As mentioned last time, we’d decided to refight the Combat of Sanderhausen at Haverfordwest Gaming Club’s recent open day. However, that would require me to finish some more units, including the Chasseurs de Fischer for the French side and quite a few more units for the Hessians.
I’d already made a start on the Hessians last year, but this latest flurry of painting brings the totals up to seven infantry battalions, one regiment of dragoons, two ‘half-regiments’ of horse, one heavy position gun, one light position gun, two battalion guns, four stands of jäger and four generals.

Landgraf Frederick II of Hesse-Cassel
I’ve still got another four infantry battalions and the same number of cavalry and position guns to paint before I can call the army finished. As discussed before, I don’t think I’ll bother painting any Hessian (or Brunswick) grenadier battalions, as they are so similar to my pre-existing Prussian and Württemberg grenadier battalions. I think I’ll therefore use the Prussians and Württembergers as proxies and spend the money, paint and time on other units!
I covered the history and organisation of the army of Hesse-Cassel in Part 7 of this series, but just to recap; when Frederick II succeeded his father William VIII as Landgraf of Hesse-Cassel in 1760, he immediately initiated a programme of ‘Prussianisation’ of his army. Each of his large, single-battalion infantry regiments was split into two weak battalions.

Landgraf William VIII of Hesse-Cassel
However, this reorganisation added little or no extra combat-power to each regiment (Ferdinand of Brunswick said as much) and the slight increase in manpower was totally absorbed by the expanded grenadier component. I don’t therefore plan on building a separate post-1760 Hessian army (and my scenarios also just show post-1760 Hessian regiments as single large units).
My Hessian units are all therefore, organised and painted for the William VIII era. In any case, the organisational and uniform changes would not have taken place until the winter of 1760/61 at the earliest, so the Hessians spent most of the war with the earlier organisations and uniforms. Additionally, the new Frederick II-pattern flags were almost certainly not delivered until after the end of the Seven Years War (the painting above shows post-SYW flags at the Battle of Krefeld in 1758).
As mentioned before, I’ve also given my Hessian infantry the dark blue breeches shown in the paintings by David Morier from the 1740s and early 1750s (above). These were almost certainly gone by the time of the Seven Years War, but they do make the Hessians look distinctly different to the Prussians and Brunswickers and I like ’em (which is all that matters, tbh).

Prinz Carl Leopold von Anhalt-Bernburg
Above: The ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Infantry Regiment (also known simply as the ‘Anhalt’ Regiment) was raised in 1745 by Prinz Carl Leopold von Anhalt-Bernburg (right), who remained the regimental Chef until 1770. Carl Leopold served as a Hessian Lieutenant General throughout the Seven Years War and is generally referred to in English-Language accounts of the Seven Years War as ‘The Prince of Anhalt’, though it can be confusing, as there were many other princes of Anhalt (a house of many branches), one of whom actually fought at Minden on the side of the French!
The ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Regiment fought in the battles of Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Bergen, Minden, Vellinghausen, Wilhelmstal and 2nd Lutterberg, as well as numerous minor engagements and was a solid, hard-fighting regiment.
Above: The ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Infantry Regiment wore a dark blue coat with red lapels, cuffs, turnbacks and shoulder-strap. The uniform may also have included a red collar, though this may only have been added from 1761 onward. The lapels, cuffs and cuff-flaps were edged with white lace. Buttons were white metal. Neck-stocks were black. Waistcoats were white, as probably were the breeches. Hats had white lace and mid-blue pompoms. Belts for all Hessian regiments were white and this included musket-slings, though musket-slings changed to Prussian-style red leather sometime after 1760 and before 1775.
Unlike some regiments, this regiment’s uniform remained unchanged during the 1760/61 ‘Prussianisation’ of the army. The uniform was also very similar indeed to that of the ‘Prinz Carl’ Regiment and could therefore be used as a proxy for that regiment.
Above: The ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Infantry Regiment as seen from the rear. As with all Hessian infantry regiments, the drummers wore the same uniform as the rank-and-file, though heavily decorated with red & white national lace. The drums were brass and for this regiment had red and white striped hoops.
The regiment’s grenadiers were always detached and fought as part of a grenadier battalion. The grenadier battalions were placed on a Prussian-style, semi-permanent footing from 1760 and the regiment’s grenadiers were then grouped with those of the ‘Erbprinz’ Regiment, as part of Grenadier Battalion ‘Mirbach’ (titled ‘Bose’ from 1761). The regiment’s grenadiers wore Prussian-style mitre-caps with silver front-plates and a red (or blue) bag, a red (or blue) band, white lace and a medium blue pompom.
These are 18mm Eureka Miniatures Prussian infantry figures and the flags are by Maverick Models.
Above: Here we see Prinz Carl Leopold von Anhalt-Bernburg with his own regiment. This model actually featured in an earlier article and he’s a 15mm Prussian general officer figure by Blue Moon. As discussed then, there was no prescribed uniform for Hessian generals, so they usually wore the regimental uniform of the regiment they owned as Chef, or a regiment in which they had served, usually with finer and more expensive detailing and often with white ostrich-feather edging to the hat. My figure here is therefore wearing the uniform of the ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Regiment, though the portrait above shows an entirely different uniform; possibly that of one of the post-1760 Garde regiments. Perhaps he had served in that regiment, or was appointed to it later in life? It was not uncommon for nobles to be Chef of one regiment, while serving in another. For example, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick had served as Commanding Officer of the 1st Leibgarde Battalion of the Prussian Garde-Regiment (IR 15) while simultaneously being Chef of Fusilier-Regiment ‘Braunschweig’ (IR 39).
Above: The ‘Mansbach’ Infantry Regiment was first raised in 1701 as the ‘Schöpping’ Regiment and fought in the War of Spanish Succession. In 1744 Major General H. von Mansbach became the regimental Chef and the regiment served as one of the six battalions of the Hessian Contingent in Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-46. This was another well-travelled and hard-fighting regiment of the Seven Years War, fighting at Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Bork, Bergen, Minden, Fulda, Emsdorf, Langensalza, Vellinghausen and Wilhelmsthal. In 1763 the regimental Chef changed to Major General von Gräffendorff and the regiment took his name until 1767.
Above: The ‘Mansbach’ Infantry Regiment wore the usual dark blue Hessian coat with white lapels and cuffs, yellow ‘metal’ and a pair of yellow buttonholes on the cuff-flaps and below each lapel. Shoulder-straps were probably blue (Kronoskaf says no strap, but Morier shows a blue strap, which I think more likely). Waistcoats were white, as probably were the breeches. Neck-stocks were red. The tail-turnbacks were probably red, though Morier shows them as white during the 1740s and early 1750s (see the grenadier painting above). Hat-lace and pompoms were white.
Following the ‘Prussianisation’ of 1760-1761, the regiment’s pompoms changed to red and the lace buttonholes changed from yellow to a red & white ‘toothpaste’ stripe (though still gold for officers). Neck-stocks changed to black and a white collar and shoulder-strap were added.
Above: A rear view of the ‘Mansbach’ Infantry Regiment. The regiment’s drummers again wore the same uniform as the rank-and-file, with red & white national lace. The regiment’s drums were brass, with blue and yellow striped hoops.
The regiment’s detached grenadiers initially wore Prussian-style mitre caps with a silver plate, white bag, blue or silver band, yellow lace and a white pompom. In 1760 they were grouped with the grenadiers of the Leibregiment to form Grenadier Battalion ‘Stirn’ (titled ‘Schmit’ from 1761 and ‘Wurmb’ from 1762). The grenadier caps then changed to a new pattern with a brass plate and band, white bag and red lace and pompom.
These are 18mm Eureka Miniatures Prussian infantry figures and the flags are by Maverick Models.
Above: The Leibgarde zu Fuß (also simply known as the Garde Regiment) was originally raised during the Thirty Years War as the ‘White Regiment’. In 1684 it became the Leibregiment zu Fuß and after campaigning against the Turks, finally became the Leibgarde zu Fuß in 1699. It didn’t fight again until the Seven Years War, during which it fought at Krefeld, Bork, Bergen, Minden, Clostercamp, Vellinghausen and Wilhemsthal. In 1760 it was demoted somewhat, becoming the Dritte Garde (3rd Guard) Regiment.
Now as you may have noticed, these troops suffered something of a disaster… As any fule kno, Rule No.1 of spray varnishing is: NEVER spray varnish when the atmosphere is humid! Doubly so with matt varnish!
So there I was, in the tropical paradise of Pembrokeshire, on a very hot sticky early September day, having just finished painting this regiment, when there was a puff of purple smoke, the swish of a cape and the Emperor Mong whispered in my ear “Go on, varnish them and finish them off… What could possibly go wrong…?” Then with another swish and a cloud of purple smoke he was gone, leaving me thinking “These would look flippin’ great if they were all finished off with varnish, flags and bases!”
Five minutes later they’d once again become ‘The White Regiment’…
I tried all the usual recovery-methods; try spraying them again after drying, using brush-on gloss varnish, etc (which has worked in the past), but this is the best I could manage. Note particularly the NCO’s polearm on the left – that should be black, not pale grey! I considered stripping them off with Dettol and starting again, but in the end decided just to re-touch the worst bits, as they look ok on table; it’s just when viewed in close-up that they look bad (I actually thought they looked ok before I flagged and based them, but then looked at these photos and they still look pretty awful).
Above: The Leibgarde zu Fuß had red lapels, collar, cuffs, tail-turnbacks, shoulder-straps and neck-stocks. Buttons were silver and there was a white aiguillette on the right shoulder. The lapels were decorated with lace buttonholes. There were also three lace buttonholes immediately below each lapel, a further three buttonholes on each pocket and yet another three buttonholes on each side of the rear-waist. There were three buttons above each cuff, within a ‘ladder’ of lace. The cuffs and pockets were also edged with regimental lace, which was white with two red ‘toothpaste’ stripes (at this scale it could be argued that the lace would look pink, though I find that it looks best left the dominant colour, white). Waistcoats were pale yellow and breeches were probably white. Hats were edged with white lace and decorated with white-over-red pompoms. Drummers wore the same uniform with heavy lace decoration and yellow/red drum-hoops. Officers had silver lace.
The detached grenadiers had a Prussian-style mitre cap with a red cloth front, decorated with brass badges. The bag was blue and band was red, all laced yellow with a white pompom.
From 1761, following their re-designation as the 3rd Guard Regiment, the lace edging was removed from the cuffs and all lace was removed from the pockets. The ‘ladders’ of lace were removed from the cuff-flaps and replaced with two lace buttonholes. The number of buttonholes below each lapel was reduced to two and there was now only a single buttonhole on each side of the rear-waist. The single diagonal buttonhole was also removed from the top of each lapel. Lace was now plain white with a tassel, though drummers kept the red & white national lace. Hat-lace was now scalloped and pompoms were plain red. Breeches were now pale yellow, matching the waistcoat. Officers’ coats now lacked lapels, though the breast was decorated with silver ‘Brandenbourgs’ (though not as elaborate as those of the newly-raised 1st Guard or Leibgarde Battalion).
The regiment’s grenadiers now wore mitre caps with a silver front-plate, probably with a red bag, red or silver band, silver lace and white pompom. They were now grouped with those of the 2nd Guard Regiment to form the ‘Schlottheim’ Grenadier Battalion (re-titled ‘Biesenroth’ in 1762).
These again are 18mm Eureka Miniatures Prussian infantry figures and the flags are by Maverick Models.
Above: The Hesse-Cassel Artillery Corps. I actually covered the Artillery Corps in Part 7 of this series, when I painted a couple of position guns. However, I’ve since painted this pair of battalion guns. You won’t be surprised to learn that nobody makes a suitable Hessian 3pdr gun, so I used the Eureka Miniatures ‘Swedish’ 4pdr from their SYW French range (the Hessians were actually equipped with such guns by the 1770s).
Above: The Hesse-Cassel Artillery Corps. I actually covered the uniforms in Part 7, but just to quickly recap; the Hessian gunners were dressed very similarly to Prussian gunners, so I used Eureka Miniatures Prussian Artillery figures. Unlike the Prussians however, their coats had lapels, so I ‘paint-converted’ them. Facings and pompoms were crimson, buttons were white metal and small-clothes were straw.
Above: The Hesse-Cassel Artillery Corps. I’ve painted all my Hessian guns in their rather striking scheme of white wood with red metalwork. However, given that they lost their arsenals very early in the war and had to be re-fitted by their allies, it’s reasonably likely that their gun-carriages would be in a variety of colours. But that would be rather dull…
Above: Lieutenant General Christian Albrecht von Oheimb. Despite being one of the more senior Hessian officers of the Seven Years War, I can find precious little information about this officer beyond the portrait shown on the right, one mention of him from 1747 as a Major in the ‘Gräffendorff’ Regiment of Horse and another of him from 1769 when, as governor of the fortress of Rinteln, he was awarded a state honour.
In 1759 he became Chef of the former ‘Miltitz’ Regiment of Horse (which had previously been the above-mentioned ‘Gräffendorff’ Regiment), though in 1760 he was moved on to become Chef of the Leibregiment zu Pferde, which in 1761 became the Gens d’Armes Regiment (his portrait shows him wearing the uniform of this latter regiment).
Looking at the battles of the Seven Years War, Lieutenant General Oheimb appears at the Combat of Corbach in 1760, commanding a mixed reinforcement column of British and Hanoverian infantry, British artillery and Hessian dragoons. He then appears again at the Battle of Vellinghausen in 1761, in a position of some considerable responsibility, commanding a division of Hessian grenadiers and Hanoverian dragoons on the extreme right flank of the army. In 1762 he held the post of commander of all Allied cavalry within Ferdinand of Brunswick’s Main Body and in that year led a column of Hessian, Hanoverian and Brunswick cavalry at the Combat of Nauheim.
Above: I decided to paint Lieutenant General Christian Albrecht von Oheimb in the uniform of his original regiment, the former ‘Gräffendorff’/’Miltitz’ Regiment of Horse, which briefly carried his name from 1759 to 1760. This was primarily because I like the uniform of white with medium green facings and gold buttons. For the later battles listed above, he’d probably be wearing the new uniform of the Gens d’Armes, being a Prussian-style cuirassier uniform in buff, with red collar and cuffs, as shown in his portrait above.
This model is a Prussian general figure by Blue Moon.
Above: Lieutenant General Heinrich Wilhelm von Wutginau. Born in 1698, Wutginau joined the Hessian Army in 1718 and in 1747 won promotion to Major General. At the outbreak of the Seven Years War, Wutginau was promoted to Lieutenant General and was was appointed as commanding general of Hessian troops in the field. At Minden in 1759 he commanded the largest of eight Allied columns and distinguished himself. Following the Battle of Vellinghausen in 1761, Ferdinand of Brunswick wrote to King George II, singling Wutginau out for his ‘exceptional bravery’. However, the strains of campaigning had taken their toll on Wutginau and in February 1761 the old Hessian war-horse resigned his command, handing over to the Prince of Anhalt. He spent the rest of his days as governor of Reihenfels fortress and in 1772 was promoted to General of Infantry. He died in 1776, aged 79. Sadly, I can’t find a portrait of him.
Above: Lieutenant General Heinrich Wilhelm von Wutginau was appointed as Chef of the Leibregiment from 1760, so I’ve painted him in the uniform of that regiment. This uniform consisted of the usual blue coat with red collar, cuffs and linings, though without lapels. Officers had gold lace buttonholes in pairs on the breast, another pair above each cuff and a single buttonhole on each side of the rear-waist. Small-clothes were yellow.
This model is a Prussian general figure by Blue Moon.
Above: Lieutenant General Eitel Ludwig Philipp von und zu Gilsa. Born in 1700, Gilsa was commissioned into the Hessian ‘Prinz Georg’ Infantry Regiment in 1715 and fought in the Wars of Polish and Austrian Succession. By the start of the Seven Years War he had risen to the rank of Colonel, being Commandant of the ‘Prinz Carl’ Infantry Regiment. Soon promoted to Major General, he commanded a brigade at Hastenbeck and was later distinguished at Krefeld and Minden. In 1759 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and became Chef of the former ‘Fürstenberg’ Infantry Regiment (now re-named ‘Gilsa’). He continued to serve with distinction during the war and died at home in 1765,
Above: Lieutenant General Eitel Ludwig Philipp von und zu Gilsa here is wearing the uniform of his own ‘Gilsa’ Infantry Regiment, to which he was appointed Chef in 1759. The regiment’s uniform was fairly plain, with red cuffs, lapels and linings, gold buttons, straw waistcoat and no lace. The portrait above shows him wearing a coat decorated with gold lace, but it would appear that this depicts him as a younger man (he was 59 in 1759), so presumably is the uniform of one his previous regimental appointments.
In 1760 the ‘Gilsa’ Regiment was re-designated as a Fusilier Regiment in the Prussian style, complete with fusilier caps (though these weren’t worn by officers). The uniform changes came into effect from 1761, with lapels and cuffs changing colour to black. Gilsa would then have worn this later uniform.
This model is a Prussian general figure by Blue Moon.
Above: The Jäger-Corps. Hesse-Cassel had actually been the first German state to raise a corps of jäger, doing so as early as the 17th Century. By the start of the Seven Years War, the corps consisted of two foot companies, each of around 100 men. This increased to four foot companies during the winter of 1758-1759 and by mid-summer a further two horse companies had been added. The Hessian Jäger-Corps provided excellent service throughout the war; not only as part of the petit-guerre, but also in direct support of the main armies in battle. The corps served as the model to be followed by various other jäger corps raised by national armies and the innumerable freikorps. The Hessian Jäger-Corps went on to achieve nothing short of legendary status during the American War of Independence and afterwards grew to brigade strength.
Above: The uniform of the Jäger-Corps consisted of a dark green coat with matching small-clothes. The coat had crimson lapels, collar, shoulder-strap and tail-turnbacks and brass buttons. Belts were white (they changed to red leather by the 1770s), rifle-slings were red leather and cartridge pouches were black. Neck-stocks were black. Hats were unlaced and lacked pompoms, though were decorated with green cockades (these green cockades became something of a universal badge among Allied light troops).
Above: Although I haven’t yet painted them, the mounted companies of the Jäger-Corps wore much the same uniform and were also armed with rifles, though had golden hat-lace, tall cavalry boots and light cavalry sabres. Horse furniture was green, edged crimson, with a crimson blanket-roll. Given their tall boots, I will probably paint my spare Old Glory 15s Prussian Jäger figures as mounted jäger.
These lovely figures are actually Hessian Jäger figures from Blue Moon‘s American War of Independence range. They’re absolutely perfect for the job, are very nicely sculpted and have FAR more character and pose-variation than the only other option, the above-mentioned Prussian jäger figures by Old Glory 15s. I’ve also used these figures for my Hanoverian ‘Freytag’ Jäger Corps. The only slight modification I’ve had to make is to ‘paint-convert’ their ‘American Trowsers’ into breeches and gaiters.
Anyway, that’s enough Hessians for now! I’m off on my hols for a couple of weeks, but on my return there will be a report from our recent refight of the Combat of Corbach. Here’s a taster:
Superb work, great additions to your forces and a very good read, really enjoyed this post.
Thanks Donnie! 🙂
Great article! Ah yes, frosting after matt varnishing in humid weather. I spent my youth gloss varnishing all my miniatures in the old school fashion, and had no idea of the horror of frosting until I painted a unit of 15 mm DAK and put a heavy layer of matt varnish on them only to see all the details I had painted vanish in the mist! Needless to say I now reference the weather network religiously before varnishing anything.
Neil
Thanks Neil!
Yes, and I should know better… My current brand is FAR better than any previous brand in that regard and I think it lulled me into a false sense of security…
Mark
Another good article
Thanks Nick! 😊