“Bravoure et Bavière”: My 15mm Napoleonic Bavarian Army (Part 2)

In the last thrilling instalment, I was droning on about some new infantry regiments for my Napoleonic Bavarian army.  This time I’m going to cover some other bits and pieces; dragoons, generals and artillery.

Above:  1. Dragoner-Regiment ‘Minucci’.  The lineage of Bavarian cavalry regiments through this period is ludicrously complicated and I soon lost the will to live while trying to work it out.  Suffice to say; at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars there were three classes of Bavarian cavalry; cuirassiers (2 regts, without cuirass), dragoons (2 regts) and chevaulégers (3 regts).  However, with various conversions and disbandments, by the time Napoleon became Emperor of France in 1804 the cuirassier regiments had disappeared and number of chevauléger regiments had increased to four.  The number of dragoon regiments remained the same, though the original 1st Dragoons had been disbanded, being replaced by the converted 1st Cuirassiers, who now became the new 1st Dragoons.

In 1811 the two dragoon regiments were converted to chevaulégers and just to confuse future historians and wargamers, all the regiments were then re-numbered according to seniority.  The army’s cavalry arm therefore now consisted solely of six chevauléger regiments.

Just as Bavaria was considering defection to the Allies in 1813, the cavalry arm was expanded with the creation of two new uhlan regiments.  Following the defection, a seventh chevauléger regiment was raised, along with a volunteer Landhusarenkorps.   In 1814 the Freiwilliges-Husarenregiment and a squadron of Gardes du Korps were added, followed in 1815 by two new cuirassier regiments (now with cuirass) and two new regular hussar regiments (being formed from the earlier volunteer hussar units).

Above:  1. Dragoner-Regiment ‘Minucci’.  So as you might have worked out, this dragoon regiment I’ve just painted is only really useful for the 1809 campaign and will probably only ever appear in the Eggmühl refight we just played, but what the hell…  I still have enough unpainted Bavarian cavalry in the stash to do two more chevauléger regiments in dark green for the post-1809 period.  That said, there is some suggestion that the old white dragoon uniforms may have re-appeared from old stocks during the rapid rebuilding of the army in 1813.  Horace Vernet certainly though so when he painted the 1813 Battle of Hanau (below), showing white-uniformed Bavarian cavalry in combat with the Imperial Guard.  That’s all the excuse I need… 😉

I should also perhaps confess at this point that the AB Figures Bavarian Chevauléger figures aren’t QUITE perfect for dragoons, due to the horse furniture.  As can be seen in the Knötel print above, the dragoons had a smaller square shabraque, with a red-edged white fleece over the front of the saddle and a square valise behind the saddle.  These figures have the larger chevauléger-style, pointed shabraque which also covers the front of the saddle and which has a round valise.

This sort of thing will usually have people shrieking on fora and Facebook groups about ‘incomplete ranges’ (or ‘range mismanagement’, as one over-emotional and entitled chap on the AB Figures Facebook Group said recently), but as with many ‘pre-Millennial’ wargamers, I’m very much a member of the ‘That’s Near Enough’ Brigade…

Above:  1. Dragoner-Regiment ‘Minucci’.  Following the 1799 uniform changes, Bavarian dragoon and cuirassier regiments wore white coats, while the chevauléger regiments wore the same pattern in light green (as shown in the header banner to this article), changing in 1809 to dark green.  As the cuirassier regiments at this time didn’t wear cuirasses, the uniform remained apparently unchanged when the 1st ‘Minucci’ Cuirassiers became the 1st ‘Minucci’ Dragoons in 1804.  This consisted of a white coat, very similar in style to the ‘Spencer’ coat worn by the infantry, with red collar, cuffs and square lapels, red tape edging to the tail-turnbacks and red-piping to the cuff-flaps.  Buttons were white metal.  The shoulders were protected/decorated by white metal shoulder-scales on red cloth backing.

I must ALSO confess here that I had originally intended to paint the 2nd ‘Taxis’ Dragoons (above), who in 1804 changed from black to red facings, matching the 1st ‘Minucci’ Dragoons.  However, I didn’t notice that the 2nd Dragoons had yellow metal buttons, so painted them with white metal, thereby accidentally painting them as the 1st Dragoons…

Above:  1. Dragoner-Regiment ‘Minucci’.  The junior ranks of both dragoon regiments officially wore a broad red cummerbund or waist-sash, tied with an elaborate bow at the left hip, but lacking the loose tails of officers’ sashes.  The chevaulégers wore the same item, but in grey.  However, these don’t always appear in paintings (I’ve only seen one picture of a chevauléger with a grey cummerbund) and their use seems to have quickly died out.  Perhaps they were only worn for parade?  In any case, the AB Chevauléger figures don’t have them (nor do the chevaulégers in the painting at the top of this article) and I haven’t bothered painting them in.

As for the rest of the uniform; breeches were white, worn with knee-length boots.  These were covered on campaign with grey overalls, decorated with a red stripe and buttons down the outer seam.  Belts were white with brass fittings, the cartridge-pouch was black and the scabbard was initially black leather with white metal fittings, though soon changing to an all-steel scabbard.  Note that the dragoons carried curved sabres, like the chevaulégers.  Sword knots were white.  The 1799 Pattern raupenhelm was very much like that of the infantry, except with the addition of brass chin-scales and additional brass reinforcement over the crown and around the brim.  A white plume was worn by all ranks (I’ve seen pictures of senior officers with a light blue base to the plume, so I’ve included this here).

The shabraque and valise were were red for all regiments, with a white border, decorated with light blue diamonds.  Once upon a time I’d have gone berserk painting those diamonds, but now they’re ‘impressionist diamonds’ (i.e. elongated blobs).  Officers had silver or gold lace edging, matching the regimental button-colour (here silver).  The valise was secured with three black belts.  As mentioned above, these shabraques and valises should really be square, with the front of the saddle covered by a white fleece, edged in pleated red cloth.

Above:  1. Dragoner-Regiment ‘Minucci’.  Officers wore a sash of mixed silver and light blue threads, as well as a silver cross-belt with two light blue stripes, gold fittings and a white or silver cartridge pouch, decorated with the royal cypher in gold.  They also had a bushier fur raupe (crest) and plume than the junior ranks.  As mentioned above, their horse furniture was edged with button-coloured lace and some officers seem to have had a light blue base to their plume.  Rank was identified by lace on the collar, as described for the infantry in Part 1.  On the right is a Rittmeister (i.e. Captain of cavalry) of the 1st Dragoons, identified by the three bars of silver lace.  Senior officers also had lace edging to the collar and much wider waist-sashes.  Note that he also has one lapel buttoned across, leaving the top corners of the lapels unbuttoned and hanging loose on both sides.  This was a popular affectation among fashionable officers.

Trumpeters wore reversed colour coats (i.e. red with white facings), with the facings edged in button-coloured lace (i.e. white on white in this case).  The back of the coat had hanging ‘false sleeves’ which were facing-coloured and again edged in the button colour.  Tony B admitted that he made a mistake with these figures, in that he added shoulder-wings that shouldn’t be there.  I completely forgot about this until I’d already painted them, so I just added a lace edge.  I’ll file them off when I get around to doing the chevaulégers.  The trumpeters’ raupenhelm was decorated with a hanging red horsehair plume.  Trumpet cords were braided white and light blue.

Bavarian dragoon regiments were issued with standards and probably carried them on campaign.  However, the chevaulégers’ standards were withdrawn in 1803 and as a consequence, Tony B hasn’t modelled a standard-bearer.  Ordinarily I might convert a trooper or officer figure into a standard-bearer, but there weren’t really any suitable candidates for conversion.  In the future I’ll have to have a go at converting an officer (or perhaps head-swap a Saxon uhlan) and add a much-needed standard to this regiment.

Above:  Bavarian Light Artillery.  I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but in the mid-1990s we lost a dear friend all too soon to leukaemia.  Richard Boulton, or ‘Dusty’ as we knew him had beaten the bastard disease off once, but as so often happens it came back and finished him off, aged only 28.  Dusty had been a major player in our club Big Games (Lützen, Bautzen, Wachau and Waterloo being among the biggest), typically providing a good 50% of the French and all of the Bavarians.  However, following his death, his dad understandably wanted to keep his collection as a keepsake, so we were back to playing relatively small battles until we could backfill the capability-gap.

However, some time after we lost him, his wife rang me to say that she’d found a packet of figures and asked if I wanted them.  Of course I said ‘Yes’ and the packet contained a load of unpainted Battle Honours Bavarian artillery (sculpted by Tony B before he started AB Figures).  While they’re very slightly smaller than AB Figures, the sculpting style is the same and they fit really well with my collection, so they’ll never be replaced by ‘new & improved’ ABs.  It’s also nice to know that Dusty lives on with us in a very small way.

Above:  Bavarian Light Artillery.  Like Austria, the Bavarian artillery arm didn’t include ‘proper’ horse artillery and instead had light mounted batteries, where the gunners rode a padded leather wurst (‘sausage’) atop the ammunition caissons.  They were therefore often referred jokingly to as ‘wurst-artillerie‘ (the Austrians rode the trail of the guns themselves).

The uniform was the same for both foot and wurst artillery, namely a dark blue Spencer coat, worn with matching dark blue breeches and black knee-length gaiters.  Dark blue trousers could also be worn on campaign.  The coat had black lapels piped scarlet, with scarlet collar, cuffs and tail-turnbacks, brass buttons and brass cavalry-style shoulder-scales on a scarlet cloth backing.  The cuff-flaps were either black or dark blue, piped scarlet.  Belts were white and held a black cartridge-pouch and short sword.  The raupenhelm was of the cavalry pattern and had a scarlet plume.

The artillery train wore a grey coat and breeches with light blue collar and cuffs (some sources show lapels, while others show a single-breasted jacket) light blue edging to the tail-turnbacks, white metal buttons and white metal shoulder-scales on a light blue cloth backing.  They wore the cavalry pattern raupenhelm with no plume.

Gun carriages were either light blue, grey or grey-blue.  Nobody seems able to agree.

The observant may have noticed that my figures don’t match the description above, as I’ve done them with black collar and cuffs, piped scarlet… Well in my defence m’lud, I got a bit confused by various sources showing black collars (Osprey) and black cuffs (the picture above) and instead of checking, I just painted them according to my faulty memory… You’d think that I’d have learned by now…  It’s also worth noting that the two pictures above show blue turnbacks with red edging, so that’s another possible variation.

Wrede

Above:  Bavarian Generals.  Although I did have a small Bavarian army before, I was somewhat bereft of Bavarian generals through lack of suitable figures, though I did ‘paint-convert’ a French general into General Wrede (right) for our first Neumarkt refight in 2019.  However, Tony B finally came to the rescue last year with a very welcome new AB Figures Bavarian Staff pack.

However, as welcome as it is, I’m not really a fan of ‘staff packs’ including a mixture of generals and flunkies (or even worse, including a very recognisable character figure in the pack).  I’d rather they were separated out, as to get enough generals I need a few packs and each one includes a saluting Bavarian cavalry officer (see below), which wears a bit thin after a while (especially when I’m buying more to use as Württemberg generals).  I’ve also got a dozen unpainted Marshal Blüchers, as you’d get one with every Prussian general pack (in 1806 and 1813!)…

Thankfully however, AB Figures seem to be taking notice, as recent character figures such as the recently-released Murat, Bessières and a bevy of Napoleons are being sold separately, without all the hangers-on.  Long may that policy continue!

Above:  Bavarian Generals.  As to uniforms, Bavarian generals wore cornflower blue coats with scarlet lapels, collar, cuffs and turnbacks.  The lapels, collar and cuffs heavily decorated with silver lace edging and a very elaborate ‘foliate’ border and lace buttonholes.  Horse furniture was scarlet with heavily-laced silver edging.

As the period went on, the silver foliate lace seems to have become increasingly elaborate, even extending around the shoulders, across the back of the waist and down the tails and edging the tail-turnbacks.  The lace of Major Generals would have been slightly less elaborate than that of Lieutenant Generals.  Unlike most other nations, the coat didn’t have fringed epaulettes.

Raglowich

The hat was very heavily laced in scalloped silver lace and had a very elaborate silver lace cockade strap, which incorporated a star badge.  The hat was edged with white ostrich feathers and in full dress could also have a tall white plume (though these aren’t often depicted in paintings).

However, generals in the field would often wear a slightly more restrained version of the coat and could also button the lapels across, as modelled by General Raglowich on the left and could also wear overall trousers in white, cornflower blue or grey.  By 1814 or 1815, some Bavarian generals (famously Wrede) were wearing a single-breasted coat without lapels, but with a great deal of lace, much in the style of some orders of dress worn by French generals (as modelled by Wrede below).

Wrede

Above:  Maréchal François Joseph Lefebvre, Duc de Danzig, commanding VII (Bavarian) Corps.  At the commencement of operations in 1809, Napoleon ordered Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg to each place an army corps at his disposal.  However, instead of being under their own national command, a French officer would instead be placed in command of each of the larger Confederation of the Rhine contingents.  General Vandamme was placed in command of the VIII (Württemberg) Corps, while Marshal Bernadotte commanded the IX (Saxon) Corps and Marshal Lefebvre was appointed to command the VII (Bavarian) Corps.

Above:  Maréchal François Joseph Lefebvre, Duc de Danzig.  In terms of uniform, each of these French officers wore their own national uniform (which I won’t describe here) and their headquarters staff would undoubtedly have also included French officers and aides de camp wearing their own uniforms, but in order to maintain the national ‘flavour’ here, I’ve only included Bavarian staff officers.   I’ve therefore painted the saluting cavalry ADC as an officer of the 1st Dragoons (as described above) and I had a few spare mounted infantry officers, so I’ve included one here wearing a fairly anonymous grey greatcoat.

The fourth figure is a Bavarian Adjutant-General, who wears much the same uniform as a General, but instead of silver lace, has gold lace of a slightly less elaborate style and a gold aiguillette on the right shoulder.  The hat also has gold lace and has a light blue base to the plume (which always seems to have been worn by staff officers).  Horse furniture is scarlet, with heavily-laced gold edging.

OK, that’s enough Bavarians for now.  I’ve got Württembergers coming up next, though I plan to further expand my Bavarians later in the year, with more chevaulégers (in the later dark green coats) and a few National Infantry Regiments for the 1813 Battle of Hanau and the 1814 Campaign of France.