Finishing off the Prussian Grenadiers

The weekend saw the completion of the command figures for the 2nd East Prussian Grenadiers.

And that completes that mini expansion.

More Union Guns

Here are the two remaining Union gun and limber sets from my recent purchase. I have done both of these sets as 12lb Napoleon guns.

The first set is sighting the piece.

The second one firing.

And all three sets together.

All of the Confederate sets are glued up and in the queue and should be completed by week's end.

And in the doorstep today was the first significant delivery since May...and quick too, just seven days from despatch to arrival...pretty much back to BC (Before COVID) mail times...a just in time delivery.

So what's in these two boxes of goodies?

Quite a mixed bag really...some FPW artillery (both French and Prussian), some FPW French cavalry, the command set for the Napoleonic Prussian grenadiers and the first of the Napoleonic Ottoman reinforcements.

A Handful of Prussians

Not much to come off the production line at the moment - the lead pile is awaiting replenishment - but a few Napoleonic Prussians have come off the conveyor belt.

First are sixteen grenadiers for the 2nd East Prussian Grenadiers that are waiting for their command to arrive.

Then next are six Silesian Volunteer Jägers.

The 1st East Prussian Grenadiers

And now for an unexpected change of direction...

With the Franco-Prussian French infantry finished for now the only significant item left in the lead/plastic pile was a box of Napoleonic Prussian infantry.  That box with the addition of a couple of command sprues makes two full battalions, which I decided to make Grenadier battalions.

Since my Prussian force contains a number of East Prussian units and by chance of the six grenadier battalions in service in 1813, two of them were East Prussian. So here is the 1st East Prussian Grenadier Battalion.

The second battalion will follow.

Elbe National Cavalry Regiment, 1813

This post sees another addition to the Prussian Napoleonic cavalry, the Elbe National (Landwehr) Cavalry Regiment.

In the orders of battle for 1813 these seem to be the most common cavalry types attached to infantry commands, so it was high time that I did some.

Given how common this cavalry type was in 1813 I think another regiment will follow at some point.

Prussian and Russian cavalry

After last week’s small offering, today’s post offers a considerably higher figure count - 25 new cavalry in all. Not all of these were painted this week though, most having been completed in the previous two weeks, but were waiting for their officers and trumpeters to arrive.

At the top of the menu is the first of two regiments of  Russian horse jägers. This was a new type of cavalry for the Russians, created as the equivalent of the French Chasseurs-a-Cheval. Eight dragoon regiments were converted to jägers in December 1812, wearing essentially the same uniform as they did as dragoons, but with a shako with a tall plume instead of a helmet and curved sabres instead of the straight dragoon sabre.

Represented here is the Niejine (Nezhinsk) regiment, converted from one of the dragoon regiments created  in 1806.

In the second batch of figures are two small units of Prussian Mounted Volunteer Jägers. It’s not that I really need any more Volunteer Jägers, but with this set you get so many legs and torsos to make up a variety of cavalry types and it seems such a waste to simply throw them away. So I bought some extra horses and have made these two small units (they probably should be tiny - single stand - units really, but this gives me a bit more flexibility).

One with shoulder scales…

…and one without

Also included here is a Prussian cavalry brigadier, painted as a dragoon colonel, made from left over body parts and a spare horse.

Prussian Neumark Dragoons, No 6.

Completed more than a week ago I have finally completed the bases of this the last of three Prussian dragoon regiments in this expansion.

All that remains to be completed in this expansion now are two small units of mounted volunteers and a couple off mounted officers, but before I move on to them there are some Russian light cavalry in the queue.

A parade of the Prussian cavalry will follow in time.

The 3rd (East Prussian) Cuirassiers

This regiment is the third unit in the Prussian cavalry expansion. 

I found it difficult to find much in the way of history of this unit, but its roots seem to go back to 1717 when it was formed as the 5th dragoon regiment. As dragoons it fought in the campaigns of the Revolutionary Wars, but did not participate in the disaster of 1806.

Converted to cuirassiers in the reformation of 1808 it fought in the War of Liberation, engaged at Leipzig in the cavalry Reserve of 2nd Corps. It did not fight at Ligny or Wavre in the Hundred Days Campaign. It went on to fight in the Austro-Prussian, Franco-Prussian and Great Wars.

As with other units in this Prussian/Russian cavalry expansion it was chosen on the basis of its light blue facings, although the poppy red facing of the Brandenburg Regiment were equally tempting (and may yet prove to be too tempting, forcing the expansion to two cuirassier regiments). It did seem a little odd though painting a cuirassier regiment without cuirasses. The only other Prussians planned in this expansion are a regiment of dragoons (painted but not based) and two small units of mounted volunteer cavalry that are still on their way from Nottingham.

Sunday saw us play an all-out Napoleonic scrap. Keith had provided a better description on his blog here than I could. Nonetheless here are a few images from my viewfinder.