Post by JohnY on Jun 27, 2022 18:19:19 GMT
After much reading of books covering Italy in WWI that noted with a handwave that Italian cavalry were dismounted for most of the war, I came across an article on Wikipedia of all places, which introduced me to their appearance on horseback at the Battle of Pozzuolo del Friuli.
Of course, I needed some then for my small WWI Italian force.
Purpose-made figures are either non-existent or my searching skills are not up to snuff (both of which are plausible explanations), so I ended up making my own with a simple head swap.
I used the Armies in Plastic Egyptian Lancer as the main body. The head is from a Dulcop WWI Italian figure - the one throwing a grenade as it's a good deal larger than the arditi with the dagger. For the record, AiP WWI French heads are too large and Irregular's Adrian helmeted head from their multi-part range is too small for this body.
You could argue that a better choice for the body would be the Armies in Plastic WWI British lancer - thanks to the cartridge belt which the Italian lancers usually wore as well, but the puttees are wrong. Probably a simple thing to fix for someone with a modicum of skill with putty or a blade (attaching the Egyptian Lancer legs to the British body). That is not me. The less I have to sculpt, cut, or assemble the better. Just know that you can no doubt achieve greater accuracy by doing so.
Pictures (And basically the same text content if not the exact words than at least sentiment) can be found at 54mmorfight.blogspot.com/2022/06/lancieri-e-cavalleria-ride-to-sound-of.html
