Life Guard On Duty

This post covers the latest addition to my Yellow Regiment in Gustav II Adolph’s 17th century Swedish army.

The Life Guard Company - 28mm figures from TAG, Avanpost, Brigade Games and Warlord.

The observant will have spotted that these figures are in grey and not yellow. These figures represent the ‘Drabant’ or ‘Life’ Guard company that were typically brigaded with the Household or ‘Yellow’ regiment. The Life Guard company was the most senior unit in the Swedish army and was always enlisted.  It was the king’s personal guard and so accompanied him where ever he went, including on campaign. While on campaign they would fight in battles alongside the Household (or ‘Yellow’) regiment.

Musketeers and ‘Pikemen’ from TAG

Joining the Life Guard was considered extremely prestigious and it had a high percentage of Swedish nobles and former officers amongst its ranks.  It formed a sort of cadre for the Swedish officer corps with some officers, waiting for appointments, sometimes serving in the Life Guard until a suitable position became available.

While The Life Guard performed ceremonial duties, they were also expected to be effective combat troops, and so were equipped and trained like other Swedish infantry companies; with muskets and pikes. They were uniformed at the King’s cost. As befitted their status, the Life Guard were more richly clothed than other units. Although there is a lot of documentation still available that covers the costs of their uniform, there is very little precise information about exactly how they appeared.

From what I have been able to find out they were equipped with grey clothing in 1622, and had grey cassocks, decorated with silver lace, by 1628.  I have therefore chosen to have my Life Guard in the same style of uniform as the Yellow Regiment, but in grey, and I’ve added some flourishes, like buttons, in silver grey.  The pikemen at some point were equipped with buff coats.  I have chosen to keep them in armour, as this is what the TAG cassock uniformed pikemen are wearing.  I have shown the officers with buff coats under their cassocks.  The pikemen used partizans when on ceremonial duties, and pikes when on the battlefield, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to have the partizans! 

As a relatively small formation I am just representing the Life Guard as a couple of bases, that will form part of the overall Yellow Regiment.  I expect it will be easy to not even notice them amongst the swathes of yellow, but it is the sort of detailed touch that, for me, makes the overall unit fun to collect. 

Command base with Avanpost ensigns and drummer, and officer from Brigade Games

The pike and musket base use the Swedish cassock uniformed figures from The Assault Group (TAG) range.  I also included a command base so that I could have the Life Guard colours produced by Flags of War.  I wanted some suitable officer looking figures and found some in the pile of opportunity that had suitable cassock-like clothing.  The officer, the captain-lieutenant as Gustav himself was considered the captain of the company, is from Brigade Games, and the two ensigns and drummer figures are from Avanpost Miniatures.  I have shown the drummer in a black uniform with yellow trim as these were the colours of Gustav Adolph’s family heraldry.  Musicians are supposed to have fancy uniforms for ceremonial occasions in these colours, but they probably didn’t were them on campaign.  Once again I’ve gone with the pretty option over the more likely! 

Flags from Flags of War

Finally I needed a casualty marker for the Drabants. This one comes from the Warlord Pike & Shotte range.

Casualty figure from Warlord, and counter base from Warbases.

Next on the painting table are some of the Swedes northern brethren, the Fins, and a first for me. 

Until next time!

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig

“And it was all yellow”

 This post looks at the latest unit for my 1620s/30s Swedish ‘Yellow’ Regiment. 

28mm figures from The Assault Group (TAG).

The latest unit is another ‘sleeve’ of shot for the expanding Swedish Squadron. All 28mm figures from The Assault Group (TAG). I made one head swap, on the sergeant. The original figure was wearing a Montero, but I preferred to have him in a helmet and so made a swap with a spare TAG figure. 

Rear view showing their swords etc.

Rear view, with the sergeant and drummer on the right hand side.

Casualty from Warlord Games and counter base from Warbases.

I’m definitely getting the hang of these now, and quite enjoying the uniformity. 

The Yellow Regiment, so far. (The command group are from Warlord Games.)

Here are the three completed units together;  the pike unit with two sleeves of shot, and also a command base I completed for the Yellow Regiment sometime ago (all Warlord figures, see here for more details https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2019/05/generalmajor-count-nils-brahe.html).

They obviously know where they are going, and they’re off! (Flags from Flags of War.)

Next on the painting table, a respite from the yellow, and some ‘heavy metal’ horse for the Swedes. 

Close up on the Warlord Games command group.

Until next time!

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig. 

“And it was called yellow”

In this post I look at the latest unit from the painting table, which is again from Gustav Adolph’s ‘Yellow’ Regiment .

Pikemen from the Yellow Regiment - 28mm figures from The Assault Group (TAG).

Following the completion of the first musket ‘sleeve’ last time, I continued with the yellow theme and this time added a pike block. 

Pikemen are more straightforward to paint, than their brethren in the shot, as pikemen do no have the complication of the bandolier with its charges etc. These figures, again from The Assault Group, have full pikeman’s harness with helmet, back and breast plate, and also tassets to protect the thighs. The armour covers up quite a lot of the coat and so there was some small respite from the yellow!

“I’d have been alright if I’d only worn my armour!”

For details of the approach and paints used see the previous post here: https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2022/08/yeah-they-were-all-yellow.html.

Once the figures were painted I have added brass pikes. Swedish pikes were probably painted black as part of protecting the wood, which I think makes an excellent pike colour. I snipped the pikes down a bit from the 10cm lengths they came in, to 9.0 cm. This was my estimate at getting them to scale with 28mm figures for the 5.3m length that was the real world, defined length, for Swedish pikes at the time. 

Yes, those pikes are as sharp as they look!

These chaps once again look very smart in their matching uniforms and identical poses, just right for Gustav Adolph’s Household regiment. 

Next time the yellow tide continues! 

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig.  

“Yeah, they were all yellow”

This post looks at the start of a new unit for my 1620s/30s Swedish army; the Yellow Regiment.

Swedish Musketeers advancing, 28mm from The Assault Group (TAG)

“A great body with yellow casacks came up resolutely in formation and with pikes covering their musketeers.” Giulio Diodati, Imperial Quarter Master at Lutzen 1632.

Brief Background

The ‘Yellow Regiment’ was the short-hand or nickname for Gustav Adolph’s Household Regiment that evolved from the Drabant Guard of his father and grandfather.  (It was still properly referred to by the current Colonel’s name.)  During Gustav Adolph’s reign the regiment went through several evolutions. It was always expected to serve on active service, and was often heavily engaged in the action. They were certainly not a formation only used for palaces and parades!  Calling them ‘Yellow’ may actually have followed them being given yellow uniforms in the mid 1620s, and their colours/flags then followed suit in being yellow as well.   (For more general discussion about the Swedish ‘Colour’ regiments and brigades see this previous post https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2020/11/old-blue-and-other-colours.html .)

When I first started collecting Gustav Adolph’s Swedish army the only unit I already knew about was the famed ‘Yellow Regiment’. Surely a striking spectacle for the miniature battlefield.  Now, fours years later, I am finally starting to paint it.  I suppose a simile for this would be collecting a Napoleonic French army and finally starting on the Old Guard.  Or collecting a German army for WWII and finally getting some King Tigers.  So, it feels like a momentous milestone to have reached.

This sleeve of Muskets has integral command with a sergeant and drummer from the TAG command pack 

Saving the best ‘til last

Why has it taken me so long to get around to this iconic unit?  Two reasons. The first is down to one of the first ‘how-to’ books I read about wargaming, Bruce Quarrie’s Napoleon’s Campaigns in Miniature (still an excellent intro to the Napoleonic period, just perhaps skip using the rules!).  In this book Mr. Quarrie advises on how to go about collecting your chosen army.  He suggests painting a regular Napoleonic ‘line’ infantry unit before every other type of unit. So, for example, paint a line unit, then an artillery battery, then another line unit, then a light infantry unit, then another line unit, then a unit of cavalry, then another line unit, and so on. This means you’ll end up with the majority of your army being line infantry, but you’ll always have something different to paint next to keep your interest going. Mr. Quarrie goes on to suggest that even within this process you should leave the guard until last. His logic is that when you start off painting you will not be as competent as you will be after a dozen or so units.  You want your guard to look their best, and so don’t start them when you’re still ‘getting your eye in’, so to speak.  

I still follow this guideline today.  I try to vary units in my painting queue, even within  the same army, to keep the painting mojo going. I also try to avoid rushing in to those special / favourite units.  The Swedish Yellow Regiment was therefore something to be saved, and savoured.

I like the pose as the musketeers appear to be purposefully advancing on the enemy.

“Yellow is capable of charming God.”  Vincent Van Gogh

The second reason for me taking so long to get to the Yellow Regiment was the colour; the dread ‘yellow’.  As someone who undercoats in black, or at least very dark paint, I have always struggled with achieving good yellows.  This isn’t too much of an issue normally where just the odd accent on a figure has to be yellow, but having the whole figure’s uniform being yellow made me hesitate.  I have watched many videos now on how to paint yellow on figures, many of which have been about some outfit called ‘The Imperial Fists’ who even in the far, far future find yellow an ideal colour to wear on the battlefield. (They are obviously fine soldiers with impeccable taste!). I have tried the undercoat in pink technique, and I have tried many brands of yellow paint, all marketed as giving excellent coverage, but none seeming as wonderful as promised.  In the end it has come down to following the adage of Duncan ‘two thin coats’ Rhodes, and realising you often need multiple coats of some colours, and to let them dry between coats. 

I wanted the Yellow Regiment to have a distinctive look, beyond the yellow uniforms. I decided to have them looking quite uniform and smart in appearance, as befits the Household regiment. I chose to use the Swedes in cassocks from the The Assault Group (TAG) range. I’m not convinced that this style of buttoned cassocks was worn by the whole regiment, but they are very nice figures and they will stand out from my other more rag-tag Swedish units. (I understand that Gustav Adolph did order a batch of longer coats for his troops in the 1620s while fighting in Prussia, so it is possible that his own regiment may have been clothed in something like this coat.)

Figure primed in dark brown

Base colours applied

Wash applied

Highlights applied - ready for varnishing

Practice

For this first unit of the Yellow Regiment I started by painting just one figure as a test. I followed my current, normal approach. Brush on prime in a dark brown.  Next base colours blocked in, followed by a wash. Finally highlights to taste.  Happy with the test figure I then cracked on with the rest of the unit.

The rear of the unit.

One down …

The first component part of the Yellow Regiment complete is this ‘sleeve’ of shot. They were surprisingly easy to paint as it’s unusual for me to have such a uniformed unit (I’m normally trying to represent the rag-tag appearance of troops on campaign).  

One thing with having such a distinctive unit is needing a suitable casualty marker.  Sadly there are no wounded/dead TAG figures to match the unit and so I used this Warlord casualty figure.

Warlord casualty on a Warbases 40mm ‘counter’ base.

Perhaps some pikemen next.

Until next time!

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig.

Generalmajor Count Nils Brahe

" ... it was so long since they had beene last beaten, 

that they had by this time forgotten how to runne away."  

William Watts, The Swedish Intelligencer, Part 3. 

Yellow Brigade attacking at Lützen wargame.  (Photo by Alan and Elaine Daniels)

A quote from Watts describing the destruction of the Old Blue Yellow regiments at Lutzen, 1632.  This blog post covers my command base for the commander of the Yellow regiment, Nils Brahe.  This is another command base for my Swedish Thirty Years War (TYW) army focused on the Lützen campaign.

The Yellow regiment is probably one of the most famous Swedish TYW regiments.  Dressed in their yellow jackets they make a very striking appearance on the battlefield.  This was the King's Guard and Court regiment, with the first two companies forming his Life Guard.  At Lutzen they were commanded by Generalmajor Count Nils Brahe.

Count Nils Brahe was Colonel of the Swedish Yellow Regiment at Lutzen (1632).  He was made Generalmajor of infantry in 1632, and at Lützen probably commanded the four leading brigades, which included the Yellow regiment which made up one brigade on its own.

Count Nils Brahe

The Yellow regiment was part of the Swedish attack at the start of the battle.  The King had ordered Brahe to attack the imperial infantry to his front, not giving fire until the Imperial troops had fired first.  This tactic expected the enemy to fire early, and then allow the Swedes to march up before discharging their own devastating volley at point blank range.  This seems to have gone disastrously wrong on the day, the Yellow regiment meeting veteran Imperial infantry who also held their fire.  The Imperial infantry did fire first, but at such close range that this initial volley cut down many of the Yellow regiment's officers.  With key officers, including Nils Brahe, out of action, the Yellow regiment was paralysed, and blown apart where it stood.

The Osprey Men-At-Arms on The Army of Gustavus Adolphus (1) Infantry (link) has a great picture of The Yellow Regiment in action, with Nils Brahe receiving the leg wound that would prove fatal.  (He died two weeks after the battle from this wound.). Nils Brahe was a rising star in the Swedish army. He had risen through the senior ranks quickly, being Generalmajor by the age of 28, and was a favourite of the King.

I have chosen to show Nils Brahe dismounted, leading his regiment forward. He is followed by two ensigns from the Yellow Regiment. I like the way that the ensigns are braced as if advancing in to heavy fire, which at Lutzen it is likely they were. Nils Brahe on the other hand is leading by example, bolt upright, coaxing his men forward.  He is finely attired, in a red suit, wearing a sleeveless buffcoat which was the fashion amongst wealthy officers on the continent.  His followers are clothed in yellow suits, as befits their regiment, and one is also wearing a grey cassock like those issued to the lifeguard  companies.

The figures are metal figures from Warlord Games.  Nils Brahe and the cassock-ed ensign are both from the Swedish infantry box set. I think these are both cracking command figures, and it’s a pity they are only available in the boxed set. The other ensign is actually from the Warlord Scottish gun crew.  His pose fitted well with the other ensign, and with a quick hat swap and hand change he was a perfect fit.

The colours are from Flags of War, of course!

I put all of my command on round bases, to differentiate from the troops on square bases. 2mm thick 6cm round from Warbases.

Until next time!

By Andy Mk1 @ FOGH.