The Loose Association of Wargamers

As my focus is currently on the artillery of my SYW, I'm casting a jaundiced eye over the various limber riders.

I'd painted many of these figures prior to gaining the knowledge they were usually civilians - excepting Fred.the G.'s Horse artillery?
So, many wear uniform-colour coats as I'd believed them to be artillerists.

However, this may *not* be a faux pas? I think I read that old uniform coats were sometimes passed to limber riders- especially in the Prussian army.
I have started to re-paint some limber riders in "civilian" coloured coats - various greens, browns & mid-blues.

Any criticism of the above from the SYW-cognoscenti is sought.

donald

Remember that there was a lot of cross-over between military and civilian clothing styles in the 18th Century (and of course, naval forces were still wearing civilian - or "slop" clothing well into the 19th Century. In terms of army clothing, t was really only during the Napoleonic era that mass-produced uniforms began to differ markedly from their civil counterparts, with epaulettes, aiguilettes, etc becoming standard - and even then, militia "uniforms" still retained a level of simplicity that mirrored non-military dress.

As far as colours are concerned, greens, browns, and greys (often referred to as "stone" in deserter descriptions) were the norm - blues, and certainly genuine blacks, were quite expensive to create (and maintain), whilst reds were often reserved for "special" troops, eg guards.

It's not a subject I've really looked at, but in passing I've noticed that a lot of 'civilian' drivers were actually uniformed to some extent. As mentioned in the previous thread, French drivers were issued with a blue smock, while Morier showed British artillery drivers wearing grey coats with blue facings.

I think the Simkin prints/drawings of British troops on the march (c. mid-1790s) has wagon drivers in the white farm-worker smocks that you would see all over the English countryside at that time.

Front Rank certainly makes one or two walking drivers in smocks, not sure about the seated ones in the set.

Penda wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 5:52 pm Front Rank certainly makes one or two walking drivers in smocks, not sure about the seated ones in the set.

unfortunately Front Rank's (Groping Beast) shipping rates to ROW make them eye wateringly expensive here down under. I picked up a load of FR medieval figures on my recent trip home and that's the only way I'm going to buy them from now on

As I have one gun model representing a battery, and 7-10 guns per army, I need a fairly substantial number of limbers.

In the re-organisation, I'm using only 2 horses each per limber, except for a "Brummer" & other heavy pieces & for Fred.'s horse artillery which get 4.
A lot. I'd like 1 (or 2) riders per limber.

At this stage, I'm thinking I may as well use the same, "generic", limbers for French & Austrians as they don't share a table.

Logistics are a bitch.

donald

For Napoleonics I would generally do one limber per 3 or 4 gun battery

So we're talking riders per se, not "riders" as in mounted AND foot "drivers"?

ochoin wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2024 12:26 am As my focus is currently on the artillery of my SYW, I'm casting a jaundiced eye over the various limber riders.

I'd painted many of these figures prior to gaining the knowledge they were usually civilians - excepting Fred.the G.'s Horse artillery?
So, many wear uniform-colour coats as I'd believed them to be artillerists.

However, this may *not* be a faux pas? I think I read that old uniform coats were sometimes passed to limber riders- especially in the Prussian army.
I have started to re-paint some limber riders in "civilian" coloured coats - various greens, browns & mid-blues.

Any criticism of the above from the SYW-cognoscenti is sought.

donald

Bill on the "Fife and Drum" forum posted this, it may be of some use.

Willz.