Tentatively Tackling the Teutons

Royal Arms of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

I have been thinking of adding another nationality to my 28mm Napoleonic wargaming collection, and after some consideration decided that the best route would be to go for those fun-loving, cheerful, and laid-back practitioners of warfare, the Prussians!

Okay, I may have been misinformed about the happy-go-lucky part, but the Prussians are a good choice on a number of levels.

First, they are easy to paint. There is also a lot of uniform information available. They are also easy to paint. Fine, easy-to-paint miniatures are available for them from Calpe in 28mm.

The Prussians formed a large part of Blucher's Army of Silesia, which also included the Russian 9th Corps- which happens to be the contingent I'm fielding for my Russians.

And did I mention that Prussians are easy to paint?

I've decided to go for the Prussian 2nd Brigade of Yorck's Corps, under the command of the rather resoundingly-named Generalmajor Prinz Karl Freidrich August von Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

According to Nafziger's Napoleon at Leipzig- The Battle of Nations, 1813, this brigade consisted of the following regiments;

2nd Brigade- Karl-Friedrich-August, Herzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz

• 1/ 2/ Fus. Batts. East Prussian Infantry Regiment Nr. 1 (1,840 men)
• Combined 1 &2 Battns. East Prussian Infantry Nr. 2 (614 men )
• 2/ Battn. Silesian Landwehr Regiment Nr. 6: (680)
• Mecklenburg-Strelitz Hussar Regiment: 4 squadrons
• 6pdr. Foot Battery #1

Taking a historical "snapshot" at a time when the brigade has been weakened considerably due to attrition since the campaign opened, this makes for a total of five battalions at a 1:20 ratio. So I'm looking at around 30 miniatures per battalion which makes it very "do-able" as a wargames project for me.

Figures will be from Calpe Miniatures, flags from GMB. The Calpe range is undoubtedly the best available- even Front Rank, my pushers-of-choice for Napoleonic miniatures, acknowledge this and have never bothered doing Prussians themselves.

A minor problem is that Calpe does not currently have on-line ordering for the Prussians (though that may change), and given the variety available, it takes time to sit with a pen and paper to decide what figures to get!

I may well start with a squadron of hussars and a battalion of either fusiliers or landwehr.