40mm Prussian SYW

Just enough time to squeeze some images in of the Prussians done so far for this 40mm project. Most of what you have seen the last few years has been Austrians and the Prussians have been lagging behind - in fact it was back in September 2011 when you last saw these chaps. The figures are from Trident and, I think, are very pretty. They are actually Hessians for the AWI so here is an irony - I use Hessian figures in 40mm for my Prussians and in 28mm I use Prussian figures for my Hessians.

By the way, the figures above show the first battalion of IR22 Moritz Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. On my desk at the moment are two battalions of IR11 Johann Carl Baron von Rebentisch. I'm not sure when they will be finished as these are very detailed figures and take a lot of time to complete but sometime next month.

Happy New Year to you all. I'm off to Saigon - well Ho Chi Min city as it is these days. In my mind it is still Saigon and who can forget that iconic image of the helicopter leaving the city before it fell.

Württemberg Infantry Regiment Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm

It's been a long haul through the Wurttemberg army but all the 'regular' infantry are done and I have only got the artillery, one light infantry unit, some small cavalry units and one Kreis infantry regiment to do. Now a two week break beckons and we are off to Vietnam for New Years - to Saigon (well Ho Chi Min city). So I wish you all a happy Christmas and New Year and see you back here in 2-3 weeks time.

Hessian IR1 Leibgarde zu Fuß - revamped

Cross fertilization!
Please check out my other blog at http://landgraviateofhessen-kasselinthesyw.blogspot.com/

Württemberg Infantry Regiment von Werneck

This is the penultimate regiment of Wurttemberg 'regular' infantry. The last one will be done this week. I have Kreisinfanterieregiment Württemberg still to do but that will be next year. There is still artillery to sort out and a few smaller exotic units and then this army will be done. Actually it will be somewhat larger than the Duke was contractually able to supply so it will be a very strong auxiliary force attached to either the French or Austrian armies.

Note that this time I have applied ArmyPainter to the figures and I think that they are greatly improved by it.

The product makes the unit look weathered and less pristine, which I prefer although that is a personal choice. I will put it on all the other Wurttemberg units I have previously painted.

1st Battalion Artois

This is a brief interlude from painting Wurttembergers of the SYW. Here I have painted the new French SYW 28mm infantry from Black Hussar, a German company – see the link on the right. I have painted a 20 figure battalion of the regiment Artois.

I hope the pictures do justice to these magnificent figures. They are so facially expressive and the uniform detail is spot on – the coat is baggy, the leather strapping properly shown and, the cartridge box large as it was. The figures look very WAS or early SYW although, interestingly, the designer/sculptor has shown the coat with turn-backs. But, in my view, these are not ‘real’ turn-backs but coats that have turned back the coat corners to make marching easier. This allows you to paint the coat with turn-backs in the coat colour (as I have done here) or to paint them as foreign regiments in French service, such as Swiss, Germans or Irish, which did have genuine coloured turn-backs. If I have one single gripe it is that he, the designer, has indented the buttons whereas anybody who paints figures by the thousands (as I do) will know that raised buttons are far easier to paint. Also note the two different tones of gold lace for the tricornes because the French used a false gold lace for the rank and file (I have used brass) and ‘real’ gold for the Officer’s and NCO. I have also gone for the WAS white cockade in preference to the SYW black.

Please note the lovely scarves at the flag finials too. These are accurate and beautiful and I have turned them gently with a pair of pliers to show even greater movement.

I must also mention the drummer who wears a huge feathered tricorne and consequently looks very foppish. There is an NCO, standard bearer, one officer and three variant fusiliers in the new range.  All in all, these are the best 25/28mm SYW French out there anywhere. I encourage you to buy some (I have no connection to this company!) if only because painting them is such fun! Finally, I have used ArmyPainter  for extra character and I think these chaps look like they have had a long day’s march to reach the battlefield.

Württemberg Infantry Regiment von Roeder

Here we have another Wurttemberg infantry regiment - raised in 1754 and disbanded in 1765. Still pink facings make a nice change from the carmine facings I have painted on all the previous regiments.
I've also pictured the regiment's grenadiers converged with those of Truchsess last week.

Light at the end of the tunnels - just a few more weeks and I will have painted the entire Wurttemberg army.

Württemberg Fusilier Infantry Regiment Truchsess

Here is another Infantry regiment of the SYW army of Wurttemberg but this time it is a fusilier regiment although for practical purposes it was no different to others shown before. It had black facings and white buttons. It’s inhaber was Major-general Leopold Eusebius Count von Truchsess-Scheer-Friedberg.


Kronoskaf has some strange things to say about flags for this nation. “Informations about the colours of the Württemberger infantry regiments are very scarce. The following descriptions represent an "educated guess" based on a single source.” No problem with that but the article goes on to say: “Regimentsfahne: probably red field (but might also have been of a different colour, even though black, the distinctive colour of the regiment, would be very unlikely)”. Although I cannot contradict this based on evidence to hand, black as a colour for flags was not at all uncommon in the SYW. France, Russia and Hesse all had black flags. I actually think that Wurttemberg’s Regimentsfahne were probably all different colours – the facing colour of the regiment – and red was the most commonly seen because red/carmine was the most common facing colour. The same coloured flags across the whole army was unusual for this period. But away from my sources, I will just have to give all regiments red flags.

The picture was taken using my new phone-camera. I'm not sure about it...........

Württemberg Infantry Regiment Spiznass

This regiment pairs up with the one I painted last week. The only difference between this regiment and Prinz Louis is the pompom colour and this regiment has yellow hat lace. A good tip for painting yellow hat lace is not to use yellow at all – it is far too bright – but to use sand, as I have done here.

The third picture shows the battalion of converged grenadiers that was the product of these two regiments. It was commanded in 1757 by Major Berthold Dominik von Plessen.

Sadly, Wurttemberg seems to have had uniform flags for all regiments and they were not that exciting either.

Württemberg Infantry Regiment Prince Louis

Here is the two battalion regiment with it's grenadiers - the latter will be detached to be converged with the grenadiers of another regiment.

When the Leibregiment was subdivided in 1744, its second battalion became the Infanterieregiment Prinz Louis. This new regiment remained in the service of the Holy Roman Empire, as part of the troops of the Swabian District, until 1748. In 1752, the second battalion of this regiment was used to establish another regiment Infanterieregiment von Spitznas. The regiment was organized in 2 battalions with 5 musketeer and 1 grenadier companies per battalion. Each company counted some 100 men for a total book strength of 1,219 men including staff. Furthermore, each battalion had a 3-pdrs gun.

Throughout the Seven Years' War, the regimental inhaber was Prince Louis Eugen von Württemberg.

I have a problem with some of the details in Kronoskaf concerning button colour. Next week I will be painting Infanterieregiment von Spitznas and you will see that it has the same colouration. This regiment had white tricorne lace and Spitznas had yellow. Kronoskaf says that this regiment had white buttons despite the mitre plate being brass, the officers having gold lace and an image (much later, admittedly) that shows yellow buttons. I believe that Prince Louis regiment had yellow buttons and have painted accordingly. I believe that Spitznas had yellow buttons as well so that the main uniform difference was in the tricorne lace.

Degenfeld Dragoons

This Wurttemberg dragoon regiment was raised in 1758 and seems to have survived the entire SYW as a dragoon regiment without major change.

The colour scheme is most unusual – black facings on a white coat. There was another much older (raised 1683) Wurttemberg dragoon regiment but this was a Kreis regiment and part of the Swabian circle. I’ll be painting it in due course.

I’ve given this unit an imaginary flag as none were issued.

Next week I’ll be starting on the long haul through the rest of the infantry – somewhere around 16 battalions.

Phull Cuirassiers

Here is the only Wurttemberg Cuirassier regiment until the Gens d’armes were raised in 1760. This regiment had a somewhat short career too – it was raised in 1758 with a strength of four squadrons and lasted in this form until it was converted to a dragoon regiment in 1761.

It has a very Prussian look and one of the main differences is the scalloped gold lace that all rankers wore. The figures are Foundry 28mm Cuirassiers and, sadly, they have sabretaches whereas this regiment did not. Still it’s a small technical fault for an otherwise splendid looking force. Whether it will ever perform well on the wargames table is a mystery. This entire Wurttemberg army performed poorly when in service with the French and slightly better when in service with the Austrians.

Württemberg Leib Grenadier Regiment

This is a complicated regiment as it it did not exist for very long. In 1758, the Garde zu Fuß was twice reorganised. During the second reorganisation, late in 1758, the Garde zu Fuß retained two battalions while its other battalion gave birth to this regiment -the Leibgrenadierregiment which recruited other troops to bring its total force to 3 battalions.

In 1762 and 1763, two battalions were detached from the regiment to form independent grenadier battalions designated Hausgrenadierbataillon and Herzogsgrenadierbataillon. The Leibgrenadierregiment now counting a single battalion was renamed Leibgrenadierbataillon.

So what we see here is the two battalion regiment sometime between 1758-1762.

Another thing that is strange is that Kronoskaf, where these organizational details came from, says that the officers had gold button colour whereas the rank and file had silver despite their brass fronted mitres. Mitre colour always matches button colour so I think the button colour should be brass for all.

Freihusaren von Glasenapp

In 1759, von Glasenapp, who had been in Prussian service, offered his services to the duke of Württemberg who was trying to hire light troops. On February 27, 1760, they came to an agreement and he then raised a squadron of 158 hussars on his estate at Holtmuhl. The unit was disbanded on February 7 1761 when the duke of Württemberg retired from the war. Soon afterward, the entire unit entered Prussian service as Glasenapp light dragoons.

The flag is fictional as is the regularity of their uniforms. Kronoskaf says they were badly equipped and they don’t appear to have performed brilliantly in the war

Gorcy Hussars

This Wurttemberg Hussar regiment was first raised in 1735 with a one squadron strength and was known as the Leibhusarenschwadron. Then in 1758 a further three squadrons were raised and the new regiment was renamed Hussars von Gorcy under it’s new French Colonel Johan Baptist Gorcy de la Martiniere. Wurttemberg was getting large subsidies from France to increase it’s army so it’s not unreasonable to guess that Gorcy (who hailed from a village of the same name in Lorraine close to the Luxembourg border and probably spoke both French and German) raised these extra three squadrons from both Frenchmen and Wurttembergers.

I think the colour scheme of green and red makes this a very attractive looking unit. Also, I wanted to comment on painting cavalry as this is a harder job than it might look at first glance. I always try to put different horses on each base and also different poses of cavalrymen. So no two combinations are the same. This involves no small amount of planning so that also no two horse colours are next to each other! This applies to hussars and dragoons – with cuirassiers I don’t mind so much as I like them all on black horses and, preferably, standing poses.

Lastly, the flag is a fictional creation. These Hussars were never issued flags.

Luckner's Hussars

Back again after a long break. That's because I've moved to Thailand and I'm posting this from the beautiful tropical island of Koh Samui. I've rented a house here and will be spending part of the year here and part of it back in France. So the last few months have been spent moving painting stuff and looking for a place to live. This is a tourist island so if you are in the area, say hello.

Back to painting. This is the first unit painted under these sunny skies and I'm back on familiar ground with Luckner's Hussars, a unit I painted back in February 2009. Last time I used Eureka 28mm figures, this time I've used Foundry Hussars and I must say these are lovely figures, full of character, and a sense of movement. As usual with Foundry, there is quite a lot of flash on the horses but once that has been cleaned up, they paint up nicely. This uniform was, by the way, the later and more well-known uniform with white and red being the dominant colours – the earlier uniform is rarely illustrated and was green and red. On that posting back in 2009 there is also a useful biography of Luckner himself – a man who rose to become a Marshal of France and lost his head, literally, in the Revolution.

Next week, and for quite a few weeks thereafter, I will be embarking on a large project – the Wurttemberg army of the SYW.

Beaufremont Dragons

Here is another French SYW dismounted dragoon regiment, this time with the rather unusual facing colour of 'ventre de biche' or fawn on their cuffs. Figures are by Foundry again.

There will be a pause now on this blog as real life gets in the way of painting! More news soon................