Coming soon...

A hussar of Prussian regiment no.2 von Zieten. I know not many people wanted a new hussar (or hussars, as there are great differences in detail amongst SYW hussar uniforms) but I thought I'd please myself for a change (and the very few others who were also interested). :-)



The illustration above from the NYPL Digital Gallery shows the uniform of the 2nd with a hussar on the left and an officer on the right. It's a fiddly uniform to do so will take a while to finish but I now feel somewhat embarrassed by the relative crudeness of the generic hussar I first did so very rapidly. Little did I then suspect that I'd be turning out so many SYW templates in the next few months.

British in India 1 - Private, East India Company European Infantry

This is a typical uniform of the East India Company's Bengal, Madras and Bombay European infantry regiments.

Standard features were a red coat and black tricorne with white lace.

Arquebusier de Grassin - pre-SYW, variant 1

I thought I might as well do a variant with buttons on the left side of the coat and with a side pocket so here it is. The pocket is also edged with white fur.

This template is very similar to the Eureka figures.

Arquebusier de Grassin - pre-SYW

This was done as a request for a wargamer painting a battalion of Eureka Arquebusiers de Grassins and even though it's not strictly a SYW uniform I thought others might like it. I find it visually a rather strange and somewhat unsatisfying uniform, with its hussar mirliton and fur edged coat. If anyone has a detailed picture of the inscription on the brass plate on the mirliton, I'd like to see it, please, so I can improve the detail; I had to work from a rather small image to do this initial version. Some illustrations show buttons on the left side of the coat, some do not; some also show a side pocket but again many do not. If anyone has definitive evidence on these features, I would be pleased to know of it. Until then, I've left them off the template, although I know the Eureka figure has both.

Raised in 1744, the Arquebusiers were incorporated into the Volontaires de Flandres in 1749. Initially it was a large unit, with 900 fusiliers, 100 grenadiers and 300 cavalry. The coat was blue with a white fur edging; cuffs black also with white fur; red collar and waistcoat; brass buttons; blue breeches; grey (or black) gaiters; red hussar cap edged blue, with a brass plate, white plume and red and blue cockade. The cavalry had a very similar uniform to the infantry.

French in India 4 - Sepoy of Nellore District 1750-55

Although most French sepoys wore native dress, some wore European-style uniform jackets. The Nellore company wore a yellow coat with green collar, lapels, cuffs and buttons. Sash, trousers and hat were native garb in white.

French in India 3 - Fusilier of Company of Topas, Bussy's Army 1753-4

Another slightly pre-SYW uniform, this was worn by some Indo-Portuguese Portuguese-speaking Christian troops who wore a pink or "buffish pink" uniform with red facings and red buttons. Gaiters were white. Pink hat with red rim, white tassel and white fleur-de-lis. These troops were considered excellent auxiliaries to European troops.

Grenadier, Brunswick Line Infantry

Grenadier, Brunswick Leib Regiment

David Morier's paintings of the late 1740s-early 1750s suggest that Brunswick grenadiers all wore virtually the same pattern of grenadier cap, which was rather different from that worn in the American War of Independence. The cap was something of a hybrid, with a central metal plate in yellow or white metal and the coloured bag showing through around the edges and through gaps in the plate.

Musketeer, Brunswick Line Infantry

Brunswick was a fairly poor state and its uniforms were correspondingly simple, in the Prussian style. The coat was dark blue with lapels, cuffs, collar and turnbacks in the regimental colour.Waistcoat, shirt and breeches were white, with black gaiters.

Musketeer, Brunswick Leib Regiment

This is a diversion back to SYW Europe, prompted by Ed's blog of coloured versions of my templates; we couldn't have Prussian uniforms masquerading as Brunswickers, could we? ;-) I'll do the Brunswick grenadier cap shortly.

The two versions shown here are variants from a) Preben Kannik, "Uniforms of the World In Colour" and b) Pengel and Hurt, "German States Supplement".

Musings on Sepoy uniforms (or otherwise)

It seems that there is next to no evidence of what British sepoys were wearing in the SYW and only very conjectural and imaginative reconstructions exist. What I have seen so far of those doesn't clearly show me a side and rear view so I can't be sure of the (imagined) pocket flap pattern or the nature of the coat tails. And then it appears that most of the 10,000 French sepoys wore native dress, not uniform, and I don't have a really detailed all-round view of what that was like either. Not a good start, all in all! So unless someone can point me at or provide me with good material on either or both, I think I may have to duck this one and stick to the dress of Europeans in India.

Oh to return to the relatively straightforward mess of European uniform regulations. ;-)

French in India 2 - Infantry of Kerjean's Volunteers, Bussy's Army

This is a slightly pre-SYW uniform, around 1751, but similar uniforms in different colours were worn in the succeeding years up to the end of the war. These infantry had red coat and breeches, green lapels and cuffs, red cap with a green turned-up rim, white fleur de lis with the motto Pericula Ludus ["Peril is my amusement"!] on a scroll below and a white or silver tassel, and white gaiters.

French in India 1 - Grenadier of Kerjean's Volunteers, Bussy's Army

General Bussy's army operated in Central India and had grenadiers, volunteers, dragoons, horse grenadiers and artillery, raised locally.The fur cap had a blue bag with white lace, the coat was light to mid-blue (my sources vary) with red lapels and cuffs, the breeches were also blue and the buttons were pewter. The gaiters were white.

Swedish Infantry - Musketeer

Before launching into the 6 or so SYW in India templates I've planned I thought I'd do something nicely simple and a bit different.

The Swedish army wore a rather old fashioned, very standardised uniform in this period. The basic uniform for the majority of infantry units was dark blue with collar, swedish cuffs, waistcoat, breeches and turnbacks in yellow. White stockings were still worn, although black gaiters were slowly being introduced. The button holes had a very narrow strip of yellow lace. Buttons were tin. The black tricorne was laced white.

8th Reichsarmee Template - Dragoon of the Württemberg Dragoons (Swabian Circle)

And here is the last of the Reichsarmee Templates for now. This regiment put up a surprisingly tough fight against the Prussian cavalry attack at Rossbach, despite being attacked by Austrian hussars on their own side when they were mistaken for Prussian dragoons (their uniform was very similar to that of the Prussians, being mid-blue with black facings).

The shabraque and the lace on the uniform were very fiddly to draw, as I thought. The lace at this scale is only an approximation of the real detail, which was very like the pattern on the shabraque.

Coming shortly

Next, during the coming week, will be the last Reichsarmee template for the moment, a dragoon of the Württemberg Dragoon Regiment which, despite being composed of 22 separate contingents, managed to distinguish itself at Rossbach. The shabraque on this one promises to be fiddly and time-consuming, as it has one of those irritating wavy patterns on the border rather like those of the Prussian heavy cavalry. Ah well...

After that I'll do a few of the SYW in India templates, possibly followed by some Swedes. I'd also like to do a Bosniak and some hussars (even though no-one else seems very keen on them! ;-)). [Sorry - that should be very few people as a few people did vote for the hussar in previous polls, so I do owe them a hussar anyway. As I want one myself, that will be a definite hussar coming soon; but of which nation, I haven't yet decided.]

If anyone has a desperate need or desire for a particular template, leave a comment and I'll see what can be done.

Watch this space!

7th Reichsarmee Template - Grenadier of the Kurbayern Infantry Regiment (Bavarian Circle)

Although some sources suggest the Bavarian grenadiers had plates on their fur caps in the mid-18th century, Martin Lange in Pengel and Hurt's Bavaria, Saxony and Palatinate Supplement argues convincingly that the primary evidence shows they did not. He also argues that all grenadiers had red bags on the cap, with piping in the button colour, and that the bags were therefore not in the uniform facing colour.

6th Reichsarmee Template - Musketeer of the Kurbayern Infantry Regiment (Bavarian Circle)

Kurbayern was a composite regiment of regular Bavarian infantry; it consisted of the 1st Battalion and Grenadier company of Infantry Regiment Von Holnstein and the 1st and 2nd Battalions and Grenadier company of Infantry Regiment Von Pechmann. Both wore the uniforms of their parent regiments, Pechmann in blue with straw facings and Holnstein with red facings. As this template is not coloured, I can leave the vexed question of the actual shade of blue of Bavarian infantry uniforms to others! Soubise rated this regiment as "good".

The unit was busy in the SYW and was present at Dresden 1759, Meissen 1759, Torgau 1760 and Freiberg 1762, as well as other actions.

5th Reichsarmee Template - Grenadier of the Mainz Infantry Regiment Wildenstein (Circle of the Elector Rhine)

The cap of the grenadiers was of brown fur with a green bag piped with yellow lace and a yellow tassel. The plate with its grenade badge was in yellow metal, like the uniform's buttons, but the grenade was white metal.

4th Reichsarmee Template - Musketeer of the Salzburg Infantry Regiment (Bavarian Circle)

Rated as "good" by Soubise, Salzburg was raised in the Bishopric of that name and consisted largely of Catholics. The uniform was Austrian-style, in white with red facings. It spent much of the war in the kleine krieg but was in the line of battle at Freiberg in 1762.

3rd Reichsarmee Template - Musketeer of the Mainz Infantry Regiment Wildenstein (Circle of the Elector Rhine)

Wildenstein was a 4 battalion regiment, rated as "good" by Soubise. The uniform was in the Austrian style, white with green facings and waistcoat. Grenadiers also wore an Austrian-style bearskin.

2nd Reichsarmee Template - Musketeer of the Münster Regiments Nagel and Elberfeld (Westphalian Circle)

Colour template added 05.05.09.

Both these single battalion regiments may have worn the same Prussian-style uniform, dark blue with red facings, except possibly for the button colour. However, one source suggests that Elberfeld (or Elverfeldt) may have had white facings - collar, lapels, cuffs and turnbacks - with brass buttons (see Kronoskaf for discussion). The above colour template may therefore show the dress of both or only one of the battalions.

They were rated as "good" by Soubise. Both were apparently captured in 1759 while serving against Prince Henry's army.

4th French Foreign Infantry Regiment - Fusilier of Irish Regiment Bulkeley

A single battalion regiment created in 1690, Bulkeley served mostly on coastal guard duties from the beginning of the SYW until 1760 but then fought in Germany until the end of the war and was present at various engagements including Warburg 1760 and Marburg and Vellinghausen 1761.

This illustrates a variant of the French uniform with coloured lace on the buttonholes but without lapels.

3rd French Foreign Infantry Template - Fusilier of the German Regiment Alsace

A very old regiment, raised in 1656, Alsace saw much action in the SYW, and was present at Hastenbeck 1757, Cassel 1758, Bergen and Minden 1759, and Warburg 1760, to name only the most famous actions.

It was one of the first regiments to wear lapels, in the very narrow form shown here.

8th French Infantry Template - Grenadier of the Grenadiers de France

Well, it's not a Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier or a French German Regiment infantryman (they'll be along shortly) but it is another French infantry uniform, illustrating a more modern style of French uniform with lapels.

Created in 1749 from the grenadier companies of infantry regiments disbanded after the War of the Austrian Succession, the Grenadiers de France had a busy SYW. At Minden, a British eyewitness called them "as fierce and terrible looking fellows as I ever saw".