More Prussians Are Coming

Napoleonic Prussians were my very first foray into miniatures away from Games Workshop. It was a bit of a painting culture shock. From individual highly-detailed 32mm heroic models to slender 4-to-a-base 28mm rank and file troops. It took me ages to finished the first three battalions and then two more Landwehr battalions and a smattering of skirmishers, artillery, etc.

Then came the time of madness where I was suddenly inundated with A Song of Ice and Fire miniatures, Cthulhu, Romans and Britons as well as napoelonic ships. All coupled with a very slow painting speed. Now that things have improved on that front, I can be more confident in taking this project up again.

As the 2022 Painting Challenge has come to an end, I am restarting my efforts on this project. I have titled this series “Prussian 11th Brigade” and the idea was to recreate a specific brigade as it was during the Battle of Leipzig. This battle marked the beginning of the end of Napoleon’s dominance in Europe and was hugely influential in building German nationalism and identity. With a bit of research though I’ve come to conclude that no-one is completely sure who was in which brigade at this time. I’ve seen reports of 2 battalions of Landwehr and some that say 4. I’ve seen the cavalry arm as 2.5 squadrons of hussars or 2 squadrons of dragoons. I’ve also collected some other units that weren’t strictly in that brigade, but were still nice to flesh out my collection.

So I’m taking the whole “11th Brigade at Leipzig” a bit loosely. I’ll be including some Volunteer Jaegers as well as Silesian Schützen, though there’s no evidence they would have been in the same brigade. I also prefer hussars over dragoons. As each regiment also had a half-battalion of grenadiers, I’m adding them to the list. Even though in reality, the two Silesian Grenadier half-battalions would have been combined and attached to some guard brigade as shock troops. Let’s say, I’m taking my collection beyond the strictly historical and give myself room for fantasy.

I call this “Phase 2” so I am not including what I have already painted (though at some point I will put an update here with my current complement of Prussian troops):

• 12 Silesian Grenadiers
• 6 Volunteer Jäger
• 24 1st Battalion 10th Reserve Infantry
• 24 2nd Battalion 10th Reserve Infantry
• 24 3rd Battalion 10th Reserve Infantry
• 14 4 Squadrons Neumark Dragoons
• 12 1st Squadron 2nd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry
• 24 4th Battalion Silesian Landwehr