SYW – French Infantry

In my last posting, I mentioned the collection of French were based on the order of battle at Hastenbeck 1757. This list offered a nice assortment of French, German, Swiss and Swedish troops, with auxiliaries from Austria and the Palatine. In total, the 50,000 infantry were organized into 84 battalions and 10,000 cavalry formed 83 squadrons, all this supported by 68 heavy guns, 84 battalion guns and 8 howitzers.

Rather than compress this number into 12 elements for DBA-HX, I kept the nominal strength an element of foot or cavalry and simply expanded the number of elements needed to duplicate the order of battle.

However, 84 elements of foot and 42 of cavalry, discounting the guns reqired would far exceed the big battle option for our purposes. So I set my goal to have half that number to be ready by Easter.

Listed below are the regiments which I shall focus on; these are listed in their respective brigades with senior regiment listed first. I mention this, as each brigade will have one flag representing the senior regiment for recognition purposes.

Checking Kronoskaf.com for uniform details, many of these regiments have similar details, such as lacing, colour of waistcoat or cuffs, however, flags are the most distinguishing feature.

The order of battle gives most brigades having two regiments totaling 4 battalions, in most cases, the older regiments (vielles bandes ) fielded all four of their battalions to the brigade. Nine such brigade/regiments were present at Hastenbeck.

Most infantry brigades are comprised of two 2 battalion regiments, however, the older or vielles bandes fielded their complete strength of 4 battalions as one brigade. Keeping the ratio of “old” to “new” regiments at 2:5, my curent list is thus:

French Line

Picardie Brigade (4 bns)
Champagne Brigade (4 bns) under M. d'Anlézy

La Couronne Brigade
La Couronne (2 bns)
Conty (2 bns)

Vaubécourt Brigade
Vaubécourt (2 bns)
Condé (2 bns)

Eu Brigade under the Comte de Lorge
Eu (2 bns)
Enghien (2 bns)

Orléans Brigade
Orléans (2 bns)
Chartres (2 bns)

Foreign regiments

Alsace Brigade
Alsace (3 bns)
Saint-Germain (1 bn)

Royal-Suédois Brigade
Royal Suédois (2 bns)
Royal Bavière (2 bns)

Reding (Swiss) Brigade
Reding (2 bns)
Salis de Mayenfeld (2 bns)




The top photo shows the older regiments of Picardie and Champagne plus La Couronne and Cont.

Photo two, shows the newer reigments of Vaubécourt, Condé, Eu, Enghien, Orleanns, and Chartres, while below are all the foreign regiments shown in their order listed.





Further additions

I will add two more brigades of grenadiers and light troops and some auxiliares, such as those from Austrian and the Palatine. The later brings back fond memories of my student life at Heidelberg. Generals pose no problem as I have five cavalry brigadiers and five for the infantry, all under the command of Maréchal d'Estrées.

By Easter, I should be painting flags for all my brigades. Next posting will cover my work on the light troops and artillery.

Cheers,

SYW – French Cavalry

I am near completion of my French cavalry for 1757. I lack only the lining and highlights for the last 36 figures and these can be varnished. I have painted, SYW British, Prussian and Austrians, but the French were the most complex; not difficult to paint, but complex regarding the proper uniform with its lacing, livery for the musicians, etc.

The last time a French King took to the field was during the War of the Austrian Succession (Battle of Fontenoy) which meant the Maison du Roi were present to guard the royal person.

Aside from the household cavalry and the Gendarmerie, came the heavy cavalry which comprised of the Royal regiments, Prince de sang regiments, Gentlemen regiments, German, Irish and other foreign regiments, numbering 70.

The Royal and Princely regiments remained fairly consistent until the reforms of 1762, while the remaining 45 regiments were subject to changes reflecting the appointment of a new “chef” or colonel. In addition to the entitlements, a member of the noble families could impose new patterns, trimming or banners.

My first SYW French army were based on which had the prettier flags, however, this time I focused on a historical order of battle, Hastenbeck.

The complete order of battle can be found at Kronoskaf.com, but here I will list the cavalry regiments currently completed or nearly completed.

Uniforms for the heavy cavalry could have coats of red, blue or white/iron grey. After 1762, the majority of cavalry regiments were clothed in blue uniforms.


Colonel Général Brigade
Colonel Général (3 sqns)
Clermont-Tonnerre (2 sqns)

Bourgogne Brigade
Bourgogne (2 sqns)
Bourbon-Busset (2 sqns)

Royal Cravate Brigade
Royal Cravate (2 sqns)
Noailles (2 sqns)
Charost (2 sqns)

Royal-Pologne Brigade
Royal-Pologne (2 sqns)
Harcourt (2 sqns)
Henrichemont (2 sqns)

du Roy Brigade
du Roy (2 sqns)
Rochefoucauld-Langeac (2 sqns)
Condé (2 sqns)

Cavalry Reserve under the Marquis de Poyanne
Royal-Carabiniers Brigade Maisne (2 sqns)
Royal-Carabiniers Brigade Saint-George (2 sqns)
Royal-Carabiniers Brigade Rosen (2 sqns)

Dragoons
Colonel Général Dragons (4 sqns)
Mestre de Camp Général Dragons (4 sqns)
Orléans Dragons (4 sqns)

Hussars
Bercheny Hussards (4 sqns)
Polleresky Hussards (4 sqns)


All regiments listed as having 2 squadrons are represented as one element and those with 4 squadrons, two elements. Senior cavalry regiments are listed first within each brigade and these will carry standards for ease of recognition.

After varnishing the last batch, these will be based and readied for flocking. The cavalry, dragoon and hussar standards I shall do at the end of next week along with the infantry flags, so I should have 72 elements done before Easter.

Cheers,