Minden 1759 Project (002) - Condé-cavalerie

The latest addition to my 15mm Seven Years War French Army based on the Battle of Minden in 1759 is the 2 squadron regiment of Condé. These figures are Blue Moon Miniatures.

Minden 1759 Project (001) - La Rochefoucauld de Surgère Cavalerie

 A 2 squadron regiment forming part of Fitzjames dvision at the Battle of Minden, 1759.

These are old 'Old Glory 15s' - seven of them are from the French cavalry pack plus one from which needed ahead swap, replacing a bearskin with a tricorn.

 

1809 Project (05) - The first Hungarian Battalion is complete

This is the 1st Btn of Infantry Regt 61 St Julien. 3 Battalions of this regiment formed part of Colleredo's brigade in the Austrian VIII Corps at the battle of the Piave in May 1809.

They have the distinctive sky blue trouers and this regiment had 'grass' green collar, cuffs and piping.

The flags are from Napflags and scaled for 10mm figures. That was a bit fiddlybut you only have to do it once.

For more information about the project check out the video on my You Tube channel

1809 Project (04) - Hungarian Infantry Officers (Work in Progress)

I have been working on the first Hungarian units for Archduke John's army. These 3 officers will command the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of Infantry Regiment 61, St Julien. Infantry Regt 61 along with Infantry Regt 27 formed Colloredo's brigade in VIII Corps.

This figure is modeled with small bag or bundle on his back. It's not clear what it is intended to represent. In the end I chose to paint it in the same grey I used for the rolled greatcoats on the rank and file figures. The 1st battalion is progressing and will be the next unit completed.

Update - the mysterious bundle has been identified as a pistol in a holster by a very kind contributor on the Pendraken Forum - Thank you John Cook

1809 Project (03) - First French Unit Complete

My first unit of Eugene's army in Italy in 1809 has been finished. This is the 1st Btn of the 102nd Line. This battalion and the 3 others from this regiment formed part of Grenier's division at the battle of Sacile and took part in most of the engagements that followed in Eugene's campaign to first drive the Austrians from Italy and then to take the army into Austria itself.

 

The 6 company organisation adopted by the French gave each line battalion 2 elite companies (of genadiers and Voltigeurs) and 4 centre or fusilier companies. I have used a 32 figure unit to represent this and in my set up the elite companies have 4 figures each while 3 of the fusilier companies have 6 figures. The 2nd fusilier company is represented as a single rank of 3 figures behind the command group of an officer, the eagle bearer and a drummer.

1809 Project (02) - 10mm Napoleonic French Infantry Test

At the time I ordered the pack of Austrians from Pendraken, I also ordered a pack of French fusiliers. (I did forget I would need grenadiers and voltigeurs in order to be able to do a full battalion and that has proved frustrating). Here are a few work in progress pictures.

The Eagle bearer and drummers.

Information on drummers in 1809 is a bit sketchy. It appears there was a lot of leeway and many colours would have been used. For this test I simply reversed the red and white on the turnbacks and lapels.

There is also a bit of debate about the nature and numbers standards and even eagles carried by each regiment. It appears that from 1808(and I'm not sure when in 1808) an instruction was given that only the 1st battalion of each line regiment would carry an eagle and a flag, but this took some time to be implemented so may not have been universally applied by April/May 1809.

Here is a sample of the fusiliers. The lighting today is not good. I have not highlighted the blue. I have decided on the highlight colour I will be using but as it will be a mix and I don't want to do these until I can do the grenadiers and voltigeurs at the same time.

I had a little trouble with the pompom colours. The well known green, light blue, aurora and violet scheme for differentiating the fusilier companies dates from 1810. In 1809 an earlier scheme of dark blue, aurora (pinky orange), violet and crimson was used.

Structuring my French battalions also proved to be a challenge. I am not going to worry about the theoretical difference in strength between the French, Austrian and Hungarian units. In my set up, line units are all going to be 32 figures. So a French battalion will consist of the following figures; 4 Grenadiers, 6 fusiliers with dk blue pompoms, 3 fusiliers with aurora pompoms with a'command' group of 3, then 6 fusiliers with violet pompoms, 6 fusiliers with crimson pompoms and finally 4 Voltigeurs.