SYW Prussian Troop Review

Der Alte Fritz's Prussian Army for B.A.R. rules.

This afternoon I cleared off my game table in the Man Cave and set out all of my 30mm Seven Years War Prussians for a troop review. I had not had such a review in quite awhile, perhaps 2 years, and thought that it would be a good idea ahead of our next SYW BAR rules game in July. Secondly, one of my friends declared that having a troop review does wonders towards lifting one's spirits. Thirdly, does anyone really need to have a reason to hold a grand troop review?

You can see the whole army in the picture at the top of the page. It includes 12 battalions of infantry, 1 light jager battalion, 4 regiments of cuirassiers, 1 regiment of dragoons, and 2 regiments of hussars. In addition, I have an artillery battalion consisting of 3 large 12 pound Brummers, 3  medium 6 pounders, and 2 light 6 pound horse artillery guns.

At one time, I had as many as 20 battalions of infantry (maybe even 21) but these have been whittled down by the ongoing war with Gallia and The Imperium to a mere dozen line units plus the jagers. ( I divested IR1, IR7, IR8, IR13, IR25, IR35, 1/23 Grenadiers and the von Kliest Kroaten over the past several years). I guess that War really is Hell. Actually, I found that a dozen battalions or so were more than enough forces for me to game with, even on a 20ft long table with two parallel back tables. Now there have been some games during the interim, when we used over 20 battalions (of 60 figures each) in our three Large special games. In those instances, I was able to get the new owners of my old troops to bring them to the game and command the figures themselves. 

3 Cuirassier Regts (13 squadrons total)

The picture above depicts the cuirassier brigade of the right wing: CR13 Gardes du Corps (3sqds), CR10 Gensdarmes (5 sqds) and CR2 Prinz von Preussen (5 sqds). With two guard regiments, this brigade is the "elite of the elite". The figures used are from Elite Miniatures (CR13 and CR2) and Crusader Miniatres (CR10 - the regiment in the middle).

Cuirassiers, Dragoons & Hussars

The above picture depicts the mixed brigade of the left wing consisting of the CR8 Seydiltz Cuirassiers (Suren figures), The DR2 Krakow Dragoons (Suren figures), HR2 Zieten Hussars (Stadden figures) and HR5 von Reusch/Black Hussars (Stadden figures). There are also some Foundry dismounted Black Hussars to use when I choose to dismount the hussars and have them fight on foot.

Infantry Brigade von Saldern

The von Saldern infantry brigade is the elite brigade of the army, consisting of (from front to back) the IR15/III  Garde Btn. (Stadden), the IR6 Grenadier Garde Battalion (Suren), 19/26 Heyden Grenadier Battalion (Elite Miniatures) and IR19 Margraf Karl (Elite Miniatures).

Prinz Moritz infantry brigade

The Prinz Moritz infantry brigade is comprised of my own Potsdam Miniatures 30mm figures which I had commissioned a few years ago. The figures are done in a firing line with the front rank kneeling to receive cavalry, the second rank standing firing and the third rank at the ready. I usually have an officer at the end of the front rank, an NCO in the second rank, and the drummer in the third rank. The regiments are, front  to back, IR5 Alt Braunschweig, IR20 Bornstadt, IR18 Prinz von Preussen, and 5/20 Grenadier Battalion. All the flags in my army are from GMB Designs.

Infantry Brigade von Bevern

I sometimes call the von Bevern infantry brigade the "Old School" Brigade because it inclues some Surens, Staddens and RSM figures, plus a battalion of the new Minden Prussians. From front to back, we have IR24 von Schwerin (Suren), IR12 Alt Darmstadt (Stadden), IR34 Prinz Ferdinand (Minden) and IR42 Fusilier battalion (?) (RSM figures).

Artillery Battalion

Here you can see the Prussian artillery park with a battalion of heavy guns on the field. I have not found any decent 30mm Prussian artillery pieces, so I used the exquisitely detailed Elite Miniatures SYW French Valliere cannon in my Prussian army. I reason that the guns were captured from the French at Rossbach (and who is to argue with that?) and the carriages were repainted in Prussian Blue rather than French Red. The first three cannon on the left are the French 12-pounders from Elite. These are HUGE and so I use them as the heavy 12-pound Brummers that Frederick used at Leuthen. The Brummers were actually fortress guns borrowed from the Prussian fort at Glogau. The next four pieces are French 6-pounders. I use them largely as Prussian 6-pounders, but now I'm kind of thinking that they should be "Light" Prussian 12-pounders. The fourth gun is missing its limber, probably in another storage box with my British army, I would guess. Beyond that, we can barely glimpse the two 6-pound horse artillery guns (Berlin Zinnfiguren 6 pounders) manned by Hinchcliffe Horse Artillery crew.  All of the limbers and horses shown above are from RSM Miniatures. Finally, off in the distance, you can glimpse the Jager Battalion comprised of Perry AWI Hessian Jagers (these are wonderful figures), some Front Rank jagers and a couple other odds and sods mixed in for variety's sake.

In looking at the above, it is clear to me that I need to have some 3-pound regimental guns and crew, probably 1 or 2 of these per brigade of infantry. And I need to find that missing limber. The Brummer gun crew are all Stadden 30mm AWI artillery crewmen while the rest of the guns have Foundry Prussian crews. I might use the Foundry Prussian 12-pounder as my 3-pound regimental cannon as they look smaller in comparison to the large 30mm crew figures.

The infantry battalions look to be in pretty good shape. Nothing needed in the way of repairs or additions. Here and there, some of the cavalry regiments need some squadron standards so that every squadron has a standard. I will add four more Garde du Corps to bump this up from 44 to 48 figures. Finally, the Jagers need 12 more figures to bring the battalion up to 60 figures. I will use more Perry AWI Hessian Jagers for this assignment.

Well, that is the current state of my Prussian army for the Batailles de l'Ancien Regime ("BAR" for short) rules that our group uses. It is in relatively good shape, save for a few minor repairs here and there. I am confidant that they will perform well in their next battle in July.