Napoleon in Egypt - Expédition Baïonnette en Argent
Dismounted Dromedary Corps
My first finished models for 2024 are these trio of dismounted Dromedary Corps troopers.
The Regiment de Dromedaries was raised by Napoleon after landing in Egypt in 1799, and disbanded at the end of the Egyptian campaign. At its largest, the unit had around 700 men split into three squadrons, although not all were mounted. They most likely fought as mounted infantry, and were used for scouting, escort and message delivery roles.
Their uniforms had many variations. They wore sky blue dolman and breeches, with red cuffs and collar on the jacket and white hussar style braiding. Dress uniform included a red kaftan worn over the dolmen. Initially they wore a white turban, replaced by a black bicorn in 1800. White Turkish style trousers were also worn, which were replaced by dark red Turkush style trousers after Kleber’s uniform changes.
One of the things that drew me to these Brigade figures is that offer the chance to depict quite a few of these uniform differences. None wear the red kaftan, but I took the opportunity to have both white and red Turkish style trousers. One has a turban, the other two bicorns. This ends up in three nicely unique individuals, important for skirmish games.
Next up will be their mounted equivalents, which means working out how to paint camels.
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