Modified Dragoons, (Warlord) - Part 3 of 6

This group was inspired after reading part of Osprey's book Pike and Shot Tactics 1590-1660.

"it was common to support ... with Shots – provided either by dragoons or by infantry temporarily mounted or riding double behind cavalrymen."

This seemingly simple comment provided me with the most difficult challenge while trying to make this look halfway realistic or natural. I thought I may be able to model two men on one horse. This was easier said than done and involved a lot of cutting and carving of the horse's back and rump (as well as a fair dose of industrial language which I find always helps).

WIP

With the first/forward most rider I removed the tassets from the thighs to facilitate moving the body of the figure forward towards the horse's head. I cut away some areas from his back so the two figures would fit closer together. The musket was taken from a spare regular figure. The powder box and strap were added using greenstuff.

WIP

The second/rear rider's right arm taken from the cavalry set which was originally holding a flagpole. After reading the article about dragoons, rather than using a short carbine model, I used a part taken, as usual, from a Warlord's Firelock figure. Just to make things awkward for myself I also removed his sash. I'm not entirely sure this was worth the time and effort to achieve the unique look of this set but as it's a one off for this project I'm unlikely to ever repeat the process. Well that's what I told myself as I was cursing the general lack of any form of co-operation from the figures.

WIP

The sash, baldric, sword handle and the straps for both muskets were made from strips of greenstuff. Yes, you've read that correctly, I added details to the figure after cutting the original one away (will I never learn? no..probably not).