The Prussians Are Coming

It’s time to branch out from collecting and painting just Games Workship models. Goodbye Stormcast Eternals, hello Napoleonics.

I started by painting a regiment of Prussian Line Infantry that I got from Perry Miniatures as the 1st Silesian Regiment (on a whim, because the facings looked nice). This was really just to dabble a bit in historical miniature wargaming. Now though, I want to add to the list and the 1st Silesian was part of the 11th Brigade in the II Corps at the 1813 Battle of Leipzig. A defining moment in both Napoleonic history, as well as German history.

So I decided that I wanted to recreate the brigade (perhaps even the whole corp eventually, but as you know ambition is the enemy of success). As a bonus, it turns out that a brigade was a combined-arms unit, which means I get to paint everything from rank-and-file troops, to cavalry, artillery and even “special forces”.

The good news (for me) is that I’m already well underway on this project and I know what my end goal looks like. The biggest component of the 11th Brigade consisted of the 10th Infantry Regiment (1st Silesian), which I’ve already completed thanks to three boxes of Perry Plastic miniatures. To go along with that I’ve painted up a commander to represent General von Ziethen and a gun battery (who’s facings I need to redo, as they were apparently black with red piping, not in the Silesian colours).

That brings my progress to:

• General von Ziethen (commander)
• 1st Silesian Infantry (3 battalions)
• 10th Reserve Infantry (2 battalions)
• Silesian Schützen (1/2 battalion)
• 8th Silesian Landwehr (2 battalions)
• 1st Silesian Hussars (2.5 squadrons)
• 2nd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry (1 squadron)
• 6pdr Foot Battery No 9 (8 guns)

Next up are the Landwehr. I have conflicting reports of their strength, but Osprey’s book on the Battle of Leipzig puts their number at 2 battalions, so that’s where we’ll start.