AHPC9 Bonus Round "Mercenary" - 15mm BLB - Baron de Kronberg Hussars

This was probably the easiest bonus round in this years Analogue Hobbies Painting 

Challenge,"Mercenary"

I could have painted loads of figures for this round, I bet most of us could have?

I chose to go back to my 15mm Beneath the Lilly Banners French army.

The Baron de Kronberg Hussars made their first appearance in the French army in 1692.

They had 2 squadrons and were commanded by a Hungarian in French service called Baron de Kronberg or Cornsberg. They were later in 1693 known as Mortani. 

They were a shortlived unit when Kronberg fell into disgrace and left France. In 1697 they ceased to exist.

Now here's the dodgy thing, There is no information on their uniform at all.

So I made it all up!! Shock- Horror! I thought red and yellow coats looked cool and it'd be a  complete contrast to the rather boring grey coats of most

of the French army.

The figures are from my favourite goto for the 1690's Essex Miniatures!
This is the same unit that Sir Sidney Roundwood recently painted up in the Challenge!!!

If you'd like to vote on my or any of the other great entries, click this link!

RP No 170 NYW French Generals

Well the Analogue Painting Challenge is over for another year. These 6 Nine Years War French Generals were entered as my last entry earning me a mere 24 points. Pushing me up to my best position in the Challenge so far this year No 36. But in the final hours I was knocked down a place to finish at the lofty heights of No 37!
I've already got some French Generals, that Reject Richard painted up, but these will be used as CnC's or 2nd in command Generals, these 6 will be used as Brigadiers.
They're based up for my much preferred set of rules for the period,  Beneath the Lily Banners. I may one day yet get on the field of battle????

Francois Louis, Prince of Conti

Louis-Charles d'Hautefort

duc de Roqualaure

Mareschal de Camp Montmorancy

Jean-Armand de Joyeuse, Marquis of Grondpre

Lt-Gen Feuquires

RP No 166 NYW French - Gardes Suisses

The Swiss Guard was a regiment that could trace its ancestry back to at least 1590. In 1615

 it was first mentioned as a guard regiment and it was completed and functioning as such

 by 1616. By 1700 it numbered 12 companies of Swiss soldiers, but like elsewhere these 

were larger than French companies, so that the Swiss Guards could field four battalions.

 All companies were commanded by Swiss captains, but the 'general's' was commanded

 by a Frenchman. The traditional position of the Swiss Guards was in the first line

 just to the left of the French Guards.

On 10 October 1685 Pierra Stuppa (1620-1701) became colonel of the Swiss Guard. On 19 May 1691 the Swiss Guard was in camp at Hauterive. Here it fielded two battalions which were in there traditional position to the left of the French Guards, while three more were in the second line. In April-March 1691 it participated in the siege of Mons with three battalions. On 24 July 1692 it was near Namur with two battalions in the first line and two in the second. In the 3 August 1692 battle of Steenkerque it participated with at least two battalions, who were ranged to the left of the French Guard. On 6 January 1701 Colonel Stoppa, called the old Stoppa died at age 83. On 10 January 1701 he was succeeded by Maurice Wagner.

Another entry into the Analogue Painting Challenge, this bad boys earned me 42 points

 and pushed me back up to  No 38!!!

Like the Gardes Francaises I had to do a little conversion work on the command figures, the

 leader and the 2 standard bearers are actually English Grenadiers, with their heads lopped

 off and swapped with other figures!

The figures are my usual Essex minis and the flags are from Maverick 

RP No 164 NYW French - Gardes Francaises

Only my second entry into Curt's Analogue Painting Challenge V, which is quite a sorry state of affairs, I'm sure you'll agree???
These fine looking fellows earned me the massive sum of 42 points which pushed me up to my highest position in the Challenge so far, a lowly No 42, but as I type I'm already back down to 45th!

I thought it was about time the French had some guard infantry, so it just had to be the Gardes Francaises. The figures are as per usual from Essex minis. For some reason they don't sell command figures for their Guard Infantry they sell, so a quick rummage threw my unloved bag and I came out with some WSS English Grenadiers, I lopped their heads off and replaced them with other spare figure heads and Volare! French command!

The Gardes Francaises were raised in 1563 by Charles XI of France, In times of war the Gardes Françaises had the privilege of choosing their own battle positions (usually in the centre of the first line of infantry). Other privileges included being that of leading the assault when a wall was breached during a siege, the first choice of barracks, and special rights of trail. When on parade, the Gardes Francaises took precedence over all other regiments in the Royal Army.

The Gardes were present at the following battles Walcourt 1689, Fleurus 1690, Mons 1691, Steenkirke 1692, Neerwinden 1993 and  Charleroi in 1693.

RP No 163 NYW French La Marche Infantry regt

My last unit painted in 2014 and my 1st entry into this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. In fact its the first unit I've painted for myself in a couple of months!! These fine looking fellows are the regt La Marche and they earned me 42 points and pushed my up to the dizzy heights of No50 in the standings!!!

The regiment quite obviously is another of my Nine Years War French units, and are once again based up for the Beneath the Lilly Banners ruleset. The regt is one of the 6 French regiments that were sent over to Ireland and were present at the Battle of the Boyne. The other being  Forez, Merode, Tournasis, Famechon & Zurlauben (which I've already painted, here) The plan is to paint one more of these regts up, but I'm not sure which one yet, it really depends on which one has the best looking flag!

La Marche were commanded by Colonel Armand-Charles de Gontaut, the Baron de Biron, After they left Ireland, In 1691 they were posted to the Alps and Nice, then they were sent to Flanders were they fought at the Battle of Neerwinden.
The figures are from Essex minis and the flag is from the Warflag website.

RP No 161 NYW French Zurlauben Infantry regt

About time I posted again??

These blue coated chaps were painted back in March for the Challenge but once again failed to make it because they were unbased. To date Zurlauben's are the last thing I've painted to a finish this year!!!! 

The regt were present at the following battles and sieges of the Nine Years War, The Boyne, Siege of Limerick, Siege of Mons, Siege of Namur, Steenkirke, Neerwinden/Landon and the Siege of Charleroi.

They were raised in 1684 and were massacred in 1704 at the Battle of Blenheim, so much so they were disbanded and never re-raised.

From the Journal of John Stevens, a captain in James’s Grand Prior’s regiment, quoted in Kinross, “The Boyne and Aughrim”, Windrush Press, 1997

“Only the French can be said to have rallied for only they made head against the enemy and a most honourable retreat . . . Nor ought any of this glory to be attributed to the Count de Lauzun or La Hoguette, who at first left their men, but only to the valour and conduct of M. Zurlauben, Colonel of the Blue Regiment, who with unparalleled bravery headed and brought off his men.”

The plan is to paint up another two of the French infantry units who were sent to fight for King James in Ireland. I'm not too sure what the other two regts will be at the moment, but I hope to have them painted up this year..............fingers crossed!!
The flags are from Flags of War...I think???

RP No160 French NYW Infantry Royal Italian regt

Hmmm? Nearly a month since my last post?? That's bad......still no painting done.....let alone blogging?

Just as the title of the post says, its another Nine Years War French unit!!

These were painted back in Feb-March of this year and very nearly made it into Curt's Challenge

I just had to paint this unit up, you don't very often get to paint units in a brown coat unless like Loki you're painting up Continental line units for the AWI.

The unit in question the Royal Italian regt is 1 of the two brown coated units from the period, in the French army, the other being Provence. The unit fought in the battles of Walcourt, Fleurs, Namur, Neerwinden, Brussels, Dixmunde and the siege's of Deysne and d'Ath.

RP No159 NYW French Mousquetiers of the Guard

I thought it was about time I posted these fine looking fellows, they were painted back in March for the Analogue Painting Challenge, BUT, they weren't based up in time, so they sat forgotten in a box with a few other regiments that needed a flick'n'flock. The figures are from Essex, but are from the WSS period, so they all had cast on tricorns, which didn't make it to the field of battle until appox 1700, so in true later French style, I cut off all their heads!!! I did the same to a few in NYW spare Essex figures I had and I also bought some heads from Peter Pig, from their ECW range. So there you have it a unit of Mousquetiers of the Guard in the correct uniform and hat!!!

1re Compagnie des Mousquetaires

The 1st Company of Muskeeters also known as the Gris (Grey) Musketeers, from the colour of their horses,  were formed in 1657, they numbered between 200 and 300 men plus officers and were organized into 4 brigades. They were trained to fight on both horse and foot, (unfortunately nobody sells these on foot.....yet? but I was eyeing up Blue Moon's range the other day??)
The Captains were as follows,
1657 - Philippe Mancicni, Duc de Nevers
1667 - Charles de Bats-Castelmor, Comte d'Artaignan (Yes that d'Artaignan supposedly killed at the Siege             of Maastricht in 1673)
1673 - Louis de Forbin
1684 - Louis de Melun de Maupertuis
1716 - Louis de Montesquiou, Comte d'Artaignan

2me Compagnie des Mousquetaires

The 2nd Company were also known as the Noir (Black) Muskeeters, they were raised a little later than the 1st Company, in 1665, they had the same organization as the 1st.
There Captain's were,
1665 - Edouard-Francois Colbert de Maulevrier
1672 - Francois de Montesbaron, Comte de Tourvoye
1674 - Jean de Garde d'Agoult, Marquis de Vins
1716 - Jean de Montboissier-Beafort