28mm Swedes: Jönköpings Regiment.

My favourite Swedish regiment because of the impressive flags. Last post of 2019 so Happy New Year for 2020.

28mm SYW Swedes: Kunglig Majestäts Livgarde till fot

Using Front Ranks's figures, here are some Swedes, the first of twelve foot regiments planned. Each regiment will have two grenadier companies and these can be converged away into their own elite battalions. Although most of the regiments will be the expected blue-yellow colour scheme, I will also do a red and a white regiment. Regiments were largely selected for their flags.

These Front Rank figures do not come with a bayonet despite Kronoskaf saying “The bayonet was permanently fixed to the musket”. Of course these are a very old design, pre-dating the internet I suspect, so Alek probably did not have access to the latest information.

28mm SYW Austrian Grenadiers

Here are the grenadiers for the four regiments I recently painted.

40mm SYW Austrians: Baranyai Hussars (3 squ) finished

This regiment is now finished using the latest Sash & Saber offering. The officer is Colonel Franz Stephan von Pálasthy, who commanded from 1758 until his capture in 1761. I have based him singly as he will command the Vanguard. Officers of Hussars seem to have worn the tricorne but I assume that they could have chosen what they wanted. Kronoskaf also mentions a red shabraque which would have made the officers stand out from the rankers.

In three of the pictures they are charging against the Fleischhackers.

All figures are from Sash & Saber except for one horse.

28mm SYW Austrians: IR 19 Leopold Pálffy

This Hungarian regiment was raised in 1733 and, in both the WAS and SYW, was in the thick of it. It was present at the battles of Chotusitz, Prague, Moy, Breslau, Hochkirch, Kunersdorf and Liegnitz. It seems to have had a colour change from light blue to middle blue and then back to light blue but pinning these dates down is tricky.

The bottom illustration is of Leopold Count Pálffy who founded the regiment and remained it's Inhaber until 1773.

28mm SYW Austrians: IR42 Gaisruck

This is one of the few Austrian regiments (two in total, I think) that may well have had purple or violet facings. I say 'may have' because we cannot be absolutely sure due to colour die issues in the 18^th century. Add red to blue and you get purple and this may have been accidental.

This regiment was present at Kolin, Leuthen, Hochkirch and Torgau – so basically all the big battles of the SYW.

40mm SYW Austrians: One squadron of Baranyai Hussars

It was the beautiful illustration (at the bottom of this blog's pictures) that made this a 'have to have' unit in my 40mm army. Actually I plan 3 squadrons (each of 4 figures) but the colour scheme is a little complicated and a task to paint. That is one of the reasons why I like the Austrians of the WAS/SYW – they have glorious colour combinations that other armies do not use. Like, in this unit, grass green with pale blue. I think they will mash the Fleischhackers and readers of this blog will perhaps recall that my Prussian hussar squadrons are 3 figures strong, so significantly weaker numerically. I will also discuss at some time the different theories relating to hussar combat and the different uses that the Austrians and Prussians put their hussars to.

28mm SYW Austrians: IR48 Luzzara

The regiment was originally a Spanish Habsburg unit raised at Zaragoza in 1705, during the War of the Spanish Succession, and placed under the command of Colonel Pertús. After his death, the regiment "Ciudad de Zaragoza" (Town of Zaragoza) was placed under the command of Don Antonio Ãlvarez de Toledo. 1713, the regiment was operating in Lombardy.

In 1721, troops from 3 other Spanish regiments (Ahumada, Faber and Marulli) were incorporated into the regiment which became part of the Austrian army. The Count Alcaudete died at Prague in September 1734 and was succeeded by Juan Jacinto Vazquez y Vargas (aka Jacob Count Vasquez de Binas) at the head of the regiment.

From 1737 to 1739, the regiment fought against the Turks in Bosnia, Serbia, Banal and Transylvania.

In 1740, the regiment was stationed in Lombardy.

On December 23 1755, Count Vasquez de Binas died and was succeeded by Juan Manuel Luzán (aka Emanuel Count de Luzzara). The regiment incorporated recruits from the Duchy of Mantua.. One should say that by now the ranks would have been filled with Italians. It does not appear to have done much in the SYW although it was present in Bohemia most of the time.

I like the apple green facings!

28mm SYW Austrians: IR36 Browne (formerly Liechtenstein)

Founded in 1683 this regiment participated in every major Austrian campaign. It fought the Turks in the Great Turkish War of the 1680s and, according to Kronoskaf, “During the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1701, two battalions of the regiment (1,000 men) were sent to Northern Italy to reinforce the army of Prince Eugène de Savoie. On November 20, they arrived on the Mincio River and were sent to blockade Mantua. They took their winter-quarters at Concordia on the Po. In January 1702, 600 men of the regiment were at Spinosa as part of the Imperial forces encircling Mantua. At the beginning of March, the Vienna War Council decided to send the two other battalions to Northern Italy. In March, 400 men of the regiment defended the Castle del Dosso which was stormed by a French party. In April, the third battalion arrived in Northern Italy. In May, three battalions of the regiment took part in the blockade of Mantua. On August 1, IV./Liechtenstein Infantry (1 bn and 1 grenadier coy) finally arrived at Ostiglia from the Hereditary Lands. On 15 August, two battalions and one grenadier company of the regiment (7 officers and 579 men only) took part in the Battle of Luzzara. On January 11 1704, the regimental proprietor, Duke Liechtenstein, was killed in a skirmish on the Bormida River. In 1706, half of the regiment garrisoned Turin, the other part was at Calcinato (the entire regiment counted only 1,057 men). On September 7, the regiment took part in the Battle of Turin.

Then back again in the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739.

In the WAS on April 10, it took part in the Battle of Mollwitz where it lost 20 men killed, 9 officers and 65 men wounded and 146 men missing. One battalion then garrisoned Brieg and, after surrender of the fortress, marched to Prague. On June 4 1745, the regiment fought in the battles of Hohenfriedberg where it lost 7 men killed, 5 wounded and 37 missing. On September 30, in the Battle of Soor, the regiment was on the left wing, in Meligny's Brigade and lost 14 men killed, 82 wounded and 78 taken as prisoners of war.

Then in the SYW it again lost it's inhaber. On May 6 1757, two battalions of the regiment (a total of 1,676 men) took part in the Battle of Prague where they were deployed in Count d’Ursel's Brigade, in the first line of the right wing of infantry under Count Königsegg. During this battle, its chef,Filed-Marshal Ulysses Count Browne de Camus, was mortally wounded.

Given this splendid war record, I would rate this line regiment as elite. Figures are Front Rank.

28mm SYW French: Royal-Nassau Hussars

Raised in 1756 by Guillaume Henri, Prince of Nassau-Saarbruck, it was initially named Volontaires de Nassau-Saarbruck and consisted of two squadrons. In 1758 it was increased in strength to 4 squadrons (about 600 men) and was placed on the official French establishment.

28mm SYW French: IR59 Royal Comtois

This regiment was raised in 1674 by the Marquis de Listenois and it became a Royal regiment in 1685. Besides being involved in the capture of Minorca at the beginning of the SYW the regiment does not appear to have participated in any major battles. But during the WAS it was heavily involved in the invasion of Bohemia.

The unusual flags show a Burgundian cross on an aurore background.

28mm SYW French: Swiss Regiment Eptingen

This Regiment, which appears to have been unnumbered (although IR122 seems appropriate), was raised in 1758 from the Basel area although most of the officers came from Alsace, perhaps by virtue of their bilingualism.

The other thing that is unusual is the yellow facings. The other 10 Swiss regiments in French service (as well as the Swiss Guards) had blue facings and Kronoskaf suggests that in 1761/2 the facings changed to blue. Meanwhile, for a few short years, the regiment had these striking yellow facings. Figures are from Crusader.

28mm SYW French: IR 3 Navarre

This was a 4 battalion regiment, formed in 1558 as Garde du Roi de Navarre, with an admirable service history which is available on Kronoskaf.

28mm SYW French: IR 57 Cossé Brissac

Kronoskaf has a strange comment concerning this regiment: “In 1757, the regiment was considered as cheerful, noisy but otherwise well behaved.” I am not sure what this means – does it mean that it was reliable in battle or that it was somewhat rowdy? It certainly had a rough time at Rossbach despite it's colourful flags.