Dragoons were a popular part of any Napoleonic army, not least because they were relatively inexpensive, but also because they were something of the workhorse of the cavalry, without the arrogance of the cuirassiers or the dandy reputation of the hussars. There have been a couple of sets of French dragoons before in this hobby, most notably from Italeri, but the first thing to point out about this set is it is the first in this scale to depict dragoons in the post-1812 uniform. By this we mean the habit-veste is worn, with the lapels closed to the waist, hiding the waistcoat. Also the tails are much shorter and the false turnbacks extend all the way to the bottom of the tails - all features that mean these men must date to 1812 at the earliest. All other aspects of the uniform are also correct, including the helmet with flowing mane, and the long boots. This uniform was not changed again before the end of the Wars, so is perfectly suitable for 1815 too, so why Zvezda claim only up to 1814 we cannot understand.

Like all the game pieces in this range you get very few actual figures for your money. Just three mounted men, although all three poses are really good. Perhaps a better view of the poses can be seen viewing them from above, but we liked them all. Having one man firing from the saddle is nice to see, and happily he has been given a stationary horse from which to do so (it is remarkable how many manufacturers provide such a pose but no credible horse for it). One horse is at full gallop, and the other perhaps at the trot, so these three figures do not make a lot of sense next to each other, but individually all are very well posed - both man and horse.

The great poses of both man and beast are partly achieved by the usual multi-part approach, so everything here needs some assembly. As always we found this assembly easy to do and requiring no glue, and the results speak for themselves. The sculpting is excellent as always, although unusually there is a small amount of flash in places. Nevertheless this is a quality product in terms of production values.

Just three figures can hardly be considered a set in the sense most of the reviews on this site refer to sets, and their utility is somewhat obstructed by the unnecessarily thick and large bases all have been given. Nevertheless each figure is very well done and looks great as well as being perfectly accurate, so with no direct competition at the time of writing, three good poses are better than none.