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! 🙂
Above: The 
Above: My ‘Pfalz-Zweibrücken’ Regiment is comprised of 
Above: The Circle of the Upper Rhine’s 
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.
Above: I didn’t originally plan to paint the 
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 
Above: The Circle of Swabia raised a 
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.
Above: I originally covered the II. Battalion of the Pfalz Garde zu Fuss Regiment just over a year ago, in 
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 
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 
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.
Above: The guidon of the ‘Kurfürstin’ Dragoons once again comes from one of the superb plates by Frédéric Aubert’s 
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)…
Above: However, before I look at the newly-painted units, here are some cavalry units I painted last year. As discussed in 
Above: The only sources for the uniforms of the ‘Kurmainz’ Regiment are a plate from the 
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 
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 
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.
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 
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 ‘
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…
As mentioned in recent posts, I’ve been steadily working toward completing the Reichsarmee and last week I finally had enough finished to field all the Reichsarmee units present at the 
Above: The battlefield as seen from the south (the same orientation as the map above). Although it’s not that obvious in the photos, the first contour of the larger hills is actually formed by a layer of polystyrene placed under the terrain-cloth. The second contours of the Dürren-Berg and Otten-Berg were then placed on top of the cloth. I decided to leave off the very small ring-contours of the Liebschützer-Berg, Sittel-Berg and Latten-Berg.
Above: The view from the western edge of the battlefield, with the Austro-Imperial flanking columns in the foreground, aiming to assault the Prussian outpost on the Dürren-Berg.
Above: The view from the eastern edge of the battlefield. This flank of the battlefield was anchored on the wide River Elbe and the large riverside town of Strehla.
Above: Zedtwitz’s Austro-Imperial cavalry division forms the right flank of Zweibrücken’s Main Corps, comprising two Austrian and two Imperial cuirassier regiments. However, while this deployment made good sense during the approach-march, they’re now stuck facing Strehla and the entrenchments, with the Elbe blocking any attempt at a flanking move. The very first order transmitted by Zweibrücken during the game would be to order Zedwitz to move his cavalry to the centre.
Above: Zweibrücken’s Main Corps consists of seventeen Reichsarmee battalions and five Imperial auxiliary battalions. While they do look pretty, they are mostly bloody awful! Two batteries from the Reichsreserveartillerie have deployed in front of the army, but they are heavily out-gunned by Hülsen’s Prussians, who have 36 heavy guns (six batteries in game terms)!
Above: On Zweibrücken’s left, Guasco’s Grenadier Corps has deployed onto the Otten-Berg feature and is meant to be launching an assault on Clanzschwitz and the Dürren-Berg beyond. However, he has deployed his guns and seems content to wait while the gunners do their work.
Above: The crest of the Otten-Berg was fortified during the previous century by Gustavus Adolphus’ Swedish Army. However, the old earthworks were not occupied by the Prussians and will play no part in this battle.
Above: Guasco’s Grenadier Corps includes a dazzling array of colours, including as it does, grenadier companies from 24 different regiments; most in bearskin caps, but some wearing Prussian-style mitre caps. Historically these were organised into six four-company ad hoc grenadier battalions, but as these were very weak, I’ve rationalised this into four battalions for game purposes; one Austrian and three Imperial. Guasco’s Corps also includes the Austrian Pallavicini (2 bns) and Sachsen-Gotha (1 bn) Infantry Regiments, the Imperial Hohenzollern Cuirassiers (with some attached Austrian elite Carabinier and Horse Grenadier companies) and a detachment from the Reichsreserveartillerie. However, it’s just occurred to me while looking at this photo that I completely forgot to deploy the battalion of the Sachsen-Gotha Regiment on the table! 🙂
Above: On the western edge of the battlefield, the Prince of Würzburg’s Reserve Infantry Division is deploying onto the Liebschützer-Berg feature, above the hamlet of Liebschütz. Würzburg has the Austrian Luzan and Macquire Regiments (1 bn apiece), another Austrian grenadier battalion and the Imperial Kurtrier (1 bn) and Pfalz-Zweibrücken (2 bns) Regiments. However Würzburg, like Guasco, has opted to halt his infantry while his gunners (limited to just a few battalion guns) soften up the Prussians on the Dürren-Berg.
Above: On Würzburg’s left, Kleefeld’s Auxiliary Corps is made of sterner stuff. Kleefeld had the Imperial Blau-Würzburg Regiment (2 bns), two Grenzer battalions and a weak grenadier battalion under his command. His mission is to circumvent the Dürren-Berg position via the Laas woods and attack the Prussians from the rear.
Above: On the extreme left flank, the Prince of Nassau-Usingen, Colonel of the Austrian Pfalz-Zweibrücken Chevauxléger Regiment, has been tasked with cutting off the Prussian lines of retreat. For this task he has his own regiment, reinforced by the Austrian Baranyay Hussars and the Pfalz Kurfürstin Dragoon Regiment.
Above: So to the Prussian side of the battlefield: At Strehla the southern end of the town is prepared for defence and occupied by the Wunsch Frei-Infanterie. The Manstein Grenadier Battalion meanwhile, has occupied the hamlet of Klein-Rügeln, supported by battalion guns. The Wunsch Frei-Infanterie Jäger Detachment, the Prussian Feldjäger-zu-Fuss and elements of the ex-Saxon Hauss Fusiliers are deployed as picquets along the stream-bank.
Above: The bulk of Hülsen’s Prussians (9 battalions) are dug in behind a strong line of entrenchments on the high ground just to the west of Strehla. This position was built by Prince Henry’s of Prussia’s corps during the previous year’s campaign.
Above: The main Prussian position is very strong in heavy artillery and will be a very tough nut for the Imperial troops to crack.
Above: Another view of the Prussian entrenchments. I must say that I’m really pleased with how the refurbished entrenchment models look! 🙂
Above: The Prussian regular cavalry forms up to the west of the earthworks. This consists of the Kleist (or ‘Green’) Hussars (HR 1) and the Schorlemmer (or ‘Porcellain’) Dragoons (DR 6). Both regiments had ten squadrons apiece, so were very large and are represented by two tactical battalions (only two Prussian dragoon regiments had ten squadrons; most had five squadrons). Dragoon squadrons were around one-third stronger than hussar squadrons, so the dragoon battalions are large 16-figure units. However, I don’t yet have one of the two large dragoon regiments painted, so I’ve used two different regiments to represent the Schorlemmer Dragoons.
Above: To the rear of the regular cavalry regiments are two embryonic regiments of Kleist’s new Freikorps; the Dragoons in green coats and bearskin caps and the Hussars, in their nausea-inducing uniform of orange-red and vomit-green. These are the two most recently-raised units in the army and are the most recently-painted units on the table… They’re doomed…
Above: Out on the far Prussian right flank, Generalmajor von Braun has reinforced his detachment atop the ancient hill-fort of the Dürren-Berg with several battalions and a detachment of 12pdr heavy artillery, in response to the detected Imperial flank-march.
Above: In front of the Dürren-Berg, the hamlet of Clanzschwitz has been occupied by the Lossow Grenadier Battalion (IV. Standing Grenadier Battalion) and prepared for defence. On the high ground behind the village, the 12pdr battery, protected by the Lubath Grenadier Battalion (GB 7/30), is positioned to engage Guasco’s Imperial Grenadier Corps on the Otten-Berg.
Above: The view from the top of the Dürren-Berg. From right to left, the position is occupied by the two battalions of the Braunschweig-Bevern Infantry Regiment (IR 7), the Beyer Grenadier Battalion (GB 11/14) and the I. Battalion of the ex-Saxon Hauss Fusilier Regiment (IR 55). After this photo was taken, Braun pulled the 12pdr detachment up to the top of the hill (facing west) and placed the Lubath Grenadiers at right-angles on the right of the line, essentially forming three sides of a square. Braun was later to regret not pulling the Lossow Grenadiers in from Clanzschwitz…
Above: General von Hülsen and his staff wait for the enemy to make their next move. Observing nearby is the ever-present correspondent for the Times of London, Sir Aiden Catey, who has survived numerous cavalry charges, ‘accidental’ bounce-throughs and blatant assassination attempts over the years.
Above: In front of Sir Aiden, a Prussian field-postman accuses a cavalry Flügeladjutant of ‘looking at him in a funny way’.
Above: In the meantime, most of the Austro-Imperial commanders on the left wing had opened their packets of orders, turned to their aides and said “Ficken das für ein spiel auf soldaten!”
Above: As Kleefeld’s Grenzer begin to make a nuisance of themselves on the north side of the Dürren-Berg position, the 12pdr battery (in the foreground) opens up on the Hungarian Nikolaus Esterházy Regiment (IR 33). The Austrian battalion gunners return fire, cutting down some of the Prussian gunners, but the Prussians slew their heavy guns around and load canister, quickly annihilating the impertinent Austrian guns.
Above: On the other side of the Laas Wood, the Prince of Nassau-Usingen leads the Austro-Imperial cavalry forward against the Kleist Freikorps. He orders the Baranyay Hussars to fall back to the second line and the red-coated Imperial Kurfürstin Dragoons (another freshly-painted regiment!) to take their place on the left flank.
Above: Kleist meanwhile, has turned his regular cavalry around and they are now riding to assist the Freikorps. However, the enemy cavalry will get there first!
Above: Nassau-Usingen wastes no time in launching his charge! His own regiment, the blue-coated Zweibrücken Chevauxlégers (ChR 39) charge the green-coated Kleist Freikorps Dragoons with the Baranyay Hussars in support. The Kurfürstin Dragoons meanwhile, hit the Kleist Freikorps Hussars.
Above: Despite having a slight advantage, the initial clash goes badly for the Austro-Imperial cavalry and both leading regiments are beaten off, though with only light casualties. Sensing victory, the Kleist Freikorps follow through, launching a charge on the Baranyay Hussars. However, the Hungarian horsemen prove to be made of stronger stuff and having been unfazed by their retreating comrades, succeed in beating off the impetuous Freikorps cavalry, who fall back over the stream. However, with large numbers of Prussian cavalry bearing down on them, the Baranyay Hussars wisely decide to fall back to rally near Laas, where their comrades will (hopefully) be rallying.
Above: However, disaster strikes as both Austro-Imperial dragoon regiments fail to rally from their retreat and suddenly discover that they have urgent business to attend to in the rear! Despite the loss of over two thirds of his command, Nassau-Usingen manages to keep control of the Baranyay Hussars who despite the appalling odds, prepare to charge again. On the Prussian side the Kleist Freikorps Dragoons managed to rally, but the hussars (being the most recently-painted) headed for the hills.
Above: At Liebschützen meanwhile, new orders arrive for the Prince of Würzburg. Zweibrücken is this time taking no chances and has sent both of his ADCs!
Above: Honour (and the rules…) demands that Nassau-Usingen has no choice but to comply with his orders and therefore leads the Baranyay Hussars once more into the fight. They are met by the Prussian Kleist Hussars who, despite some sniping from Grenzer in the woods, manage to comprehensively defeat the gallant Hungarians.
Above: This time Nassau-Usingen is unable to prevent a rout and his entire command quits the field.
Above: Despite the success of Kleist’s cavalry, the situation for Braun’s infantry atop the Dürren-Berg is deteriorating. On the edge of the woods, the Lubath Grenadiers are getting the worst of a firefight with the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Blau-Würzburg Regiment and Kleefeld’s grenadier battalion (formed from the grenadier companies of Blau-Würzburg and the Grenzer). Braun sent the Hauss Fusiliers across to reinforce the firefight, but they immediately suffered heavy casualties from the Grenzer, who also managed to finish off a section of Prussian battalion guns. With things starting to look dicey on the right flank, Braun orders the Beyer Grenadiers on the left flank to turn about and be prepared to stabilise the situation on the right.
Above: Würzburg’s Reserve Infantry Division finally advances past the Hungarian Nikolaus Esterházy (on the left). The Prussian 12pdrs on the Dürren-Berg have inflicted massive casualties on the Hungarians and have knocked out another Imperial battalion gun section, but the Prussian 12pdrs have finally been silenced by the combined fire of the 1st Banal Grenzer and the remaining Austrian battalion guns. The loss of the 12pdr battery is a massive blow to Braun.
Above: With the defeat of the Austro-Imperial cavalry, Kleist considers leading his cavalry in a wide ride around the woods, to overrun the Imperial left flank. However, this request is vetoed by Hülsen, who orders the incredulous Kleist to resume his defensive posture in the centre. While his hussars rally following their combat (all the while being sniped by Grenzer), the dragoons turn about to resume their former positions.
Above: The reason for Hülsen’s caution soon becomes apparent; Zedwitz’s Austro-Imperial cuirassier brigade have arrived in the centre, having marched from their former position on the right flank. To add to Kleist’s problems, the Schorlemmer Dragoons are reporting that they are suffering a constant trickle of casualties from the Imperial heavy guns at Zausswitz. However, the Imperial infantry are also getting a pasting from long-range Prussian heavy artillery fire.
Above: As Würzburg’s division advances, the jaws start to close on the Dürren-Berg.
Above: Even though the situation is turning in their favour, Kleefeld and Würzburg still need Guasco’s Grenadier Corps to join them in crushing the Prussian position. But where are they?!
Above: Guasco has spent all this time stationary on the Otten-Berg, observing the fall of shot as his artillery hammers the Prussian Lossow Grenadiers in Clanzschwitz. However, Guasco’s two right-hand grenadier battalions have been suffering heavy losses from long-range Prussian artillery fire. But as it happens, an ADC has just arrived at Guasco’s headquarters, demanding that the Grenadier Corps advance at once on the Dürren-Berg!
Above: It’s entirely possible that the battle for the Dürren-Berg may well be over long before Guasco’s grenadiers arrive! The Austrians are moving into position for a massive, coordinated charge, but for now seem content to trade volleys. However, they don’t have it all their own way, as the 1st Battalion of the Hungarian Nikolaus Esterházy Regiment is broken by fire from the 1st Battalion of the Braunschweig-Bevern Regiment.
Above: At Clanzschwitz, the Lubath Grenadiers, having suffered heavy losses from Guasco’s artillery, make a break for it and attempt to march to Braun’s aid. However, Würzburg spots the move and sends his grenadiers and remaining battalion guns to interdict their march.
Above: At long last, Guasco’s division starts to move forward. Having driven the Prussian grenadiers out of Clanzschwitz, Guasco’s artillery switches its fire to the Dürren-Berg.
Above: The situation for Braun’s Prussians on the Dürren-Berg is grim. On the right flank, the ex-Saxon Hauss Fusiliers, under intense pressure from the Grenzer in the woods, perhaps unsurprisingly, break and run. Rather more alarmingly, the 2nd Battalion of the Braunschweig-Bevern Regiment, ordinarily a good, solid unit, were holding their own against the Austrian Macquire Regiment to their front despite losses caused by ‘overs’ from the earlier artillery duel. However, the sudden storm of shot from Guasco’s artillery finally breaks them. The Beyer Grenadiers wheel into line on the left flank to hold the line, but the sudden loss of two battalions (on top of the previous loss of two artillery units) demoralises Braun’s command.
Above: Another view of Die Kleine Rund-Spitze. In the background, Kleist’s cavalry are returning to their original positions, but are being battered by Imperial heavy guns and Grenzer. But where is the Imperial cavalry threat…?
Above: Kleist curses foully in Low German, as it soon becomes apparent that the enemy cuirassiers are content to sit and wait for the artillery and Grenzer to soften up the Prussian cavalry!
Above: As expected, the main Prussian position remains completely un-engaged. It would be suicide for a good army to mount a frontal assault on these earthworks, let alone a poor-quality one like the Reichsarmee! The Prussian heavy guns have done some damage to the Imperial lines, but nowhere near enough. In the meantime, the Manstein Grenadiers, garrisoning the outlying fortified village of Klein-Rügeln, have been taking a pasting from Imperial guns.
Above: At last the Imperial infantry begin to move. The Imperial Right Wing has formed columns to the right (indicated by the MDF arrows) and is marching off to the flank, over the Reussen-Berg. Although they’ve attracted a lot of long-range gunnery, only one unit, the 4th Battalion of the Kurmainz Regiment, has been broken by the artillery and casualties are otherwise light.
Above: Two excellent units lead the columns; the Hessen-Darmstädt Regiment (single-battalion regiment with Swiss-style flag) leads the 1st Line, the remained of which is formed by theKurmainz Regiment. The 2nd Battalion of the Pfalz Garde-Regiment zu Fuss (blue flag) leads the 2nd Line, followed by the two battalions of the Pfalz Effern Regiment and two single-battalion Köln regiments; Nothaft (Leib) and Wildenstein.
Above: The Imperial Left Wing remains stationary for the time being. The 1st Line is formed from the three battalions of the Kurbayern Regiment (nearest the camera), then the 1st Battalion of the Swabian Alt-Württemberg Regiment and the two battalions of the Rot-Würzburg Regiment. The 2nd Line is formed from two battalions each of the Swabian Rodt Regiment, the Swabian Baden-Baden Regiment and the Mainz Lamberg Regiment.
Above: Back at the Dürren-Berg, Würzburg and Kleefeld, increasingly frustrated at the dogged resistance shown by Braun’s Prussian infantry, order a general assault. On the left, the 1st Battalion of the Blau-Würzburg Regiment charge out of the woods, but are stopped dead at the wood’s edge by the fire of the Lubath Grenadiers. The pattern is repeated all along the line, as the surviving battalion of the Bevern Regiment halts the charge of the surviving Hungarian battalion and the Beyer Grenadiers throw back the Luzan Regiment. On the right of the Austrian line, the Macquire Regiment look certain to capture the last detachment of Prussian battalion guns, but they are frustrated by the Lossow Grenadiers, firing in support of the gunners.
Above: However, Prussian jubilation is short-lived, as the supporting Austrian battalion gunners soon destroy the Lossow Grenadiers with point-blank canister fire! The vengeful Macquire Regiment soon overruns the Prussian guns and wheels left to turn the Prussian flank. A battalion of the Imperial Pfalz-Zweibrücken Regiment reinforces this success. The rest of the Austro-Imperial line charges again without success, but with their flank turned, the Prussians are now doomed.
Above: With his position collapsing, Braun looks behind him, hoping to see salvation in the form of Kleist’s cavalry… However, Kleist has his own problems. His dragoons have suffered heavy losses from Imperial artillery fire while attempting to hold the centre, while his hussars have also suffered losses thanks to stray rounds bouncing through the dragoon lines and the ever-present Grenzer sniping from the woods. Kleist judges that Braun is doomed and that the army will now have to retreat. Hülsen will need Kleist’s cavalry to screen that retreat, so it would be folly to waste them now on a doomed charge.
Above: However, Kleist’s assessment is correct… The Austrian and imperial infantry charge for third time and once again receive withering fire from the Prussian defenders as they climb the slopes of the Dürren-Berg. The 1st Battalion of the Blau-Würzburg Regiment this time is completely broken by the fire of the Lubath Grenadiers and they are soon followed by the 2nd Battalion of the Nikolaus Esterházy Regiment, who have dashed themselves to pieces against the indomitable 1st Battalion of the Bevern Regiment! The Italians of the Austrian Luzan Regiment are halted once again by the Beyer Grenadiers.
Above: However, despite having destroyed the enemy to their front, the Lubath Grenadiers are surprised to find themselves suddenly attacked from the rear by the Macquire Regiment, who have charged over the crest of the Dürren-Berg! There is little quarter for the grenadiers as they are completely destroyed. The Beyer Grenadiers meanwhile, are charged in the flank by the Pfalz-Zweibrücken Regiment and are similarly annihilated. The Pfalz-Zweibrücken Regiment has the dubious honour of being judged the worst regiment in the Reichsarmee, but every dog has his day…
Above: With the Prussian cavalry retiring, the Grenzer keep on the pressure.
Above: “Weglaufen!” Thankfully for Kleist, ADCs arrive from Hülsen, telling him to do exactly what he’s already doing… Kleist ensures he gets his orders in writing and deposits them safely in his sabretache for future Courts-Martial…
Above: At last, the Imperial Left Wing, plus Zedtwitz’s cuirassiers, begin to advance past Zausswitz.
Above: The Imperial Right Wing continues its march out to the right flank. Zweibrücken has assessed that the town of Strehla is the weak-point in the Prussian line; it’s only lightly-defended and although fortified, doesn’t have anything like the concentration of artillery that the main line possesses.
Above: The Imperial artillery meanwhile, has massively reduced the defences of Klein-Rügeln (represented by the half-timbered house forward of the main Prussian line). The garrison, consisting of the Manstein Grenadiers are on the verge of breaking and their supporting battalion guns have been silenced.
Above: All that stands between the Imperial infantry and the town is a single battalion of the Wunsch Frei-Infanterie-Regiment and a few companies of Jäger. If they can take the town, the entire Prussian line will be severely compromised.
Above: However, with the fall of the Dürren-Berg, Hülsen has already accepted defeat and with Kleist’s cavalry largely still intact, his army should be able to disengage and withdraw unmolested to the next defensive position at Wittenberg.
Above: An overall view of the final situation. All-in-all a total balls-up by the Prussians… As is patently obvious, I should have been FAR more aggressive with Kleist’s cavalry and give them orders to attack on the right; either from the outset, or as soon as Hülsen could get an ADC to them, once the Austrian flanking cavalry had been defeated. Instead I allowed myself to be distracted by the Imperial cuirassier division, which to be honest, had no chance of making it through the storm of 12pdr shot that would have been heading their way, had they advanced!
I actually painted these a few months ago, over Christmas and New Year, in preparation for our January 
Above: HR 4 had a number of other unofficial nicknames, including Bählämmer (‘Bleating Lambs’), due to their distinctive white pelisse jackets. It must therefore have come as relief to later be referred to as Wölfe im Schafspelz (‘Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing’) or simply Wölfe (‘Wolves’) thanks to their impressive fighting reputation.
Above: The reason these are very large 24-figure units, as opposed to my usual 12 or 16 figures, is that most Prussian hussar regiments were very large, comprising ten squadrons apiece. Each hussar squadron started the war with around 115 men, though this number was increased during the war, varying by regiment. In 1759 the Puttkamer Hussars were recorded as having around 145 men per squadron. Most hussar squadrons were around the same strength, though the squadrons of HR 5 and HR 7 attached to Ferdinand of Brunswick’s Western Allied Army were around 25% stronger. Dragoon and cuirassier squadrons were routinely around 25% stronger than hussar squadrons. Tactically, these large regiments usually operated as two five-squadron battalions which would usually be grouped together, though could operate completely independently.
Above: The uniform of HR 4 consisted of a light blue dolman jacket, decorated with mixed light blue & white lace and braid and white metal buttons. Collar and cuffs were the same colour as the dolman. Sources disagree as to whether the barrel-sash was red & white or light blue & white. Breeches were buff and were worn with light blue charivari leggings edged with mixed light blue & white lace. The pelisse was white, edged with white fur and decorated with more mixed light blue & white braid and white metal buttons. Headgear was a plain black mirliton cap, dressed with white cords and a white tassel at the end of the ‘wing’. The sabretache was white, edged light blue and with the royal ‘FR’ cypher in light blue. The carbine cross-belt was white, while the sabre-scabbard and sabretache were suspended from red leather belts. The shabraque was white, edged with light blue vandycking.
Above: Officers of HR 4 had silver buttons and lace, as well as a silver lace ‘frame’ around the breast-braiding, silver edging to the ‘wing’ of the mirliton cap, silver cap-cords, a silver barrel-sash and silver edging to the vandycking on the shabraque. Officers also had a different pattern of sabretache, being light blue with a white or silver zig-zagged edge and a white shield bearing a black eagle, with a gold crown above. Officers also had a light blue rosette on the front of the mirliton and black fur edging to the shabraque. NCOs wore much the same uniform as the rank-and-file, though with the light blue rosette and mixed black & white cords on the mirliton and silver laced edging to the cuffs. Trumpeters had lace shoulder-wings and white lace edging to the ‘wing’ of the cap, as well as a white plume (Bleckwenn shows light blue threads mixed into the white plume).
Above: Like most other Prussian hussar regiments, HR 6 had ten squadrons and like HR 4 was recorded in 1759 as having around 145 men per squadron. I’ve therefore represented the regiment as 24 figures, grouped tactically into two 12-figure battalions.
Above: The uniform of HR 6 comprised a brown dolman with yellow collar, cuffs, lace and braid with brass buttons, brown charivari edged yellow and a brown pelisse with white fur edging, yellow braid and brass buttons. Breeches were buff. The headgear was a plain black mirliton cap with white cords and a white tassel at the end of the wing. Belts were same as those for HR 4. The sabretache was brown with yellow lace edging and the ‘FR’ cypher in yellow.
Above: Officers of HR 6 had gold lace and braid in lieu of yellow, including a scalloped gold lace ‘frame’ around the breast-braid. Cap-cords were gold and the ‘wing’ was edged and tasselled in gold. Barrel-sash was silver. The officers’ pattern sabretache was brown with yellow vandycking around the edge and a central white shield with black eagle and gold crown above. Another version shows gold wreaths instead of the yellow vandycking. NCOs had the same uniform as the rank-and-file, though with gold lace around the cuffs of the pelisse, mixed black & white cap-cords and a yellow rosette on the front of the cap. Trumpeters had mixed white & yellow lace and braid, lace shoulder-wings, gold cap-cords, gold lace edging to the ‘wing’ and a yellow plume with black threads mixed in.
Above: When Werner was promoted to Generalmajor in 1758, he adopted a tricorn hat decorated with a black cockade and edged with gold lace and white ostrich feathers. He also adopted a red shabraque with rounded corners, silver lace edging and silver ‘scalloping’. The whole ensemble is shown on the right.
Above: After painting HR 6, I vowed I would never paint another hussar… However, I have all the breaking-strain of wet tissue-paper and as mentioned above, I’ve been painting elements of Kleist’s Freikorps for tomorrow’s Strehla game, including Kleist himself and half of the Kleist Freikorps Hussar Regiment. I’ll cover these fellas in detail in a future article, but I couldn’t resist showing them off! 🙂 They were also sometimes known as the ‘Jung-Kleist’ Hussars, to avoid confusion with the regular ‘Kleist’ Hussar Regiment (HR 1), who also happened to have Kleist as their Chef!
Above: The Kleist Freikorps Hussars had possible the most GOPPING uniform of the Prussian Army, being a combination of orangey-red and yellow-green… They should certainly stand out on the table! Galloping alongside is ‘Green’ Kleist himself, who wears the two-tone green uniform of HR 1.
The Scenario
Terrain Notes
Deployment
Prussian Corps of Generallieutenant Johann Dietrich von Hülsen
Above: I profiled the 
Above: If you’re looking for a source of free SYW flags to print yourself, 
Above: Another Imperial auxiliary regiment to recently get a new flag is the II. Battalion of the Pfalz (i.e. the Palatinate) 
Above: This new flag comes from the superb range of uniform plates and flags designed by Frédéric Aubert of 
Above: And so to the new regiments, starting with the 
Above: After Rossbach, the Blau-Würzburg Regiment continued to serve with the Reichsarmee, consistently maintaining its reputation as a solid regiment when so many other regiments failed in their duties. In 1760 the Rot-Würzburg Regiment (along with Mainz-Lamberg) were also assigned to support the Reichsarmee and so both Würzburg regiments fought at the 
Above: The uniform of the Blau-Würzburg Regiment consisted of Austrian-style white coat and smallclothes, with dark blue lapels, cuffs, linings and shoulder-strap and no collar or lace. Buttons were white metal. Neck-stocks were red. Hats had white lace and pompoms and black cockades. Grenadiers wore bearskins with a blue bag, piped white. Officers had silver hat-lace and yellow sashes. Drummers had the same coat, though with dark blue swallows’-nests at the shoulders.
Above: I must confess that my second ‘new’ regiment, the 
Above: Saxony was very quickly knocked out of the war by Frederick’s invasion of 1756, with the Saxon Army being conscripted en masse into the Prussian Army. However, a number of regiments remained within Saxon-ruled Poland and the King of Saxony placed a number of these under Austrian command, namely the 
Above: On campaign the Carabiniersgarde typically wore a pale straw coller (also called a collet or ledercoller), being a tight-fitting buckskin coat with short tails, very much like the style of coat worn by Austrian and especially Prussian cuirassiers. A red waistcoat was worn beneath the coller. A black-enameled cuirass edged with red cloth, was worn over the coller, being secured at the back with white straps. The coller had red cuffs, pale straw shoulder-straps and a strip of red-white-red lace down the edge of both front-seams, which then continued around the edge of the otherwise pale straw turnbacks.
Following my recent flurry of Napoleonic units (namely the 
Above: I must confess that this first unit was painted quite a bit earlier than December! In June last year we were preparing to do our large refight of the 
Above: The subject of Austrian artillery uniform during the mis-18th Century is an insanely complicated subject, with sources being utterly at odds with each other, describing dark brown, light brown, grey, dark grey, ‘wolf grey’ and even white coats. The majority view however, now seems to be that the uniform was brown, being a much paler, greyish shade of brown than the darker, earth-brown shade used during the Napoleonic Wars and FAR paler than the dark coffee-brown shade used during the mid-19th Century. The shade was known as Rehrbraun or ‘Fawn Brown’. There is also some suggestion that the descriptor ‘Wolf Grey’ does actually mean a light, greyish-brown. I use Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, with quite a lot of white mixed in.
The cuffs were Feuer-rot or ‘Fire Red’, being a bright shade of red. There was no collar or lace, apart from the hat-lace, which was yellow. The shoulder-strap was fawn brown, buttons were yellow metal and the neck-stock was black. Gaiters were black and the powder-flask was suspended from a yellow-black cord worn over the left shoulder, the tassel of which often looked like a fringed epaulette on the shoulder. A triangular black primer-box with a brass plate was worn on the belly and on campaign could have a white linen cover.
Above: In January I realised that despite having painted all that artillery for the Leuthen game, I STILL didn’t have enough guns for our forthcoming Kolin refight! I therefore ordered some Austrian 3/6pdrs from Eureka and in a moment of fuckwittery, ordered some more Austrian gunners, despite still having a gigantic stash of Old Glory figures (in the meantime I’ve used my stash to provide crews for all my Reichsarmee and Schamburg-Lippe guns and I STILL have 17 figures left)! Ah well, the Eureka gunners are lovely figures.
Above: The Austrians always painted their gun-carriages a deep yellow-ochre shade that actually seems to have been more yellow than ochre. Ironwork was painted black. The standard Liechtenstein Pattern guns had polished brass barrels.
Above: My old Austrian army headquarters group was starting to show its age and most worryingly, the horses were starting to break at the ankles. I therefore needed to do a new staff group in time for the Kolin game. These fellas were therefore done at breakneck-speed on the day before the game. They’re all Eureka figures.
Above: Two staff officers discuss what type of biscuits to have in the Mess during Afternoon Tea. The troops at the back are the newly-painted Pfalz ‘Effern’ Regiment; I’ll cover them in detail in a future article.
Above: With the glue under the flock still drying, Feldmarschall Daun establishes his headquarters atop the Przerovsky Hill, during our Kolin refight. The cloaked general is an Old Glory 15s figure painted by me. The two hussar couriers are Old Glory 15s conversions painted many years ago by Gareth Beamish. The Austrian infantry are Lancashire Games figures, again painted by Gareth, with new flags by Fighting 15s, 
Above: For our Leuthen refight I needed a couple of Hungarian generals (Nádasdy and Forgách). I had some spare senior hussar officers/generals in my stash, which I think came out of the Old Glory 15s Austrian Generals pack back in the 90s, when they had 30 mounted figures per pack (nowadays you get nine figures in the pack and I think they’re a random selection from the original 30).
As I was on a roll with the reasonably obscure 
As briefly mentioned during my discussion of my 
Above: As was the case with their grand-dads during the Seven Years War, the artillery arm of the Swedish Army wore what was quite possibly the most boring uniform of the age…
Above: These are most definitely not the best models in the world, but they look the part with their distinctive Swedish round-hats, resplendent with yellow plumes and cockades! 🙂
Above: There is some disagreement regarding the colour of Swedish gun-carriages. during the 18th Century they had traditionally been painted light blue with yellow fittings (whether yellow metal or painted yellow is a matter of debate), though the fittings were painted black by the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
Above: As mentioned above, I decided to go rummaging through the AB figures Lead Dungeon for my General Stedingk. I wanted an officer in a cocked hat with a tall plume and decided to use a spare British officer figure.
I’m happier with his entourage, however. I used two 1806 Prussian cavalry figures; an officer of hussars wearing mirliton and an officer of dragoons.
It seems that the Mörner Hussar Regiment probably deployed to Germany wearing mirlitons, but then transitioned to shakos (or perhaps the mirlitons were retained for full dress?). Much the same thing happened in the infantry, with round-hats in many units apparently being replaced during the campaign by both French-style and Russian-style shakos.
Above: The third figure in the group is painted as an officer of the Skånska Carabinier Regiment. Nafziger and others list this regiment as being present in 1813 (though not at Leipzig), though other source suggest it may have been converted to hussars in 1807. To be honest, I lost the will to live by this point and given the general blue & yellow scheme, he could be an officer of the Swedish general staff (for whom I’ve never found any uniform information), so what the heck… 😉
With over 2,000 unpainted 
The new uniform was very modern in styling, being a dark green double-breasted jacket with short tails, pointed cuffs, plain shoulder-straps and closed collar, dark green long trousers, a shako with plume and cords, a curved steel sabre and scabbard suspended from a white waist-belt and white cross-belts worn over the left shoulder, supporting a black cartridge-pouch and carbine and dark green dragoon-style horse furniture with curved corners and no holster-covers. All regiments had white ‘metal’, a white full-dress plume, green cords, flounders and pompom and an orange and black cockade fixed with a white strap. Sources show both white and yellow metal chinscales. The pouch-plate and cross-belt buckles were brass.
Officers had silver buttons, shoulder-scales, crossbelt, cords, flounders, waist-sash and shabraque-cypher. They also had a black and orange base to the plume and a silver pompom with orange centre, bearing the imperial cypher in gold. As in the rest of the army from 1812 onward, officers were probably permitted to wear white camelhair sashes, cords, etc, in order to reduce personal cost. NCOs had silver lace edging to collar and cuffs, a quartered orange/white pompom and an orange tip to the plume. Trumpeters had extensive white lace decoration on the jacket, plus a red plume.
But which regiment to paint? During the Spring 1813 Campaign, George Nafziger mentions the ‘Lithuania Chasseur à Cheval Regiment’ serving in Lanskoi’s Hussar Division (Trubetzskoi’s Cavalry Reserve) at Lützen, being brigaded with three hussar regiments. At Bautzen the same regiment is listed with the same brigade (then commanded by Paradovsky) and the Tchernigov Regiment had also appeared as part of Pantschuild’s brigade (Prince Eugene of Württemberg’s Russian II Corps).
Given that the ‘Lithuania Regiment’ is listed by Nafziger as being the first to fight at Lützen and also fought at Bautzen, Katzbach and Leipzig, they would be the obvious choice for painting. However, the astute will by now have noticed that there was no Lithuania Mounted Jäger Regiment! Nafziger has clearly confused ‘Livonia’/’Livland’ with ‘Lithuania’. There was no Lithuania Dragoon Regiment, so there could not therefore have been a Lithuania Mounted Jäger Regiment. There was however a Lithuania Horse Regiment, who in 1807 became the Lithuania Uhlan Regiment, but the Lithuania Uhlans are listed elsewhere in 1813 and the Livonia Mounted Jäger Regiment is completely missing from the orders of battle.
