“Dreimal blau und dreimal des Teufels!”
Last month I played a small historical refight of the Combat of Pretzsch, to introduce my mate Lewys to Tricorn (my 18th Century version of Shako). However, the Prussian order of battle required a battalion of Prussian Frei-Infanterie and although I did have a single formed battalion (Frei-Bataillon 8 ‘Du Verger’) in my collection, Lewys being the awkward bugger that he is, wanted to deploy them as skirmishers. To my eternal shame, I had to give him a couple of stands of skirmishing Grenzer.
So following our Combat of Pretzsch (game report and scenario to follow), the King of Prussia has had to submit an Urgent Operational Requirement for more light infantry! As you might have noticed from this blog, I’ve recently been filling out my Prussians with the excellent Eureka figures. However, Eureka don’t make any skirmishing or firing Prussian infantry, so I went ‘back to my roots’ with an order for Old Glory 15s figures (sold here in the UK by Timecast). Barrie at Timecast provided his usual exemplary service and they were back here within a few days (barring a bag of Jäger awaiting re-stock) and the uniforms are very straightforward, so they were all painted within two days.
‘Frederick and the Pandour‘: This print by Carl Röchling recalls an incident when a Pandour had the temerity to take a pot-shot at Frederick. Pointing his cane at the man, the King shouted “You, Sir!”. The Croat freebooter was apparently shamed enough to lower his weapon and let Frederick continue on his way. History doesn’t record if the Pandour was then set upon by a dozen outraged Prussian Hussars, but it seems likely…
The History Bit
During the Silesian Wars of the 1740s (i.e. the two Prussian-Austrian wars fought during the larger War of Austrian Succession), Frederick’s armies and lands had suffered near-constant depredations at the hands of the Austrian light troops; the Hungarian Hussars and the light infantry from the Imperial ‘Military Border’ known variously as ‘Grenzer’, ‘Croats’ or ‘Pandours’. These men were experts of the so-called Petit-Guerre and constantly attacked military supply convoys and raided deep into Prussian territory, seemingly at will.
When the Seven Years War kicked off in 1756, Frederick was determined to counter the ‘Pandour Threat’. He’d already raised small regular corps of Jäger-zu-Pferde and Feldjäger zu Fuß, but they were going to be nowhere near sufficient to the task. He therefore commissioned three foreign adventurers; Le Noble, Mayr, Angelelli and the Prussian Kalben to each raise a Frei-Bataillon, the ranks of which would be filled with volunteers of dubious morals, attracted by the prospect of adventure, pillage and loot. Despite the ‘low cunning’ of the rank-and-file, these first four units actually performed admirably (and on occasion even heroically) throughout the war, both when engaged in the Petit-Guerre and when in direct support of the main Prussian armies.
Frei-Infanterie-Battalion F1 ‘Le Noble’
However… From 1757-1758 the Frei-Infanterie were expanded by the addition of a further ten units, primarily raised from Austrian and French PoWs. These units were very much of a lower quality, suffering from low morale and high desertion rates. Some only lasted for a few months before surrendering or deserting en masse and in some cases being amalgamated into the better units.
A few Frei-Infanterie units formed green-coated and rifle-armed Jäger Detachments and some even formed very small Hussar Detachments to aid in scouting and message-transmission. A few of these units (such as Wunsch’s, which proved to be the best of the second batch of units) also eventually became multi-battalion Frei-Infanterie Regiments, though in some cases it was because the 1st Battalion had been captured.
The third batch of Prussian light troops were known as the Frei-Corps and were intended from the outset to be combined-arms ‘legions’, capable of independent action away from the main armies. Some of these units were primarily mounted Hussars or Dragoons and never did raise an infantry component, though most did become combined-arms formations and at the top of the scale was the impressive ‘Kleist’ Frei-Corps which at its peak had 6,000 men, including a regiment each of Hussars, Dragoons and Uhlans, a regiment of Hungarian ‘Croats’, a Jäger battalion and even a battery of horse artillery. In the last years of the war, Kleist’s Corps often took its place in the line of battle as the equal of a regular formation.
A priest harangues some Frei-Corps ruffians in a print by Adolph Menzel (my sincere thanks to Dr Stephen Summerfield for this image)
Despite the dubious quality of many units, these freebooters in Prussian service generally beat the Pandours at their own game, forcing Austria and her allies to divert valuable troops and resources to defending their lines of communication. However, despite the invaluable service performed by many of these units, Frederick had little gratitude for what he considered to be a necessary evil. At the end of hostilities they were ordered to march to Prussian fortresses, where they were disarmed at gunpoint, with many soldiers being then conscripted into the Garrison Regiments. Their commanding officers were forced to hand over arms and uniforms (which were actually the officers’ property) without compensation. Not even Kleist’s magnificent corps or the first four Frei-Infanterie units were spared this purge.
Note that there was no official numbering system for these units. The historian Hans Bleckwenn gave them an arbitrary numbering system based on their date of formation and this has continued to be used by many other historians such as Christopher Duffy and the contributors to the Kronoskaf website, as it makes it easy to track the identity of units whose names changed and it also makes battle-maps easier to label. Bleckwenn prefixed them all with the letter ‘F’ and gave the Frei-Infanterie Arabic numerals (e.g. F2 ‘Von Mayr’), while the Frei-Corps were identified by Roman numerals (e.g. FII ‘Von Kleist’). However, other historians have used different numbering systems, which can cause some confusion.
Here’s a run-down 0f the uniforms of the Frei-Infanterie Battalions/Regiments and their associated Jäger and Hussar detachments. I’ll list the latterly-raised Frei-Corps in a future article, once I’ve painted ‘Green’ Kleist’s lads. Note that the predominant uniform style of the Frei-Infanterie was a dark blue uniform coat with light blue facings and ‘small-clothes’ (i.e. waistcoat and breeches), hence the nickname ‘Triple-Blues’ (or ‘Double-Blues’), referenced in the title of this article. Light blue wasn’t used as an identifying colour by the regular Prussian infantry, so was a combat-indicator of low-born ne’er-do-wells, ruffians and general beastliness.
Frei-Infanterie Uniforms:
Notes
Jäger and Hussar of Frei-Bataillon F2 ‘Von Mayr’.
* These units had an organic Jäger Detachment for at least part of their existence.
† These units had an organic Hussar Detachment for at last part of their existence.
Pompom colours on the table above are shown as they are arranged on the pompom, from top to bottom. So red over light blue means exactly that.
All units had light blue smallclothes and dark blue coats with red tail-turnbacks and red piping on tail-pockets.
Aside from F9 which had Brandenburg-style cuffs (i.e. with a flap above the cuff, edged with red piping and two buttons arranged vertically) and F8 and F14 who had Hungarian-style pointed cuffs, all other units had Swedish-style cuffs with two buttons along the top edge of the cuff and no flap (though some sources suggest that F5 may also have had Brandenburg cuffs).
There is no record of any of these units having flags of any description. The only Frei unit known to have carried flags is Frei-Corps FII ‘Kleist’, which was authorised colours for its regiment of Hungarian ‘Croats’ and guidons for its regiments of Dragoons, Hussars and Uhlans.
Officers of all units had scalloped hat lace in the button colour, plus silver-and-black corner-rosettes.
NCOs of all units had button-coloured lace edging to hat, cuffs and collar (where the unit had a collar), plus quartered black-and-white pompoms and black-and-white corner-rosettes.
F1 Officers: Silver lace down front seam of waistcoat.
F1 Jäger Detachment: Dark green coat with light green lapels, cuffs, collar, turnbacks and smallclothes. White buttonhole lace. Buff belts. Black casquet cap with ‘FR’ cypher in white and black fur edge to front-piece.
F2 Officers: Silver lace down front seam and on buttonholes of waistcoat.
F2 Jäger Detachment: Light green coat and smallclothes with red collar, cuffs and turnbacks. Black belts. Green cockade and corner-rosettes on hat.
F2 Hussar Detachment: Light blue uniform with mirliton, dark blue pelisse edged in white fur, all laced white. Red sash. Dark blue shabraque with light blue vandycking, edged with white lace.
F3 Hussar Detachment: Yellow uniform with mirliton, black pelisse edged with white fur, red sash, red lace and yellow cords on mirliton.
F4, F5 and F14, instead of lapels, had small coloured ‘tabs’ of material extending forward from the top breast-button to the front seam.
F7 Officers under the second (1759) uniform wore gold ‘Brandenburg’ lace buttonholes – three pairs on each lapel, three below each side of the lapel, three on each pocket, three each side of the waist at the rear and two on each cuff. NCOs had gold edging to the lapels, in addition to collar and cuffs.
F7 Jäger Detachment: Light olive green coat and smallclothes with red lapels, collar, cuffs and turnbacks. Buff belts. Black cockade and white corner-rosettes on hat.
F8 had three pairs of yellow lace buttonholes on each lapel, plus a diagonal buttonhole in the top corner, another pair below each lapel, two on each pocket, one either side of the rear waist and one on the (pointed) cuff. NCOs had the same yellow lace, but with the addition of the usual gold rank-lace edging, while officers wore the same style of lace as the men, except in gold. A second version of the uniform (probably worn from 1760 when the regiment was increased to three battalions) deleted the diagonal corner lace from the lapels, removed the lace from the pockets and changed the cuffs to the Swedish style, with two lace buttonholes. Officers’ lace at this time was changed to the fancy Brandenburg style, with the addition of three Brandenburgs on each pocket.
F8 Jäger Detachment: Dark olive green coat with light yellow-olive green lapels, collar, shoulder-strap, cuffs, turnbacks and smallclothes. Buff belts. Black cockade and white corner-rosettes on hat. Lace as for the rest of the regiment, plus gold aiguillette for officers.
F9 had Brandenburg-style cuffs with a flap edged in red piping and two buttons with white lace buttonholes visible above the top edge of the cuff. They also had three pairs of white lace buttonholes on each lapel, another pair below each lapel and one either side of the rear waist. Officers had the same style of lace, plus two lace buttonholes on each pocket. At some point the NCOs changed to silver lace buttonholes without NCO lace edging and the officers changed to Brandenburg-style lace without lace on the pockets.
F10 had elaborate Brandenburg-style lace for all ranks except NCOs; three pairs on each lapel, plus another pair below, a pair on each cuff and a single buttonhole either side of the rear waist. Officers also had a pair on each pocket. Shoulders straps were white. NCOs just wore two simple lace buttonholes below each lapel and on each cuff, without any lace edging. One source also shows white lace edging on the other ranks’ waistcoats and hats.
F10 Hussar Detachment: The uniform was all light blue with white lace and white fur pelisse-edging, worn with a mirliton cap. Sash was mixed light blue and white. Shabraque was light blue edged in broad white lace.
F11 wore yellow aiguillettes (gold for officers).
F11 Jäger Detachment: Dark green coat with light green collar, cuffs, turnbacks and waistcoat (these may have been shades of olive green, like F8 above). Yellow aiguillette. Buff belts and breeches. Green hat cockade and corner-rosettes.
F12 lace was much the same as that described for F10 above. Most unusually they had a grenadier company, wearing uniforms of reversed colours (light blue with dark blue facings and smallclothes) and a bearskin cap with red bag and a white metal plate, bearing a black eagle badge.
F13 officers had silver aiguillettes.
F14 had Brandenburg-style buttonhole lace arranged 1-2-3 down the breast (below a light blue tab at the top button), a single Brandenburg at the rear waist and another on the (pointed) cuff. Officers also had vertical pockets with three Brandenburgs.
Here are my painted Frei-Infanterie Battalions:
Frei-Bataillon F1 ‘Le Noble’
Frei-Bataillon ‘Le Noble’ (F1 under Bleckwenn’s classification system) was raised in June 1756 by the former Pfalz Lieutenant Colonel Franciscus de le Noble, who continued to command the unit throughout the war until disbandment in 1763. The unit initially consisted of five companies, each of 100 men taken from the districts of the Holy Roman Empire, ten of whom were rifle-armed (and differently-uniformed) Jäger, for a total of 500 men, plus a headquarters detachment and a battalion gun detachment consisting of two 1pdr guns (which were probably replaced by 3pdr guns later in the war, in common with most other such units). This increased during the winter of 1758/58 to a little over 800 men (presumably with a commensurate increase in Jäger?).
The unit had a reasonably good reputation and spent most of it’s time in direct support of the field armies, most noticeably at the battles of Breslau, Leuthen and Hochkirch. It was however, captured en masse in June 1760 at the Second Battle of Landeshut. The unit therefore became a Regiment during the winter of 1760/61, with a 2nd Battalion being raised. However, as the 1st Battalion remained in captivity, the unit continued to operate as a single battalion, spending the rest of the war with Prince Henry’s army in Saxony.
For models I’ve used standard Old Glory 15s Prussian Musketeers, with the Firing Line pack used for the skirmishers. In Shako/Tricorn a light infantry battalion may either fight as a formed unit or may break down into to skirmisher stands, so the whole lot wouldn’t be deployed on table as shown here. If there was a sufficiently large Jäger Detachment (150 men or more) they might also create an additional, permanently-detached skirmisher stand, but Le Noble’s Jäger Detachment was very weak (which is a good job, as I can’t find any suitable figures with the required headgear).
F1 ‘Le Noble’ had a reasonably colourful coat, with light blue cuffs, lapels, collar and shoulder-strap and white metal buttons, though without lace. One mistake I made was that the pompoms should be light blue over dark blue, but I mistakenly painted them plain light blue. That said, it’s not very noticeable, so I’m not going to correct it.
Frei-Bataillon F3 ‘Von Kalben’/’Von Salenmon’/’Favrat’
Frei-Bataillon F3 ‘Von Kalben’ was raised in September 1756 by the Prussian officer Heinrich Detlev von Kalben, consisting of five companies, each of 100 men, plus a headquarters detachment and a battalion gun detachment of two 1pdr guns, which were replaced by 3pdr guns during the winder of 1758/59. There was no Jäger Detachment. The unit was increased to 800 men during the winter of 1757/58 thanks largely to a draft of conscripted PoWs and in 1760 a tiny Hussar Detachment of just twelve men was added.
Frei-Bataillon ‘Kalben’ (F3) was initially attached to Bevern’s corps as part of the Prussian invasion of Bohemia of 1757, but was soon detached along with Frei-Bataillon ‘Mayr’ (F2) to raid the counties of the Holy Roman Empire, where they caused massive disruption to Reichsarmee recruiting-parties and acquired a large amount of booty.
However, Kalben didn’t have much opportunity to spend his new-found wealth, as later that year, the battalion was re-assigned to Bevern’s corps and at the Battle of Breslau on 22nd November 1757, Kalben was mortally wounded. Command of the battalion passed to Kalben’s close friend, Konstantin Nathanael von Salenmon, an experienced mercenary officer of Bohemian-Jewish ancestry. The battalion was henceforth known by the name ‘Salenmon’ and fought under its new commander at Leuthen.
In 1758, having been reinforced by the addition of conscripted PoWs, the battalion was assigned to the invasion of Moravia, as part of a light corps under Generalmajor von Mayr. However, when the brigade came under Austrian attack the conscripted PoWs deserted en masse and the weakened battalion was smashed, with 300 men being captured by the Austrians. The surviving 200 men were assigned to Frederick’s main army, with whom they fought at the Battle of Hochkirch and again suffered heavy casualties.
Salenmon
On 14th October 1760, Salenmon himself was taken into captivity along with 40 men of the battalion and the rest of the garrison of the fortress of Wittenberg. A month later the rest of the battalion followed Salenmon into captivity when they surrendered along with the rest of Finck’s army at Maxen.
As with Frei-Bataillon ‘Le Noble’ a new 2nd Battalion was raised to replace the captive 1st Battalion and the unit officially became a Regiment. The post of Chef remained vacant until the Autumn of 1761, when command passed to Franz Andreas Jacquier de Berney Favrat. The unit was then known as Frei-Battaillon ‘Favrat’ until the end of the war.
The uniform of Frei-Bataillon F2 ‘Von Kalben’ was the plainest of all the Frei-Infanterie units. The coat was plain dark blue, without lapels or collar. However, a splash of colour was provided by the standard red coat-linings and light blue small-clothes. The metal colour was yellow and the unlaced hates were decorated with light blue pompoms. These figures are again by Old Glory 15s.
Frei-Bataillon F8 ‘Du Verger’/’Quintus Icilius’
As mentioned above, I did already have one painted Frei-Bataillon from the 90s and this is it. Frei-Bataillon F8 ‘Du Verger’ was raised in March 1758 in Saxony from French deserters and comprised five companies, totaling just over 800 men, including 50 Jäger (10 in each company) and two 1pdr battalion guns (upgraded to 3pdrs in 1759).
The Commanding Officer, Major Johann Antonius Kensinger du Verger was from French Huguenot stock and had previously served as an officer in the Dutch Army. However, in 1759 he fell out of favour with the King and was arrested and imprisoned! Nevertheless, in 1762 he managed to escape and joined Austrian service. In the meantime, command of his battalion passed to one of the King’s favourites; Major ‘Quintus Icilius’.
Quintus Icilius
Quintus Icilius was another descendant of French Huguenots and had started life in 1724 as Carl Gottlieb Theophilus Guichard. Initially trained for the priesthood, but with a deep interest in military affairs, he decided to follow a different path and was commissioned into the Dutch Army, with whom he fought against the French during the campaigns of 1747-48. Leaving military service, he then decided to follow a scholarly path and his research took him to the libraries of England’s universities, where he wrote a very well-received history of the wars of ancient Greece and Rome. Returning to the continent, he became friends with Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who in turn recommended him to King Frederick II.
Guichard soon became a firm favourite at court and would often have long discussions with the King on points of ancient military history. During one of these discussions, the two men were discussing the Battle of Pharsalus and the King pronounced of the name of a Roman Centurion as ‘Quintus Icilius’. Guichard dared to correct the King’s pronunciation to ‘Quintus Caecilius’ (they were apparently both wrong…). Amused, the King ordered that Guichard would henceforth be known as ‘Quintus Icilius’.
So in 1759 Quintus Icilius was ordered to take command of Du Verger’s former battalion of French ne’er-do-wells. The unit did well under Quintus Icilius’ command and spent most of its time campaigning as part of the King’s main army. In 1761 the unit was expanded to a full Regiment of three battalions and over 2,400 men (150 of whom being Jäger).
Following the looting by Saxon troops of Frederick’s palace at Charlottenberg in 1760, the King was determined to launch a reprisal raid against the Saxon king’s hunting-lodge/palace at Hubertsburg Castle. However, due to the strict Prussian officers’ code of honour, General Von Saldern had already refused point-blank to carry out such an act and it seemed unlikely that any other Prussian officer would agree to such a plan. However, a non-Prussian toady such as Quintus Icilius had no such scruples and in February 1761 he took one of his battalions to sack Hubertsburg, making himself considerably wealthy in the process!
As mentioned above, I painted these chaps back in the 1990s and I used Lancashire Games Mk 2 figures. They’re by no means the best figures in the world, but they do have a certain ‘corn-fed’ charm to them. The unit’s uniform is one of the more attractive ones on the list above, having much the same uniform as F1 ‘Le Noble’, though with the addition of yellow buttonhole lace (gold Brandenburg lace for the officers).
Anyway, that’s it for now! Sorry it’s been a bit slow here just lately. Mrs Fawr isn’t very well at the moment and when not attending to her, I seem to spend most of my time just scrolling through the news… 🙁
My apologies to those of you who have seen this all before on my blog, but I think it’s worth mentioning that this week marks the 225th anniversary of the surrender on 24th February 1797 of the French Légion Noir (‘Black Legion’) to an outnumbered and rag-tag force of Welsh Yeomanry, Militia, Royal Navy, Volunteers and armed civilians on Goodwick Sands, near the port of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Later immortalised as the only Battle Honour to be won by the British Army on British soil, the ‘Battle’ was in fact a relatively bloodless comic-opera.
Having flipped to painting Napoleonics for a few weeks, I’ve now flopped back to painting my Seven Years War armies, starting with some cavalry regiments for the Imperial 
The Electoral Rhenish District (Kurrheinischen Kreis)
The 
The two contingents forming the Kurpfalz Cuirassiers had different uniforms, though I’ve used 
The 
Upon his appointment to command the Reichsarmee in 1758, Prince Friedrich Michael of Pfalz-Zweibrücken reinforced the Reichsarmee cavalry arm with the Pfalz 
Franconian District (Fränkischen Kreis)
The 
Trumpeters are recorded as wearing reversed colours of red coats with white facings, all richly decorated with golden lace (the county of Bamberg is recorded as complaining about the expense of the trumpeters’ lace).
Descriptions of the standards are very vague, though the squadron standards seem to have been red and probably featured the black Imperial eagle on the obverse and county heraldry on the reverse. The regimental standard was probably similar, though in white. I confess to having again used a spare Austrian cuirassier standard here.
The 
Officers of the regiment wore silver lace instead of white and had red sashes striped with black. Drummers are known to have worn reversed colours of light blue coats, faced white, probably decorated in mixed light blue & white lace.
The 
Swabian District (Schwäbischen Kreis)
The Swabian District raised two cavalry regiments; the 
I did actually discuss the 
The uniform of the Hohenzollern Cuirassiers was very similar to that of the Bayreuth Cuirassiers described above, with white coats, red facings and horse furniture. However, they had white ‘metal’ and white lace edging to hats and horse furniture and straw breeches. It is also not known for certain if they actually wore cuirasses. Nevertheless, I’ve used 
My painting since November has been a bit random, consisting mostly of Napoleonic bits and pieces that I’ve been wanting to paint for a while, but kept getting knocked back while the big Seven Years War and American Civil War projects got in the way. Chief among these are some new figures that were released by 
The Saxon Zastrow Cuirassier Regiment has been sitting in my lead-dungeon for about 20 years, having once again been taken from the very first spin of the mould, along with some Saxon Garde du Corps and Chevauxlégers (my lead addiction was quite severe in those days). 
In 1812, the Garde du Corps and Zastrow Cuirassiers, along with the 
After being effectively destroyed in Russia, the Garde du Corps and Zastrow Cuirassiers were re-formed and fought again at Dresden and Leipzig, before defecting to the Allies.
Tony Barton’s sculpting has certainly done these superb horsemen justice and in my opinion they’re among the very best of his models, which is probably why I now have far more than I need! As previously discussed, most of my Napoleonic wargaming is ‘grand tactical’ using Napoleon’s Battles rules, where each unit represents a brigade. Age of Eagles rules are set at the same command-level and we’ll be using AoE for our forthcoming Dresden game. Consequently, I only really need a single unit of 12-16 figures to represent the whole Saxon cuirassier brigade, but what the hell…?
Officers had silver epaulettes, lace and shabraque edging. They also had a gold plate, chain and picker on the cross-belt and golden laurel decoration running around the turban of the helmet. 
Horses were ‘dark-coloured’, though the most black were apparently picked out for the Garde du Korps. Trumpeters rode the same colour horses as the rank-and-file. Officers’ horses could be any colour and according to anecdote, greys were a common affectation, as they were in the Garde du Corps (and which I got wrong when I painted that regiment!).
As mentioned above, the second brigade of Lorge’s 7th Cuirassier Division in 1812 was formed by Von Lepel’s Westphalian Cuirassier Brigade, consisting mainly of the 1st & 2nd Westphalian Cuirassier Regiments. This time I was a little more restrained in my figure-buying and only bought the 12 figures I really need to represent the brigade on the tabletop! However, the two regiments had markedly different uniform colourings; the 1st Regiment wore white uniforms with pink facings, while the 2nd Regiment wore blue uniforms with orange facings.
As mentioned above, the coat was white with pink collar, cuffs, tail-turnbacks and lapels. The cuffs would normally be hidden by white leather gauntlets. Buttons were white metal and the tail-turnbacks were decorated with white grenade badges. The shoulders were adorned with scarlet fringed epaulettes in the style of French cuirassiers. The cuirass was also of French style, being a full back-and-breast plate of polished steel with brass fittings and having a red cloth lining, edged with fine white piping. However, some sources show only a black-enameled breast plate being worn (perhaps captured Austrian items?). Breeches were white for full dress, but on campaign would be pale buff deerskin or grey wool with a pink stripe down the outside seam. 
Helmets were very similar to the French, having a steel bowl with a black leather visor edged with brass, brass chin-scales, brass ‘comb’ and a black fur ‘turban’. In full dress a red plume would be added to the left side. Instead of the French-style horsehair mane, Westphalian helmets were topped with a black woollen ‘roach’ or ‘raupe’ crest and the front was decorated with a shield-shaped brass badge. 
Shabraques were pink, edged white with a white grenade badge at the rear corner. The saddle and holsters were normally covered with a black sheepskin, edged in pink vandycking. Belts were white with brass fittings and scabbards were steel. Officers wore silver epaulettes, had silver lace shabraque-edging and often had additional gilded decoration on the breast plate.
Again, Tony for some reason hasn’t modelled a standard-bearer for the Westphalian cuirassiers, so I’ve used a French Late Carabinier Eaglebearer, cut off the eagle (which will no doubt come in handy for a French unit needing one) and then drilled out his hand to take a new stave of brass wire. The standard itself is by Fighting 15s.
The trumpeters initially wore reversed colours, which for the 1st Regiment consisted of pink coats with white facings and white epaulettes. The facings were edged with lace, which was white with a thin central stripe of blue. There were also nine bars of lace across the chest, extending from the buttons and buttonholes. Trumpets were brass with cords of mixed blue & white. The trumpeters’ uniform changed in 1812 to dark blue coats for both regiments, faced in the regimental facing colour and laced as before, though this coat probably wasn’t worn until 1813. 
In terms of headgear, the trumpeters initially wore helmets crested and plumed in white, with a brown fur turban. The headgear seems to have changed sometime around 1812 a black colpack with bag in the regimental facing colour and white cords, plume and lace, plus the national cockade of blue & white. However, there are depictions of trumpeters in the early uniform wearing colpacks and trumpeters in the late uniform wearing helmets, so perhaps the colpacks were for parade dress? AB make both types, so I arbitrarily decided to go with a pink coat and colpack combination.
That’s it for now. I had another small playtest game of Tricorn last week (below), so the scenario and game report will be up soon, along with my first draft of the Tricorn quick-reference sheets and conversion notes for Shako.
As the surviving readers of this blog will know, I often get stuff wrong and this blog mostly exists as a warning to other wargamers, being a record of where I went wrong and how to avoid such schoolboy errors… However, it’s not often that I get a unit wrong even before I start painting… 
I think it’s fair to say that almost every wargamer with a Russian Napoleonic army will have the Pavlov Grenadiers/Guards somewhere in their collection and most will look like these fellas; splendid in their tall grenadier mitre-caps… Which of course, is where the story goes horribly wrong…
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia opened up to the West (that worked out well…) and with the advent of the internet, a wealth of archival material and historical research flooded out of Russia, including stacks of new information about the composition and dress of the Russian Army of the Napoleonic Wars. Thanks to the first wave of this new research, Tony was able to sculpt his Early Russian Napoleonic figures, which included the Fusilier Battalions of the Grenadier Regiments, with their distinctive short mitre caps in the style of 18th Century Prussian Fusilier Regiments (until October 1810, the Grenadier Regiments had a single Grenadier Battalion and two Fusilier Battalions, but then changed to three Grenadier Battalions). 
Officers apparently had mitre-caps for parade, but wore shakos in the field. These were of Grenadier style, with tall black plume, three-flamed gold grenade badge, silver cords (changing in 1812 to cheaper white) and a silver pompom with orange centre and ‘A’ cypher in gold.
These figures are depicted in the long white Summer ‘gaiter-trousers’. In winter they wore heavier white wool trousers with false black leather ‘booting’ on the lower leg (the difference being clearly shown on the plate above). Belts were white and backpacks were black, though musket-slings were deep red leather. The black ammunition pouches were decorated with the brass three-flamed grenade badge of the Russian Grenadiers. The colour of greatcoats is variously described as ‘grey’, ‘brown’, ‘grey-brown’, ‘drab’… I’ve painted them the same khaki-brown colour I’ve always painted them.
In April 1813 the regiment became the Pavlovski Life Guard Regiment, which in turn led to a further change of uniform. The regiment was ordered to add a pair of ‘Guards’ lace bars to each side of the collar, as well as three lace buttonholes to each cuff-flap. However, they were ordered to use the white lace used by the drummers and not the golden-yellow lace normally used by Guards regiments. This was probably a temporary measure, as the Pavlovs were on campaign and white drummers’ lace would have been readily available to them. It’s not clear how quickly this uniform change came into place, but is recorded as being worn by Pavlovski Guardsmen in Paris during the peace of 1814 (the collar colour had also apparently changed to green with red piping). 
While I was photographing the Imperial Guard cavalry last week, it occurred to me that I’d never properly photographed my Napoleon model. He’s a rather unusual and possibly unique figure, sculpted by 
I acquired my Napoleon in 1995, when I was organising a big demo game of the Battle of Bautzen. My old Battle Honours Napoleon and most of his Guard were getting very tired and battered by ten years of abuse, so I called up Mike Hickling, then the UK producer of AB Figures, to find out if he had any new models of that ilk. 
As far as I know, my Napoleon is therefore one of a kind, but I’d be very interested to know if anyone else has one. He is VERY similar to the final production AB Figures Napoleon, except that the production figure is very slightly slimmer, has a breast-star on his left lapel and has his head turned very slightly to the left, whereas mine is undecorated and is staring straight ahead. Mine also has a retracted telescope in his left hand, whereas the AB Napoleon’s hand is empty. [Edited to add that my Napoleon has the coat pulled back to reveal the sword-hilt, whereas the AB Napoleon’s coat is covering the sword]
I painted these fellas over half a lifetime ago, which is rather terrifying. 🙁 I also gloss-varnished them (as was my custom in those days). I did give everything a spray with matt varnish a few years ago, but these are still quite glossy, so I’ll have to do them again.
As regular readers of this blog might remember, in April 2020 I declared my French Imperial Guard to be finally finished! Hurrah! Vive l’Empereur! etc…
“WTF?!” I hear you cry… Well in my defence (and in order to justify it to myself), I had already completed most of the significant 
In a desperate attempt to justify my indulgence, here are some example orders of battle from 1813 and 1814 to illustrate the tactical groupings of the squadrons of the Young Guard:
The Young Guard Squadrons of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Guard
The uniform of the Young Guard Chasseurs à Cheval differed from that of the Old Guard squadrons in several areas, though did wear some matching items of dress. The dolman jacket was the same, being dark green with green collar and scarlet cuffs, decorated in hussar style with aurore braid and brass buttons (gold braid and buttons for officers). This was worn with the same green & scarlet barrel-sash. They also wore the same undress green breeches with aurore braid as the Old Guard squadrons and on campaign wore the same green campaign overalls with aurore side-stripes (some sources show red stripes and even grey overalls with red stripes).
The classic bell-topped shako soon gave way to the slightly taller, cylindrical shako-rouleau, which was probably the main type of shako worn by 1814. The shako-rouleau retained the scarlet colouring, again decorated with bands of aurore lace and brass fittings. However, it only had a pompom instead of the full dress plume and cords. Instead of the brass eagle badge was a large national cockade, secured by an aurore strap and brass button. At the rear was a false rear peak of black leather. The top was waterproofed with black oilskin or leather and this might also have been true of the earlier shako. The AB Figures Young Guard Chasseurs are modelled wearing the later shako-rouleau.
Belts were of whitened leather and sabretaches were of plain black leather, decorated with the brass eagle and crown badge of the Young Guard. Some artistic depictions do show more ornately-decorated sabretaches, but these seem to have been officers’ items and perhaps belonged to officers seconded from the Old Guard and/or saved for parade best?
In contrast to the distinctive brass sabre scabbards of the Old Guard, the squadrons of the Young Guard were only issued with plain steel scabbards. However, again it would seem that officers and trumpeters seconded from the Old Guard continued to wear their old brass scabbards.
Shabraques were in ‘reversed colours’ when compared to those of the squadrons of the Old Guard, being scarlet with plain green edging. They also lacked ornamentation. The round valise fixed behind the saddle matched those colours, being scarlet with green lace rings at the ends. Unusually, officers were meant to use exactly the same pattern of shabraque and valise, though there are depictions of officers adding at least a little gold lace to the edging and even using ostentatious animal-skin shabraques in the style of the Old Guard Chasseurs. Again, this may have been an affectation used by seconded Old Guard officers.
White sheepskin saddle-covers could also be used but as with all Guard cavalry regiments, the full shabraque seems to have been universally used, even when on campaign. Line cavalry regiments by contrast, often dispensed with the shabraque and just used the sheepskin saddle-cover on campaign. The full shabraque is therefore one of the key features marking the figures out as Young Guard. The AB Figures French Hussars (which I used for 
Trumpeters wore a sky-blue dolman with deep crimson-pink collar and cuffs and braiding in mixed crimson/gold-yellow. Campaign coveralls were in matching sky-blue with a crimson-pink stripe (or double-stripe). Barrel-sashes were gold-yellow with deep crimson-pink barrels. Some Young Guard trumpeters are depicted wearing the deep crimson-pink pelisse of the Old Guard trumpeters, decorated with mixed sky-blue and gold-yellow braid, though these may again be seconded trumpeters from the Old Guard.
The Young Guard Squadrons of the 2nd (‘Red’) Light Horse Lancers of the Guard
Do not adjust your set… Yes, the Young Guard squadrons of the Red Lancers wore BLUE coats!
[Factoid: The 2nd (‘Red’) Lancers of the Guard were initially classed as Middle Guard, but on 17th March 1813 were elevated to the Old Guard by Imperial decree. Someone recently tried to correct my ‘mistake’ in calling them Old Guard…]
The dark blue Polish-style kurtka jacket had a plain scarlet collar, lapels, pointed cuffs and turnbacks, as well as scarlet piping on the back-seams, which continued down the back of the arms. Instead of the elaborate yellow epaulette and aiguillette worn by the Old Guard, the Young Guard just wore simple blue shoulder-straps, piped scarlet. However, NCOs wore the Old Guard-style epaulette and aiguillette in mixed crimson and gold cords (as shown on the right). Buttons were brass.
The czapka cap followed the colouring of the Old Guard ‘Red’ Lancers, being a black leather cap with a black leather peak trimmed in brass, with brass chinscales and a scarlet cloth ‘box’ piped yellow, with a wide yellow band of lace separating the ‘box’ from the black leather cap. Yellow cords and a white plume were worn in full dress. Sources vary re the front-plate; most depictions show the Old Guard-style ‘sunburst’ plate, while some show just a simple brass ‘N’. There is actually a surviving example of a Young Guard czapka of the 2nd Lancers with the simple brass ‘N’ badge, which adds considerable weight to that depiction of the uniform. It is of course possible that both types were worn and the ‘N’ badge might have been a late-war ‘austerity’ item. In my case this is all academic, as my lads are wearing black oilskin czapka-covers.
Belts were whitened leather and the waist-belt had a large brass buckle-plate. Scabbards were plain steel, though again some brass scabbards appear in art and may have been worn by personnel seconded from the Old Guard. Cloaks were white with a red collar.
The details of officers’ uniforms for the Young Guard squadrons of the 2nd Lancers seems to be lost to history, though if a specific uniform existed it was probably much the same, except with the addition of a gold epaulette and aiguillette, plus gold lace on the czapka and shabraque. However, I’ve opted to use an officer seconded from the Old Guard squadrons, wearing his scarlet kurtka.
Evidence for trumpeters’ uniforms is fragmentary, but they seem to have worn a sky-blue kurtka with scarlet collar, cuffs and turnbacks, edged in mixed crimson/gold-yellow lace. The back-seams were also edged in this lace. The lapels are invariably depicted as plain sky-blue without edging, though its possible that in full dress these were reversed to show scarlet and lace. The shoulders were decorated with an epaulette and aiguillette in mixed crimson/gold-yellow lace and the trumpet had matching cords. Full-dress trousers were scarlet, but on campaign they wore the same dark blue campaign coveralls as the rank-and-file. The czapka had a white ‘box’, edged scarlet with cords matching the aiguillette.
AB Figures don’t produce any specific figures for the Young Guard Lancers. Their Guard Lancer figures have the epaulette and aiguillette, so are only suitable for officers, NCOs and trumpeters. However, their Vistula Legion Lancer figures are spot-on, having full shabraques and shoulder-straps. That said, these figures are a touch on the small side, having been originally designed for the Battle Honours range. Cue the usual internet wailing and gnashing of teeth about ‘incompatibility’, ‘scale-creep’, ’18mm’, etc, but I’m willing to bet that hardly anyone noticed until I pointed it out… 😉
Other Squadrons of the Young Guard
As I play Napoleonics at a high command-level, where each unit represents a brigade (using Napoleon’s Battles rules), I don’t really need to paint any more Young Guard. This is fortunate in the case of the Young Guard squadrons of the 1st (Polish) Lancers, as there seems to be nothing known about their uniforms.
The Young Guard squadrons of the Empress’ Dragoons seem to have worn exactly the same uniform as the Old Guard squadrons, though again replacing the aurore aiguillette of the Old Guard with a second contre-epaulette.
This regiment was initially raised at the start of the Seven Years War in 1756 as a German ‘Free Corps’ of only 300 men in two squadrons. Titled the ‘Volontaires de Nassau-Saarbruck’, the regiment was rated by the Prince de Soubise as ‘poor’. However, it survived the catastrophe of 
The regiment was dressed in the typical Hungarian Hussar style; the dolman jacket was royal blue, with standing collar and pointed cuffs faced in ventre de biche (pale yellow-buff), white braid (silver for officers) and white metal buttons. The pelisse was red with black fur edging, white braid and white metal buttons. Officers has white fur and silver braid. The barrel-sash was coloured white and aurore. Breeches were yellow deerskin and were usually worn with chashkiry (leggings) in royal blue edged with white lace and boots cut in Hungarian style, edged with white lace and tassels. Cross-belts were white, with a black leather cartridge-box.
The sabretache was red, displaying the arms of Nassau (a gold lion rampant on a gold-edged blue oval scattered with gold ‘billets’) and edged in aurore and white lace. The scabbard was black leather with iron fittings and the sabre had a steel hilt. The sabretache and scabbard were hung from red leather belts, but I mistakenly painted them white, like the cross-belts.
Shabraques were red, edged in aurore and white lace and decorated with a white fleur-de-lys at the front and rear corners. 
It only seems like a few weeks since I was sitting here writing my 
So while Minipigs was continuing to rant away to the other spammers in the spam folder, I cracked on with the month of ‘Marsch!’, the intention of which had been to paint some more SYW Prussian and Imperial troops and perhaps finally paint the Reichsarmee cavalry. However, I was having so much fun with the French, I decided to paint 
So not including the Murfreesboro terrain, my grand painting total for 2020 was: 963x 15mm Foot, 114x 15mm Horse, 17x 15mm Guns, 588x 10mm Foot, 82x 10mm Horse, 21x 10mm guns and 13x 10mm Horse-Drawn Vehicles. Out of idle curiosity, I totaled up the value at today’s prices (which have admittedly risen quite a bit in the last year) and rather worryingly, that weighs in at £1,080.23… 
A slightly belated Merry Christmas to one and all! 🙂
Above: Phil’s table laid out for the game. The map is actually the opposite way up – the Austrians are on the left, the Prussians are on the right and the Jäckelsberg Redoubt is near the top.
Above: The view from behind the main Prussian position on the Lange-Berg. Kursell’s flank-guard of two grenadier battalions is nearest the camera, then the eight battalions of the main infantry line with the ‘Zieten’ Hussars in front of the right flank and the rest of the cavalry under Zieten himself in front of the left flank.
Above: The Prussian army as seen from the front. We actually realised that the Lange-Berg ridge had been placed about 9 inches too far back, so the whole lot was pushed forward before the game started.
Above: Over on the Prussian left flank is Kleist’s flank-guard division, consisting of two battalions of grenadiers and the ‘Werner’ Hussars. This regiment actually wore brown uniforms with yellow facings and lace and mirliton caps. However, I’ve only got half of that regiment painted, so instead used the ‘Szekely’ Hussars.
Above: Nádasdy’s main Austrian army. The main body of infantry is divided into three divisions, each arrayed in three lines; Clerici’s Division of six battalions is on the left (nearest the camera), Esterházy’s Division of six battalions is in the centre and Wied’s Division of nine battalions is on the right. There are a lot of regimental 1st battalions present, hence the unusually large number of white Leibfahne flags.
Above: The vanguard of the Austrian army is formed by d’Arenberg’s seven battalions of massed grenadiers. These are formed into a single large column on a two-battalion frontage, aimed squarely at the Jäckelsberg Redoubt.
Above: As d’Arenberg’s grenadiers advance toward the redoubt, a battery of 12pdrs positioned on the Galgenberg Hill opens fire in support of the attack.
Above: Another, smaller battery of Austrian 12pdrs opens fire from the Busch-Berg.
Above: On the extreme Austrian left flank, Pálffy’s corps of light troops approaches Ober-Moys.
Above: On the opposite flank, Petazzi’s light troops have seized the vital river-crossing at Leopoldshayn and considerably outnumber Kleist’s Prussian flank-guard.
Above: As the Austrian grenadiers approach the redoubt, the Prussian guns open fire. Austrian grenadiers go down like skittles, but they keep on coming.
Above: As Pálffy’s hussars dash forward to seize a river-crossing at Moys, his Grenzer begin skirmishing with the ‘Manteuffel’ Grenadiers in Ober-Moys. However, the Prussian standard of marksmanship, honed by endless days on the drill-square, is excellent and they manage to pick off some of the annoying skirmishers.
Above: On the opposite flank, Grenzer skirmishers boldly push forward to annoy Kleist as further troops cross the bridge at Leopoldshayn.
Above: The first Austrian assault hits the Jäckelsberg Redoubt! Nearest the camera, the ‘Dieringshofen’ Grenadiers manage to halt the Austrian assault with fire, but two Austrian grenadier battalions manage to push through the flame, smoke and shot to charge home on the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers!
Above: The Prussian grenadiers have a deservedly impressive fighting reputation and the ‘Beneckendorff’ Battalion proves its mettle by repulsing the two assaulting battalions. The officers of one Austrian grenadier battalion completely lose control of their men and they are soon streaming away from the fight in complete disorder. 
Above: At Ober-Moys, life is getting hot for the ‘Manteuffel’ Grenadiers as the Grenzer engage them more closely.
Above: Over on the opposite flank, the Grenzer are getting the better of Kleist’s grenadiers, with the ‘Hacke’ Grenadier Battalion in particular, becoming the main target of the enemy skirmishers.
Above: The second Austrian assault erupts on the redoubt! However, long-range fire from the supporting Austrian 12pdrs has this time managed to suppress the defenders, giving the Austrian grenadiers their best chance yet.
Above: All Austrian grenadiers this time manage to charge home on the fieldworks. Nevertheless, the ‘Dieringshofen’ Grenadiers again stand their ground, utterly destroying the Austrian battalion assaulting their sector of the defences. However, the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers this time are ejected from the redoubt and the gunners are swept away with them! With two Austrian grenadier battalions now inside the defences, things are looking very dicey for the ‘Dieringshofen’ Battalion! However, Bevern quickly manages to rally the ‘Beneckendorff’ Battalion and prepares to throw them back into the fight!
Above: At Ober-Moys, Pálffy has brought more Grenzer across the river to join the fight for the village. His hussars meanwhile, have halted their advance, as Kursell now commands the river crossings at Moys with his two battalions of Prussian grenadiers and some battalion guns.
Above: Back at the redoubt, all had seemed lost for a moment, but the superb ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers fight their way back in, smashing one Austrian grenadier battalion at bayonet-point and destroying a second battalion by fire! D’Arenberg has now lost three of his seven grenadier battalions and the Austrian grenadiers’ confidence begins to waver.
Above: Back at Ober-Moys, the Grenzer’s fire is finally starting to have an effect on the ‘Manteuffel’ Grenadiers and so Pálffy launches a direct assault with two formed battalions. However, the assault is halted by Prussian fire before it reaches the barricades.
Above: With the Austrian grenadiers wavering, Bevern throws the rallied ‘Dieringshofen’ Grenadiers back into the fight!
Above: At Leopoldshayn, a bold assault by Petazzi’s Grenzer pushes back the ‘Hacke’ Grenadier Battalion, but a charge by part of the ‘Werner’ Hussars crushes the valiant Grenzer battalion!
Above: Bevern’s counter-attack succeeds in ejecting the Austrian interlopers and yet another Austrian grenadier battalion is destroyed!
Above: However, the Austrian grenadiers are swift to rally and launch yet another assault against the defences. This time the Prussian ‘Dieringshofen’ Grenadiers are swept from the field, leaving Bevern and the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers feeling rather lonely. Thankfully, the Austrian main body seems to have its sights fixed on the main Prussian position and hasn’t detached any troops to reinforce d’Arenberg.
Above: Back at Ober-Moys, the ‘Manteuffel’ Grenadiers are having a hot time of it as they beat off a second attack by Pálffy’s Grenzer.
Above: Observing the unfolding battle from a vantage point across the River Neisse, the army C-in-C is growing increasingly concerned and has therefore ordered a brigade of the Görlitz garrison to march to Winterfeldt’s aid.
Above: The ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers continue to fight on alone at the redoubt and beat off yet another Austrian assault.
Above: General von Katte The Younger joins the battle!
Above: The Austrian main body marches past the ongoing struggle for the Jäckelsberg, aiming for the main prize.
Above: Nostitz’s cavalry just manage to squeeze through the gap on the right flank.
Above: Pálffy’s Grenzer launch a final, all-or-nothing assault on Ober-Moys.
Above: The ‘Zieten’ Hussars move to cover gaps on the right flank, just in case Ober-Moys falls and the Austrian hussars cross the river.
Above: But there is no need to worry, as Pálffy’s assault fails and his last formed units of Grenzer are broken, leaving only the hussars and a few detached companies of skirmishers. Certainly not enough to force the crossings. The battle for the Prussian right flank now hinges upon the fight for the Jäckelsberg.
Above: The Prussian reinforcements arrive at Moys, with the intention of forming a back-stop position, should Ober-Moys and/or the Jäckelsberg position fall.
Above: However, the ‘Manteuffel’ Grenadiers are now totally secure in Ober-Moys, though could still be forced to withdraw if the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers lose the Jäckelsberg, thereby causing Bevern to panic.
Above: However, the Beneckendorff Grenadiers seem to have the luck of the Devil and continue to beat off attack after attack! The Austrian grenadier losses are now catastrophic.
Above: As the Austrian main body passes the Jäckelsberg, the Austrian fourth line under Forgách appears in the distance. Nádasdy orders Forgách to assault the Jäckelsberg at once and end the débâcle!
Above: The Austrian main body is now well within range of the small battery of Prussian 12pdrs on the Lange-Berg and roundshot begins to bound through the serried ranks of whitecoats.
Above: Over at Leopoldshayn meanwhile, Kleist is struggling to contain the Austrian bridgehead. Both Prussian grenadier battalions have taken losses, with the ‘Hacke’ Grenadiers on the right getting the worst of it. To make matters worse, Petazzi has managed to deploy the ‘Kálnoky’ Hussars beyond the bridgehead and they quickly drive back the 2nd Battalion of the Prussian ‘Werner’ Hussars, enabling yet more of their comrades to deploy from Leopoldshayn. However, Grenzer losses have been high and the sight of so many dead and wounded troops streaming to the rear can’t be good for the Austrian hussars’ morale.
Above: Despite losing the line of the fortifications and being heavily outnumbered, the heroic ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers beat off yet another attack by the Austrian grenadiers!
Above: At Moys, the ‘Zieten’ Hussars find themselves about to becoming the filling in an infantry sandwich and wisely move off to find a better position.
Above: At Leopoldshayn, Kleist attempts to push forward, in order to close off the bridgehead. His battalion guns successfully disrupt the ‘Kaiser’ Hussars as they deploy from Leopoldshayn, but a brave Grenzer battalion launches a frontal charge on the ‘Hacke’ Grenadiers! The Prussian Grenadiers have already suffered heavy losses to enemy fire and shamefully break in the face of the Croats’ charge! Prussian revenge is swift however, as the ‘Werner’ Hussars counter-attack on both flanks, destroying a Grenzer battalion and throwing the ‘Kálnoky’ Hussars back across the river.
Above: Another gratuitous shot of the magnificent Austrian army…
Above: “I can do this all day!” shouts Bevern, as yet another Austrian grenadier assault fails to break the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers…
Above: With Nostitz’s Austro-Saxon cavalry rapidly approaching from the south, Kleist desperately needs to remove the threat posed by Petazzi’s light corps. The ‘Werner’ Hussars therefore charge again!
Above: The 1st Battalion of the ‘Werner’ Hussars smashes through the last remaining (and bravest) Grenzer battalion and rides on to break the ‘Desewffy’ Hussars, who are just deploying from Leopoldshayn. The 2nd Battalion of the ‘Werner’ Hussars meanwhile, sweeps up the last of the Grenzer skirmishers. Petazzi finally loses his nerve and he, along with the surviving hussars, follow the fugitive Grenzer back over the river.
Above: And not a moment too soon, as Nostitz’s cavalry are almost upon them!
Above: Despite seeing the Austrian army approaching from flippin’ miles away, Zieten suddenly seems surprised and realises that he is deployed in a terrible position! Cue much faffing about , as the Prussian cavalry attempt to redeploy and get out of the infantry’s way…
Above: Winterfeldt also realises that he has for some reason forgotten to bring his infantry forward from the rear slope…
Above: On the Prussian right flank, things are looking rosy. Moys is occupied by Kursell’s two grenadier battalions, while the reinforcement brigade has formed up behind the village, with two grenadier battalions to the fore and a third battalion in reserve, hoping to enfilade the Austrian left. The ‘Zieten’ Hussars are also standing by, ready to pounce on any opportunity that might present itself.
Above: That opportunity quickly arises as the ‘Zieten’ Hussars strike at the vulnerable Austrian flank!
Above: The 2nd Battalion of the ‘Zieten’ Hussars smashes into the first line of Austrian infantry, breaking the 1st Battalion of the ‘De Ligne’ Regiment!
Above: The drama continues at the Jäckelsberg as the Austrian grenadiers are beaten off yet again!
Above: Suddenly, the main body of Winterfeldt’s army surges forward to meet the Austrians on the crest of the Lange-Berg! As the Prussian ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons strike at the vulnerable 1st Battalion of the ‘Los Rios’ Regiment on the right flank of the Austrian infantry, the ‘Brandenburg’ and ‘Normann’ Dragoons make a massed assault on the Saxon ‘Graf Brühl’ Chevauxlégers.
Above: Out on the far flank meanwhile, the 1st Battalion of the ‘Werner’ Hussars are still rallying from their earlier fight with the Grenzer when they are struck from behind by the Saxon ‘Prinz Albrecht’ Chevauxlégers! The hussars are quickly routed, but the damage is not as bad as it might have been and they rally behind the line of the ‘Unruh’ Grenadier Battalion. Faced with grenadiers backed by artillery, the chevauxlégers wisely recall to rally behind the Austrian dragoons.
Above: Zieten’s counter-attack meanwhile, is a complete disaster! The ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons destroy themselves on the bayonets of the ‘Los Rios’ Regiment, while the rest of the Prussian Dragoons, despite having a considerable advantage in numbers, are beaten off by the heroic ‘Graf Brühl’ Chevauxlégers with heavy losses!
Above: Back at the Jäckelsberg Redoubt, the ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers repulse yet another assault by d’Arenberg’s grenadiers and brace themselves for yet another attack… Yet none is forthcoming and as the musket-smoke begins to clear, the surviving grenadiers can be seen fleeing for the hills! However, a fresh assault is approaching in the form of Forgách’s Division. As the Prussian gunners rush forward to reclaim their guns, the grenadiers line the parapet once again and prepare to meet the new attack.
Above: Back at the Lange-Berg, the ‘Zieten’ Hussars strike again at the Austrian left flank, demolishing another of Clerici’s battalions (the 1st Battalion of the ‘Platz’ Regiment). This thankfully clears the front of the Prussian ‘Tresckow’ Regiment, which being filled with unwilling Catholic troops, is the weak-link in the Prussian line.
Above: On the left wing of the Prussian line, the battle quickly bogs down into an attritional firefight between the Prussian ‘Lestwitz’ and ‘Pannewitz’ Regiments and Esterházy’s first line (the 1st Battalions of the Austrian ‘D’Arberg’ Regiment and the Imperial ‘Mainz-Lamberg’ Regiment). This is a battle that the Prussians can’t hope to win, as the Austrians simply have more troops to feed into the fight, while the Prussians have no reserves whatsoever. In order to try to reinforce the left flank, Wied pulls the 2nd Battalion of the ‘Pannewitz’ Regiment, along with some battalion guns, back to refuse the flank.
Above: As the surviving Prussian dragoons rally, Zieten’s reserve regiment, the ‘Schönaich’ Cuirassiers, move forward to engage the Austrian infantry.
Above: On the Prussian left flank, there is a welcome pause, allowing the ‘Werner’ Hussars rally as the ‘Unruh’ Grenadiers, with their supporting battalion guns, wait for the next attack.
Above: As the victorious first line of Saxon chevauxlégers falls back to rally, Nostitz beings his second line forward into the attack. Nearest the camera, the ‘Jung-Modena’ Dragoons threaten Kleist, while the Saxon ‘Prinz Carl’ Chevauxlégers launch a charge to clear the ‘Bayreuth’ Dragoons away from the flank of the infantry.
Above: The view from the other end of the Prussian line.
Above: The ‘Zieten’ Hussars launch another charge against Clerici’s infantry, but Clerici has now turned part of his division to face the threat and the hussars’ charge is halted by fire. However, having lost two of his six battalions, Clerici’s Division is now demoralised.
Above: Over on the other flank, the charge of the Saxon ‘Prinz Carl’ Chevauxlégers is perfectly executed and the ‘Bayreuth’ Dragoons are thrown back with heavy losses.
Above: The Austrian ‘Jung-Modena’ Dragoons however, have surprised everyone by attempting to wheel across Kleist’s front. Kleist’s battalion guns treat them to a whiff of grapeshot as they ride past. The ‘Werner’ Hussars are also unlikely to let the Austrian manoeuvre go unchallenged!
Above: With the Prussian cavalry repulsed, (Austrian) Wied’s Division pushes past the flank of (Prussian) Wied’s line. There is now very little to prevent Winterfeldt’s left flank from being completely rolled up.
Above: Clerici’s Austrian infantry might be demoralised, but they’re continuing to push forward, forcing the ‘Zieten’ Hussars to once again escape being the horsemeat filling in an infantry sandwich! However, Clerici is also now taking some harassing fire from the ‘Anhalt’ Grenadier Battalion, emplaced among the houses and gardens of Moys.
Above: As battalion guns engage each other with point-blank canister fire, the Prussian ‘Manteuffel’ Regiment wheels forward to engage Clerici’s whitecoats more closely. An ADC meanwhile, gallops out from Winterfeldt’s headquarters, with orders for the Reserve Brigade to attack Clerici and roll up the Austrian left flank!
Above: As the Prussian dragoons rally, the ‘Schönaich’ Cuirassiers launch a charge on the Austrian infantry. (Austrian) Wied’s left-hand battalion has paused to engage in a firefight with Prussian infantry and has therefore left a Hungarian battalion exposed with an unsupported flank. The Prussian cuirassiers instantly seize the opportunity and launch a devastating charge, destroying the Hungarian battalion! 
Above: Having destroyed the Hungarian battalion, the ‘Schönaich’ Cuirassiers charge on into the ‘Los Rios’ Regiment. However, these heroic Walloon infantry, having already seen off one cavalry charge today, are made of sterner stuff and repulse the cuirassiers, who fall back to join the dragoons in licking their wounds.
Above: It’s a bad moment for the Hungarians, as two more Hungarian battalions, this time from Forgách’s Division, launch their assault on the Jäckelsberg Redoubt. Shredded by 12pdr canister fire and musketry from the seemingly unbeatable ‘Beneckendorff’ Grenadiers, the Hungarian battalions simply disintegrate!
Above: As the ‘Schönaich’ Cuirassiers rally, Zieten suddenly gets another rush of blood to the sabre and launches his rallied dragoons once again into the attack! 
Above: The 1st Battalion of the Prussian ‘Bayreuth’ Dragoons, with the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons in support, runs into the as yet un-blooded Austrian ‘Sachsen-Götha’ Dragoons, who are supported by the ‘Prinz Carl’ Chevauxlégers and the heroic ‘Los Rios’ Regiment. Once again, the engagement ends in disaster as the ‘Bayreuth’ Dragoons are thrown back! The victorious ‘Sachsen-Götha’ Dragoons charge on to destroy the already-weakened ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons.
Above: The 2nd Battalion of the Prussian ‘Bayreuth’ Dragoons charges headlong into the midst of the Austrian infantry… and is annihilated.
Above: However, the Austrians don’t get it all their own way, as the ‘Jung-Modena’ Dragoons, having been stung by fire from the Prussian battalion guns, launch a charge on the ‘Werner’ Hussars. However, flanking fire from the ‘Unruh’ Grenadiers disorders the charge and the hussars have managed to bring the other half of the regiment up in support. The ‘Jung-Modena’ Dragoons are swept from the field! 
Above: The firefight in the centre continues unabated, though neither side seems to be gaining an advantage over the other. However, the 2nd Battalion of the Pannewitz Regiment is under extreme pressure on the left flank.
Above: The view from the Lange-Berg. Despite the extreme danger on the left flank, the Prussian infantry is still holding its ground and has only suffered very light casualties.
Above: At the Jäckelsberg Redoubt, Bevern’s men have been under attack in every single turn since Turn 2, but still hold their ground as they repulse yet another attack! 
Above: At Moys, Clerici has managed to make no progress in the face of extremely stiff Prussian opposition, which is hardly surprising, as his four battalions are faced by no fewer than seven elite battalions, backed by cavalry and artillery.
Above: However, on the Prussian left, Zieten’s cavalry division is demoralised and greatly depleted. One more charge by the ‘Sachsen-Götha’ Dragoons will probably see Zieten swept from the field entirely.
Above: Kleist however, has managed to hang on by the skin of his teeth and is in an excellent position to disrupt the Austrian attempt to roll up the Prussian infantry.
Above: The overall view of the Prussian left flank. Nostitz’ cavalry and Wied’s infantry have completely overrun the Prussian left wing, but Kleist (on the left) is still in position to cause serious trouble.
Above: As (Austrian) Wied’s Division pushes forward, their only remaining obstacle is the 2nd Battalion of the ‘Pannewitz’ Regiment, which is still standing firm to the rear of (Prussian) Wied’s left flank, along with a detachment of battalion guns. (Austrian) Wied has only lost one of his nine battalions and is still in very good shape to continue the attack.
Above: In the centre, Esterházy has suffered a few casualties, but has lost none of his six battalions, though is struggling to make headway against the Prussian infantry.
Above: As his latest attack fails, Forgách suffers a crisis of confidence and halts his attack on the Jäckelsberg! For their heroic defence of the redoubt, Major Beneckendorff and Prinz Carl von Bevern are both awarded the Pour le Mérite. 
Above: On the Austrian left, Clerici’s Division is demoralised and must withdraw to avoid destruction by the vastly superior Prussian forces around Moys.