Raise high ze black flags my children! - The Prussian Army of 1813-1815

This is the first battalion of Prussian Reserve by Wargames Atlantic that I have completed and I’m very happy with the results.

In its current form (24 figures) this battalion is missing command figures which i’m currently working on using the metal Reserve Command from Perry Miniatures.

I’ll be following up with a more detailed post on the history and organisation of the reserve battalions/regiments. The red facings on these should allow them to be used for a range of regiments, im yet to decide on which at this point in time, worth noting is the reserve battalions were not issued flags (as far as i can tell) which makes these very flexible in terms of representing a wide range of regiments on the tabletop.

In terms of research these are very interesting, a wide range of uniforms were issued and changed over the course of the Napoleonic Wars, the provisional grey uniform being issued, alongside the standard prussian line uniform, british/portuguese uniforms and even salvaged french equipment in cases.

The reserves were later “converted” to full line regiments in 1815, by that point being issued the full Prussian Uniform but this hadn’t come into full effect by the 100 days campaign.

These figures are sculpted wearing the provisional grey uniform, in some cases this was dyed the more traditional prussian blue which I shall be doing for some battalions.

The miniatures as previously stated are fantastic, both in terms of sculpting and value. I’ve actually ordered a second box from my FLGS.

For this unit I took the “speed” painting approach using very simple techniques which I think has been very effective.

1. Prime
   Scale 75 Instant Colours Primer Ice Charm (or Vallejo Gray Surface Primer)
2. Boots, shakos, cap peaks, cartridge box
   Citadel Black Templar Contrast
3. Trousers and Jackets
   Citadel Space Wolves Grey
4. Packs – Mixed
   Citadel Black Templar Contrast
   Citadel Gore Grunta Fur Contrast
   Citadel Skeleton Horde Contrast
   Citadel Snakebite Leather Contrast
5. Flesh
   Citadel Gulliman Flesh Contrast
6. White Belts
   VallejoModel Colour Off-White
7. Pack Belts
   Scale 75 Gobi Brown
8. Coats and Rolls
   Vallejo London Grey, followed by a Wash of Citadel Nuln Oil
9. Unit Facings (in this case Red)
   Vallejo Game Colour Gory Red
10. Musket
    Citadel Wildwood Contrast
11. Metalwork
    Scale 75 Thrash metal
12. Buttons
    Citadel Retributor Armour
13. Wash (All areas except flesh)
    2-1 of Army Painter Quickshade mixing medium / Army Painter Dark Tone

This is actually a pretty quick step by step painting guide, the final wash really ties the scheme together.