Debouching from a defile - 40mm SYW Prussians

A mixture of 40mm SYW Prussians from Sash & Saber, Trident and Front Rank.

A Hessian Infantry Brigade

Late Hessians IR 11 Prinz von Anhalt

Here is another late Hessian regiment, IR 11 Prince Carl Leopold von Anhalt-Bernburg.

Some will notice that they have no finials and that's because I've run out! They will be finished when Front Rank can get me some new finials and then I'll picture them again. Also NEW TREES! Figures by Foundry.

French Cavalry "Württemberg"

I am adding three new regiments of French SYW cavalry over the next few weeks and here is the first of them. It was a German regiment raised in 1635 by the Duke of Wurttemberg and consisted of two squadrons. Figures are by Front Rank.

Late Hessians IR 10 Canitz

As you know my other blog deals with the Hesse Kassel army in the early part of the SYW. The Hessians on this blog are in their late war manifestation after the organisation changes in 1760. I'll let Kronoskaf explain: "In January 1760, at the death of Wilhelm VIII, the new landgrave Friedrich II changed the organization of the army. Friedrich already was a general in the Prussian service, owned the Prussian Infanterie Regiment Nr. 45 and was a fervent admirer of the Prussian military machine. Therefore, he completely reorganised the Hessian army along the lines of the Prussian one, even changing the uniforms. He raised a new Leibgarde battalion (also known as 1st Garde) and a new Garde du Corps squadron from picked troopers of his army. However, these two new units did not take the field. Furthermore, the 12 existing infantry regiments, each consisting of 950 men in 10 coys (book strength), were increased by 200 men each and reorganised into two smaller battalions. Thus, each infantry regiment now consisted of two battalions. Each of these battalions counted 4 fusilier companies and 1 grenadier company. As in the Prussian army, the grenadiers were converged into 6 battalions of 4 companies each. Thus, the Hessian line infantry now counted 30 battalions (12 regiments @ 2 bns each + 6 converged grenadier battalions). Finally, as of June 24 1760, the former Leib-Grenadiers,  Leibgarde, and Erbprinz regiments were respectively renamed 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Gardes."

Now if you go back to July 5th 2010 on this blog (and earlier) you will see a number of the new two-battalion regiments, some of which have new uniforms and new flags. This regiment however, number 10, appears to be almost the same in the early and late period and perhaps with the same flags so perhaps they had run out of money? Or they were just so busy being in the midst of a war (Hesse itself was occupied by the French for much of the war) that the flag designers (!!) were otherwise occupied.

IR 113 Ogilvy

A very fine-looking Scots regiment in French service. It was raised by David, Lord Ogilvy on February 28 1747 from the remnants of the force defeated at Culloden. The regiment counted 1 battalion and it only lasted until 1762 when it was disbanded.

It looks very similar to the other Scots regiment in French service IR 107 Royal Écossais but the latter had white trousers and turnbacks.

Hessian 10/12 Rückersfeld Grenadiers

In January 1760, at the death of Wilhelm VIII, the new landgrave Friedrich II changed the organization of the army of Hesse-Kassel. Friedrich already was a general in the Prussian service, owned the Prussian Infanterie Regiment Nr. 45 and was a fervent admirer of the Prussian military machine. Therefore, he completely reorganised the Hessian army along the lines of the Prussian one, even changing the uniforms. As in the Prussian army, the grenadiers were converged into 6 battalions of 4 companies each. Thus the grenadiers from Malsburg Infantry (2 coys) and Erbprinz Infantry (2 coys) were converged into the Grenadier Battalion 10/12 counting four companies.

During the Seven Years' War, the battalion was commanded by:
since its creation in 1760: lieutenant-colonel von Rückersfeld
from 1761: lieutenant-colonel von Bülow
from 1761: lieutenant-colonel von Massenbach
from 1762: lieutenant-colonel von Gosen

IR 14 Poitou

Here is one of my favourite French regiments of the SYW - IR 14 Poitou, blue facings with brass/gold buttons and a pretty flag!! Lovely figures are from Black Hussar of course. I have plenty more to show over the next dew days.

Grenadiers Royaux

Here are four battalions of the Grenadiers Royaux.  Each battalion is 3 bases of 6 so 18 figures for a total of 72 figures all from Black Hussar.  They are fantastic figures – easily the best 25/28mm SYW French figures available at the moment.  The figures are a real pleasure to paint although these uniforms had no colour besides the blue collar that is almost invisible. The drummers have plumes on their tricornes that are fun and the scarves on the flagpoles suggest the correct way to unfurl the flags. Talking of flags I have not gone with the suggested ones on Kronoskaf but these rather smarter ones from another source.

There were 11 regiments of Grenadiers Royaux, each of 2 battalions, so you could field an awesome reserve division of all 22 battalions if you wished although as far as I know this was never done. A much smaller number of these battalions served at Minden with the Grenadiers de France – 4 or 8 battalions depending on sources again.

All the regiments looked exactly the same – the white or pale grey coat, no facing colours,  blue collars and silver/pewter  buttons.

1.Grenadiers Royaux de Bergeret, 1759 de Narbonne
2- Grenadiers Royaux de Bruslard, 1759 d'Aulans, 1760 de l'Espinasse
3- Grenadiers Royaux de Modène, 1761 le Camus
4- Grenadiers Royaux de Coincy, 1761 de Cambis
5- Grenadiers Royaux de Châtillon, 1759 de Longaunay, 1762 Hoffelize
6- Grenadiers Royaux de Chantilly, 1762 du Plessis d'Argentré
7- Grenadiers Royaux de Prugues, 1757 de Gayon, 1757/05 d'Ally
8- Grenadiers Royaux d'Aulans, 1759 le Camus, 1761 de Puységur, 1762 la Roche-Lambert
9- Grenadiers Royaux de Chabrilland, 1762 Miromesnil
10- Grenadiers Royaux la Tresne, 1762 d'Aigremont
11- Grenadiers Royaux de Solar, 1759 Méhégan

These are in fact Grenadiers Royaux de Chatillon and of Chantilly, but only because I like the names.

Lastly, I hope you like the new terrain I have made. The trees came from China and, bizarrely, had snow on them although the pictures when I bought them did not. They wanted to jazz them up!

Wurttemberg Leib-Grenadiers à Cheval

This unit concludes this project: I have now painted the entire Wurttemberg army of the SYW and it's fitting we should reflect the split personality of the Duke and his Duchy with an Austrian styled unit in a Prussian styled army.

This unit was raised in 1758 and eventually comprised 4 squadrons of about 500 men. The figures are from FR with some suitable head conversions. The flag is fictional.

Red was not a 'Prussian' colour but it was a colour used by a number of Austrian dragoon regiments and this unit may well be an homage to the Duke's Austrian allies. Next week - back to French grenadiers!!

Feldjäger zu Fuss/zu Pferd

The Wurttemberg advance guard will have the two previously painted Hussar regiments and these Jaegers.
The foot Jaegers were only two companies strong (about 200 men). The figures are from Foundry and are really great sculpts.
The mounted element (the zu Pferd) were also about the same strength at two squadrons. The figures are Front Rank (FR)

Wurttemberg Duke and assorted generals

I'm drawing to the end of this Wurttemberg project and every army needs it's generals. Here we have a mix of Foundry and FR mounted officers ready to lead from the front........