SYW Austrian Dragoons in 15/18mm

 

Hot on the hooves of their Prussian opponents comes my first Austrian Dragoon brigade.  There will be a second smaller one subsequently.  All are from Blue Moon.  Let's see them in detail.

 

Erherzog Joseph, natty in green.

 

 Red coats next.

Jung- Modena above and below.

 

 Back to green again.

 

The Saint Ignon Dragoons above and below.

 

As you can see I took the opportunity to avoid painting more Austrian white coats.  The flags are from Wargames Designs.

Here's the brigade again.

 

I have two bags of Old Glory figures for the next brigade. You get a lad or two in Bearskin cap from Old Glory.  I’m not sure which regiments I’ll choose to do.  Probably Prinz Savoyen for one and perhaps a blue coat unit.

I had a look at my Prussian grenadiers.  Not bad but room for improvement.  Also the facings do not match those of my musketeer regiments. Enough to warrant a repaint.  

There's not too much to it.  Re-painted cuffs, facings and caps will do the trick.  I also needed 6 additional figures to bring my second Grenadier unit up to strength.  After some humming and hawing I ordered them from Eureka. They are a tad taller than the Blue Moon fellows.  Regardless, I'll mix them in. I've made a start and will do the outstanding command figures while I'm at it.

My next SYW post then, will be the Austrian and Prussian Command a Prussian battery and the aforesaid grenadiers.

Also, my new Flodden Scots have turned up from QRF.  Much to do there.

Prussian 18mm SYW-the second infantry brigade

 

Here we have my second brigade of Prussian infantry.  One battalion of fusiliers and two of musketeers.  The figures are mainly Blue Moon and all battalions benefit from Not by Appointment flags. The musketeer battalions both have Eureka mounted officers.  This in turn has has released 4 figures that have tipped the balance of surplus figures to enable another battalion.  I wonder which one I'll choose.

I got a unit of Prussian light troops done.  These are Le noble Jager from Lancashire Games.  I'll do a second jager unit too. Not sure which one yet.

 Now for the fellows who really counted, IR5 von Braunschweig first.

 IR33 De La Motte-Fouqé fusiliers below.

 Last, but not least, as they are at the top of the page too-IR7 Braunschweig-Bevern.

 

With that the second milestone has been reached. The Austrians now demand attention.  Much has already been done.  The artillery and light infantry are all done. The hussars are complete as are, if you count Grenzers, four infantry battalions.

You may wonder, have I no Prussian Grenadiers?  I do, they were painted in the earlier abortive stage of this project.  I need to give them a close look to see if they still pass muster.  If so, we will see them with the Prussian Generals and Brigadiers.  With 6 new figures from Eureka I should manage 2 grenadier battalions.

It happens that I have 50 Old Glory French SYW infantry-no turnbacks.  Mute as they are they nag at me.  I'm severely tempted to heed them and do a SYW French Army.  As a compromise (with myself) I'm determined to finish the Austrians and Prussians first.

Of course if I bought all the French figures now I'd save some money-obviously.  It needn't be a full Army either, need it?  Then of course I would need their opponents.  I have 50 Hanoverians already.

Austrian and Prussian Seven Years War Cavalry-18mm

 

Yes, it is time for the bigger brushes for the cavalry.  I have lots of these fellows to paint.  Three brigades for each side plus the impulse buys.  All in all it is a bit daunting. 

My morale maintaining method is to paint the command stands first and add the flags.  First though I paint all the unit's horses and their tack.  Then I glue the riders on having painted the tricky bits, sashes and what not.

So far, it’s working.  Let’s see the progress so far.

A squadron of Prinz von Preußen Cuirassiers for the Prussians.  Blue Moon figures.  I will have 3 squadrons of Prussian cuirassiers eventually.

The von Wechmar Hussars, also seen above. Blue Moon again.  Due to impulse buying I will have 4 squadrons of Prussian hussars.

 

Note their heretical flag.   A war-gaming point - not a religious one. We know King Frederick ordered his hussars to return their flags.  I had the figure; I had the flag.  A Not by Appointment one at that.  It had to be done, and it looks so nice.  Further Prussian hussar historical transgressions will follow.

Now, to the Austrian Hussars.  These are all from Blue Moon.

First up, the Nádasdy Hussars.  Duffy wrote that the Austrian hussars were not only often tactically misused but also mainly outnumbered.  An attempt was made to call out the traditional levy (Insurrection) of minor nobility and gentry to serve.  Ignoring their obligation they didn't turn out. Nádasdy reported that those who did were mainly townsmen and peasants.  All in all maybe Honours of War got it right?  I'm mulling it.  We may come back to this one.

The Paul Anton Esterházy Hussars here.  One more Austrian Hussar unit to do.  You will note the Esterházy are in a more irregular formation.  

This is informed by my reading that Austrian hussars were not trained as battle field cavalry.  The latter being a short hand for what their heavier comrades (and Prussian hussars) did.  Anyhow, I think it looks more dynamic.

 

The Austrian hussar flags are from Wargame Designs, and will do well enough I think.  They would likely look more impressive in 28mm.

Now, what remains to be painted in terms of cavalry? Three more units of hussars.  Six units of Dragoons and three of Cuirassiers.  I'm scared to count the infantry.  Also, 4 bases of Prussian artillery.  One Prussian and six Austrian guns and crews are thankfully done.