Saturday 31 August 2019

40mm WAS/SYW Austrians: IR38 de Ligne, new flags and grenadiers





I have reworked the basing, given this regiment new flags and painted up the two grenadier companies. So 6 regiments (12 battalions) are finished.

I am currently painting IR22 Roth, the only Austrian regiment with two-colour facings.



Thursday 29 August 2019

28mm SYW French: La Couronne





One of the best regiments in the French army.

Monday 26 August 2019

40mm SYW IR31 Hungarian Regiment Haller








I am reworking these regiments and adding two grenadier companies which will be converged (in three pairs of two) to make grenadier battalions.

The other thing that I have done is to enable the use of the Austrian army in both the WAS and SYW. In the former the infantry formed in 4 ranks so I want to show a distinction. For the SYW (three ranks) the five bases of 4 are simply placed side-by-side (bottom 2 pictures). For the WAS (4 ranks) one base (which is split into two) is placed behind the end bases – shown in top 3 pictures. This reduces the frontage and shows an increase in depth for the extra rank. Six hundred men in 4 ranks will have a frontage of about 150 men whereas 600 men in 3 ranks has a frontage of about 200. After Kolin the Austrians were in 3 ranks.

I only have two regiments of Hungarians in my army so to be able to field a converged battalion of grenadiers I will need to add two companies of grenadiers from another regiment not present in my army. The Austrian method of converging grenadiers was quite different from the Prussian method. The Prussians system was grenadiers from two regiments (so 4 companies) in a permanent grouping that would only change if numbers fell too low through desertion or casualties. The Austrians, on the other hand, only tended to converge on the battlefield, or just prior to it, to create an elite for a short period of combat. Thereafter they returned to their parent battalions to wait the next emergency or battle. Sometimes they were not converged at all, for example at the battles of Lobositz and Prague. When they are not specified in an OOB then you can assume that grenadiers remained with their parent regiments. Mollwitz is another example – no grenadiers are mentioned so it is reasonable to assume they were within the battalions.



Thursday 22 August 2019

28mm SYW French: IR 24.1 La Reine and IR84 La Marche





La Reine, 1st battalion (the second served in America) at the front and the single-battalion regiment La Marche at the back. Foundry figures



Tuesday 13 August 2019

SYW Hessian Landgrenadierregiment/AWI Regiment Rall








In 1760, when the new Landgrave Friedrich II reorganised his army, the three former militia regiments were reorganised into three "Garrison Battalions" of 4 companies each, and one standing battalion of "Garrison Grenadiers" of 4 companies. This is the latter and by the AWI this is Grenadier Regiment Rall of Trenton fame.

You can see from the attached schematic that the uniform is basically the same although some coat lace has been added and the mitre's back colours has changed. The green flag has been somewhat embellished as per the 'Prussification' of the army. Further worthy of note is the fact that while the mitre rear of other ranks was piped white, this piping is gold for NCOs.

This one-battalion regiment fought at the Battle of Warburg.
In my Hessian army the regiments are normally of 2 battalions each of 500 men (5 bases per battalion) whereas I have made this stronger with 7 bases or 700 men. Figures are mostly Black Hussar with command from Foundry.

28mm SYW: Hanoverian mixed battery





One captured French 8pdr (gun from Minden) with two 24pdrs (Front Rank) – all with Hanoverian crew from Siege Work Studio.



28mm SYW: Hanoverian 12pdr battery B



Siege Work Studios Hanoverian figures with Minden's 12 pdrs.

28mm SYW: Hanoverian 12pdr battery A





Siege Work Studios Hanoverian figures with Minden's 12 pdrs.

28mm SYW: Lippe battery B





These are manning Hanoverian 6pdrs (guns from Front Rank)



Wednesday 7 August 2019

28mm SYW: Lippe battery A





These are manning British 12pdrs (guns from the Elite range).

28mm SYW: Hessian battery





This battery has 12pdr Prussian Brummers (guns from the Minden/Crann Tara ranges).