Prussian Napoleonic 1813-15
Several years ago I decided to collect a small force of 15mm Prussians for Too Fat Lardies 'Le Feu Sacre' Napoleonic rules. My good
gaming mate Max Maxwell had lent me a copy of 'Wargames Soldiers and Strategy' magazine which had an excellent article on Prussians.
After reading it repeatedly and doing a bit of research on line I discovered that the Prussian army has a dour charm all of its very own.
Despite what you may think the Prussians can actually be a colourful lot, particularly the cavalry and have nice flags to boot. They also have
sizeable amounts of really quite poor quality troops. Now this may put some 'power players' off but to me trying to gain a victory with really
poor troops is a real challenge.
Under LFS late Prussians are much more of a handful than my Austrians, due in no small part to their usually good leadership with several
Bold or Able historical commanders. There is also a much better chance getting better commanders than the lack lustre Austrians if using
the random character generator in the rules, as we usually do. Prussian 'Brigades' also, unusually for a Divisional sized force, consist of
not only infantry nad artillery but also cavalry. Now, being at heart a cavalry chap the temptation of having one or more attached cavalry
units to a Divisional sized force was too much of a temptation. I chose to buy two Prussian infantry brigades from Kleist's II Prussian Corps,
from the Army of Bohemia, Autumn 1813 plus von Roeder's Reserve Cavalry Division, and elements of von Braun's Artillery Reserve. Max
has Russians, and Prussians and I have some Austrians so together we could amass a serious Allied army if needed.
I am quite rare I think in that I still like Essex Miniatures figures and some of their Prussians, namely the Landwehr, are amongst their
nicest castings. As I speed paint it is important to me that castings require minimum preparation before I can paint them. Say what you like
about Essex 'dwarves', with some undeniably dodgy poses, their castings are crisp, detailed and have minimum flash. There are some real
gems amongst their ranges and figures with bags of character. Added to that they are still amongst the most affordable figures, especially
when you are considering buying hundreds. AB are without doubt the nicest Napoleonics with War Modelling (ex-Fantassin) also producing
excellent figures but we can't all afford such a high outlay.
In an effort to get these chaps on the table initially I decided not to paint highlights but just simply block paint then ink wash them. I made
a promise to myself that one day, one day, I would repaint them by adding highlights and tarting them up. Well this day has arrived.
Last week after the Hagelsburg game I decided to begin the work. I completed the process by adding Silfor MiniNatur grass tufts and
flower tufts and then matt sprayed the whole lot (previously they had been unfashionably shiny). Surprisingly I did all 507 figures in a single
week! I have now decided to do the same to the other 5,000+ Napoleonics in my collection with Xmas being the deadline. I'm still not very
happy with their faces, being originally done with a black base, flesh on the nose, cheeks and chin, and then an ink wash. I much prefer a
red brown base and flesh with highlights as I've done with ACW and AWI collections. I may decide I have to redo them at a later date. I'm
reasonably happy with them for now, but they're still nowhere near as nice as my later collections.
My Prussians have had some splendid successes on the tabletop. As part of a combined Russo-Prussian force they have defeated a
force of Young Guard and Poles, thrashed a Franco-Saxon force and notched a couple of creditable victories against some French and
Bavarians. Their 'Bold' commanders with aggressive troops with 'Elan' far outweigh the 'Brittle' nature of some of their Landwehr and they
are so much more of a handful than their frequently 'Cautious' or 'Poor' commanded Austrian comrades. The Prussians fit my playing style
so much that I actually sold off almost my entire Austrian army before Xmas and also their Anglo-Portuguese comrades too (they had never
'felt right' to me, all that sitting behind hills with limited cavalry).
Now I owned Prussians I decided to add a detached brigade of cossacks too for a bit more of an unusual twist. Cossacks seemed to be
everywhere in 1813/14.
So here folks are my Prussians for 1813, plus a few Russians all at 1:50 scale suitable for LFS. Click here for my LFSIII Prussian Orbat
Several years ago I decided to collect a small force of 15mm Prussians for Too Fat Lardies 'Le Feu Sacre' Napoleonic rules. My good
gaming mate Max Maxwell had lent me a copy of 'Wargames Soldiers and Strategy' magazine which had an excellent article on Prussians.
After reading it repeatedly and doing a bit of research on line I discovered that the Prussian army has a dour charm all of its very own.
Despite what you may think the Prussians can actually be a colourful lot, particularly the cavalry and have nice flags to boot. They also have
sizeable amounts of really quite poor quality troops. Now this may put some 'power players' off but to me trying to gain a victory with really
poor troops is a real challenge.
Under LFS late Prussians are much more of a handful than my Austrians, due in no small part to their usually good leadership with several
Bold or Able historical commanders. There is also a much better chance getting better commanders than the lack lustre Austrians if using
the random character generator in the rules, as we usually do. Prussian 'Brigades' also, unusually for a Divisional sized force, consist of
not only infantry nad artillery but also cavalry. Now, being at heart a cavalry chap the temptation of having one or more attached cavalry
units to a Divisional sized force was too much of a temptation. I chose to buy two Prussian infantry brigades from Kleist's II Prussian Corps,
from the Army of Bohemia, Autumn 1813 plus von Roeder's Reserve Cavalry Division, and elements of von Braun's Artillery Reserve. Max
has Russians, and Prussians and I have some Austrians so together we could amass a serious Allied army if needed.
I am quite rare I think in that I still like Essex Miniatures figures and some of their Prussians, namely the Landwehr, are amongst their
nicest castings. As I speed paint it is important to me that castings require minimum preparation before I can paint them. Say what you like
about Essex 'dwarves', with some undeniably dodgy poses, their castings are crisp, detailed and have minimum flash. There are some real
gems amongst their ranges and figures with bags of character. Added to that they are still amongst the most affordable figures, especially
when you are considering buying hundreds. AB are without doubt the nicest Napoleonics with War Modelling (ex-Fantassin) also producing
excellent figures but we can't all afford such a high outlay.
In an effort to get these chaps on the table initially I decided not to paint highlights but just simply block paint then ink wash them. I made
a promise to myself that one day, one day, I would repaint them by adding highlights and tarting them up. Well this day has arrived.
Last week after the Hagelsburg game I decided to begin the work. I completed the process by adding Silfor MiniNatur grass tufts and
flower tufts and then matt sprayed the whole lot (previously they had been unfashionably shiny). Surprisingly I did all 507 figures in a single
week! I have now decided to do the same to the other 5,000+ Napoleonics in my collection with Xmas being the deadline. I'm still not very
happy with their faces, being originally done with a black base, flesh on the nose, cheeks and chin, and then an ink wash. I much prefer a
red brown base and flesh with highlights as I've done with ACW and AWI collections. I may decide I have to redo them at a later date. I'm
reasonably happy with them for now, but they're still nowhere near as nice as my later collections.
My Prussians have had some splendid successes on the tabletop. As part of a combined Russo-Prussian force they have defeated a
force of Young Guard and Poles, thrashed a Franco-Saxon force and notched a couple of creditable victories against some French and
Bavarians. Their 'Bold' commanders with aggressive troops with 'Elan' far outweigh the 'Brittle' nature of some of their Landwehr and they
are so much more of a handful than their frequently 'Cautious' or 'Poor' commanded Austrian comrades. The Prussians fit my playing style
so much that I actually sold off almost my entire Austrian army before Xmas and also their Anglo-Portuguese comrades too (they had never
'felt right' to me, all that sitting behind hills with limited cavalry).
Now I owned Prussians I decided to add a detached brigade of cossacks too for a bit more of an unusual twist. Cossacks seemed to be
everywhere in 1813/14.
So here folks are my Prussians for 1813, plus a few Russians all at 1:50 scale suitable for LFS. Click here for my LFSIII Prussian Orbat
Prussian C-in-C: von Kleist Being presented with a captured French standard von Pirch's 10th Brigade, von Kleist's II Prussian Corps, Army of Bohemia Autumn 1813 von Pirch 2nd (West Prussian) Infantry Regiment 7th Reserve Infantry Regiment. 1st Battalion in peaked cap, 2nd Battalion in shako (after Mantle). I believe that these are now incorrect and should infact all have the shako. 6lb Foot Battery and 3rd Battalion, 7th Reserve Infantry 9th Silesian Landwehr Regiment 6th (Neumark) Dragoons. Notice the attached Freiwilliger detachment 1st Silesian Landwehr Cavalry von Ziethen's 11th Brigade, von Kleist's II Prussian Corps, Army of Bohemia Autumn 1813 von Ziethen 10th (1st Silesian) Infantry Regiment 10th Reserve Infantry Regiment 1st Battalion in predominantly light grey, 2nd in dark blue and 3rd in dark grey (after Mantle). I believe that these are now incorrect. 8th Silesian Landwehr Regiment (I actually have four Battalions but one went MIA after Hagelburg and is in amongst Max's Prussians) 4th (1st Silesian) Hussars with Freiwilliger detachment & 2nd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry Regiment von Starkenfels Cavalry Brigade, von Roeder's Reserve Cavalry Division, von Kleist's II Prussian Corps, Army of Bohemia, Autumn 1813. (L-R) Silesian National (Hussar) Cavalry Regiment, 2nd (Silesian) Uhlans & 6th (2nd Silesian) Hussars with Freiwilliger detachment von Mutius Cavalry Brigade, von Roeder's Reserve Cavalry Division Two Batteries of 6lb Horse Artillery, 7th SIlesian (fore) and 8th Silesian (rear) Landwehr Cavalry von Wrangel's Kurassier Brigade, von Roeder's Reserve Cavalry Division (L-R) 2nd (East Prussian), 3rd (Brandenburg) and 1st (Silesian) Kurassier Regiments, all with Freiwilliger detachments. von Roeder von Braun's Artillery Reserve. Two batteries of 12pdrs and Howitzer Battery (front), 6lb Horse Artillery Battery and two 6lb Foot Batteries (rear) These were often parcelled out to Infantry Brigades as circumstance demanded and could give Prussian Brigades some real firepower. The all-Howitzer Battery is a rarity but very useful for attacking BUA's Other useful stuff West Prussian Grenadier Battalion. This allows me to create a Brigade suitable for the Spring campaign of 1813. I might yet buy some more infantry to allow me to make two Prussian Brigades for Lutzen and Bautzen Detached Cossack Brigade Did I mention, I absolutely love cossacks? After years of not getting anywhere their moment of glory came two years ago when against Nigel's Poles they charged a unit of Polish Lancers in their exposed flank and routed them, along with four Battalions of Polish infantry who were caught in the flank and rear. They then captured a Polish artillery Battery and killed the Polish Division's commander. Since then I have had a couple of smaller successes but cossacks have become a great favourite of mine. All figures Essex Miniatures, owned and painted by yours truly. |
