SYW Kreis: Upper Rhine, Swabian and Wurttemberg artillery

Battalion guns from these circles/states. Left, Upper Rhine and mounted officer, middle – Swabian and mounted officer and, on the right, Wurttemberg.

SYW Hanover: IR 1A Scheither

These lovely figures are from Siege Work Studios in Australia and very nice they are too. The range is a specifically SYW Hanoverian range and it has been around for a while but this is the first time I have painted them. They are quite 'petite' figures and would probably work best not mixed with other ranges within the same battalion. There is a picture of them below next to a base of Black Hussar Hessians and they are smaller but not so it makes a huge difference but they will definitely not work with chunkier figures like those from Front rank. The mounted officer is well sculpted and I have painted him as Major General Scheele.

The range is complete for the infantry and artillery but they do not appear to have done any cavalry, which is a shame. Maybe they can be encouraged to!

My Hessian battalions have 5 bases (20 figures) representing about 500 men. These stronger Hanoverian battalions are seven bases so about 700 men. I have also painted the grenadier company at the same time although it will be converged, in due course, with others. It makes sense to paint the grenadiers at the same time as their parent battalion so that I can match up the facing colour exactly. I used not to do this and had the devil of a job remembering which shade I had used.

Finally, do contact Drew at Siege Works Studios and get some samples if you ask nicely!These Hanoverians get an A from me and with some cavalry they would probably get an A+. They have a particularly good selection of unusual musicians.

SYW Kreis: Bavaria, Kurtrier and Kurmainz artillery

Looking left to right, battalion guns of Kurtrier and Kurmainz. Then Bavarian battalion guns and field pieces. The colour of the guns is largely conjectural.

40mm SYW Austrian Artillery

On the left is the single 3pdr gun to serve with the Vanguard, then three gun models (6 gun battery) of 3pdrs and on the right a 6pdr battery. All crews and guns are from Sash & Saber. I have one 12pdr battery to do to complete the artillery for the Austrians.

The other pictures show the 6pdrs behind some 25mm field fortifications which, I think, will work fine.

SYW Kreis: Franconian artillery

Artillery from the Franconian circle. The gun colour was 'sang du boeuf' or a very dark red. Most of the gun models come from Minden/Crann Tara, and the crews from Eureka. Extra guns allow a greater variety as the guns are not glued to bases.

SYW French: IR121 Horion (Liégeois)

The Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, situated, for the most part, in present-day Belgium, which was ruled by the Bishop of Liège. As a prince, the Bishop held an Imperial Estate and had seat and voice at the Imperial Diet.

On May 1 1756, Maria Theresa signed a contract with Louis XV by which he promised to send an auxiliary corps of 24,000 men as support in the war against Prussia.

Two new infantry regiments were created on March 25 1757 as new units in the French Army. The first regiment given the number 120 was a two battalion regiment raised in the Bishopric by the French Colonel Charles Albert Baron Vierzet. The second regiment, numbered 121, was raised by the Comte de Horion and also had two battalions. The former regiment had a long history as, in 1762, it went into Austrian service and lasted in some form until 1918. But Horion was disbanded in 1762 and therefore had a short five year lifespan.

There is some dispute about some of the uniform details as you can see from the attached painting plate. Some sources suggested blue cuffs but I have gone with the Kronoskaf interpretation with red cuffs. I have also reworked the flags to make the blue diamonds on the border a bit more visable.

I think this is a very fine looking uniform and I have never seen it painted by gamers before. This concludes Phase 1 of the Franco-Spanish force to face off against the Piedmontese WAS army already done. Phase 2 is going to be more Spanish to compliment those 3 Spanish Guard battalions already finished. The infantry will total 8 French battalions and 10 Spanish plus one wild Macedonian light infantry unit.