Pressing on with the lead mountain in the garage, I have now completed my French Grenadiers à Cheval from the Maison d Roi of Louis XIV. The unit was raised in 1676 and wore red coats with a brown fur hat and red hanging bag. They did not wear blue coats until 1692. I could not find a representation of the unit's flag for the 1670s, so I made one up from a basic French dragoon guidon and a bursting grenade, an image which was definitely on the unit's standard by the early 18th Century. The unit was considered very much an élite formation at the time and was recruited from line infantry grenadiers. As with other dragoon units of this period, it was not a "battle cavalry" unit, but more a "mounted infantry" unit, expected to fight on foot more than on horseback. My ratio of dismounted men to mounted men is too high, I know, as about a third of the unit would be acting as horseholders, but I prefer the 12 figures acting in the dismounted role as a unit, rather than the more accurate 8. The figures are metal 28mm from North Star's range (ex-Copplestone).