The long and winding road has finally reached its destination!  As discussed in Part 10 of this series, my Reichsarmee is now FINISHED! 🙂  As the first unit was painted in or around 1997, it took me around 25 years, but in my defence, I did do other things in the meantime as well.

In terms of units and models painted, my Reichsarmee (including the attached Imperial auxiliary units) works out as 26 infantry battalions (12 figs), 15 large infantry battalions (16 figs), 4 cavalry regiments (12 figs), 1 large cavalry regiment (16 figs), 2 small cavalry regiments (6 figs), 10 batteries (1 gun & 4 crew) and 12 generals, for a grand total of 592 foot, 88 horse and 10 guns.  I’ve not counted the Austrian elements, as they do double duty with my Austrian army.

If I add the Saxon, Bavarian and Württemberg Auxiliary Corps painted during this period, that’s another 4 cavalry regiments, 20 infantry battalions and 3 generals, or 240 foot figures and 51 horse…  And I’ve run out of steel toolboxes in which to keep all this stuff…

So here’s the Grand Imperial Parade, followed by each Imperial Circle contingent on parade.  To avoid repeating myself, I won’t go into detail regarding uniforms and organisation.  Instead, I’ll link each unit name back to the page where they were featured.  Note however, that I buggered up the photos of the Swabian and Franconian contingents, so had to re-shoot those, hence the delay.

The Electoral Rhenish District (Kurrheinischen Kreis)

From left to right below, we have the ‘Kurtrier’ Regiment, the Köln ‘Nothaft’ and ‘Wildenstein’ Regiments, the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment and the Pfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment.  To the rear are the ‘Kurpfalz’ Cuirassiers and the massed Kurrhein grenadier companies.  In front is some artillery from Trier and Pfalz.

The Swabian District (Schwäbischen Kreis)

From left to right below are the ‘Fürstenberg/Roth’ Regiment, the ‘Alt-Württemberg’ Regiment, the ‘Baden-Durlach’ Regiment and the ‘Baden-Baden’ Regiment.  At the rear are the ‘Hohenzollern’ Cuirassiers and the ‘Württemberg Dragoons, while in front is the Swabian District Artillery Corps.  I forgot to include the Swabian grenadiers when setting up this shot!

The Franconian District (Fränkischen Kreis)

From left to right below we have the ‘Varell’ Regiment, the ‘Cronegk’ Regiment and the ‘Ferntheil/Hohenlohe’ Regiment.  At the back are the ‘Bayreuth’ Cuirassiers and the ‘Ansbach’ Dragoons.  At the front is the Franconian District Artillery Corps.  Again, I forgot to include the massed Franconian grenadier companies.

The Upper Rhenish District (Oberrheinischen Kreis)

Moving to the smaller contingents; here from left to right we have the ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment and the Hessen-Darmstädt ‘Prinz Georg’ Regiment, with the massed grenadiers to the rear.  In front is the District Artillery Corps.  As mentioned in Part 10, I decided not to do the district’s ‘Nassau-Weiburg’ Regiment as a. they didn’t do any fighting and b. there was no flag information at the time (since corrected by Frédéric Aubert).

Upper Saxon District (Obersachsischen-Kreis)

As mentioned in earlier articles, the Upper Saxon District had very few resources to draw upon, thanks to the Prussian occupation of Saxony and the district’s contingent was therefore padded out at Austrian expense, with regiments from the Army of Pfalz.  In the front rank is the 2nd Battalion of the Pfalz ‘Garde zu Fuss’ Regiment, while at the rear (in red coats) is the Pfalz Leib-Dragoner-Regiment ‘Kurfürstin’.  alongside them (in white coats) is the tiny ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoon Regiment, which was actually raised in the district.  As mentioned in Part 10, I decided not to do the ‘Ernestinisch-Sachsen’ Infantry Regiment due to the lack of flag information and the fact that they only fought in one small engagement.

The Bavarian District (Kurbayernischen Kreis)

In the front rank below is the ‘Kurbayern’ Regiment and a battery of Bavarian artillery.  At the rear is the ‘Salzburg’ Regiment and the massed grenadiers.

Imperial Auxiliary Troops

Here are the three infantry regiments initially raised at Austrian expense to fight with the Austrian Army, but who were then assigned as part of the Austrian contribution to the Reichsarmee.  From left to right, these are the ‘Mainz-Lamberg’ Regiment, the ‘Blau-Würzburg’ Regiment and the ‘Rot-Würzburg’ Regiment.  At the rear are the massed grenadier companies.  They were joined by the single-battalion ‘Anhalt-Zerbst’ Regiment in 1762, but that unit saw very little (if any) action, so I decided not to include it (it was uniformed very similarly to the ‘Rot-Würzburg’ Regiment (flags unknown).  

So that’s it for the Reichsarmee!  They’ve already fought one battle (the Combat of Strehla)  en masse, but there are plenty more to come!

My apologies for the slow pace of the blog over the last two months.  This does tend to happen during the summer and this summer has been ludicrously busy for me.  The ‘good’ news is that the weather here in Wales has turned more ‘typical’ for the time of year and provided that the local internet isn’t knocked out by flooding (as per the last two summers), the pace should pick up during August, with those long-awaited game reports and some new units such as these…

Well all good things (and tedious blog articles) must come to an end… I’ve finally painted my last unit for the Reichsarmee.  I will post a Grand Imperial Parade in Part 11, showing the Reichsarmee as a whole and the grouped district contingents en masse, but for now here are the last units to be painted.

Franconian District (Fränkischen Kreis) 

Grenadier, Cronegk IR (Becher)

Above:  The Franconian ‘Cronegk’ Infantry Regiment.  Franconia raised three infantry regiments for the Reichsarmee, named ‘Ferntheil’, ‘Varell’ and ‘Cronegk’ with all three being organised identically, comprising two six-company battalions, two detached grenadier companies and an artillery detachment.  At full strength, each battalion numbered almost 1,000 men and rarely went much below 750 men, so they are represented in Tricorn as ‘Large’ units of 16 figures.

I painted the other two Franconian regiments in 1997 and they were therefore among the very first Reichsarmee units to be painted, though this regiment for some reason languished in the Lead Dungeon for over a quarter of a century and became the LAST Reichsarmee regiment to be painted!  🙂  I covered the other two regiments in Part 2.

Above:  The Franconian ‘Cronegk’ Infantry Regiment.  Like many other Reichsarmee units, the three Franconian regiments were raised from a multitude of tiny contingents.  The units raised in this manner were invariably bad and the Franconian regiments were no exception, being rated by the French Marshal Soubise as ‘poor’ and ‘too Prussian in their ways’.  It certainly didn’t help that the regiments were riven by religious disputes, including the ridiculous argument over the regimental colours, as described in Part 2.

Above:  The Franconian ‘Cronegk’ Infantry Regiment wore a dark blue coat cut in Prussian style, with white lapels, collar, shoulder-strap, (Swedish) cuffs and tail-turnbacks.  Buttons were brass.  Smallclothes and belts were white.  Gaiters and neck-stocks were black.  The hats were decorated with white lace and white-over-blue-over-white pompoms.  Officers wore gold hat-lace and aiguillette, with a gorget and silver waist-sash, woven through with black and red.  The only adornment to drummers’ uniforms was a white ‘swallow’s nest’ on each shoulder.

Above:  The Franconian ‘Cronegk’ Infantry Regiment.  As mentioned above, the tail-turnbacks were coloured white, though some sources show them as red.  This confusion seems to stem from a later uniform-change, first depicted in 1782, by which time the tail-turnbacks of all three Franconian regiments had changed to Prussian-style red.  The general consensus is that they were still white during the SYW and were depicted as such in the Becher Manuscript, as shown in the illustration of a grenadier of the regiment shown above (and those of the ‘Varell’ Regiment were still yellow, again matching the facing colour).

For the Franconians I used Old Glory 15s Prussian infantry figures.  The flags were taken from a Reichsarmee flag-sheet I bought during the 1990s from Andy Grubb, along with sheets of SYW Bavarian and Swedish flags.  They were the first laser-printed flags I’d ever seen and the colours are still as bright and vibrant as they were 25+ years ago, so I used these old flags, despite Not By Appointment recently releasing the Franconian flags.

Above:  The Franconian District Artillery Corps.  In addition to providing the bulk of the heavy artillery and gunners to the Reichsreserveartillerie (covered in Part 2), the Circle of Franconia also equipped its three infantry regiments with an artillery detachment, each of four 3pdr guns.  I did cover the Franconian District Artillery in Part 2, but the information provided there proved not to be correct, being based on the Kronoskaf description, which describes an identical uniform to that of the Reichsreserveartillerie (blue coat and smallclothes with red lapels, collar, cuffs, turnbacks and shoulder-strap), except with yellow hat-lace and buttons instead of white (confusingly, the Kronoskaf article shows white hat-lace in its illustration, but says yellow in the text).

Above:  This battery of the Franconian District Artillery Corps is therefore based on the description provided by Frédéric Aubert, who asserts that Franconian gunners were still wearing red smallclothes during the SYW and that the blue smallclothes shown in Kronoskaf did not appear until sometime around 1781 (being illustrated in 1782).  Kronoskaf does describe red smallclothes being worn by Franconian artillery officers.

One mistake I made here however, is that the cord worn over the left shoulder and supporting the gunners’ tool pouch should be twisted cords of red, white and black.  I just painted them as buff-coloured ropes and will therefore have to go back and correct this.

Above:  The Franconian District Artillery Corps was equipped with guns from the Nuremberg Arsenal, which also supplied the bulk of the guns for the Reichsreserveartillerie.  The heavy Nuremberg guns supplied to the Reichsreserveartillerie are known to have been carried on red carriages, so I’ve also painted this gun-carriage red.

These are Old Glory 15s Austrian artillery figures.

The Reichsarmee Grenadier Corps

As with all Austro-Imperial grenadier companies, the grenadier companies of the Reichsarmee existed as ‘semi-detached’ units, usually accompanying their parent regiment within the same corps, but not serving alongside them in battle.  Instead, they were used for a variety of tasks, mainly guarding baggage and the artillery-train.  Hence they were well to the rear during the Battle of Rossbach.

As the war went on and in common with the Austrian grenadiers, they were increasingly used as an elite corps, being used for critical assault tasks and as a tactical reserve to defend key points and react to enemy breakthroughs.  However, unlike the Prussian grenadiers, who were formed into semi-permanent battalions at the commencement of hostilities, the Austro-Imperial grenadier battalions were always ad hoc affairs, being grouped together on or very close to the day of battle.

I did originally organise my Reichsarmee grenadier companies as separate bases, so they could be grouped together and rearranged for particular scenarios, but I’m increasingly moving away from separate bases, so instead decided to base them as single-base battalions, for the most part grouped by Imperial Circle.  They were rarely grouped in this manner, but it suits me to do so.  In any case, there is precious little information on how grenadier battalions were organised; at the very most we get a vague description, such as a list of x grenadier companies present, organised into y battalions.  They might also be grouped with Austrian line infantry or Grenzer grenadier companies.

Above:  Franconian Grenadiers.  The three Franconian infantry regiments each provided two grenadier companies.  I use two roughly figures per company, so each regiment is represented by four figures.

Above:  Franconian Grenadiers.  From left to right, the three Franconian regiments represented here are ‘Ferntheil‘ (red facings), ‘Varell‘ (yellow facings) and ‘Cronegk‘ (white facings.  I covered the first two regiments in Part 2 and the ‘Cronegk’ Regiment is detailed above.

Above:  Franconian Grenadiers.  While the majority of Franconian grenadiers wore Austrian-style fur caps, some contingents equipped their grenadiers with Prussian-style mitre caps.  There is some disagreement among sources as to how many contingents were still wearing mitre caps during the SYW, but all seem to agree that the Bayreuth Company of the ‘Varell’ Regiment wore mitre caps, while the Eichstädt Company of the same regiment wore fur caps.  As for the rest, the Anspach contingents of the ‘Cronegk’ and ‘Ferntheil’ Regiments may also have worn mitre caps. I’ve therefore given mitre caps to half of the ‘Varell’ Regiment’s grenadiers and also arbitrarily given them to half of the ‘Ferntheil’ Regiment’s grenadiers.

Above: Franconian Grenadiers.  The fur caps worn by Franconian grenadiers were all made of dark brown fur, with brass front-plates and bags in the facing colour, piped blue for the ‘Cronegk’ Regiment and white for the other two.  The mitre caps had a facing-coloured front-piece, decorated with a brass crest, bearing a blue enamel disc.  The head-band was also facing-coloured and decorated with brass grenades.  The bag was blue for the ‘Fertheil’ and ‘Cronegk’ Regiments and red for the ‘Varell’ Regiment.  Piping and pompoms were white for all three regiments.

Above:  Kurrhein (Electoral Rhine) Grenadiers.  Four of the five Electoral Rhenish infantry regiments supplied six grenadier companies between them; the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment and Kurpfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment each supplied two companies, while the Kurköln ‘Nothaft’ Regiment and Kurköln ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment supplied one company apiece.  The ‘Kurtrier’ Regiment did not contribute any grenadier companies.

Above:  Kurrhein Grenadiers.  The regimental contingents from left to right are: the two Kurköln regiments (red facings), the Kurmainz Regiment (green facings) and the Kurpfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment (white facings).  I detailed the uniforms of all these Kurrhein contingents in Part 8.

Above:  Kurrhein Grenadiers.  All Kurrhein grenadier companies wore Austrian-style fur caps of dark brown/black fur with a plate at the front and a hanging bag at the rear.  The metal of the plate matched the regimental button-colour, which was certainly brass for the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment, though the other regiments are the source of some debate.  The Kurpfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment is variously described as yellow or white metal and I’ve gone with white metal.  As for the two Kurköln regiments, one had white metal and the other yellow, but nobody can agree which regiment was which (Kronoskaf also says that the plate was brass for both regiments)!

Above:  Kurrhein Grenadiers.  The colour of the bags on the back of the grenadier caps matched the regimental facing-colour.  The piping and tassel was blue for the Kurpfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment, yellow (or possibly a darker shade of green) for the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment and white for both Kurköln regiments.

Above:  Swabian Grenadiers.  The four Swabian infantry regiments; ‘Baden-Baden‘, ‘Alt-Württemberg‘, ‘Baden-Durlach‘ and ‘Fürstenberg‘ each contributed two grenadier companies to the Reichsarmee.  However, I haven’t included the ‘Fürstenberg’ Regiment’s grenadiers here, as I included them as part of the parent regiment, which I covered in Part 2 (pictured below).

Above:  Swabian Grenadiers.  From left to right, the regiments represented here are the ‘Baden-Baden’ Regiment (white facings), the ‘Alt-Württemberg’ Regiment (yellow facings) and the ‘Baden-Durlach’ Regiment (red facings).  I covered their parent regiments in Part 4.

Grenadier, Baden-Durlach IR (Knötel)

Above:  Swabian Grenadiers.  Note that there is some disagreement between sources as to the uniform of the ‘Baden-Durlach’ Regiment’s grenadier companies.  Some sources (including Richard Knötel) suggest that the regiment’s grenadiers wore a different uniform to that of the parent regiment, adding tasseled lace buttonholes to the coat and changing the colour of the smallclothes from white to straw.  Richard Knötel’s interpretation is shown on the right. Kronoskaf also went along with this (hence why I painted it!), but has since deleted that description.  The Becher Manuscript shows the same uniform as the parent regiment; plain red facings without lace and white smallclothes.

It seems probable that the Knötel version of the uniform was worn by the ENTIRE regiment at a later date, perhaps in the 1780s or 90s.  Ah well, I’m not repainting them now… 🙂

Grenadier, Baden-Baden IR (Becher)

Above: Swabian Grenadiers.  The ‘Baden-Baden’ Regiment’s grenadiers wore Austrian-style dark brown fur caps, while the ‘Baden-Durlach’ and ‘Alt-Württemberg’ Regiments wore Prussian-style mitre caps.  Once again, there is some disagreement regarding the details.  I went along with the version of the ‘Baden-Baden’ Regiment’s cap shown by Kronoskaf and Frédéric Aubert, which has a brass front-plate and a blue bag with white piping and tassel.  However, the Becher Manuscript version (pictured on the right) shows no front-plate and has a white bag with blue piping and white tassel.

Sources are largely in agreement regarding the other two regiments; The ‘Alt-Württemberg’ Regiment’s cap had a brass front-plate, a yellow (or possibly brass) band with brass grenade badges, a yellow bag, red piping (Kronoskaf says yellow piping) and a yellow pompom with black centre.  The ‘Baden-Durlach’ Regiment’s cap had a brass front, red band with brass grenades, blue bag, white piping and a red pompom (though Knötel shows no pompom).

Above:  Kurbayern, Oberrhein & Obersachsen Grenadiers.  This battalion is comprised of the various odds & sods making up the remainder of my Reichsarmee.  These were for the most part painted in the 1990s, when my sources were limited to just the (excellent) Pengel & Hurt booklets.  Some of the details have since been challenged by more recent research, but I’ve left them largely unaltered.

Above:  Kurbayern, Oberrhein & Obersachsen Grenadiers.  From left to right, these grenadier companies are from the ‘Kurbayern‘ Regiment (made up of one grenadier company each from the Bavarian ‘Holnstein‘ and ‘Pechmann‘ Regiments), the ‘Salzburg‘ Regiment, the Hessen-Darmstädt ‘Prinz Georg’ Regiment and the Kurpfalz ‘Garde zu Fuss‘ Regiment.  I covered most of these regiments in Part 2 and the Pfalz ‘Garde zu Fuss’ in Part 4.  The ‘Kurbayern’ Regiment contributed two grenadier companies (i.e. one company from each of its Bavarian parent regiments) regiments and the remainder each contributed a single grenadier company to the Reichsarmee.  I must confess however, that I’ve included a double-helping of Hessen-Darmstädt grenadiers, as I rather like them! 🙂

Above:  Kurbayern, Oberrhein & Obersachsen Grenadiers.  While most of these contingents wore Austrian-style fur caps, the Hessen-Darmstädt grenadiers wore Prussian-style mitre caps.  It should be noted that when I painted these, Pengel & Hurt specified that the Salzburg grenadier caps were made of ‘brown fur’, so I painted them that horrible ginger colour.  I know now that virtually all fur grenadier caps were made of ‘brown’ fur and it was usually a dark brown, bordering on black, so they should probably all be roughly the same colour.

As for the Hessian mitre caps, I’ve seen at least five different versions of the front-plate.  This is the version shown in Pengel & Hurt; namely a white metal plate with a blue enameled oval, bearing the red & white striped lion-rampant of Hesse.  Other versions have a pierced front-plate, revealing white or blue cloth backing and different (or no) enameled decoration.

Note also that recent research has revealed that the two Bavarian contingents making up the ‘Kurbayern’ Regiment adopted the same facing-colour of ‘light red’ (best described as ‘old rose’), which was the facing colour of the ‘Holnstein’ Regiment, though the men from the ‘Pechmann’ Regiment retained their straw tail-turnbacks.  Pengel & Hurt got themselves (and me!) very confused here, so the ‘Holnstein’ contingent is shown in poppy red with straw turnbacks (this should all be light red), while the ‘Pechmann’ contingent is shown in straw facings (they should have light red lapels and cuffs).

Above:  Kurbayern, Oberrhein & Obersachsen Grenadiers.  From right to left, the cap-bags of the ‘Holnstein’ contingent of the ‘Kurbayern’ Regiment should have light red bags, piped white, not the poppy red piped yellow shown here.  The straw bags with white piping of the ‘Pechmann’ contingent may well be correct, or they may also have adopted light red (sources are split).  The ‘Salzburg’ Regiment’s bags are just described as ‘red’, though they may have had white piping.  All sources agree that the Hessian mitre caps had white bands, grenade badges in brass or white metal, blue bag, white piping and white pompoms.  The Kurpfalz ‘Garde zu Fuss’ had red bags with white piping.

Above:  Imperial Auxiliary Grenadiers.  As discussed in Part 1, a number of Imperial regiments were hired to serve with the Austrian army and eventually ended up fighting as part of the Austrian contribution to the Reichsarmee.  Chief among these were three excellent infantry regiments; the ‘Mainz’, ‘Mainz-Lamberg’ or ‘Lamberg’ Regiment, the ‘Rot-Würzburg‘ Regiment and the ‘Blau-Würzburg‘ Regiment.  Each regiment contributed two grenadier companies.  They probably never served together in a combined battalion like this, but it appealed to me. 🙂

Above:  Imperial Auxiliary Grenadiers.  From left to right, these are the grenadier companies of the ‘Mainz-Lamberg’, ‘Blau-Würzburg’ and ‘Rot-Würzburg’ Regiments.  I covered the ‘Rot-Würzburg’ Regiment in Part 1, the ‘Mainz-Lamberg’ Regiment in Part 5 and the ‘Blau-Würzburg’ Regiment in Part 7.  The uniforms were all very Austrian in style and this battalion could happily be used as a stand-in Austrian grenadier battalion.

Above:  Imperial Auxiliary Grenadiers.  All three regiments wore Austrian-style fur caps of dark brown fur, with white metal front-plates.

Above:  Imperial Auxiliary Grenadiers. The cap-bags of all three regiments matched the facing colour and all had white piping and tassels.

The Reichsarmee ‘Also-Rans’

I must confess that there are still a very few Reichsarmee units left that I haven’t painted, so I’ll list them here.  They amount to around six battalions, plus a grenadier battalion and a light battery.  I may decide to paint them ‘to complete the set’ sometime in the future, but I won’t be doing them any time soon!

Nassau-Weiburg IR (Knötel)

The Upper-Rhenish ‘Nassau-Weiburg’ Regiment theoretically consisted of two battalions and two grenadier companies, but the the regiment was very weak, amounting to little more than a single battalion in terms of manpower.  In 1759 one battalion was captured as part of the surrendered garrison of Leipzig and by 1761 the regiment was fielded as a single battalion with no grenadiers.  They also never fought at any significant engagements, so I consequently decided not to do them.  The lack of flag information was also a factor, though that’s now been corrected, as Frédéric Aubert discovered surviving examples and has included them in his Ad Hoc Editions plates and flag-sheets.  The regiment wore blue coats with white facings.

The Upper-Saxon ‘Ernestinisch-Sachsen’ Regiment consisted of two battalions and two grenadier companies assembled from five Saxon duchies and did actually fight at one battle; the Combat of Zinna.  I probably would have painted this regiment, as it did fight and it had an array of different uniforms, so would look interesting on the table; the 1st Battalion all wore the same uniform of blue coats with red facings, though the 2nd Battalion had four different uniforms with a mixture of blue and white coats and red and yellow facings.  The grenadiers don’t seem to have been sent to war (perhaps used as a depot or garrison?).

However, aside from some very speculative designs that didn’t appeal to me, there was absolutely no information on the regiment’s flags.  Nevertheless, Frédéric has once again produced some lovely and very plausible speculative flag designs that look ‘right’, so they may yet appear in my Reichsarmee.

Münster ‘Elverfeldt’ or ‘Nagel’ IR (Knötel)

As for the Lower-Rhenish-Westphalian Circle; the Bishopric of Münster raised two regiments; the ‘Elverfeldt’ Regiment and the ‘Nagel’ Regiment which each consisted of a single battalion, grenadier company and section of 2x 4pdr battalion guns.  Both were rated as ‘good’ by Soubise.  However, they remained on garrison duty throughout the war and only fought in one very minor engagement against Ferdinand of Brunswick’s western allied army, so I decided not to do them.

Their uniforms and flags are fairly well-documented, with both regiments wearing blue coats.  Most sources say that the ‘Elverfeldt’ Regiment had white facings and the ‘Nagel’ Regiment had red facings, though Frédéric insists that it was the other way round.  They each had a grenadier company wearing mitre caps and the flags were very pretty, having a Bavarian-style blue & white lozengy field with a wreathed cross of the Teutonic Order.  So even though they’re fairly redundant from a historical refight point of view, these regiments are very pretty…  It’s so tempting…

The Münster Artillery Corps was quite strong and supplied the regimental artillery to the three Lower-Rhenish-Westphalian Regiments, in addition to the Electoral Rhenish Kurköln ‘Nothaft’ and ‘Wildenstein’ Regiments.  I’ve already painted the Kurköln regiments (shown in Part 8), so I should also perhaps paint some of these gunners.  The Münster Artillery Corps wore blue coats with red facings (including lapels) and white smallclothes.

Paderborn ‘Mengerson’ IR (Knötel)

The last missing regiment is the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian ‘Mengerson’ Regiment, raised by the Bishopric of Paderborn.  This regiment, again consisting of a single battalion, grenadier company and pair of 4pdr guns, was rated as ‘average’ by Soubise and did actually fight at the Combat of Korbitz.  Some sources also place it at the Combats of Strehla and Wittenberg, where it was probably guarding the baggage of the Prince of Zweibrücken, as it had been during the previous year.

The ‘Mengerson’ Regiment had blue coats with red facings and white lace edging.  The regiment’s greandier company had mitre caps.  Again, the fact that no flags were known was a big factor in my deciding not to paint this regiment, but that flippin’ Frédéric has now produced the flags, which again were very ‘Bavarianesque’.

Anyway, that’s it for now!  The Grand Imperial Parade will follow soon and I will eventually catch up with a late game report for the AWI Battle of the Brandywine (played last March) and an epic game from last weekend, which was a return to the ACW Second Battle of Murfreesboro (aka Stones River).  Here are some tasters:

Good news!  It’s time for more Reichsarmee units! 🙂

Upper Rhine District (Oberrheinischen Kreis)

The Imperial Circle of the Upper Rhine was one of the weakest contingents in the Reichsarmee, having only the ‘Hessen-Darmstädt’ (‘Prinz Georg’) Infantry Regiment (1 bn), the ‘Nassau-Weiburg’ Infantry Regiment (2 bns), the ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Infantry Regiment (3 bns) and a small district artillery corps.  They were also a very mixed bag, with Marshal Soubise rating those regiments respectively as ‘Excellent’, ‘Average’ and ‘Poor’.  The Hessen-Darmstädt Regiment (which I covered in Part 2) really was superb, frequently being the only unit left mounting a dogged fighting withdrawal.  The ‘Nassau-Weiburg’ Regiment spent the entire war on garrison duty, so they will be one of the few units I’m not going to paint.  The ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment however, turned up at a number of engagements so needed painting.

Above:  The ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment was actually titled ‘Ysenburg’ until 1757 and does sometimes appear listed as such after that date.  It was also occasionally listed by the full title of its inhaber, ‘Prinz Friedrich Pfalzgraf (‘Count Palatine’) von Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld’.  The regiment theoretically consisted of 18 companies (raised from 33 county contingents), organised into three battalions and a 3pdr artillery detachment (no grenadiers), for a total strength of 1,473 men.  In August 1757 the regiment reported 1,346 men fit for service, but by November that had fallen to 808, despite fighting no battles (the regiment had been absent from Rossbach)!

Another curiosity is that whenever the regiment appears on an order of battle (such as at Strehla), it only shows as two battalions.  Perhaps one battalion was left in garrison, or as a depot, or guarding the baggage train, or perhaps the three battalions were combined into two due to their low strength?  With this in mind, I decided to represent the regiment as two 12-figure battalions.

Pfalz-Zweibrücken IR (Becher)

Above:  Yet again, there are some differences of opinion regarding the uniform of the ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment.  I’ve followed the version put forward by Knötel and Kronoskaf.  This has red lapels, tail-turnbacks, Prussian-style cuffs and tail-turnbacks, with brass buttons and white buttonhole-lace (three pairs of lace bars on each lapel and a pair on the flap above each cuff).  Smallclothes and belts are white.  Hats are decorated with white, scalloped lace and red-over-white pompoms.  Gaiters are white.

However, Frédéric Aubert has a different take on the uniform, instead showing white metal buttons, bastion-shaped lace loops; arranged 1-2-2-2 from top to bottom on each lapel and three loops on each (Swedish-style) cuff.  Gaiters are also black, though it’s possible that this regiment, like many others, had both black and white gaiters; white for parade and/or summer and black for campaign or winter wear.  I decided to go with the white gaiters, just to make them look a bit different from other, similarly-dressed units.

The Becher Manuscript shows yet another version of the uniform (inset above), being devoid of lace and having tri-coloured red/white/blue pompoms.

Above:  My ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment is comprised of Old Glory 15s Prussian infantry figures, with flags by Maverick Models (resized to 20mm square).  Not By Appointment have also recently added a downloadable flag-sheet for the regiment.

Above:  The Circle of the Upper Rhine’s district artillery corps provided units to the Reichsreserveartillerie or Imperial Artillery Reserve (which I covered in Part 2) and may also have supplied regimental artillery to the district’s infantry regiments, though information is scarce.

Above:  The uniform of the Upper Rhine District Artillery consisted primarily of an iron grey coat with brass buttons and green collar, cuffs and tail-turnbacks. The waistcoat was green, breeches were straw and hat-lace was yellow.  I’ve been unable to discover what colour they painted their gun-carriages, so I’ve arbitrarily painted them grey to match the uniform coats.

These are Old Glory 15s Austrian artillery figures.

Swabian District (Schwäbischen Kreis)

In contrast to the Circle of the Upper Rhine, the Circle of Swabia was one of the strongest districts, fielding the ‘Hohenzollern’ Cuirassiers (4 sqns), ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons (2 sqns) a district artillery corps and four infantry regiments; ‘Alt-Württemberg‘ (1 bn*), ‘Baden-Durlach‘ (1 bn*), ‘Baden-Baden‘ (2 bns) and ‘Fürstenberg’/’Rodt‘ (2 bns).  I painted cuirassiers during the 1990s and cover them in Part 3, while the infantry were all painted during 2021 and 2022, being covered in Part 2 and Part 4.  I therefore had the district artillery and the dragoons left to paint (although the regular Württemberg Army provided some of the artillery and I’ve already got some of those painted as part of my Württemberg Auxiliary Corps).

*The ‘Alt-Württemberg’ and Baden-Durlach’ Regiments each actually had two battalions, but one battalion of each regiment remained on garrison duty for the duration.

Above:  I didn’t originally plan to paint the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons, as they were such a tiny and ineffective unit.  At full strength they only had 138 men (not including officers) and performed abysmally at Rossbach, even suffering a nasty case of ‘friendly-stab’ from some Austrian hussars, losing their standards in the process!  However, from 1759 they were usually brigaded with the Upper Saxon ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoons (see below), bringing their combined total strength to 360 men (plus officers), so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and field them as a (bloody awful) combined unit.

Württemberg Dragoons (1st uniform)

Above:  The Württemberg Dragoons were initially uniformed very much in Prussian style, with light blue coats, black lapels, collar and cuffs, brass buttons, yellow turnbacks, shoulder-strap, aiguillette and waistcoat and straw breeches (some sources show a straw waistcoat).  Horse furniture was light blue, edged yellow worked through with light blue.  However, this uniform was VERY similar to those of the Prussian ‘Normann’ Dragoons (DR1) and ‘Herzog von Württemberg’ Dragoons (DR12) and undoubtedly led directly to the abovementioned ‘friendly-stab’ incident!

Clearly learning their lesson from Rossbach, by 1759 the regiment had changed to a distinctly-different dark blue uniform coat.  As nice as the earlier uniform looks, I’ll be using them primarily in the post-1759 battles, so I’ve gone for the later uniform.  The lapels, collar and cuffs were still black, though these were now edged with yellow lace, worked through with a zig-zag ‘worm’ of black thread.  Buttons were still brass and the yellow aiguillette was still worn, though turnbacks were now red and the shoulder-strap was dark blue.  Smallclothes were now all straw-coloured and the horse furniture was dark blue, edged white with black ‘worms’.  Belts and ammunition pouches were ‘natural leather’, so I’ve gone for a buff shade.

Württemberg Dragoons (2nd uniform)

Above:  For the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons I used Old Glory 15s Austrian dragoons.  I’ve always loved these figures, as they have stacks of character, lots of different poses and in my opinion are the best figures in the whole Old Glory 15s range.  I’ve used them for other Reichsarmee regiments, as well as Saxon Chevauxlégers, though Old Glory 15s cavalry figures were always let down by their mutant horses.

Having now exhausted my stash of Old Glory Austrian Dragoons from the 1990s, these figures were newly-bought from Barry at Timecast and I was very pleased to discover that the sculptor has re-modelled and vastly improved the horses at some point in the intervening 25 years! 🙂

Above:  Here are the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons as they’ll appear on the wargames table; grouped with the white-coated ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoons (detailed below).  The standards of the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons are very well-documented, being very similar to those of the ‘Hohenzollern’ Cuirassiers, though with the central armorial device rotated through 90 degrees (the white cross on black field is shown above the three leopards, whereas on the Cuirassier standards they are side-by-side).  The regiment’s Leibstandarte had a white field, though I’ve opted for the yellow Eskadronstandarte.  This is another design by Ad Hoc Editions, printed on my own laser-printer..

Above:  The Circle of Swabia raised a district artillery corps to provide Swabian infantry regiments with regimental artillery, as well as to reinforce the Reichsreserevartillerie.  The Army of the Duchy of Württemberg is also known to have supplied units in order to beef up the district’s artillery strength.

Above:  The uniform for the Swabian District Artillery Corps was a dark blue coat with red lapels, cuffs and turnbacks, white metal buttons and blue shoulder-strap.  Smallclothes were red and hat-lace was white.  For once we actually know the colour of the gun-carriages and these were yellow with black ironwork, reflecting the colours of Swabia’s heraldry.

These are Old Glory 15s Austrian artillery figures with a Eureka Miniatures Austrian 6pdr.

Upper Saxon District (Obersachsischen-Kreis)

The Imperial Circle of Upper Saxony was in 1757, thanks to Prussia’s annexation of the Duchy of Saxony during the previous year, followed by the depredations of marauding Prussian Frei-Infanterie, absolutely destitute and unable to meet its Reichsarmee commitments.  It only managed to raise a single infantry regiment of two battalions (the ‘Ernestinisch-Sachsen’ Regiment) and the tiny ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoon Regiment of only two squadrons.

However, Austria assisted Upper Saxony in meeting its commitments by hiring two units from the standing army of the Palatinate (Pfalz); namely the II. Battalion of the Garde zu Fuss Regiment and the Leib-Dragoner-Regiment ‘Kurfürstin’.  This can get a little confusing, as Pfalz was officially part of the Imperial Circle of the Kurrhein, so Pfalz troops also appear there.

Above:  I originally covered the II. Battalion of the Pfalz Garde zu Fuss Regiment just over a year ago, in Part 4 and I won’t repeat myself here.  However, I’ve since re-flagged the battalion with one of Frédéric Aubert’s lovely creations, as shown here. 🙂

Above:  As discussed above, the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoon Regiment was a tiny unit of only two squadrons, numbering some 222 men at full strength (not including officers).  It wouldn’t normally be worth bothering with, but from 1759 it tended to be grouped with the even smaller ‘Württemberg’ Dragoon Regiment (see above), so I thought I’d model the two regiments as a weak combined unit.

Above:  Uniform details for the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoons are fairly sparse, but it is known that the regiment wore a white coat with red facings, brass buttons, yellow aiguillettes and yellow hat-lace.  Sources are split over whether or not the coat had (red) lapels.  I’ve gone with Frédéric’s interpretation, showing no lapels, but red cuffs, collar and shoulder-strap, red waistcoat and pale straw breeches.  I’ve also followed Frédéric’s depiction of red horse-furniture with white lace edging, but I do wonder if yellow lace edging would be more in keeping with the button and hat-lace colour?

Above:  Musicians’ uniforms are unknown for the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoons, but I’ve gone with the style of the Army of the Duchy of Saxony; namely a reverse-coloured coat with button-coloured lace.  Once again, the figures are Old Glory 15s Austrian dragoons.  Nothing whatsoever is known about the regiment’s standards, so I’ve used Frédéric’s  hypothetical regimental standard.

Above:  Again, here are the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Dragoons grouped with the ‘Württemberg’ Dragoons, as they’ll appear on the wargames table.

Above:  As discussed above, the Pfalz Leib-Dragoner-Regiment ‘Kurfürstin’ was part of the standing army of Pfalz (The Palatinate), but was hired by Austria to beef up the strength of the Imperial Circle of Upper Saxony.  It is sometimes incorrectly referred to in orders of battle and accounts as the ‘Kurpfalz’ Dragoon Regiment, as a ‘Kreis-Regiment’ or as a regiment of the Circle of the Kurrhein.  It was none of those things.

Above:  At the start of the Seven Years War the ‘Kurfürstin’ Dragoons consisted of three squadrons, each of three companies, for a total of 468 men.  In 1758, following the Austrian contract, the regiment was expanded to conform to Austrian organisation and now consisted of five squadrons, each of two companies, for a total of 800 men.  As such, it was the Reichsarmee’s strongest cavalry regiment and is represented here as a ‘large’ unit of 16 figures.  However, the regiment had an inauspicious start, suffering the loss of 522 men taken prisoner in their first engagement!  Nevertheless, the regiment was quickly reconstituted to full strength and served at all of the Reichsarmee’s major engagements.

Pfalz ‘Kurfürstin’ Dragoons Horse Grenadier Company (Knötel)

Above:  The uniform of the ‘Kurfürstin’ Dragoons consisted of a striking ‘dark’ or ‘brick’ red coat with black lapels and cuffs, red tail-turnbacks and shoulder-strap, brass buttons and yellow aiguillette.  Smallclothes were straw-coloured and the horse furniture was red with yellow lace edging.  Hats were unlaced, though had a black cockade and blue/white corner-rosettes.

One company was designated as Horse Grenadiers and wore Austrian-style bearskin caps with brass plate and red bag, piped and tasseled yellow.  The Horse Grenadier Company was probably normally detached from its parent regiment and massed with other elite companies, in accordance with Austrian practice, but I’ve included them here, as a. they look rather spiffing and b. I had two spare Horse Grenadier figures.

Yet again, these are Old Glory 15s Austrian dragoon figures.

Above:  The guidon of the ‘Kurfürstin’ Dragoons once again comes from one of the superb plates by Frédéric Aubert’s Ad Hoc Editions.  I’ve used the white Leibguidon, though I was very tempted to use the red Eskadronguidon.

Anyway, that’s it for now.  More to come…

In the unlikely event that there is still someone reading this who isn’t now sick to the back teeth of all things Reichsarmee, here are some more painted units! 😀  Rest assured that they’re all finished now and it’ll soon be over (I finished painting the last Reichsarmee unit last night)…

As posted last time, I managed to get most of my Reichsarmee on to the table recently, for our refight of the Combat of Strehla.  However, a few units weren’t deployed at Strehla, so there will soon be a Grand Imperial Parade showing the entire Reichsarmee en masse, as well as the individual Kreis-contingents.

In the meantime, here are some of the most recently-painted units.  As before, I’ll group them by Imperial ‘Circle’ (Kreis).

Above:  However, before I look at the newly-painted units, here are some cavalry units I painted last year.  As discussed in Part 3, I had to give them temporary Austrian flags, as there weren’t any suitable flags commercially available and there was insufficient information to allow me to paint them.  However, that’s all changed now with Frédéric Aubert’s superb Ad Hoc Editions range of flags and uniform plates.  The regiments from left to right above are the Kurpfalz Cuirassiers, Ansbach Dragoons and Bayreuth Cuirassiers.  Frédéric does all the squadron standard options for each regiment, so I’ve just picked the standard I liked best for each regiment (the white Leibstandarte for the Kurpfalz Cuirassiers and Ansbach Dragoons and a red Eskadronstandarte for the Bayreuth Cuirassiers).

Electoral Rhenish District (Kurrheinischen Kreis)

The Electoral Rhine or Kurrhein, comprising the territories of the Prince-Elector-Palatine of Pfalz (‘The Palatinate’) and the Elector-Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Köln (Cologne), was the richest and strongest contingent of the Reichsarmee (not including the Austrian contribution).  However, prior to this latest batch, I’d only painted the Kurtrier Regiment (shown in Part 2) and the Kurpfalz Cuirassiers (shown in Part 3), so there were quite a few units left to paint for this contingent, starting with the largest; the Kurmainz Infantry Regiment.

Kurmainz IR Grenadier (Becher)

Above:  As discussed in Part 5, the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz was somewhat more military-minded than most and was contracted to provide the Austrian Army with a regiment of auxiliary infantry, the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment (also sometimes known as the ‘Mainz-Lamberg’ or ‘Mainz’ Regiment).  The ‘Lamberg’ Regiment was not a part of the Reichsarmee, though was eventually assigned to the Reichsarmee as part of Austria’s contribution.  The Archbishop’s ‘proper’ contribution to the Reichsarmee was the Kreis-Infanterie-Regiment ‘Kurmainz’, as shown here.  A number of books, orders of battle and accounts do often confuse the two regiments (e.g. referring to the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment as ‘Kurmainz’), so it pays to be wary.

Prior to the war, Mainz had a small standing army, consisting of a company of a dragoons, a small artillery corps and seven infantry battalions, divided between four regiments (‘Wildenstein’, ‘Preyss’, ‘Hagen’ and ‘Riedt’), for a peacetime total of 5,202 men.  However, these units were not sent to war.  Instead they served as cadres from which the new regiments would be formed.  The ‘Lamberg’ Regiment therefore took personnel from the ‘Wildenstein’ and ‘Riedt’ Regiments, while the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment was raised from the ‘Wildenstein’, ‘Riedt’ and ‘Hagen’ Regiments.

Kurmainz IR Grenadier (Knötel)

While the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment was organised along Austrian lines with two six-company battalions and two grenadier companies, the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment was organised rather differently, with four four-company battalions and two grenadier companies (plus eight 3pdr battalion guns), for a total strength of 2,246 men.  That equates to roughly 500 men per battalion, as opposed to over 800 men per battalion in the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment.  I’ve therefore organised the battalions as ‘normal’ 12-figure units, as opposed to ‘large’ 16-figure units like the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment.  There is however, some evidence to suggest that one of the four battalions remained in Erfurt as a garrison/depot battalion, but various orders of battle refer to four battalions in the field, so I’ve painted all four battalions.

Given that the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment, like the ‘Lamberg’ Regiment, was raised from pre-war regular troops, you’d be forgiven for expecting them to be an effective unit, like the excellent ‘Lamberg’ Regiment.  The French Marshal Soubise certainly thought so in 1757, when he rated them as ‘Good’.  However, in 1759 the entire regiment broke and ran during its first battle at Zinna.

Above:  The only sources for the uniforms of the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment are a plate from the Becher Manuscript (shown above) and two works by Richard Knōtel; a plate from his Grosse Uniformenkunde and a cigarette card (also shown above), both of which were probably based on the Becher plate.  These all show a white coat with green cuffs, lapels and turnbacks, brass buttons, no lace, a green waistcoat, straw breeches and white belts.  Beyond that it’s all guesswork and that includes the flags, about which nothing is known.  I’ve used Eureka Miniatures Austrian figures, with hypothetical flags by Not By Appointment.  Frédéric also does a very different and interesting hypothetical version of the regiment’s flags in his Reichsarmee set, being far more heraldic in nature.

Above:  To add just a little confusion, the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment, due to initially having Johann Georg Baron von und zu Wildenstein as its Colonel and can also be confused with the pre-war Mainz ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment or even the Kurköln ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment, which had a different member of the Wildenstein clan as its Colonel!  Wildenstein didn’t stay with the regiment for very long, as he was promoted in 1757 to Generallieutenant and placed in command of the entire Kurrhein contingent.  As shown in Part 2, I painted Wildenstein during my ‘first wave’ of SYW troops in the 1990s.  He’s an Old Glory 15s Austrian general figure and is wearing his regimental uniform (Reichsarmee generals initially wore their regimentals, but were soon ordered to wear standard Austrian general officers’ uniforms in order to avoid confusion).

Above:  Pfalz or ‘The Palatinate’ possessed by far the most powerful standing army of the Kurrhein, consisting of nine infantry regiments (each of two battalions), a cuirassier regiment, a dragoon regiment and a permanent squadron of cavalry for Imperial service, plus the usual artillery corps and company of horse guards.  However, Pfalz was only required to provide a single infantry regiment of two battalions, a regiment of cavalry and a small artillery contingent to the Reichsarmee.  The Elector-Palatine had some other deals on the side; he had a contract to provide France with an Auxiliary Corps of ten battalions, Austria paid for the use of a single battalion of the Pfalz Garde zu Fuss and also later hired a regiment of dragoons.

Above:  As part of its contribution to the Reichsarmee, Pfalz assigned one of its regular infantry regiments, namely the ‘Effern’ Regiment.  This regiment comprised two grenadier companies and two battalions, each of five companies, plus a pair of 4pdr battalion guns, for a total strength of 1,145 men.  However, the regiment seems to have rarely, if ever reached its full strength and by the end of 1761 it was down to half that number.  The French Marshal Soubise rated the ‘Effern’ Regiment as ‘Average’, though the Pfalz troops were anecdotally regarded as badly-disciplined, especially among the local population when off the battlefield.  The Pfalz Auxiliary Corps assigned to the French was also poorly-regarded and their contract was cancelled at the end of 1758.

Pfalz ‘Effern’ IR (Knötel)

Above:  The uniforms of the Pfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment are described in numerous sources, almost none of which agree with each other!  They certainly had blue coats, though Pengel & Hurt suggest light blue, perhaps influenced by the pale shade used by Richard Knötel in his cigarette card painting of the regiment (shown on the right).  Everyone else says dark blue coats.  Collar, cuffs and smallclothes were white, though sources disagree over whether the tail-turnbacks were white or red.  I arbitrarily went with red, as my other two regiments with white facings (Swabian ‘Baden-Baden’ IR and Franconian ‘Cronegk’ IR have white turnbacks).  Buttons were variously described as yellow or white metal (I went with yellow) and belts are described as pale straw or white (I went with white).  All sources agree that the regiment’s hat-lace was white and scalloped, while pompoms were light blue over white.

These are Old Glory 15s Prussian infantry figures (with one or two Eureka command figures) and the lovely flags are by Ad Hoc Editions.  Ad Hoc do two versions of the flags and I’ve gone with the 1760 Pattern flags, as the ‘Effern’ Regiment did most of its fighting later in the war.  For the Pfalz Auxiliary Corps fighting with the French I’d need to use the earlier pattern.

Above:  As mentioned above, the Pfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment had a detachment of battalion guns assigned from the Pfalz Artillery Corps.  Curiously though, each battalion only had a single gun assigned at the start of the war (more may have been assigned later), while the battalions of the Pfalz Auxiliary Corps assigned to the French had double that number.  It’s possible that Pfalz gunners were also assigned to the Reichsreserveartillerie.

Above:  The uniform worn by Pfalz artillerymen was generally dark blue in colour, including the tail-turnbacks and smallclothes.  Cuffs and shoulder-straps were red and buttons were brass.  Pengel & Hurt and Frédéric Aubert suggest red lapels, but I’ve gone for the plainer look.  Hat-lace was yellow; Kronoskaf shows this as straight lace tape, but Frédéric shows this as scalloped and I’m inclined to agree, as the Pfalz infantry regiments had scalloped hat-lace as standard.  I was able to discover absolutely nothing about the colour of Pfalz gun-carriages, so went with their main heraldic colour of light blue.

These are Old Glory 15s Austrian artillery figures.

Archbishop Clemens August of Köln

Above: In contrast to the military-minded Archbishops of Mainz and Würzburg, the ‘Baby-Eating’ Archbishop-Elector Clemens August of Köln (Cologne) had no such interests and just maintained the smallest-possible standing army to garrison his territories.  The French paid him a tidy sum of cash for maintaining an Auxiliary Corps of 6,000 men for France’s use, though the old rogue just spent the money on maintaining his extravagant lifestyle and when France called for them in 1757, all he was able to offer up was 1,800 unwilling recruits, who were then assigned to French regiments.

Nevertheless, Köln did supply the Reichsarmee with two single-battalion infantry regiments; the Leib-Regiment ‘Nothaft’ and the ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment.  These two battalions were basically the entire infantry component of Köln’s pitiful standing army.  Note that they are sometimes listed on orders of battle as a single ‘Kurköln’ Regiment of two battalions.

Above:  Each Kurköln infantry regiment consisted of a single battalion of six Fusilier companies, a single (detached) Grenadier company and a battalion gun detachment of two 4pdr guns, for a theoretical total of 820 men.  However, the recorded strength of Leib-Regiment ‘Nothaft’ throughout the war ranged from 373 to 711 men, while the ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment varied between 585 and 714 men.  They were reported as being constantly under-strength, badly-equipped and in a poor state of morale.  I’ve therefore done them as ‘normal’ sized (12-figure) units for Tricorn, rather than as ‘large’ (16-figure) units.  Also, as they’re single-battalion regiments, I’ve given them both a Leibfahne and an Kompaniefahne.

Kurköln Grenadier (Knötel)

Above:  As with most Reichsarmee regiments, there is some debate regarding the details of the two Kurköln Regiments.  All sources agree that the coat was dark blue without lapels and that the Leibregiment ‘Nothaft’ had red cuffs, collar, shoulder-strap and tail-turnbacks.  They also agree that smallclothes and belts for both regiments were white and that the grenadier companies wore Austrian-style bearskins with a front-plate.  However, while most sources agree that the ‘Wildenstein’ Regiment wore the same colourings, one source suggests white facings.  All sources agree that one regiment had yellow metalwork and the other had white metal, but they are evenly split on which way round this was!

I’ve gone with the majority view that both regiments had red facings and have done one battalion with white metal and one with yellow metal.  These figures are mostly Old Glory 15s Prussian infantry, again with a few Eureka command figures.  The (very attractive) flags were the same for both regiments, though Frédéric has hypothesised that the regiment with white metal buttons would have had white ‘metal’ on the flag.  However, I’ve gone with Not By Appointment‘s superb set of flags, which are identical for both regiments.

Above:  I needed some more gunners for my Kurrhein contingent, due to several contingents (most noticeably Mainz) having no known uniform.   However, Frédéric came to the rescue again, with the uniform of the ‘Kurtrier’ Regiment‘s artillery detachment, as illustrated on his superb Reichsarmee uniform plates.  The regiment had two weak battalions, each of four companies, no grenadier companies and an artillery detachment of four 3pdr guns.

Above:  According to Frédéric, the Kurtrier Artillery wore a dark blue coat with red cuffs, no lapels and dark blue shoulder-straps, dark blue tail-turnbacks and brass buttons.  Smallclothes were red.  Hat-lace was white, cockade was black and pompoms were red.  However, I’ve just realised that the hat-lace should be scalloped and I’ve done it straight!  Aargh!  Back to the painting-table…

I’ve absolutely no idea what colours the guns were.  I was going to do them light blue, as that was the regiment’s livery colour.  However, I then had a glut of red-painted guns caused by me ripping the (incorrect) red guns off my French artillery, so the Kurtrier artillery received one of the ex-French red guns (as have the Franconians and Bavarians). 🙂

These are Old Glory 15s Austrian artillery figures and gun.

Anyway, I was going to go on to cover units from the other Imperial districts, but it’s occurred to me that this article is already huge, so I’ll save those for next time! 🙂