Minden Miniatures Prussian Guards

IR15/II - musketeers of the second battalion of the Prussian Guard

I recently finished painting and basing a battalion of the second battalion of the Prussian Guard (musketeers in tricorn hats). The actual figures had been painted several months ago, but I was awaiting the arrival of the GMB Designs flags to finish the unit and do the basing and terraining. Flags arrived and were immediately affixed to their staffs and are now ready for service.

The figures are the Prussian Guard Musketeers that were added to the Minden SYW figure range in late 2019. I decided to change my basing system from 2 ranks on a 60mm wide by 40mm deep base to three ranks on a 60mm wide by 80mm deep base. The third rank consists of the officer, NCOs and drummers. The end stands have the drummer on the outside flank standing next to an NCO. The other stands have one officer or one NCO.

The figure configuration per stand is:

8/9/8/9/8 = 42 figures

The old system has six figures per stand on five stands = 30 figures.

View of the third rank of officers, NCOs and drummers.

I kind of stumbled into this basing concept when I decided to paint some AWI Hessians (in a firing line) as Austrian musketeers. I added Minden SYW drummers, officers, standard bearers and NCOs to the Hessian figures to make the unit look more "Minden-like". I used the conversion by paint method to turn the Hessians into Austrians.

Because the front rank of my firing line has the muskets in firing poses, I was a bit concerned about having the musket and bayonet extending over the front edge of the stand, thus making it susceptible to breakage from rough handling. So I decided to keep the same 60mm frontage, but double the depth from 40mm to 80mm. in order to provide the base depth that would protect the muskets and bayonets.

I immediately noticed that I had lots of extra real estate on the bigger stands, so this allowed me to do two new things to the battalion: cram at least 8 figures onto the stand instead of 6, and add a third rank of file closers. Each stand has a third rank of either drummers (only on the two end stands), NCOs or officers. Bigger stands and more figures means that the size of the battalion would suddenly increase from 30 figures to as much as 42 figures. I have the flexibility to remove one of the stands (8 or 9 figures) to reduce the size of the unit more in keeping with my existing battalions of 30 figures. If I removed an 8-figure stand, that reduces the strength from 42 figures to 34 figures. Using a 1:20 ratio, this results in a battalion of 680 men, which is closer to the theoretical strength of 720 men in a typical Prussian infantry battalion.

However, removing one stand leaves me with four stands, of which the command stand flags are now slightly off-center when the battalion is deployed into a line formation. My solution was to add a stand representing the 3-pound battalion gun and crew and place it on one of the flanks. This would give me a configuration of:

8/9/8F/9/battalion gun. 8F represents the command stand with the battalion's flags.

I prefer the symmetry of a battalion that has its flags in the center of the battalion frontage.

I like the new look and this will likely lead me to paint a whole new Prussian and Austrian army for the infantry service branch. I don't have to change the cavalry basing, but I will have to increase cavalry strengths from 24 to 36 figures, by adding 12 more figures per regiment.

And so I will end up with two Prussian infantry contingents and two Austrian infantry contingents; however I will likely sell off the old 30-figure battalions as I paint more 3-rank battalions. I have the one Prussian Guard battalion compared to six Austrian battalions already painted.

Here are several pictures that compare the new (three ranks) basing system versus my original (two ranks) basing system

New basing system (top) versus the original basing system (bottom).

The battalion frontages are the same, but the new system has the files much closer. There are 30 figures in the original battalion and 42 figures in the new battalion.

New system (left) has three ranks compared to two ranks for the original system (right).

A List of the Figures that I Painted in 2018

Vignette of Frederick the Great grabbing the flag of the von Bulow regiment at Zorndorf

Here is a list of all of the wargame units that I painted in 2018, all of which are Seven Years War figures. Click on the links to go to the blog post that covers each unit that I painted.

Los Rios (Austrian) 2 x 32 figure battalions   November 15, 2018
Lacy (Austrian) 2 x 32 figure battalions    October 12, 2018

The Austrian Musketeer regiment Lacy, showing a new basing style that I am contemplating.

Russian 4th Grenadiers 1 x 32  September 29, 2018
Perm Musketeers (Russian) 1 x 32   September 23, 2018

2nd South Carolina Regiment (AWI)   July 25, 2018

2nd South Carolina Regiment (AWI)

IR2 von Kanitz Musketeer Regt. (Prussian) 2 x 32 figure battalions   July 18, 2018
Manstein Grenadier Battalion (Prussian) 1 x 32 figure battalion  June 30, 2018

Manstein Grenadier Battalion

Von Kanitz Musketeers

Observation Corps Grenadiers (Russian)   May 21, 2018

Observation Corps Grenadiers

IR46 von Bulow Fusilier Regt. (Prussian) 2 x 32 figure battalions May 12, 2018  and June 8, 2018 
IR35 Prinz Heinrich Fusiliers (Prussian) 2 x 32 figure battalions    May 4, 2018
Jung Sydow Garrison Battalion (Prussian) 1 x 32 figure battalion   April 30, 2018

Von Bulow Fusiliers

Observation Corps 5th Musketeers (Russian) 1 x 32 figure battalion  January 30, 2018
Permski Regiment (Russian) 1 x 32 figure battalion January 14, 2018 
Narva Regiment (Russian) 1 x 32 figure battalion  January 6, 2018

Russian Observation Corps Musketeers

I also painted 4 Russian artillery pieces, each with 4 crew plus limber teams of 4 horses, 1 rider and 1 limber. Here

Russian artillery battery with limber teams

If my math is correct, the total number of figures painted in 2018 was 652 figures. There are probably more than that if I include some vignettes that I made and some samples that I painted for the Fife & Drum on-line webstore and catalog.

Now in some of these instances, I posted the date when I flagged and based both battalions of a Prussian or Austrian battalion. So for example, the IR2 von Kanitz Musketeer Regiment indicates 2 x 32 battalions = 64 figures. I did not paint all 64 figures at one time, but rather, over the course of several weeks. My painting pace is approximately one unit of 32 figures per week, although I do not paint every week. I wish!

Austrian Battalion Organization (32/40/48 figures)

Austrian regiment Lacy with two 32-figure battalions

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I completed the second 32-figure battalion of the Austrian Regiment Lacy the other day. The regiment has two battalions of 32 figures all in the firing line pose. The extended muskets necessitated the use of a deeper base of 80mm with a frontage of 60mm. Usually I use a 40mm deep by 60mm wide base for my figures.

The extra depth on the stand protects the leveled muskets, but it also has the bonus of providing more area on the base to add grass, shrubs or battlefield debris to tart up the stand of figures a little bit.

Here are both battalions of Regiment Lacy deployed side by side in a single line.

Just for the fun of it, I pushed some of the stands together to see what the Austrian battalion would look like with either 32-figures on four stands, 40-figures on five stands, and 48-figures on six stands. I must say that I am rather taken with the 40 figure battalion on a symetrical looking five stands. I could use this organization also for the marching pose figures. In this instance, I could use the same 80mm depth and have room for two lines of marching figures and then a third line of file closers such as the NCOs and drummers. That would look very nifty, in my opinion.

What do you think? Please leave a comment in the comment box so that I can guage the opinion on a different organization.

Here is what the battalion would look like with 40 figures.

Here is what the battalion would look like with 48 figures.

Below is a picture of one of the display shelves at the entrance to my wargame room. Among the items shown are the HMS Beagle model, a 1930s radio with bakelite case and several paintings by Chris Gregg (pen and ink on the lower shelf and oil paint on the picture on the wall).

One of the display shelves in my wargame room

I am really giving consideration to building two new Austrian and Prussian armies in the 40-figure organization on the deeper bases. I know that it is crazy to have three different basing formats for my SYW armies, but then I'm retired and have a lot of time to paint figures if I so wish.

My basic armies of Austrians and Prussians are 30 figures on five 40mm x 60mm stands.

My Russian and Pommerian Corps Prussians have 32 figures on four stands.

I could end up building new Austrian and Prussian battalions in the 40-figure organization on five stands.

I can keep my same cavalry figures (2 horse per 2x2 inch squares and 24 figure regiments), but perhaps would have to add another dozen figures to the regiments to keep them proportional to the larger infantry battalions.

Good Gawd, what fun!

Austrian Firing Line & Other Things

Austrian Regiment Lacy Firing Line

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I completed the basing of the Austrian firing line that I posted HERE several days ago and thought that I would show off the unit with its finished bases. I think that the battalion Lacy turned out rather nicely.

As you may recall, I used the Fife & Drum AWI Hessian musketeers in firing line poses for the figures and simply painted them with Austrian white coats and red facings. Then I finished them off with flags from GMB Designs.

Side view of the battalion

Prussian Gohr (11/14) Grenadiers Work in Progress

Grenadiers from the IR11 von Below Prussian regiment.

More of the von Below grenadiers

My next project on the painting table is one of the Prussian grenadier battalions that served in the East Prussia and Pommerian areas of the Prussian realm. I have completed the 16 grenadiers for half of the battalion - IR11 von Below. I have started the grenadiers from IR14 von Lehwaldt which comprise the other half of the battalion.

I should have these done by next week.

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Ewald von Kleist & IR55

The death of Ewald von Kleist by the hands of Cossacks at the Battle of Kunersdorf in August 1759

Ewald Christian von Kleist(1715 - 1759) was considered the "poet of the Prussian army" and one of the small  cadre of literary men in the officer corps during the late 1750s. You can read his Wikipedia biography by clicking the link below:

Ewald Christian von Kleist Biography

Ewald Christian von Kleist

Ewald von Kleist was a major in the Hauss fusilier regiment (IR55), which was one of the few Saxon regiments , from the mass forced conscription of all Saxon regiments captured at Pirna in 1756, that remained in service. Christopher Duffy describes the regiment as a fusilier regiment wearing fusilier mitres. Kronoskaf illustrates the uniform with a tricorn hat rather than a fusilier mitre.

Colonel's flag of the Hauss regiment - Kronoskaf

IR55 Hauss fusilier regiment uniform - Kronoskaf

Regimental flag of Hauss regiment - Kronoskaf

He died from wounds received at the battle of Kunersdorf (actually some ten days after the battle) and Alfred Rambaud (The Russians and Prussians in the Seven Years War, translated by George Nafziger, 2013).

Among the Prussian officers who fell at Kunersdorf, was one who was mourned in all of Europe's newspapers: it was Ewald von Kleist, major of the Hausen Regiment (IR55), the poet who wrote "Printemps", the author of so many other energetic and gracious pieces. Kleist, aged 44, found a glorious and cruel death. Frederick had drawn this regiment from the army of Prince Henry (serving in Saxony). With Finck's infantry he attacked the Russian positions. He already had a dozen contusions and two fingers  of his right hand were cut. His saber in hand, he charged an Austrian battalion and received a ball in his left hand. Taking  his saber from his mutilated right hand, he continued to fight. A canister shot broke his right arm and knocked him from his horse.

Two of his soldiers carried him to the ambulance, where a surgeon began the necessary amputations. The surgeon was killed by a ball. Some Cossacks came up, robbed him, took his hat, his wig, his shirt. They would have killed him had he not spoken to them in Polish. Taking him for a Pole, they contented themselves with throwing him naked into the swamp. During the night he was saved by some Russian hussars, who dried him off, gave him an old coat and a hat; they warmed him at a camp fire, giving him some bread and water. One of them offered Kleist an 8 Groschen piece, and he refused it.

The Cossacks returned, taking from him everything the hussars had given him. The next morning a Russian officer named Stackelberg, a cavalry captain, found him and had him taken to Frankfurt. Professor Nicolai received him at his house and cared for him. A number of Russian officers came to visit Kleist and offer their services. However, the care arrived too late and on August 24, 12 days after the battle, Kleist died of his wounds. The Russian commander of Frankfurt, Chettnov, rendered him military honors. The body was carried by a dozen grenadiers and the funeral procession was followed by the principal officers of the garrison.

It is obvious that Ewald von Kleist was well-known throughout Europe for his poetry and other literary works, noting the extraordinary care and attention that he received after the battle.

I find the von Kleist story very interesting and having some background on the person makes his regiment more interesting to me. As a consequence, I plan on painting the regiment and adding it to my Prussian Pomeranian Corps army. I note that the uniform has the Swedish cuffs rather than the smaller Prussian style cuffs, so this should add some variety to the uniforms in my army.

Von Kanitz Regiment Completed

The second battalion of IR2 von Kanitz
(one stand of 8 figures has been removed from the picture in order to get a close up view of the battalion).

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Today the second battalion of IR2 von Kanitz musketeer regiment went into service in my Pomeranian Corps of Prussian troops.

The flags were painted by hand using the Kronoskaf flag for the regiment as a template.

Flags for the second battalion of IR2

Here is a picture of the completed regiment von Kanitz with both battalions:

IR2 von Kanitz musketeer regiment. Prussian regiments had two battalions.

I use 32-figure battalions in my new organization for the Pomeranian Corps and I paint both battalions of a regiment. This gives me a complete regiment of 64 figures. Just for grins, I borrowed an extra 8-figure stand from the first battalion and placed it in the second battalion in order to see what a 40-figure battalion might look like. The reason for this would be to give the unit an better appearance of "balance" with a flag stand in the center and two stands on each side of it.

Here is what a 40-figure battalion looks like:

This is what the battalion would look like with 40 figures.

Here is a picture of my standard 32-figure battalion on four stands. It is sort of out of balance since the command stand is a little off center. However, my current solution is to attach a battalion gun stand to the left side of the battalion to give it that 5 stand balance.

My standard 32-figure battalion organization

Which battalion organization looks better to you? Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page. I would like to hear your opinions.

von Kanitz Musketeer Regiment

IR2 - von Kanitz musketeer regiment. Minden Miniatures and GMB Designs flags.

I have finished painting and basing the first battalion of the Prussian von Kanitz (IR2) musketeer regiment in Prussian service. The regiment will be part of my Pomeranian Corps army that will fight the Russians in tabletop battles. I am starting work on the second battalion today and should have it finished within a week's time.

The figures are Minden Miniatures Prussian musketeers with Prussian cuffs.

A close up photo of the command stand and some rank and file soldiers.

Frederick the Great had a very low opinion of the East Prussian regiments in his army, however, he considered the von Kanitz regiment as one of the better fighting units in his army. However, the regiment was rather unlucky, suffering high losses in a number of battles against the Russians.

You can learn more about the regiment by clicking on the link below, which takes you to the Kronoskaf web site

Kronoskaf history of von Kanitz Regiment

The regiment fought in Lehwald's army at Gross Jagersdorf and suffered heavy losses. It also fought at Zorndorf, Paltzig and finally at Kunersdorf. The Kunersdorf losses were so great that the regiment was reduced to a single battalion. Since the regiment's recruiting grounds in East Prussia were occupied by the Russian army, the von Kanitz regiment could not replenish its losses after Kunersdorf.

The battalion was then captured by the Austrians at Meissen, where it was part of Diericke's small force that got stranded on the wrong side of the Elbe River. With nowhere to retreat, the whole command surrendered. The regiment was reraised in 1760 with unfortunates who were press-ganged into the Prussian army.

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Fritz Grabs the Colours at Zorndorf - A Vignette

King Frederick II of Prussia, after Carl Rochling (picture shown on the book cover above)

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Over the past week or so I have been working on the famous Carl Rochling vignette of Frederick the Great grabbing the colours of the von Bulow Regiment (IR46) at Zorndorf. If you are an enthusiast of the Seven Years War then you are probably familiar with the painting.

The vignette stands in front of the painting as shown on the cover
of the Osprey book about the Zorndorf Campaign of 1758

The vignette created from converted Minden Miniatures

The rear view showing the "battlefield debris" of sorts.

A side view. The casualty is also a Minden figure and the drum is
one of the "master" equipment bits that is used to make new drummer figures.

Another front view showing the conversion of the fusilier NCO figure.

How I Converted the Minden Figures for the Vignette

The pictures below illustrate the figures used and the process by which I created the the two figures of Frederick and the Fusilier officer from Minden Miniatures figures for my vignette.

I started with the Prussian fusilier NCO figure and made a small cut underneath the left foot so that I could push it flat to the ground. The right foot was cut from the base and a small saw cut was made behind the knee so that I could bend the leg back a little bit. The back right foot will actually be raised off the ground more than is shown in the picture in order to create a natural walking stride.

The Prussian officer holding a sword was used for my Frederick figure because the figure is already holding a sword in the right hand, per the Rochling picture. I drilled a hole in the left hand so that the flag pole will fit in it. Ideally I would have lopped off the left arm at the elbow and made a new arm, raised a little bit higher, with greenstuff epoxy putty. I am not a figure sculptor so I had to make do pretty much with what was available.

I then filed off the lapels and gorget of the officer and used more epoxy putty to button over the lapels of the coat. I added a little bit more putty to the front skirt of the coat so that it would close more towards the center of the figure. I probably could have closed up the lower part of the coat below the waist a bit more.

Finally, a new officer's sash was built up with putty, front and back of the figure. Frederick usually wore his sash outside of his coat rather than underneath the coat.

On the left, the fusilier NCO figure and on the right, the Prussian officer with sword.

Side view of the fusilier illustrating the change in the legs and the repositioning of the head.
The officer figure has a new sash around the waist on the outside of the coat, rather than being worn inside the coat.

Eventually, the base of the fusilier figure broke off, having been weakened by the cuts to the base, so I had to make a new base for the figure. I drilled a hole into the left foot and inserted a flat head tack or nail into it as a pin. The flat head of the pin provided enough extra flat metal to allow me to build up a new base with putty. The new base was not particularly pretty, but you won't be able to see it once the figure is painted and based onto the stand.

You can see how the fusilier NCO's head has been removed and then repositioned so that it is looking to the right rather than straight ahead. Its legs have been altered so that the left leg is now on the ground, rather than raised; the opposite is true for the right leg with the foot off the ground rather than on the ground.

It All Comes Together Now

Now it's time to take a test pose to see how both of the figures fit together. The fusilier is now looking to his right at Frederick. The fusilier's base still needs to be flattened out a little so that there is more rise of the heel off of the ground. Frederick looks pretty good by now. I did a test of the flag by taking a flag that was already made up - this being a Saxon flag that Mark Allen painted for me several years ago for a Saxon Project that is waiting in the wings. 

A front view illustrating the conversion of the officer figure into Frederick holding the colours

A Word About Saxons

I should point out that Crann Tara Miniatures is about to release a range of Saxons in the Pirna era uniforms. In the event that you can't wait for the official Saxons, then the Minden Prussian infantry with the Swedish cuffs are a near perfect substitute for early Saxons, noting that their grenadiers wore a Prussian style mitre, truth be told.

At any rate, my delay in launching my Saxon army has been fortunate because now I can use the new Crann Tara Saxons, but I will still use some Minden figures, the cavalry in particular, for my Saxon army in the future.

Let's Get Back to the Vignette Story

Everything seems to fit into place and work nicely. I finished off the stand with a Minden casualty figure and added a drum for battlefield debris effect. So now it was time to paint the elements.

A side view of the Frederick conversion. A Saxon flag painted by Mark Allen
is held by Frederick, temporarily, to show how the figure will hold the Prussian flag.

The painting of the figures was relatively easy. I purposely made Frederick's eyes a little bit "bug eyed" to give him that steely resolve that Carl Rochling captured so well. Frederick is definitely starring intensely at the enemy to his front.

I have talked about the von Bulow flag in a previous post on this blog HERE which you can check out for more details. Basically, I use the Kronoskaf flags Kronoskaf as a template over which I repaint the entire flag.

So here is a picture of the finished vignette:

The finished vignette with the hand-painted flag (using a Kronoskaf image as a template). A casualty and a spare drum are placed on the stand to embellish the overall look.

How I Base My Figure Stands

The base was made using my usual basing technique. I use Red Devil Premixed Spackle compound (i.e. wallboard paste) and mix some brown acrylic paint into the one quart container, using a little bit of water to thin out the mix. Then I trowel the brown spackle onto the base and around the figures. If you accidentally get some spackle onto the figure, then take an old paint brush, dip it in water, and then brush the spackle off the figure. Spackle turns highly runny when it comes into contact with water, so it is easy to "wash it off" with water.

Next I dip the base, while the spackle is still wet, into a tub of extra fine railroad ballast that you can purchase from any model shop. Wargame products companies such as Gale Force 9 and a few others also sell small plastic jars of the ballast. I let the stand dry for about 4 to 8 hours, though it actually begins to harden within an hour. The reason for waiting is to give the spackle more time to set and to make it less subject to the effect of apply damp paint to the base.

I use Geo Hex Brown paint, dip my large brush into the pot, and then "stipple" the paint onto the base, leaving some of the original gravel color showing. Stippling is when you put paint on the brush and sort of punch it downwards onto the canvas, or in this case, the terrained base.

Next I glue on some tufts (grass and some field flowers) onto the base with white glue and let the glue dry before applying the static grass. Dab some white glue on the places where you want the static grass to be, but leave some bare patches of gravel for greater effect. It always brings a tear to my eye whenever I see someone apply the entire base with static grass - it just don't look good!

Sprinkle the static grass by hand over the base, applying extra grass, and then turn the stand upside down and give it a good shake. I also tap the back of the base with my index finger to shake off the excess static grass. Now turn the base upright - pucker up and just blow across the topside of the base so that the static grass will stand up. You will still see some of the white glue showing through the grass at this point, but let the glue dry for awhile and the white disappears.

von Bulow Regiment - Minden Miniatures

The von Bulow regiment, second battalion actually, is shown below. I just finished painting and basing the unit a couple of days ago. Frederick would be proud to lead these fellows into battle I think.

The second battalion of the von Bulow Fusilier Regiment

The full battalion of 32 figures. Minden Miniatures and Kronoskaf pattern flags.