Touraine and Marechal de camp comte de Vence

Regiment 18 was Touraine and it consisted of two battalions. It participated in the Rossbach fiasco as well as Krefeld, where it performed well. Figures are by Crusader, except for two in the first battalion – the officer and a ranker being shot. Flags are by GMB, of course.

Marechal de camp comte de Vence (a Front Rank figure) was Claude-Alexandre de Villeneuve, comte de Vence, (1703–1760), colonel of the Régiment royal de Corse, lieutenant-général and officer commanding the fortress-port of la Rochelle. He was also a famous collector of books, paintings, drawings and prints.

I’m going to take some time off now to organize the ACW game I’m putting on in May. Terrain has to be done, roads made from cork sheeting and a number of other little jobs that take time but I will post pictures of the table and perhaps give a narrative of the game. I will return to the SYW soon and I have both figures and flags ready to complete the remaining six battalions of this division.

104th Royal-Lorraine (WAS)

This uniform is rather a shock to the eye as yellow is such a rare colour in European fashion of the 18th century. Actually this regiment wore the common white-grey coat with yellow facings in the SYW and this is the uniform they wore in the WAS as per a plate by Gilles Boué. The Duchy of Lorraine and Barrois had become the domain of Stanisław I Leszczyński (pictured above) as compensation for the loss of his Kingdom in the War of the Polish Succession, and when he died in 1766, the Duchy became part of the Kingdom of France.
It would appear then that the colours of yellow and black were either those of Stanisław or of Lorraine itself.

Armypainter has toned down the yellow somewhat and I feel that heroics are forecast for this regiment in future battles. Although this regiment and it’s sister Royal Barrois were both one battalion regiments in the SYW they were both raised in the WAS and, I suspect, both looked similar and may well have fielded two battalions each. Thus one has the possibility of creating a four battalion brigade all in yellow! If Gilles Boué sees this I’d ask him to comment on that possibility. Figures are by Crusader except for the officer who is by Front Rank.

NB The organisation has been confirmed on TMP. "The etat militaire of 1748 has both Barrois & Lorraine with 2 btns totalling 1,382 men per regiment under comte de Gizors and de Marcuil resp." So an all-yellow brigade is possible and I might just do it.

86th La Marche-Prince

Here is another interesting French regiment – this time of only one battalion.

It’s inhaber (to use the German word – I’m not sure what the French word is)was Louis-François-Joseph de Bourbon-Conti, comte de La Marche, a rather interesting character (see picture above). He was a Prince of the Blood (the Contis and the Condes being Bourbons) and, despite rather fragile health, served as a Brigadier at Hastenbeck and Krefeld. He initially fled France at the outbreak of the Revolution but returned in 1790 and somehow, manage to dodge his destiny with Madame Guillotine. In 1797 he was escorted to the border with Spain and sent into exile, after first having extracted a pension from the Revolutionary Directorate in Paris.

I’ve painted the drummer in the Conti livery (actually the Conde livery) for want of further information. Figures are by Crusader except for the officer who is by Front Rank.

Limousin re-flagged

My apologies for not posting for a while but I have been busy on other non-wargaming matters (No, no, I hear you say “Sacrilege”) Now here comes a royal flush of posts over the next few days.

I’ve re-flagged my French with new flags from GMB – certainly the best available but you can judge that for yourself.

Here is Limousin with their new flags. Figures are by Crusader.