My First SYW Brunswickers

[RMD]

My Brunswickers take the story of your Brunswickers into the AWI, and then on through the Napoleonic era. Splendid chaps - you've done them proud.

Cheers Baron! Yes, it's just occurred to me that this is now my fourth Brunswick army, as I've got them for the SYW, AWI, Peninsular War & 1815 (and I did the 1815 army twice). I'll have to get a 1789-1806 army and the 1809 Legion to complete the set...

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Blimey, I didn't realise you were so invested in them - I would have come to you for advice. I started with the 1815 bunch @ 1:20 in 15mm (Minifigs 2nd Gen - the nice ones!) back in the mid-/late-1970s, but my younger siblings trashed the collection and I had to get rid of what survived. I assume yours are all 15mm? The problem is that if you want the less popular versions you need to go to the slightly less functional ranges (eg Steve Barber for a complete 1809 set - they aren't good, especially when you think that two individuals commissioned them privately - I'd have been gutted if it had been my money, frankly). Alan Perry has started doing an 1809 range, and I'm gently nudging him into expanding his Brunswick stable - there's a big article about to appear on his website - end of the month maybe - for the 1815 contingent that busts lots of myths, and I'm working on a part 2 for next year covering the 1809 and Peninsula stuff. Plus I've just put some Sharp Practice stats up on their website for all three post-1806 iterations.

Any pics of your other "Men In Black"/"Boys in Blue"?

[RMD]

Blimey, I didn't realise you were so invested in them - I would have come to you for advice. I started with the 1815 bunch @ 1:20 in 15mm (Minifigs 2nd Gen - the nice ones!) back in the mid-/late-1970s, but my younger siblings trashed the collection and I had to get rid of what survived. I assume yours are all 15mm? The problem is that if you want the less popular versions you need to go to the slightly less functional ranges (eg Steve Barber for a complete 1809 set - they aren't good, especially when you think that two individuals commissioned them privately - I'd have been gutted if it had been my money, frankly). Alan Perry has started doing an 1809 range, and I'm gently nudging him into expanding his Brunswick stable - there's a big article about to appear on his website - end of the month maybe - for the 1815 contingent that busts lots of myths, and I'm working on a part 2 for next year covering the 1809 and Peninsula stuff. Plus I've just put some Sharp Practice stats up on their website for all three post-1806 iterations.

Any pics of your other "Men In Black"/"Boys in Blue"?

My apologies, I was getting my AWI Hessians mixed up with Brunswickers... I'd always intended to do AWI Brunswickers, but they're still languishing in the lead dungeon.

I did the 1815 bunch in 15mm (AB Figures) at 1:100 ratio for Napoleon's Battles during the 90s. Then I did the Oels Jaeger (including the rifles) at 1:20 for our AB Figures Fuentes de Onoro Wargames Weekend in 2001, then did the 1815 bunch AGAIN, though this time at 1:20 ratio for the 2002 Waterloo mega-game at the National Army Museum. I swapped those with Dave Brown about 10 years ago, for a load of Hanoverians I'd sold to him at the South Mimms weekend (and subsequently regretted selling). Most recently, I added the Duke and his staff when AB finally produced them: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2020/05/05/ ... orcements/

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Good grief - my memory is really going. Not only had I seen that post before - I had even commented on it!!! Btw, another country where silver outranks gold is Bavaria - the 1st Line Infantry (Archduke's, later King's) had silver officers' lace/accoutrements, but the 2nd (Crown Prince) had gold.

One thing I can advise you on now that I didn't know back then is that Brunswick AdCs ("flugeladjutanten") had light blue breeches. Also, if you wanted to add some "field security" to your command bases, they had a "polizei commando" of 17 personnel, all ranking as sergeants except for one officer. Uniform was as for the hussars but with red facings and a white horsehair plume - quite natty!

I believe that the AWI Brunswickers all had Swedish cuffs and apparently nobody does "Hessians" with those - apparently it was one of the OFM's little additions to the old Eureka "100 Club" listing. Or was it the "300 Club"? It was for 28mm either way.

[RMD]

Good grief - my memory is really going. Not only had I seen that post before - I had even commented on it!!! Btw, another country where silver outranks gold is Bavaria - the 1st Line Infantry (Archduke's, later King's) had silver officers' lace/accoutrements, but the 2nd (Crown Prince) had gold.

One thing I can advise you on now that I didn't know back then is that Brunswick AdCs ("flugeladjutanten") had light blue breeches. Also, if you wanted to add some "field security" to your command bases, they had a "polizei commando" of 17 personnel, all ranking as sergeants except for one officer. Uniform was as for the hussars but with red facings and a white horsehair plume - quite natty!

I believe that the AWI Brunswickers all had Swedish cuffs and apparently nobody does "Hessians" with those - apparently it was one of the OFM's little additions to the old Eureka "100 Club" listing. Or was it the "300 Club"? It was for 28mm either way.

Well I didn't remember that you'd replied to it...

Interesting info re the extra Brunswickers, but I think I'm done now.

Re silver outranking gold; of course the bleedin' obvious example is the US Army! 2nd Lts' bars are gold, while 1st Lts' are silver. Similarly a Major's oakleaf cluster is gold, while a Lt Col's is silver.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Ah, I didn't know that, having only seen anodised USMC insignia during my BAe days!

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Whilst we're discussing Brunswickers ancient and modern, do you have any info on what (if any) was the "traditional" colour of the woodwork on their vehicles was? I know that the 1809 guns were ex-Austrian and thus ochre, and the 1815 ordnance was "supplied" by the French and their allies, and thus "Gribeau Green", but what colour would they have been historically, and particularly the baggage/ammo vehicles of the infantry and cavalry?

[RMD]

Nope. There was a discussion on the Napoleon Series about the colours during the 1790s-1806 and someone there produced evidence to say it was blue, but that's all I've ever seen on the topic.

Heraldic colours were fairly common (yellow with black ironwork for Imperial Austria, black with yellow ironwork for Saxony, white with red ironwork and spokes for Hesse, light blue with yellow ironwork for Sweden, red for Hanover, light blue for France...), so light blue is a reasonable choice from a heraldic point of view (with yellow ironwork if you're feeling fancy).

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Thanks - it's a bit of a dead end isn't it? I'm currently looking at 1815 vehicles and was looking at mid-blue for anything donated by Prussia and light grey for anything from Britain. A couple of people on other fora have also suggested light blue from the Prussian connection, so.......

[RMD]

Thanks - it's a bit of a dead end isn't it? I'm currently looking at 1815 vehicles and was looking at mid-blue for anything donated by Prussia and light grey for anything from Britain. A couple of people on other fora have also suggested light blue from the Prussian connection, so.......

Yeah, I'm sure someone would have found the answer by now if it was anywhere to be found. I think the main problem is that the Brunswick artillery corps was so small, only supplying infantry regiments with their regimental artillery and garrisons with their gunners.