British Guards: 1st Foot Guards, 2nd battalion

To counterbalance the recently-painted seven French battalions, here are some elite British reinforcements.
I have already shown you two Highland battalions, and here is the beginning of the British Guards. I was holding off picturing these as they are awaiting finials for the flags (these come from Front Rank in the UK)
but the backlog is now causing logistical problems (!!) so I'm going ahead with these posts. The figures are from Crusader and here is the link

http://www.crusaderminiatures.com/list.php?cat=7&sub=49&page=1

In the Summer of 1760, the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards was sent to Germany to reinforce the Allied army of Ferdinand of Brunswick. On August 25, it arrived at Ferdinand's headquarters near Bühne in Germany. It was immediately integrated into Ferdinand's Reserve deployed along the Diemel and for the rest of the war was involved in every large engagement.

I have chosen the Lieutenant Colonel's colour (all scarlet) as the Leibstandarte.

15mm Old Glory Prussian Infantry of the Franco-Prussian War

Here is a Prussian battalion painted up as a trial. They were about 1000 men strong so they often operated tactically in half battalions (two companies) so I have shown them in two distinct lines. The bottom picture shows the size difference between a French and Prussian battalion.

I'm still not sure whether I will do this in 15mm. Do I have the stamina?

15mm Old Glory French Infantry of the Franco-Prussian War

I’ve always been fascinated by both 1866 and 1870. I’m no fan, as you probably know, of 15mm but if you are going to refight 19^th century wars you probably need to drop down to smaller figures as the ranges of weapons increased. So I have bought a few sample bags to see if I both like the figures and enjoy painting them. I tried 10mm a couple of months ago and they were just too small – these are 15mm from Old Glory and are really nice figures.  Faces are difficult to paint in this scale but that is only because I am out of practice and will get in my stride. Plus I’m a little surprised that my phone-camera is quite so good – it shows that I am a little out of practice in 15mm!

The FPW is interesting because, on paper, both sides of the conflict have technological strengths and weaknesses. The French have an excellent infantry rifle, indifferent artillery, an early machine gun and generals who are unsure of themselves – not knowing whether to attack or defend. The Prussians, on the other hand, have an indifferent infantry rifle but aggressive and effective artillery. They have generals who seem less insecure and who know to march to the sound of the guns. In almost every battle the Prussians, and their allies, achieve success because they bring vast numbers of troops to bear and French generals, too often, order withdrawal.

Translating this to a wargame, where good generalship can be shared around and where troop numbers will be limited, will mean that a wargame will not reflect what actually happened. The French certainly can win individual battles even if the y cannot win the war.

I will paint up some sample units on both sides and see whether I like them of not. If not, they will be sold, If I like them, then I will slowly start building armies. I would particularly welcome your comments.

French SYW: Dauphin-Étranger Cavalry

Here is the last of the three French cavalry regiments I have painted over the last few days.

This regiment was raised in 1674 and is a Royal regiment with associated privileges. Quite why it was called "foreign Dauphin" is a mystery to me but maybe it should be Dauphine with an 'e' as 1674 was also the year in which Louis' younger brother 'Monsieur's wife (who was a foreigner from the Palatine) gave birth to Philippe d'Orléans.

Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Infantry

The last time we came across the Grafschaft Schaumburg-Lippe was back in December 2011 when I painted the artillery for which this little state was famous. To remind yourself of that post here is the link

http://nigbilpainter.blogspot.fr/2011/12/schaumburg-lippe-artillery-battery.html

This is the infantry battalion that was their only infantry contribution. There are some big holes in the uniform details (infantry sash - what colour?) not to mention the fact that nobody knows what flags were carried. Here is my best guess and it's 100% conjectural. I have found two coats-of-arms - one that is rather plain but possibly 18th century in date and another more sumptuous version that is clearly 19th century. I have used the more sumptuous 19th century version for aesthetic reasons! If you want a copy,message/email me.

Hanoverian Infantry: 6A Hardenberg

Last of the Hanoverian infantry reinforcements - 6A. Orange facings on a red coat - quite a combination. Of course I have also not done the finials as I'm waiting for them to arrive in the post.

Hanoverian Infantry: 4B Stolzenberg

Another Hanoverian regiment - 4B. All figures are from Crusader except for the Foundry officer waving his sword.
This unit is missing finials which I will add soon.