Saturday 5 February 2022

Prussian Infantry and Björn Borg

Last Monday saw the completion of yet another Prussian infantry battalion for 1870. Once again it is from the 1st Westphalian Infantry Regiment No. 13, the second battalion this time.




But how does the famous Swedish former world number 1 tennis player fit into this post? Well he doesn’t, but the Björneborgs läns infanterire regemente from the Swedish army in Finland does and the play on words on the name is far too good an opportunity to let go by.

Recruited in the Björneborgs region in  southwest Finland (surrounding the modern day city of Pori) this regiment was founded in 1626 by Gustav II Adolf and established a sound reputation in the Thirty Years War, fighting at Leipzig in 1642, and again in the Great Northern War, notably at Poltava and again in the Norwegian campaign of 1714-18. 

There were three battalions in service in 1807 and the regiment established a sound reputation, notably at the Battle of Jutas on September 13, 1808. At the end of the Finnish war the regiment was disbanded.

Here is the 1st Battalion, Björneborgs Regiment…and not a tennis racquet in sight.





Next on the painting table it’s back to North America for some AWI French infantry.

20 comments:

  1. Marvelous work, Mark! Love your Prussians. One day, I will begin a FPW Prussian army in 18mm.

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    1. Thank you Jonathan. Yes you must start that project!

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  2. What a treat, Prussians ( excellent, btw) and Swedes. Bjonberg, really clever tie in. They look good as well.

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  3. Great looking Swedes....I recognise the name and flag although I may not have done this regiment for my GNW project. We're the Swedes still using the Indelt system to raise manpower in the Napoleonic era? I did not get into too much of the detail but I gather than in the GNW and earlier periods, each area had to provide a number of soldiers to serve in the local regiment, the method of doing so was that every ten farmers had to band together and provide a free farm to an eleventh man, who was a soldier in time of war but had a home and living provided for him in times of peace.

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    1. Yes the Indelta process was still standing, plus various volunteer units. The organisation of the forces is quite difficult to follow.

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    2. Indeed - I found they also had Tremanninger Regiments - which came in as a result of a requirement for extra troops - three groups of ten farmers had to provide one extra soldier between them - Tre I assume is Swedish for three and Tremanniger regiments were created from this extra man supplied by the group of three farmer units.

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  4. Two lovely units once again Mark and a nice but of background info as always. Being a rather shallow knave, I think I would have cheekily 'armed' the officer with a tennis racquet just for the fun of it;).

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    1. Well there are two more battalions to do in this regiment yet, so there is still an opportunity for a tennis racquet!

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  5. I do like your Prussian infantry, great job!

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    1. Thank you Phil…at least it is a simple uniform, unlike the French infantry for the American Revolution that I am working on right now!

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  6. Great work on both these battalions Mark. Have you found a suitable Bernadotte figure for your Swedes yet?

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    1. This army is a bit early for Bernadotte. The Perrys haven’t done the mounted officers yet…I have asked for them.

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  7. Two more lovely units Mark…
    You are certainly flitting around the periods.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. Yes I am indeed flitting. I have four projects on the go, and one nearing completion….ooops, sorry didn’t mean to swear!

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  8. Lovely, as always. Prussians + Perry … always tempting. And yet, 28mm for Franco Prussian war? Not convinced. Like ‘Bloody Big Battles’ and 10mm. What kind oddments scenario will you play with these monsters?

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    1. We have been playing 25/28mm Franco-Prussian games nice the mid-1980s. Usually with 6-10 players using armies of up to 30 battalions and 30 batteries a side, lasting 4-6 hours. Of course, we have access to a large table (2x4.8 metres) that makes it easier for large games.

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    2. Nice! And color me jealous. My wife tells me my 4’ x 6’ is big enough (yes, sounds smutty, not totally meant to) so I’ll just look forward to living vicariously through some battle reports …

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  9. how far away till the prussians debut ?

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    1. There a while away yet, Bruce. Still need to do the artillery and the mounted officers aren’t available yet…and there are no French line infantry yet of course.

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