3e Chevau Leger Lancers 1812-15 1st Squadron 

After visiting five of the 1814 battlefields this year in spring in the champagne district. I have decided to add lancers to my French army collection, the options are wide however I elected to purchase 4 boxes the warlord figures and a few sprues at the sales last year and finally got around to assembling them all in the last 6 weeks. After purchasing more sprues in the last Black Friday sale to make up three sqaudrons in each regiment that I intend to paint. The warlord horses are a bit of a worry with puddle type feet rather than a whole base and the metal horse is particularly week at the hocks as the metal is really soft, I needed to pin the officers horse in three places on all the command horses in the four boxes, another gripe is the lances I would of preferred no pennant on them and not enough vertical lances in the boxes and soft sculpting on the turnbacks flaps and portmanteau. For the elite company I added plumes from the plastic Victrix Bavarian infantry set, as a simple solution. 

With the units organisation  I commenced with the thought of the 1814 battles predominantly. The 3rd regiment of Chevau Leger Lancers served in a number of battles from 1812-15. An added bonus was pink facings that always look great contrasted against the green of the uniform. I am undecided upon the next regiment I am thinking either 5th with light blue or the 6th with its buff belts red combs and red facings. 

I am very happy though with the result and they paint up quickly. As always I commence with the horses, I have elected to have the dark bay, light bay and chesnut sqaudrons, in reality in 1814 I doubt much uniformity of horseflesh existed. The horses for the first regiment were completed by the end of November, the riders however sat to one side of my painting desk as I was renovating the house completing another bathroom on the third floor. With the commencement of the XV Analogue Painting Challenge I picked them up with intention of completing them as the first entry. 

Regiment history 

Created in 1811 from the 8th dragoons. The regiment retained one of the 1804 model eagles of the 8th dragoons and the standard, until 1812 they had a standard with the battle honours of  Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena and Eylau, the standard and Eagle were lost at Beresina (although conjecture surrounds some eagles being thrown into the river). A new 1812 model eagle and standard were issued for the 1813 campaign, using the 1812 pattern flag and served until surrender in 1814. The regiment was renamed with the restoration the Dauphin regiment, then with napoleons return in 1815 the regiment returned to regiment 3, receiving the 1815 model standard and its old 1812 eagle. After 1812 they did not carry the eagle into the field.

Colonels

1811: Baron Lebrun (Alexandre-Louis-Jules) (died of wounds 26th October 1812)
1813: Hatry (Charles-Joseph)(killed 14th October 1813 at Liebertwolkwitz)
1814: d'Hautefeuille (Eugene-Gabriel-Louis-Texier)
1815: Martique (Charles-Francois)

Battles 

1812: Polotsk and La Beresina 
1813: Bautzen, Reichenbach, Dresden, Leipzig, and Hanau 
1814: Champaubert, Vauchamps, and Troyes 
1815: Ligny and Waterloo

Battle Honours Polotsk 1812, Bautzen 1813, Dresden 1813 and Champaubert 1814

Cheers

Matt