#cavalryman

Piotr Michałowski (Polish, 1800-1855)

In This Scene…

André Caron, one of the tritagonists of my Disney Fanfiction project Swashbucklers of the Magic Kingdom, was,at one point, a cavalry officer in the household of Prince Henri “the Charming” of theMagic Kingdom’s French district. He was a master swordsman (only his best friend, the tyrannosaur Chris Carnovo, was his equal), an excellent horseman, and a daring warrior, frequently riding ahead of his Black Hussars and slashing his way through outnumbering enemies to seize victory. It was his greatest ambition to become a Knight of the Magic Kingdom, an honor bestowed only on those who risked their lives to accomplish some great deed on behalf of a Prince or Princess of the Magic Kingdom or one of their districts.

As of the current timeline, those days are long gone, and his skill with his saber and his friendship with his old horse, Shadow, is all that is left of the once dashing young cavalier. André is cold, harsh, and perpetually melancholic. But perhaps, as he and Chris bodyguard Prince Kopa of the Pridelands, the cavalry officer of old may ride once more…

Behind the Scenes

I have a massive backlog of sketches that I’m finally trying to finish. This was one of them.

I traced a picture of a US Cavalry reenactor cutting at a sandbag with a saber. I want to get better at drawing cavalrymen, so I used them as a model and overlaid my character over the tracing.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HEAVY MONGOL CAVALRY IN BATTLEFIELD STRATEGY.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a Mongol heavy cavalryman, Liegnitz (present day Legnica, Poland), c. 1241, the Mongol Empire. Artwork by the late, great Angus McBride.

OVERVIEW: "While a standard Mongol army did field a large number of horse archers, entire battles couldn’t be won by just one tactical arm of the force. In fact, almost equally (if not more) crucial was the Heavy Cavalry that was tailored to counter-attacking maneuvers. These heavy horsemen were mostly armored in Asiatic lamellar style where scales of metal (or hardened leather) were sewn together through tiny holes.

PART II: Sometimes entire coats were reinforced with metallic pieces – and they were possibly worn beneath dedicated armor systems for added protection, thus alluding to super-heavy cavalry units. Similarly, helmets were crafted from larger iron pieces, but they characteristically featured extended neck guards made of metallic bits. And as for arms, most of these heavy horsemen used lances, possibly both in couched and overhead positions."

-- REALM OF HISTORY (Dattatreya Mandal, February, 10, 2016)

I feel like Spy is convinced that Cavalryman and his horse are the same being...

Bless God, he went as soldiers, His musket on his breast— Grant God, he charge the bravest Of all the martial blest! Please God, might I behold him In epauletted white— I should not fear the foe then— I should not fear the fight!” 

German official photographer took this undated photo, IWM Q 29931, of a German cavalry patrol on the move in Volhynia (the Austro-Hungarian partition of Poland)

Possibly related to this Aug 4 1915 picture taken by photographer Gustav Victor Lachmann, IWM Q 115280, of the troops of the German 24th Dragoons (Leib-Dragoner-Regiment No. 20) crossing the Svienta (Šventoji) River

War photographer Ariel Varges takes this undated #WWI photo, IWM Q 24724, of an Indian cavalryman. On patrol, he found two starving Christian girls in the desert. Leaning down from his horse and he gave one of them half his rations.