The Marimon Dragoons, called the Campredon until 1707, were one of several dragoon regiments created by Philip V in 1702 as part of his reorganisation of the Spanish army along French lines. This was a time of great change for dragoons, which were undergoing both an increase in popularity (due to their usefulness and relative cheapness) and a gradual shift from true mounted infantry to true cavalry. Unlike the war in Flanders, which was characterised by lengthy sieges, the more fluid open warfare in Spain made good use of dragoons, although some Spanish dragoons also saw service under French control, as for example at Ramillies.
The early 18th century was a time when most soldiers in most armies were dressed and equipped in much the same way, with only minor differences in detail and colour to distinguish them. For a while it was believed that Spanish dragoons differed in that they wore a cap with a tall front, but this is now thought only to refer to mounted grenadiers, and that ordinary dragoons wore either the usual tricorn or the French-style 'bag' cap. The four poses in this set all have tricorns, and the rest of their uniform is also conventional, with the coat and large cuffs over breeches and boots. Information on Spain’s dragoons is very sparse, and worse yet for individual regiments, but as far as we can tell these figures are correctly uniformed.
The horses in this set are the same seen in all the GerMan War of the Spanish Succession range, and have been discussed in previous reviews. Basically the poses are OK although the barrel under the feet is a pointless encumbrance. There is some evidence that these dragoons had a sheepskin cover over the saddle, which is not modelled on these animals, although there seems to be no certainty on this. A more certain problem however is the pistols, which every animal has here, yet they were not issued to dragoons as they had carbines which they could use dismounted.
The dragoon poses are a reasonable bunch if not particularly inspiring, with three being pretty similar. Just four poses for a cavalry set is far from generous, so making several almost the same strikes us as unwise.
The sculpting is pretty good with fair detail, but the usual rather squat stature and thick limbs mean these are not particularly attractive figures. On the plus side there is no flash, but on the minus side they are made from the same soft plastic as the rest of the range, which makes them extremely susceptible to breakage, particularly the swords, arms and carbines. The box claims you can repair any breaks with glue, which is true, but that is not an easy task and they will always remain fragile regardless of any repair.
As well as the mounted men the set contains a gun and a few gunners. This unrelated addition appears in many boxes from GerMan and has been discussed in our review of Catalan Artillery & Barricade.
As generic dragoons these figures are fairly accurate but the sculpting style, few poses and fragility mean this set is nothing special and indeed does not have a great deal to offer.