Thursday, August 24, 2017

My Minden SYW Prussian Army


Frederick's Grand Review begins with the colour guards of each regiment passing him in review: IR15, IR1, IR13, IR5, IR22, and IR49. Click on all pictures once or twice to enlarge the view.

Fresh off his victory over Marshal de Saxe at Fontenoy, king Frederick II ordered a grand review of his army to celebrate the victory and to award honours and Pour-le-Merite's to the heros of the battle.

Today I am posting pictures of the parade of the infantry regiments in my SYW Minden army. My organization is to have two battalions per regiment, with 30 figures per battalion at approximately a 1:20 figures to actual men ratio,


The colour bearers march onto the parade ground in column formation.

On command, each company performs a right face, in unison. The King looks on with approval. His staff is taking notes on the King's comments about each regiment. Careers can be made or lost on the parade ground review.

Frederick photo bombs the colour guards and looks straight at the artist who is sketching the proceedings. He will eventually paint the review in oils.

Now the colour bearers march pass the King by sections: here we see (R-L) IR15 - second and third battalions leading the way; followed by IR1 - Winterfeld; and finally, IR13 - Itzenplitz (also known as the Donner und Blitzen regiment).

The Guards, Winterfeld and Itzenplitz make another pass of the review area. Staff are writing down notes as quickly as possible. However, all of the comments are positive because these three regiments are the cream of the Prussian army.

Eyes Left! IR5 - Alt Braunschweig leads the way, followed by the Prinz Moritz regiment (IR22) and the Diericke Fusiliers (IR49) bringing up the rear.

As before, the Alt Braunschweig, Prinz Moritz and Diericke regiments take another pass in front of the King.

The above pictures represent the regiments of my Minden SYW Prussian army. I also have the Wedell Grenadier Battalion (1/23) and the Kremzow Grenadier Battalion (17/22). I did not include them in the parade because they do not carry flags. I also have a Jager regiment, but these are in a loose formation and would not look very smart on the parade ground.

It takes a long time to pose all of the figures in front of the camera, and then edit the pictures. I was tuckered out after shooting the infantry pictures. I also took pictures of each individual regiment with all 60 figures and the colonel in the view. Then I took other pictures of my regiments marching with their assigned brigades. Each brigade consists of two regiments of two battalions, one ammunition wagon, and two battalion guns. There are also the two regimental officers and the brigade commander.

The Winterfeld Brigade consists of IR1 - Winterfeld and IR5 - Alt Braunschweig.

The Prinz Moritz Brigade consists of IR22 - Prinz Moritz and IR13 - Itzenplitz.

The Guards Brigade, under the titular command of Marshal von Schwerin, includes the second and third battalions of IR15 plus the Wedell Grenadiers and the Kremzow Grenadiers.

The von Diricke Fusilier Regiment is temporarily unassigned because I need to paint another regiment to pair with the fusiliers. I might paint the Prinz Heinrich - IR35 - regiment so that I can have an all-fusilier brigade.

In the coming days, I will present each of the individual regiments plus brigade photos so that you can view my infantry organization. After that, the Cavalry Review under the watchful eye of von Seydlitz and the King.

The King is desirous of your comments, which you may leave by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this page.

5 comments:

  1. What a great way to view your army. Very impressive on all counts.

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  2. Jim,
    You've set yourself a monumental task there,thats an waful lot of figures. I know our American cousins like big, but thats a lot of beautiful lead to have, and they are very beautiful figures.

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  3. Very fine parade! Your trooping of the colors reminds me of the cover of Dorn's Prussian infantry book.

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  4. Very nice indeed Jim. I do always like it when your armies come out for a review.

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