French SYW: IR 32 Rohan Montbazon

Another 2 battalion French regiment with pretty flags. This regiment had a number of name changes as and when it's proprietor changed.

During the Seven Years' War, the regiment ranked 32^nd and was under the command of (from May 26 1745) Jules Hercules Mériadec, Prince de Rohan and Duc de Montbazon (promoted maréchal de camp on April 1 1759). From April 21 1759 it was under the command of Florent Alexandre Melchior de La Baume, Comte de Montrevel. When the French Army was reorganised on December 10 1762, the regiment took the name of the Province of Berry.

It participated in the fiasco of Rossbach and performed excellently at Sandershausen where, according to Kronoskaf, “it was placed in the first line of the left wing. It took the brunt of the Hessian assault, exhausted all its ammunition and then fought with the bayonet. During this combat, it suffered very heavy casualties, loosing 66 officers and 778 men killed (including Lieutenant-Colonel de Saint-Martin) and wounded.” It was also in the thick of it at the battle of Bergen.

Figures are again my preferred option from Black Hussar.

This is probably the last post for the year so I wish you all a happy New Year.

SYW French: IR 14 Poitou both battalions

I am very happy with this regiment ready to join my new French army to fight either the Piedmontese in the WAS or the Hessians in the SYW. Figures are Black Hussar 28mm.

SYW Kreis: Ansbach Dragoons

The District (Kreis) of Franconia supplied a dragoon regiment to the Reichsarmee during the Seven Years' War. This regiment consisted of 5 squadrons of 2 companies each, for a nominal total strength of 700 men. Troopers came from several towns and villages:

• 1st company (Leibkompanie): Ansbach (58), Schönborn (1), Weißenburg (11)
• 2nd company: all troopers were from Würzburg
• 3rd company: Hohenlohe Gesamthaus (3), Bartenstein (6), Schillingsfürst (14), Pfedelbach (5), Oehringen (17), Langenburg (4), Ingelfingen (4), Kirchberg (4), Schwarzenberg (11), Castell (3)
• 4th company: all troopers were from Würzburg
• 5th company: all troopers were from Nuremberg
• 6th company: Eichstätt (45), Rineck (11), Erbach (14)
• 7th company: Bamberg (70)
• 8th company: Bayreuth (46), Limpurg (23), Castell (1)
• 9th company: all troopers were from Nuremberg
• 10th company: Teutonic Order (44), Würzburg (21), Wertheim (5)

This completes the infantry and cavalry of the Reichsarmee so now all that is left to do is the artillery and generals.

SYW Kreis: Kreisregiment Hohenzollern Cuirassiers and Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons

The Cuirassier regiment (it is unknown if they actually wore a cuirasse or not) was, as per Kronoskaf, a motley crew of 4 squadrons with contingents from 61 different places and totalled about 600 men under the command of Fürst Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. At Rossbach they were routed by two squadrons of the Black Hussars.

The Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons (not to be confused with a dragoon regiment in the Austrian army with the same name!) was a small unit of about 250 men. It's reputation is unknown.

All figures are from Front Rank.

SYW French IR 14.1 Poitou

A very pretty French battalion from the SYW although it could well cover the WAS as well. The presence of grenadiers in bearskins suggests the end of the SYW but otherwise the only difference would be in the cockade colour - white in the WAS, black in the SYW.


I love these languid poses from Black Hussars.

SYW Kreis:Elector Archbishop of Cologne (Kurköln)

These two units mean that I have reached the end of the Kreis infantry. These two battalions were actually two one-battalion regiments called Kurköln Leibregiment and Kurköln Wildenstein, with a grenadier company for each. Their uniforms appear to have been the same except that the former had silver buttons and the later brass. Both seem to have had the same flags too. Their uniforms were Austrian in cut but in Prussian blue.

The figures are from Front Rank and I have never painted kneeling/firing Austrians so these figures are a first for me and are rather nice.

SYW Kreis: Kurtrier Infantry Regiment

This two battalion regiment was the contribution of the Elector/Archbishop of Trier. According to Kronoskaf “The Prince de Soubise rated this regiment as "poor". Indeed it was assembled from scratch and filled up almost exclusively with recruits, whose quality could be improved only with better training and battle experience. For some time the 2nd Battalion was commanded to guard the Reichsarmee artillery park: it was put again in the battle order only by the Elector's persuasion. “

40mm SYW Austrians High Command

Back in June 2013 I did a base with 3 mounted officers as my Kommandierenden General but I was never really happy with it so I have reworked it this time using mostly Front Rank figures. You can see how substantial these figures are as they are the two on the right. The chap on the left if from Matthias Manske and it is rather crude in comparison to FR and significantly smaller requiring stacking under the horse's base.

I've not been sure who to represent but I have ended up by doing Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg in the uniform of a Feldzeugmeister  or Full General of Infantry. He was, of course, commanding in the disaster that was the Battle of Mollwitz but, had he won, he might not have 'retired' and might well have served in the SYW. 

Neipperg died in 1774, just one day before his 90th birthday.

SYW Kreis: Kurbayern Infantry Regiment

This regiment of three battalions was drawn from Bavarian regiments and then re-uniformed so that it probably looked like this by the end of 1759. The colours are quite striking and the flags obviously Bavarian in style. Figures are from Front Rank.

Many new eBay sales

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/nigbil999/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

Hessian Regiment Prince Karl

Here is the second regiment for my Hessian SYW army, Prince Karl. The Inhaber of this regiment remained the same person for the SYW through the AWI. There is also a well known painting of the regiment which shows an incident at the battle of Krefeld. Kronoskaf says “ On June 23, the regiment took part in the Battle of Krefeld where it was deployed on the right wing under the command of the Hereditary Prince. Towards the end of the battle, the Hereditary Prince and Gilsa rallied the battalion along with Wutginau Infantry and other Allied infantry units and advanced onto the plain. The Comte de Gisors at the head of 4 squadrons of the Corps des Carabiniers de Monsieur le Comte de Provence charged these advancing battalions who let them close in to about 20 paces before firing a devastating volley mowing down in an instant most of the first rank. A single squadron managed to break through but the third rank of infantry knocked it down (ie turned round)”.

My flags here are the AWI ones which are probably the wrong style of flags because at the time of the battle (1758) the regiment was a one battalion regiment with different plainer flags.

Note also that during the SYW this regiment had silver buttons and white lapel lace. By the AWI, the regiment had yellow buttons and lapel lace. I do not know when the change was made but I have gone for the SYW colour scheme.

I have compiled a painting card to assist you in painting this regiment.

Salzburg Infantry Regiment

The Bavarian District supplied a regiment to the Reichsarmee during the Seven Years' War. This regiment's book strength consisted of 2 battalions, including 1 grenadier company and 2 battalion guns for an initial total of 1,170 men. There were contingents from the Bishopric of Salzburg, from Regensburg and Passau. Some of the contributions were tiny – for example Niedermunster Abbey contributed 8 men. Each company supplied a flag so there was a wide variety and these four samples are shown on Kronoskaf.

Figures are from Front Rank and make a pleasant change.

18mm Swedish Cavalry Södra Skånska Horse

Eureka figures for my Swedish-Danish War project.

Bayreuth Cuirassiers

The District (Kreis) of Franconia supplied a cuirassier regiment to the Reichsarmee during the Seven Years' War. The regiment consisted of 5 squadrons (each of 2 companies) for a total of 666 men. It was formed from troops contributed by 23 distinct contingents and had rather an uninspiring reputation despite it looking very Prussian.