The Loose Association of Wargamers

I would like to add a battalion gun to my Saxons in French service.
Kronoskaf tells me what the gunners wore but not the colour of the gun carriage.
Does anyone here know? I'm wondering if, supplied by the French, they were in French blue but I'm not sure.

donald

'Nobody knows' is the quick answer. As you say, they were supplied by the French, so could have remained in the original blue, but the Saxons seem to have been very quick off the mark in sourcing new uniforms and flags, so I don't see why a slap of black paint (and yellow for the metal work) would have been so difficult for them to achieve. Mine will certainly be in Saxon colours, once I get around to painting them.

It may be difficult to get hold of now, especially "Dahnundah", but if you can get hold of this, via your public library inter-loan service, it should give you the answers you are looking for:

Summerfield, Stephen. Saxon Artillery: 1733-1827. Nottingham, UK: Partizan Press, 2009.

BaronVonWreckedoften wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 1:45 pm It may be difficult to get hold of now, especially "Dahnundah", but if you can get hold of this, via your public library inter-loan service, it should give you the answers you are looking for:

Summerfield, Stephen. Saxon Artillery: 1733-1827. Nottingham, UK: Partizan Press, 2009.

I don't think it does. I've not read it, but Stephen is on a couple of the same groups as me and when the subject (inevitably) comes up, he's said 'Nobody knows'.

It's a similar story with the Hanoverian and Schaumburg-Lippe carriages given to Hesse-Cassel after the loss of Cassel (or indeed the ex-French carriages employed by the Netherlands and Brunswick in 1815). Nobody knows.

This might help, I sure Charles won't mind me sharing these from his refighting history vol 10.
Buy it tons of info on the Saxons.



https://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com/s ... 0Artillery





Willz.

RMD wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:31 pm
I don't think it does. I've not read it, but Stephen is on a couple of the same groups as me and when the subject (inevitably) comes up, he's said 'Nobody knows'.

It's a similar story with the Hanoverian and Schaumburg-Lippe carriages given to Hesse-Cassel after the loss of Cassel (or indeed the ex-French carriages employed by the Netherlands and Brunswick in 1815). Nobody knows.

I agree, Mark. After a rest period some enterprising battery commander may have found the paint to jolly up the guns and wagons, but usually there's more important tasks to do (pub, ladies of negotiable affection, gambling) and, besides, "regulation" paint, presumably from the Austrians, would be much more easily available.

Ochoin, look at it as a bonus. You get to choose what you prefer. You could even have mixed paint schemes on the guns and wagons and nobody can say that's wrong. Besides, someone is bound to do a bit of research and- like the French guns- come up with a new, "definitive" answer as soon as you finish the last battery. And it may even be the scheme you chose (but probably not).

Thanks for all the good information & advice.
The other issue is the crew. I'll be using the Revell SYW Austrian artillery figures, of course.
The question is, did actual gunners crew battalion pieces or was it the job of some seconded infantrymen?

My SYW French artillery, painted several years ago, uses the same figures, half painted as artillerymen & half a "squaddies".

Never a dull moment with the SYW....
donald

ochoin wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 3:25 am Thanks for all the good information & advice.
The other issue is the crew. I'll be using the Revell SYW Austrian artillery figures, of course.
The question is, did actual gunners crew battalion pieces or was it the job of some seconded infantrymen?

My SYW French artillery, painted several years ago, uses the same figures, half painted as artillerymen & half a "squaddies".

Never a dull moment with the SYW....
donald

Most armies seem to have used the same scheme of professional gunners with infantry as assistants. Some nations gave selected infantrymen a bit of specialist training (there's a painting of a Royal Artillery gunner training some British militiamen in gunnery during the 1790s), though most just used the infantry as musclepower.

That said, during my recent reading on Kesselsdorf, I noticed that the Saxon guns were all held under central command, rather than being doled out as permanent battalion gun detachments. It's mentioned that Von Wilster, the Saxon General of Artillery & Engineers, retained some light guns as position batteries, but then distributed the rest across the front 'as battalion guns', which would suggest that they had full crews assigned from the artillery branch. It also seems that the Saxon battalion guns at Minden and Lutterberg were held under central control, rather than being permanently assigned to the infantry, so again, I'd be tempted to just give them artillery crews and no seconded infantry.

The green & red looks better than more white, so: will do.

donald

ochoin wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 6:50 am The green & red looks better than more white, so: will do.

donald

Bloody right!

I don't have any infantry in my gun crews. I like to see the artillery uniforms.