and Germany, was reconstituted as a single company of 153 men of all ranks.
The Guards of Honour went through two very different uniform periods during their existence. From 1805-1811, all companies wore the same style of coat, though the colour of coat and facings was different for each company:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Scarlet coat with Royal Blue facings.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – White coat with Dark Blue facings.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Dark Blue coat with Scarlet facings.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Dark Green coat with Scarlet facings.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Dark Green coat with Light Orange facings.
All companies had silver buttons, white buttonhole lace on the collar, lapels and cuffs, a white aiguillette and white trefoil-shaped epaulettes. The horse furniture at this time had only two holster-caps and seems to have been coloured according to the facing colour, edged with white lace. Headgear was a bicorne hat, laced white, with a white plume in full dress. Breeches and belts were white.
In 1811, all companies adopted the same style of dark green coat, with companies differentiated only by facing colour:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Rose Pink.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – Lemon Yellow.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Chamois or ‘Buff’.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Scarlet.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Light Orange.
There is some difference of opinion regarding collars; some sources show them coloured in the facing colour, while others show them as dark green, piped with the facing colour. One sources says green without piping. There is also some difference of opinion between sources regarding buttonhole-lace; some show it on collar, lapels and cuffs as before, but others show it only on the collar and cuffs. Given the level of contradiction in sources, the ‘Rule of Cool’ applies: so full-coloured facings and buttonhole-lace it is! 🙂
All companies had silver buttons, a white aiguillette and brass contre-epaulettes on pads of red cloth, like the Guard Dragoons. The horse furniture now had three holster-caps like the French Guard heavy cavalry and was now universally dark green for all companies, edged with white lace. Breeches and belts were white, though grey wool breeches could also be worn on campaign; these are shown with facing-coloured stripes.
The headgear was now a unique brass helmet, with a steel ‘turban’ decorated with a crowned ‘N’ in brass, very much like the 1810 Pattern helmet of the French Carabiniers. However, unlike the Carabiniers’ helmet, the Guards of Honour helmet had a ‘comb’ shaped like an eagle with its head stretched forward and wings tucked in at the side, as if diving. A black fur crest then ran up the eagle’s back and in full dress a white plume was worn on the left side. However, there is some difference of opinion; my old mate Steve Ede-Borrett in his book, says that the helmet appeared well before 1811 and that it was actually replaced in 1811 by a helmet more like the Carabiniers’ helmet, with a plainer comb replacing the eagle.
Just to add further confusion, each company also had its own distinctive surtout for everyday wear from 1807 onward. These were single-breasted coats which lacked lapels, though retained the buttonhole lace on collar and cuffs, as well as the aiguillette and epaulettes. The colourings of these from 1807-1811 were:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Dark Blue with Scarlet facings.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – Dark Blue with Dark Blue facings.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Dark Blue with Scarlet facings.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Dark Green with Scarlet facings.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Dark Green with Light Orange facings.
The colouring of the surtouts from 1811 were:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Dark Blue with Dark Blue facings.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – Dark Blue with Scarlet facings.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Dark Green with Scarlet facings.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Dark Green with Scarlet facings.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Dark Green with Light Orange facings.
There was yet ANOTHER uniform worn from 1807 to 1814. This was a short-tailed stable-jacket that was probably made from old uniform coats. These jackets were devoid of buttonhole lace and were not worn with epaulettes and aiguillettes. The tail-turnbacks in all cases matched the jacket colour. These colourings seem to have remained the same throughout the period:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Dark Blue with Scarlet collar & Dark Blue cuffs.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – Dark Blue with Dark Blue collar & cuffs.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Dark Blue with Scarlet collar & cuffs.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Dark Green with Scarlet collar & cuffs.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Dark Green with Light Orange collar & cuffs.
Horses were coloured by company, though all trumpeters rode greys:
1st Company ‘Milano’ – Black horses.
2nd Company ‘Bologna’ – Bay horses.
3rd Company ‘Brescia’ – Black horses.
4th Company ‘Romagna’ – Bay horses.
5th Company ‘Venezia’ – Chestnut horses (one source says with white socks).
Trumpeters seem to have initially worn uniforms of reversed colours, with the company coat-colour as the facing colour, though they eventually seem to have settled on reversed colours with sky-blue as the facing colour, all heavily laced and with white helmet-crests. Horse-furniture by that stage seems to have been sky-blue, edged white.
The Guards of Honour did not have Eagles or standards until 1813, when the 1st Company was issued with an Eagle (presumably of the Italian Pattern) and a standard, which would have served as a standard for the regiment as a whole. AB Figures don’t do a Guard of Honour standard-bearer, but the Rule of Cool most definitely applies, so I took an Empress’ Dragoons Eagle-bearer and did a head-swap.
As my surviving reader will know, I’m a lover not a fighter, so I don’t often go in for actual modelling, but I have VERY occasionally swapped an occasional head (the only examples I can think of were turning mounted RHA officers into mounted 95th Rifles and KGL Light Infantry colonels). Even then, I didn’t bother drilling out and pinning the heads, but this time I went berserk and it worked! 🙂 I’ve now got stupid plans to make a whole regiment of head-swappees (Napoleon’s Portuguese Legion – Portuguese barretina-wearing heads on Duchy of Warsaw infantry bodies).
Any Other Business… Facebook
On a completely unrelated matter; If you’re wondering why I haven’t been seen on Facebook lately, that’s basically due to Facebook having become unusable for me. It started with Facebook classing all external blog-links as ‘Spam’, requiring group admins to approve each and every post with a link to my blog. One Napoleonic wargaming group even told me to stop posting there, as they were tired of having to approve links (I didn’t darken their doors again).
Then I encountered a bug which produced an error message every time I tried to access a group of which I was a member. That’s now been resolved, but a whole new bug has now appeared, whereby I’m not allowed to post in any group of which I’m a member unless I confirm my identity by logging in with a mobile device. As I’ve never used social media on a mobile device and am not going to start, that’s the end of Facebook for me.
But even if you don’t see me on Facebook, I’ll still be here. If you’re desperate, you can follow me by commenting on a post and checking the ‘Notify me of new posts by email’ button.
Bye for now. More painted stuff coming soon, including my first painted sci-fi figures in over 30 years and more Napoleonics…
