Lynden Hussars join the army of the Barryat of Lyndonia

Looking somewhat Toytown-ish in their blue, yellow and red uniforms, a new regiment of hussars has just joined the army of my wargaming ‘imagi-nation’ (imaginary nation), the Barryat of Lyndonia.

After I bought these wonderful Minden Miniatures French hussars last year, I ummed and ahhed as to which French regiment to paint them as. Although my army is imaginary, I like each unit to match a real-life regiment from any of the warring nations of the mid-18th century.

So, were they going to be France’s famous Bercheny Hussars? Or perhaps those cut-throat rogues, the Chasseurs de Fischer? I just couldn’t decide … until the decision was made for me when I found out that the French army had a hussar regiment named the Aspremont-Lynden Hussars. How could the Barryat of Lyndonia possibly not include this unit in its army?!

The standard French light-blue hussar uniform would look striking in my army, especially with the colourful yellow facings and red horse furniture.

I painted the horses using oil paints, which give a lovely depth of colour, and a sheen that makes them look lifelike.

The regiment consists of 24 troopers, two trumpeters, a standard-bearer (yes, I know hussars didn’t carry standards into battle, but this is an imaginary nation, remember!), and an officer. They’re not based for any particular set of wargaming rules.

One problem was that I couldn’t find any information on the colour of the Lynden trumpeters’ uniforms. As French trumpeters often wore the livery of their regiment’s owner, I decided to paint them in yellow and red to mach the heraldic arms of the real-life Aspremont-Lynden family.   By the way, in case you’re wondering, my imagi-nation is named after the Stanley Kubrick movie Barry Lyndon. And whilst the Barryat of Lyndonia might sound a weird name for a country, it’s no worse than the the real-life Banat of Temesvár,  part of the Austro-Hungarian empire!