Napoleonic Saxons
von Peter himself has long been a fan of the later Saxon Army of the Napoleonic Wars. Way back as a teenager he remembers trying to repurpose Miniature Figurine figures into Saxon fusiliers and the Leib Garde Kuirassieres.
The 24th (Saxon) Division of Generallieutenant Lecoq from General de Division Reynier’s VII Corps provides the order of battle for what will be the bulk of von Peter's Saxons. Of course there will be other bits and pieces as well.
The figures are from Calpe Miniatures slowly growing range of (surprise!) Saxons.
von Peter’s painting is inflicted upon the figures which deserve better. Flags are sourced from GMB Designs.
Above: the 1st battalion of the Prinz Maximilian Infantry Regiment advance through a village somewhere* in Saxony 1813.
* The 'somewhere' is classified information. The Allies may be listening you know. A-ha-ha!
In the reorganised Saxon Army of 1813 there remained but a single battalion of the Prinz Maximilian Infantry Regiment - the first. Yellow facings with brass buttons.
The figures are the original Saxon musketeer sculpts as opposed to the re-sculpted current Saxons musketeers to be found on the Calpe Miniatures website. These original sculpts are no longer available.* von Peter himself bought several battalions of the original sculpts during a most pleasant visit to Calpe Towers in 2009 while temporarily living in the UK. Ah ... happy memories! 😊
The battalion saw an evolution in the way von Peter himself painted white uniforms. The evolved technique is slower but gives a more pleasing result.
* A faulty mould making machine which apparently goes by the name of a "vulcaniser" destroyed the original master figures meaning that the ongoing production of moulds was going to be a problem. So the re-sculpted current Saxon Musketeer figures were created.
A single battalion - the second - represented the von Rechten Infantry Regiment in the 1813 battles. Yellow facings with white metal buttons. Another battalion of the original Saxon musketeer sculpts.
von Peter himself does like a bit of yellow in a uniform so it is a bit of a curse that the two yellow faced regiments are both down to a single battalion.
The 1/Prinz Frederich August Infantry Regiment. Green facings with brass buttons. Again the battalion is sourced from the no longer available original Saxon sculpts.
This battalion was the first to receive a Calpe Miniatures finial - S36 3 Saxon standard spear points - which makes for a much nicer standard pole topping fixture than von Peter's traditional hammered and shaped efforts. Whether it can survive the rough and tumble of gaming remains to be seen.
24th (Saxon) Division - Generallieutenant Lecoq
The figures for Generallieutenant Lecoq and his supporting cast are safely waiting in the unpigmented pile. One day ... perhaps!
1st Brigade: Oberst von Brause
Oberst von Brause's 1st Brigade of 1813 comprised ...
●︎ 1/Leib Grenadier Garde
● 1/1st Light Infantry Regiment
● 2/1st Light Infantry Regiment
● 1/Prinz Maximilian Infantry Regiment
● 2/von Rechten Infantry Regiment
● Jägerkorps
2nd Brigade: Generalmajor Mellentin
Generalmajor Mellentin's 2nd Brigade comprised ...
●︎ Grenadier Battalion von Spiegel
● 1/Prinz Frederich August Infantry Regiment
● 2/Prinz Frederich August Infantry Regiment
● 1/von Steindel Infantry Regiment
● 2/von Steindel Infantry Regiment
The Saxon Jäger Korps was established in August 1809 from professional hunters at a company strength of 3 Officers, 1 Sergeant Major, 1 Sergeant, 11 Corporals, 6 Musicians and 100 Jägers. Spared the horrors of the 1812 Russian campaign the unit was not so fortunate in 1813 and by November of that year was down to 2 Officers and 41 Jägers. It was then expanded up to a battalion strength with drafts from the line units resulting in the inevitable loss of its elite status as the quality of the unit declined.
Due to the low number of men - at a company establishment - Calpe Miniatures have produced a single six figure pack to cover off the jägers. An Officer and five skirmishing jäger.
Divisional Artillery: Major von Roth
Major von Roth commanded the artillery of 24th (Saxon) Division consisting of two 6 pounder foot batteries ...
●︎ 1st Saxon Foot battery (6pdr) "Dietrich"
● 2nd Saxon Foot battery (6pdr) "Zandt".
The meat of the Calpe Saxon Foot Artillery come in packs of four figures – a loader, a rammer, a vent man and a firer – all working as a team and all wearing the same head gear of either covered shakos or uncovered shakos. There is also one outlier pack of “Head and forage cap variants”. Originally it was thought that when it came time to pigment some Saxon foot artillery it would be a case of choosing a pack and pigmenting it. But when that time came a desire arose to have gun teams with a mixed head gear. Figures for each gun team were therefore sourced from different packs.
Further complications arose due to Calpe also selling a couple of packs of NCO gun captains and a battery command pack that contains amongst other items some artillery officers. How is a battery meant to function without an officer for one base and a NCO gun captain for the other? So the batteries are crewed by ten figures rather than the more normal eight. Cunning Calpe marketing strikes! 😃
As usual with Calpe figures all the piping etc is sculpted on in relief. All that one needs to do is take ones time and the figures will make one look like a much better pigmenter than perhaps one is. 😇
The 1st Saxon Battery (6pdr) "Dietrich" supplies some much appreciated artillery support for the Saxon troops. They were pigmented for Goldies Birthday Bash wargame in April 2019.
A close look at the the cannon will reveal that the wheels are different on each. It is strongly suspected that this results from one getting ones hands on a pre production version of the the Saxon 6 pdr cannon. The thinner more detailed wheels appear to be the production versions.
