Pseudo-Victorian Cavalry Regiment

[tkdguy]

Yesterday I had this idea about a cavalry regiment for a fictional empire. It would be loosely based on the Household Cavalry with a few changes. The ranks will be the same as the ones presented in the link, along with a few extinct titles such as Captain Lieutenant and Colonel Commandant.

I'm thinking of calling this regiment The Imperial Lancers. They are often colloquially (and sometimes disparagingly) called the Red Shanks, after the scarlet pants worn by the soldiers. Yes, I know it's a fashion faux-pas these days, but some units actually did wear red pants. Aside from that, soldiers wear black coats with scarlet cuffs and collars. Officers' coats include epaulettes and braids with frogging. Knee-length black boots and brass pith style helmets complete the look. Of course, officers and senior NCOs are required to grow mustaches.

The soldiers are lancers, so they use light lances, as well as cavalry sabers and carbines. I'm thinking of making the carbines air guns rather than gunpowder-based firearms.

Their banner is white on the left half and red on the right half. A gold laurel wreath encloses a pair of black crossed swords.

More details later.

[tkdguy]

A couple of links:

Officer rank insignia

Take a look at the historical ranks.

Enlisted rank insignia

Keep in mind I won't be using these exactly; I plan to replace the crown with an eight-pointed star. These links are a good starting place.

[yamamura]

Nice links and it would be interesting to see period uniforms to see how they have changed through the year.

[Curufea]

Uniforms! What a great idea!
I can't believe I never thought about it as part of my latest world design / campaign setting. And I'd done it previously for my Star Hero game too!

It's really another form of culture - the army, regiments, their mottos and insignias. War stories and whatnot. A subculture of the nation they belong too. Occasionally they even have more in common with their enemy's millitary than they do with their own civilian population.

Anyhow - nice idea!

[Captain Obvious]

Good stuff. Adds a lot of flavor.

I have to say, though, that the term "Household Cavalry" sounds like a group of butlers and maids who use horses for rapid movement.

[yamamura]

Uniforms! What a great idea!
I can't believe I never thought about it as part of my latest world design / campaign setting. And I'd done it previously for my Star Hero game too!

It's really another form of culture - the army, regiments, their mottos and insignias. War stories and whatnot. A subculture of the nation they belong too. Occasionally they even have more in common with their enemy's millitary than they do with their own civilian population.

Anyhow - nice idea!

The novel The Four Feathers is an excellent read for the period and flavour of military culture.

[tkdguy]

Good stuff. Adds a lot of flavor.

I have to say, though, that the term "Household Cavalry" sounds like a group of butlers and maids who use horses for rapid movement.

To be fair, those ancestral mansions are huge! And when His Lordship calls, well, you know....


But cleaning up would be a nightmare (pun intended)!

[tkdguy]

Uniforms! What a great idea!
I can't believe I never thought about it as part of my latest world design / campaign setting. And I'd done it previously for my Star Hero game too!

It's really another form of culture - the army, regiments, their mottos and insignias. War stories and whatnot. A subculture of the nation they belong too. Occasionally they even have more in common with their enemy's millitary than they do with their own civilian population.

Anyhow - nice idea!

Thanks. If you look closely, the uniforms in Babylon 5 and the new Battlestar Galactica could be modifications of 19th century uniforms.

[tkdguy]

http://www.regiments.org/

[tkdguy]

A few historical uniforms:

[tkdguy]

Here are the officer ranks, along with their insignia:

Colonel Commandant (equivalent to a Brigadier)
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Captain-Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Cornet

Some notes:

The brigade will be led by a Colonel or Colonel Commandant. The rank of Colonel Commandant is equivalent to that of a Brigadier, and is the highest rank for the regiment. If a Colonel Commandant is promoted to General, he is transferred to Headquarters.

Captain-Lieutenant is a position rather than a rank. The Colonel nominally commands the first squadron of the regiment, but the senior lieutenant is in charge of the daily activities, if nobody in the squadron holds the rank of Captain. The Captain-Lieutenant recieves a Captain's pay and is treated as one, and he is usually promoted to Captain within a few months.

Lieutenant is equivalent to First Lieutenant, and Cornet is equivalent to Second Lieutenant. Ensign is the infantry equivalent of Cornet.

Here's the army structure: http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com...e_British_Army

Officers wear their rank insignia on the collar.

[tkdguy]

Here are the ranks of the enlisted men and NCOs. Note that this regiment does not use the rank of sergeant. The ranks are as follows, with infantry equivalents in parentheses:

Regimental Corporal Major (Regimental Sergeant Major/WO1)
Squadron Corporal Major (Company Sergeant Major/WO2)
Staff Corporal (Staff Sergeant)
Corporal of the Horse (Sergeant)
Lance Corporal of the Horse (Corporal)
Lance Corporal
Trooper (Private)

The rank insignia are provided below (note that I've changed the color of the coats a dark green, although that's not final).

[Dauntless]

I've always thought the periods between the Napoleonic War up through the turn of the 20th century were the most interesting.

Just one thing though, I don't think England was ever too fond of lancers. I can't think off the top of my head any famous English lancer units. They preferred either light cavalry like Hussars or Chasseurs, or Heavy Cavalry(Cuirassiers) like the Guard Units (House Guard and Life Guard), or Dragoon-like regiments like the Scots Greys. It was the Polish Uhlans who first really introduced the concept of lances in Cavalry units.

But yeah, the uniforms are awesome from that time period. I've often toyed with the idea of doing a Crimean War, Franco-Prussian war, Boer War or Boxer Rebellion campaign. Of course the trick would be finding people interested in playing stuff like that.

[Spence]

I've always thought the periods between the Napoleonic War up through the turn of the 20th century were the most interesting.

Same here.

[input.jack]

Dauntless, ever hear of "The Charge of the Light Brigade"?