Saxe-Gotha Horse Grenadiers

Sachsen-Gotha Horse Grenadiers in Austrian service. Minden Miniatures.

 Click all pictures to enlarge

I recently completed the painting of some new Minden Miniatures Austrian Horse Grenadiers. The 12-figure unit represents the DR8 Saxe-Gotha dragoon regiment. There was one company of horse grenadiers (half a squadron) in each dragoon regiment. These were typically converged with other horse grenadier and carabinier companies to form an elite cavalry regiment.

Sachsen-Gotha horse grenadiers

The flag was downloaded from the "Royal Fig" website and then painted over so that it looks like a hand-painted flag. You can find the link to Royal Fig in the links column on the left hand side of this page. It is a very good site for uniform information on French, Austrian, Dutch and Spanish regiments during the mid-18th Century wars.

Sachsen-Gotha Horse Grenadiers

The Saxe-Gotha dragoon regiment (DR8) was raised on January 29, 1718 by Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg Anspach at his own expense, according to Stephen Summerfeld's book Austrian SYW Cavalry and Artillery (2011, Ken Trotman Ltd). On February 6, 1760 it was converted into a Chevauleger unit. The figures shown in the pictures are the new Minden Austrian Horse Grenadier figures, recently issued within the past month.

Each horse grenadier company was comprised of:

1 x Rittmeister (Captain)

1 x Oberlieutenant (1st Lieutenant)

1 x Fahnrich (standard bearer until 1760, renamed Unterlieutenant)

1 x Feldwebel (company sergeant major)

1 x Fourier (quartermaster-corporal)

4 x Corporal

88 x Grenadiers

1 x Farrier

1 x Saddler

1 x Trumpeter

In 1760 the company standard was removed and stored in the regimental depot. As a result, the Fahnrich no longer carried a standard, but he was still an officer rank of Unterlieutenant.

There is a gentleman on TMP who vociferously insists that there should be no standard bearer in a horse grenadier company, but my sources of Dr. Summerfeld and Pengel & Hurt indicate that the Fahnrich did carry the standard until 1760. I prefer to go with my known sources rather than the unnamed sources (not even cited) by the other gentleman. In any event, if you want to use the standard bearer, then fine; if you don't want to use a standard bearer, then that's fine too.

I'm going to go a little bit Frank Hammond here and say, "I don't care #!*%$!!" LOL.

I really like the way that this unit turned out. I went to a three-color method for the red and like the way that the final red highlight really pops on places like the shoulders and elbows.

Minden Austrian Horse Grenadiers

Minden Austrian Horse Grenadiers painted as D31 de Ligne Dragoon regiment's horse grenadiers.

CLICK ALL PIX to enlarge

De Ligne Horse Grenadiers

Yesterday I completed the basing of a 12-figure squadron of the new Minden Miniatures Austrian Horse Grenadiers, painted as the de Ligne Dragoon Regiment. Each dragoon regiment had a squadron of elite horse grenadiers and it was not uncommon for the horse grenadier squadrons from several regiments to be formed into one ad hoc regiment of "elite" cavalry. The Austrian Cuirassiers' equivalent of the horse grenadiers were called "Carabiniers."

It is my plan to eventually add the Austrian Carabiniers to the Minden range too so that I can have a converged regiment of elites from the Dragoons and Cuirassiers.

De Ligne Horse Grenadiers with hand painted standard using an image from the Royalfig website.

I chose to paint my first unit of Minden Austrian Horse Grenadiers in the uniform of the D31 de Ligne Dragoon regiment. I have always liked that regiment's uniform of green coat and red facings, thinking that it is perhaps one of the handsomest uniforms of the Seven Years War era.

Below are some pictures of the new Product Codes for the Horse Grenadiers to refer to when you order any of the figures from the Fife & Drum Miniatures web store

Web Store Link

MAC-007 Austrian Horse Grenadier Command Pack with horses

MAC-008 Austrian Horse Grenadier Troopers pack with horses.

 I have also painted and based a sample of the new Minden Prussian Mounted Jager courier and added him to the web store Here

The new Product Code is MPC-019:

MPC-019 Mounted Jager
The new Minden Prussian mounted jager courier shown with a dismounted hussar (from the Zieten personality set PER-004) posed as if he is about to be handed an important dispatch. The hussar does not come with the mounted jager.

Thank you for taking a look at these painted samples of the new Minden Austrian cavalry. Please feel free to leave any comments in the Comments section below.

New Minden Figures - Painted Samples Pix

Austrian Horse Grenadiers and a Prussian mounted Jager courrier.

CLICK ALL PIX TO ENLARGE

I have been working my through the painting of samples for each of the 16 new figures that have recently been added to the Minden Miniatures range, which include:

Austrian Horse Grenadiers (4 poses)

French heavy Cavalrie wearing bearskin hats

French foot grenadiers wearing bearskin hats

NB. no Bears were harmed in the sculpting of the above new figures.

So far I have painted two of the Austrian Horse Grenadier figures and an amazing rendition of a Prussian Jager zu Pferde courier deliverying an important message. This latter figure was a special commission piece by one of our Minden Miniatures customers.

(L-R) Austrian Horse Grenadier Trooper, Austrian Horse Grenadier Officer, and Prussian mounted  Jager courrier.

Side view of the Austrian Horse Grenadiers and Prussian Jager

I have also completed the painting of the four new French foot grenadiers wearing bearskin hats. Originally, only the foreign regiments of Swiss and German troops equipped their grenadiers in bearskins, but within a couple of years of the start of the SYW (1758-59) the bearskin hat began to appear on grenadiers in the ranks of the Metropolitan French line regiments as well. They are so stylish, can you blame them?

Thus, if you are painting German or Swiss troops then you will definitely need some of these new figures in your painted regiments. You can also add them to your regular ("Metropolitan") French regiments and know that this could be correct by the midpoint of the war.

French Grenadiers wearing bearskin hats.

(L-R) Officer - Picardie Regt., Drummer in Royal Livery, Swiss NCO, and Fusilier - Piemont.

Rear view of the same French Grenadier figures.

Other new additions to the Minden range include:

French Kettle Drummer

Prussian mounted Jager postman

French Marshal de Broglie

French Lt. General Chevert

I have nearly completed the French Kettle Drummer figure, but I don't want to post a picture until I have finished painting its horse.

Next on the painting list: the Austrian Horse Grenadier drummer and standard bearer, Marshal de Broglie and Chevert, and then finally the four French Cavalrie in bearskins figures.

Watch this blog for updates and new pictures as I complete the painting of each new figure.

By the way, all of these figures are now available for sale on the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store.

Fife and Drum web store

More New Minden Greens!

Austrian Horse Grenadiers: drummer (left) and officer (right)

CLICK ON ALL PICTURES TO ENLARGE

So here are the pictures for Part II of the announcement of the new additions to the Minden Miniatures Seven Years War figure range. The greens have been sent on to Griffin Moulds so that the master moulds and production moulds can be made. After that, we start spinning metal and getting the castings into production and ready for sale. I am going to estimate that I will have the new figures in stock in about four weeks.

First we have the Austrian Horse Grenadiers:

Reverse view of the Austrian Horse Grenadier officer (left) and drummer (right).

Austrian Horse Grenadiers: Standard Bearer (left) and Reiter (right).

Reverse view of the Austrian Horse Grenadiers: Reiter (left) and Standard Bearer (right)

Each Austrian Dragoon regiment had five squadrons of dragoons and one elite squadron of horse grenadiers. Typically, the horse grenadier squadrons from several dragoon regiments would be converged into one or more elite cavalry units prior to the start of the battle. After the battle, the horse grenadiers would return to their respective regiments.

I am really excited to see the Austrian Horse Grenadiers added to the Minden range. This fills an obvious hole that was in the Austrian cavalry lineup and I know that I will be busy painting them once the new year rolls around. I paint a regiment of Austrian dragoons and then add on a squadron of the horse grenadiers. Once I have painted several dragoon regiments, then I can hive off the grenadiers from the parent regiment and create a horse grenadier regiment comprised of the grenadiers from dragoon regiments in my own army.

Next we have the French Cavalrie wearing bearskin hats:

French Cavalrie in bearskins: Trumpeter (left) and Officer (right).

Reverse view of the previous picture above.

French Cavalrie in bearskins: Standard Bearer (left) and trooper (right).

Reverse view of the previous picture: trooper (left) and standard bearer (right)

All of the "foreign" cavalry regiments in French service during the WAS and SYW wore bearskin hats. So the Fitzjames (Scottish) and the German regiments wore bearskin hats throughout the war. Of course, the French Cuirassiers du Roi also wore bearskins, but that regiment already has figures available in the Minden range of figures.

New Austrian Hussars

Baranyay Hussars in Austrian Service

I finished basing the Austrian hussars that I have been working on over the past week or so, the Baranyay Hussars. This is one of my favorite hussar units due to the color combination of dark green and sky blue with red trim. It was the very first wargame unit that I painted circa 1986, originally with RSM figures, now replaced with Minden Miniatures.

Minden Austrian Hussars painted as the Baranyay Hussars

A view of the full regiment

This brings my Austrian cavalry contingent up to par with my Prussians, just in time for the SYW Association refight of the Battle of Kolin.


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Austrian Reinforcements Are On Their Way

Arenberg Regiment (IR21) - Click all pix to enlarge.

The latest additions to my Minden SYW Austrian army are arriving in time to participate in the refight of the Battle of Kolin at the Seven Years War Association convention in South Bend, IN on March 31 and April 1st.

Alex Akers painted the two 30-figure battalions comprising the IR21 Arenberg Regiment in Austrian service. Please click on any picture to enlarge your viewing pleasure and sometimes a double click enlarges the pix even more.

The inhaber of the regiment was Karl Raymond, Duke von Arenberg as of 1754, so it was his regiment throughout the entire SYW. The regiment's garrison was in Slovenia since 1755, but later changed to Koniggratz in 1763. The regiment was recruited from across the Holy Roman Empire. A report in 1755 stated that the regiment suffered from a high desertion rate due to harsh discipline and drunkeness. [from Stephen Summerfield's book, "Austrian Army of the SYW"]. Despite that record, it was apparently considered a good fighting regiment.

The regiment participated in most of the major battles of the SYW in Silesia-Bohemia including Leuthen, Breslau, Hochkirch, Kunersdorf, Torgau and Freiberg. This is a good regiment to have in any SYW Austrian wargaming army.

Front view of the Arenberg Regiment, painted by Alex Akers.

I thought that Alex Akers did an excellent job of painting this unit for me. He uses a cream undercoat color with white highlights that is very effective. My photographs probably do no justice to Alex's talents. The flags are from GMB Designs and the bases are finished in the usual static grass and tufts.

Ground level view of the Arenberg Regiment. I really like these ground level views.

I am also working on adding a regiment of the Baranyai Hussars to my Austrian army. The WIP picture of the first of two 12-figure squadrons is shown below:

1st Squadron of the Baranyai Hussars.

This is probably one of my favorite Austrian regiments of any kind because I like the combination of the green pelisse and dolman with red lace and trim, plus the sky blue breeches, which really stand out. You will notice that the hussar trumpeter wears a tricorn hat instead of a busby and a long uniform coat rather than the pelisse. My very first painted unit of wargame figures was the Baranyai Hussars, using the old RSM figures. That unit has long passed on to another inhaber, but I remember it fondly.

Finally, Alex painted a regiment of Croats or Grenz Infantry Regiment Peterwardeiner. We selected this regiment because I already had one unit with red coats and one unit with dark blue coats. Alex did not want to paint any of the white coated Croats, so we selected the Peterwardeiner regiment. I will probably paint one of the white coated Croat regiments in the future. This makes identifying the units easy in a game: simple call them the Red Grenzers, Blue Grenzers or Brown Greasers and anyone will know what I'm talking about.

I have yet to base the unit, but they do look rather spiffy so I lined them up for a photo shoot for you to see.

Peterwardeiner Grenze Regiment

Close up view of the Peterwardeiner Grenzers, painted by Alex Akers.

Austrian Cuirassier Regt. Anhalt Zerbst

Two squadrons of the Austrian cuirassier regiment Anhalt Zerbst

Today I completed the second squadron of 12 Minden Austrian cuirassiers for the Anhalt Zerst regiment during the SYW. I wanted to have the regiment on standing horses so that they would look like they were in the second line of battle in reserve.

I have started keeping a unit diary for every infantry and cavalry unit and record the date of service in my Austrian and Prussian armies. Thus the Anhalt Zerbst regiment entered service on July 21, 2015.

Side view of the standing horse pose - the regiment is in reserve waiting to enter the battle.

I now have three cuirassier regiments and two dragoon regiments in my Austrian cavalry establishment. My plan is to have cavalry brigades of three regiments ( 2 x cuirassiers and 1 x dragoons).

Anhalt Zerbst Cuirassier Regiment in Austrian service.

I am toying with an idea to increase all of my cavalry from 24 figures in "squadrons" of 12 figures in double ranks to 32 figures in four squadrons of 8 figures in a single rank. The picture below illustrates how this might look. I started with the Anhalt Zerbst cuirassiers (24 figures) and borrowed four more stands from the O'Donnell cuirassiers to see how it would look.

What do you think?

An idea for having 4 squadrons of 8 cavalry in a regiment

The idea comes from Peter Gilder's In The Grand Manner (ITGM) rules for Napoleonic wargaming. ITGM uses the cavalry squadron as the basic unit in a cavalry regiment. I kind of like the look of 32 figure cavalry regiment and at a 1:20 ratio (640 riders) it is closer to the actual strength of an Austrian regiment than is my current 24 figure regiment.

The Cons:

• requires adding 8 more figures to every cavalry regiment
• more squadrons adds to the complexity of the rules and the game
• do single ranks look better or worse than two ranks?

The Pros:

• more figures always looks better on the table top
• 32 figures brings the regiment closer to its theoretical strength of ~ 700-800 horse

Alternative Idea:

• Increase the cavalry units to 36 figures divided into three squadrons of 12 riders and keep the 12 figures per squadron arrangement and two rank formations.

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Minden SYW Austrians

Austrian cuirassiers (left) and Prussian CR1 cuirassiers (right) close into melee. Click pix to enlarge.

I thought that it was about time to show some pictures of the "Other Guys" in the white coats, who serve for She Whose Name Cannot Be Mentioned on this blog.

Charles of Lorrain (leaning over), Hadik (in hussar mufti next to Charles) and von Loudan (in the front next to the grenadiers) as painted by Leuthen Studios.

Charles of Lorraine (center) discusses tactics with his staff. A lot of good that will do him, but at least he is giving it a try. Von Loudan is in the back right waiting for history to tap him on the shoulder.

Austrian artillery battery with a pair of 6-pounders in the right foreground and a pair of 12-pounders in the left background. Minden artillery crew, Berliner Zinfiguren cannon and limbers, RSM limber horses and riders. Von Loudan, in the background, supervises the battery while a battalion of Hungarian grenadiers provides support.

Same battery, but viewed from the rear.

Catching Up On Things SYW

I have been taking a little bit of a break from painting AWI figures following Historicon three weeks ago after painting nothing but AWI for at least the past twelve months. It is time to return to the Minden Project and augment my Austrian forces.

First of all, I needed to set all of my Austrians out on the gaming table to assess what I needed to add to the army in order to finish it. When you see the whole collection stretched across the table before your eyes, all of the missing pieces become quite apparent.

1) I need more Austrian cavalry. I only have one 24-figure regiment of dragoons and a partial 12- figure regiment of the Alt Modena cuirassiers ( the only cuirassier regiment with blue facings). So the first project was to paint the next dozen figures in this regiment, which I accomplished last week.

2) Artillery support equipment. I need to paint limbers for 4 guns and add 4 ammo supply wagons for each gun. I might add a couple of three pounder battalion guns.

3) Hungarian Regiment Josef Esterhazy needs its second battalion. I have five other musketeer battalions completed plus two grenadier battalions and two Croat battalions. The extra Hungarian battalion will complete my Austrian infantry contingent.

4) Army Command. I need to paint a command stand for Marshall Leopold von Daun, using the Minden Austrian senior command figures.

It's Time To Get Back To My Minden Austrian SYW Army

Esterhazy Hussars in Austrian service - not my favorite regiment. Minden Miniatures painted on commission.

I have been rather AWI-centric on this blog over the past year or two due to the need to build up armies for participation games at conventions. The best way to show off a range of figures is to see them in a tabletop battle. Now that Historicon is over, and now that both AWI armies are built up to a core level, I now have time to return to the Seven Years War.

Austrian Army Command Stand: Marshal Leopold von Daun and staff.

My Minden Miniatures Austrian army currently includes 5 battalions (30 figures each) of musketeers, 2 battalions of converged grenadiers (10 stands of 6 figures each) and two battalions of Croats (30 figures each) in its infantry component. The first thing is to paint the second battalion of the Josef Esterhazy regiment of Hungarians. Damn those Esterhazys! They are on my black list because they wouldn't let our tour group into Forschstenstein Castle to see their magnificent display of SYW Austrian uniforms and equipment and the vast collection of Prussian uniforms, flags, equipment (all captured at Maxen in 1759). Back in 2005 when we visited the castle, we were told that most of the uniform collection was not on display and they would not let us go into the secret rooms to see them. Imagine travelling across the pond to see the exhibit and to get turned away. Thus, whenever I see any of the Esterhazy units on my wargame table (or any other table for that matter), I will stop at nothing to destroy that wargame unit with all the artillery and musketry that I can muster and throw at those naer-do-wells. :)

I need to add a pair of limber teams to my 6-pounder battery. Perhaps a couple of supply wagons too.

The Austrian artillery park is in pretty good shape. I have two 12-pounders with limber teams already painted (they still need two ammo wagons) and two 6-pounders that are missing their limber teams and ammo wagons.

The Josef Esterhazy Regiment needs its second battalion painted.

Grrr, Esterhazys (above). Ooooh, I really hate those guys, as Indiana Jones might say.

Austrian Cuirassier Regiment "Portugal" needs at least a dozen more troopers to bring the regiment up to 24 figures (actually, it should be more like 36 figures, but putting them all out on the table shows me what I need and what I need to order in the way of new figures).

The Austrian cavalry establishment needs a lot of work. I have one regiment of Sachsen-Gotha Dragoons completed and only a dozen of the Portugal Curassiers. Everyone has this regiment in their Austrian army because it is the only regiment that does NOT have red facings, i.e. it is the only regiment that has blue facings. Putting the figures on the table shows me that I probably need to order another dozen Austrian cuirassiers, as I would like the regiment to have 36 figures (720 troopers at my 1:20 ratio that I use for this army).

I am contemplating the need to paint Austrian hussars, noting that they generally were not used by the Austrians on battlefields. They stayed on the perifery of the field, guarding the flanks and scouting the opposing army's lines, etc. I could paint one of those damn Esterhazy hussar regiments (light blue dolman and pelisse, red breeches and yellow boots), but more likely, I will go with the Baranyay Hussar regiment (green dolman and pelisse, tan or buff breeches, and red facings) which is a spectacular uniform to behold.

I think that I would rather paint some more cuirassiers in red facings, though.