Happy New Year – projects for 2015

An indication of what's to come in 2015.

"Der Alte Fritz" - Minden Miniatures.

This final blog post of 2014 will be dedicated to a brief look into the hobby year to come. 

These past few weeks have given me plenty of time to index my projects, creating an overview of which projects should be laid down, projects that need to be finished and also reflection on projects I’d like to start in the foreseeable future.

The father of Prussian two-front-war.

Frederick the Great.

At the same time I’ve had a look through my History/Hobby devoted library and chosen a few titles that I felt deserved a read, and would help create additional inspiration for the painting projects in the pipe line. Enough said – here is the list:

PAINTING PROJECTS FOR 2015

French infantry skirmishing 1870.

The Franco-Prussian War (Continued in 2015): This collection is at the very heart of my historical interest. I love this period of German unification and the drama on the French side with the collapse of the Empire, the Commune and the Republican struggle to continue the war against the occupation. It’s a conflict that casts long shadows all the way up to 1914, and perhaps beyond. I’m planning to extend my collection in 28mm, and dare I say, I’ll be making an announcement soon that will interest anyone who is into this period.

Prussian Grenadier, Seven Years War.

Minden Miniatures.

The Seven Years War (Newcomer for 2015): This is the period that got me into painting miniatures. As a young teenager I started out painting Revell’s 1/72 SYW plastics. The time has come to close the circle so to speak, and revive this old interest of mine. I’ve chosen Minden Miniatures' range for the project, with compliments to Richard Ansell’s amazing sculpts, which are in my opinion the finest out there in terms of anatomical and proportionate sculpting. My good friends Jesper and Rickard have a big SYW collection in 28, so by adopting their basing system I hope to add to their ranks and thus get to game quite fast with the minis.

The "Skagerrak" will rage on in 2015

More ships and even Zeppeliners to come!

WW1 Naval – The Battle of Jutland (Continued in 2015): Yes, my love for the crisply sculpted iron clads from the shipyards at GHQ has not diminished, and the collection for this epic sea battle will be expanded in the year to come with additions such as The Seydlitz, The König but also some of Scheer’s Zeppliners will be appearing over the horizon of the North Sea.

Charging Swedish Horse Guards - The Great Northern War.

The Great Northern War (Continued in 2015): This project was started in late 2014, and will be continued in the year to come building on the amazing GNW products coming out of Warfare Miniatures. This collection will be painted as part of a larger club project, anchored in our Stockholm Wargaming Club with participants such as Jesper, Michael and many other skilled people involved. We’re aiming at the Russian Campaign of 1708-09 with battles as Holowczyn, Lesnaya and Poltava as possible games to be explored.

"Nach Paris!" German WW1 Infantryman.

The Great War in 28 mm (Newcomer for 2015): For me this period is a continuation of the epic struggle between France and Germany in 1870-71, and naturally I need to explore this now with the centennial for many of these behemoth battles ringing in with the new year. I plan to focus on the early part of the war with The Battle of the Frontiers, The Battle of Mons and The Battle of the Marne as my primary targets. I will probably mix Mutton Chop Miniatures and Great War Miniatures for this project, paired up with some good books on the subject.

The St. Petersburg Grenadiers paced forward to meet the French.

Borodino 1812 (Continued in 2015): I will continue my work on this the most beautifully uniformed of all wargaming periods. I look very much forward to painting up my Great Redoubt, bought last year from Grandmanner in cast resin, and to continue my work on the wonderful miniatures from Victrix and Perry – Oh, by the way I saw Victrix will be releasing French artillery soon. An evident buy for Salute in April I imagine.

20th Massachusetts - a.k.a The Harvard Regiment.

ACW – Army of the Potomac (Continued in 2015): In 2013 I painted a playable sized Army of Northern Virginia in 28mm for used with the Black Powder rules, all arms included and mayor commanders now finished with the addition of Stonewall. For 2015 I need to switch North and continue my work on the boys in blue. This labour of love will be accompanied by the excellent Pod Cast on the American Civil War hosted by Rich and Tracy. I strongly recommend this Pod Cast for anyone interested in some audible entertainment while painting – they do an amazing and very detailed job. One could say the are the Shelby Footes of Civil War Podcasting.

BOOKS ON MY NIGHTSTAND IN 2015

The House of Krupp, by Peter Batty. Published 1966 by MS & W Ltd London

During the Second World War the RAF unloaded 36.000 tons (!) of bombs on a specific area in Essen no larger than 8 square kilometers. Within this area lay the Krupp works.  A symbol of sublime German engineering, but also of feared and legendary guns such as “Long Max” and “Big Bertha” the House of Krupp offers an insight to the family behind the name, tracing their roots back the 16th century. The Krupp conglomerate was destined to rise to its zenith during the industrial age under Bismarck, the Emperor and later the Third Reich. It’s a fascinating, personal and tragic story of the family, the guns and the business all intertwined into the politics of a turbulent age for Germany and consequently the World. It’s a book I very much look forward to reading.

The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71, Volume 2. After Sedan. By Quintin Barry, published 2006 by Helion & Company.

This brick of a book offers 520 pages on the second part of the war, which saw the formation of a new French Republic in the wake of the Emperor’s capture at Sedan. This new republic’s first act as a government was to renew the declaration of war on the German confederation! Much to Moltke’s dismay, the war would continue as hundred of thousands of French recruits and voluntaries would be drafted and offer legendary resistance in battles such as Coulmiers, Loigny, Belfort and the battles of Orleans. The book also offers complete orbats and a meticulously detailed account of the battles and the politics that shaped this second part of the Franco-Prussian War.

The Battle of The Frontiers, Ardennes 1914; by Terence Zuber. Published 2007 by The History Press in Charleston.

I was tempted to go for the “Guns of August”, but came across this more resent and interesting book on the first battle(s) of the Great War. With my interest in the Franco-Prussian War, I was surprised to see that infantry tactics had not changed dramatically, while artillery and automated fire had improved hundredfold since the days of Gravelotte and Sedan. The consequence of this unbalance would prove fatal to about 700.000 soldiers in the period of august and September 1914, as cavalry and formed infantry charged Vickers guns, and lessons learned would result in the stalemate of the later trench warfare.

Rossbach & Leuthen 1757, by Simon Millar.
Published 2002 by Osprey

The well known format from Osprey’s Campaign range, dealing in this case with these two defining victories of Frederick the Great. No further introduction is needed really. It will be a good read to get into the details on the battles and the orbats, which are always helpful when targeting units to paint.

PROJECTS LAID DOWN

Republican Romans: I've had to abandon this project, as other things came in the way, and since I'm more or less alone at the club on this period. Thus the collection containing wonderful 28's from Agema have been put up for sale here.

Bolt Action: We played a lot of these games about a year ago, but since then it has been taking the backseat to other projects. I painted two complete forces. One for the French and additionally for the Germans selecting the famous Fallschirmsjägers. For sale here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With all the above, my painting table seems set for 2015 with projects I look very much forward to initiating or in most cases continue my work on.

I thank you all again for your readership during the past year, and hope to see you again online in 2015.

Merry Christmas! - Recap of 2014

Napoleon & Roustam.

The miniatures are from Perry.

What better way to end 2014 than by finishing my first ever command stand of history’s no.1 All Star: Napoleon. In this case the “Corsican Monster” is trotting around the battlefield protected by his mamluk bodyguard, Roustam. I’ll probably do the “sitting on a chair at Borodino” command stand as well. I’ve got the Foundry minis for it since 10 years back, so it’d be a shame not to, but all that belongs in 2015.

View from behind - quite a saber Roustam is carrying around.

Perhaps the Mamluk equivalent of a doppelsoldner!

I’ll skip format and not give you a long write up on old Boney – although my love of all things French is perhaps well known to any regular readers. Instead I thought I’d take a minute to summarize 2014. What projects did I get into, what books did I read and what sites and museums did I visit during the past year. 

PAINTING PROJECTS OF 2014

The Danish Horse Guards, Battle of Lund 1676

The Scanian War: A late 2013 skirmish game project with Michael “Dalauppror” inspired me to read up on the Scanian War period. An interesting and dramatic time in Scandinavian history, with large battles fought between Denmark and Sweden over the supremacy of the North in the late 17th Century. With the great 28mm range from Warfare miniatures to support a larger project, Jesper, Michael and I embarked on a complete battalion based collection for the war. Later during the year, an opportunity arose to go and host a gaming table at the Danish gaming convention, DFFcon, taking place in the historical royal armoury in Copenhagen. Of course this just added to the motivation for painting. Michael, Jesper and I had a great time and the collection will probably expand, although at a lower output, in 2015.

French lignards and chasseurs skirmishing.

The Franco-Prussian War: In my opinion the mother of WW1. A big interest of mine, if not the biggest when it comes to history, and 2014 saw some great additions to my growing collection in 28mm. I also read some great books on the period, and managed to visit some of the key battlefields this year accompanied by my lovely and understanding fiancé. These visits really fueled my inspiration. History comes very alive when you’re standing on the actual spot where a certain charge took place or viewing and understanding the size of an area where a battle was fought.

The 5th French Hussars. 

Borodino 1812: A project started in 2013, with the aim to build a complete French and Russian gaming force for this behemoth of a battle, using my current favorite ruleset - Black Powder. Over the past year I managed to expand my collection with 5 units, of which my favourite would probably be the French hussars. When visiting Salute, I found a suitable model of the Great Redoubt cast in resin by Grandmanner, which I'm looking forward to painting up. At the same time the Perrys are constantly expanding their range, so this project is moving forward with good steam.

WW1 Imperial German Battleship, Friedrich der Große.

WW1 Naval - The Battle of Jutland: Speaking of steam. A late addition to the project list of 2014 perhaps, but a project that really took speed after the Scanian War project was parked after Copenhagen. Inspired by my friend Mark’s collection of 1/285 planes for Check Your 6, I ventured out of my comfort zone of 28mm, and into the wonderful world of WW1 naval modeling, using GHQ’s highly detailed 1/2400 range. This period and scale has fast become a personal favourite in terms of gaming, and I plan to expand both navies for my Jutland project in 2015. Mark is currently working on a US Navy intervention force inspired by the actual 6th Squadron send over to Scapa, and I recommend a visit to his blog – beautiful ships.

SMALLER PROJECTS IN 2014

Spitfires scramble during the Battle of Britain.

Check your 6: Great rules which inspired me to paint up a few Spitfires to pit against Mark’s Luftwaffe collection. We've played a few games during 2014, and I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to play more in 2015.

6 points worth of knights for the Trolle army.

Lion Rampant: Michael hosted a game and got me hooked on these simple and smooth running rules. We’re now a handful of gamers from our local club, each with a12 point army, and running more or less weekly games, mixing up our factions freely in big skirmishes. Great fun and perfect for a 2-3 hrs club night game.

Imperial pike block under the Fugger banner.

Italian Wars: Together with fellow club members Jonas and Michael, I started building a battalion based collection in 28mm for the period around the Battle of Pavia, 1525. I really loved painting the Pro Gloria minis, but was waiting for more releases to build my collection. Pro Gloria just got sold to Warlord about two weeks ago, and it looks like they’ll be speeding up the release process in 2015. Looking forward to picking up this project again when that happens.

BOOKS I’VE READ IN 2014

“Borodino and the war of 1812” by Christopher Duffy

The book really zooms in on the battle and that exact point in history. It gives a great account of each sequence of this great clash of arms, and I took a lot of inspiration for what units to paint from the detailed description.

“The Battle of Jutland” by Geoffrey Bennet

G. Bennet offers and interesting insight to both the tradition and mind set of the Royal Navy and German Imperial Navy. He treats the battle in a very useful step-by-step fashion, giving me as the reader a full understanding of why the admirals did what they did. Also, he skillfully recreates the drama of the initial encounter of the Cruiser forces, the climax of Jellicoe’s T-crossing maneuver and Sheer’s night action. It’s a great book on the battle, treating both navies and their relative gains from the battle with great objective fairness in the chapter “Who won?”. Recommended!

“The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71, Vol. 1; The Campaign of Sedan” 
by Quintin Barry

There are two books in this series. The first covering the initial Imperial part of the war, the second focussing on the desperate Republican part of the conflict. I really enjoyed reading this first book in the series, as perhaps the most detailed account I’ve come across on the war in modern publishing. Q. Barry is a methodical writer and each actions and responsible commanders are carefully analyzed to present an objective and detailed overview. The book also offers useful OrBats for the mayor battles of the campaign.

“Alphonse de Neuville; L’épopée de la défaite” by Phillipe Chabert

The book offers a portrait of one of France’s greatest military painters. It’s in French, but that shouldn't put off any period enthusiast. Even for those who don’t read the language, I warmly recommend it for it’s wonderful imagery on the Franco-Prussian War. The book accounts for Neuville's complete life but focuses on the later part, and his friendship and work with fellow master, Edouard Detaille.

MUSEUMS, CONVENTIONS &  BATTLEFIELDS VISITED IN 2014:

The old cemetery gate known from Neuville's painting of the battle.

The battlefields of Mars-la-tour & Gravelotte-St-Privat: I visited this historic site in mid-May, and the weather was mild and generous for walking the grounds. It was my first trip to an actual battlefield, and these two are really a great place to start. With the 2014 addition of the new museum on the Franco-Prussian War located in Gravelotte, the visit to Lorraine was a real success, and something I look back on as a turning point in my hobby and interest in the Franco-Prussian War. 

Napoleon's field furniture along with the famous grey jack and hat.

Musée de l’Armée; Les Invalides: Recently renovated to boast some great new technical details like multiple 80” screens in the floor telling the story of certain battles or conflicts. The rich history of France is carefully presented with a HUGE collection of uniforms, historical artefacts like Napoleon's uniform, hat and field furniture, and offers the visitor a complete coverage from pre-historic weaponry to WW2 and the liberation of France. It’s well worth the 10 Euro entrance fee. In fact, I admit I’d pay that just to gain access to the museum’s book shop.

The fields around Woerth bore many scars of war.

The battlefield of Woerth: Set in the beautiful hilly countryside of Alsace, only a short drive from the German border, this battlefield was really a fantastic place to visit. The post war German remembrance work on the big Franco-Prussian War battles, had seen the construction of a tall panoramic tower in the middle of the battlefield, offering a great overview of the complete area. The local townspeople were very friendly too, and we fell in conversation with an old lady in Woerth, who fetched the local church keeper to open the door at the village church, in order for us to view the memorial plates hung there in honor of all the fallen soldiers. Apart from an interesting history, Alsace also offered some great food and wine. All in all I think it's one of the best, and most overlooked, regions in France to go for a holiday.

D-Day display at Salute - huge and very very impressive.

SALUTE 2014: This show just seems to get bigger and bigger each year. This year I did myself the service of pre-ordering all my purchases, but with the huge amount of minor/new traders present, I must admit to a certain degree of spontaneous shopping as well. Most memorable from this year Salute was probably the unusually high quality of the gaming tables on display. A wonderful weekend in London, and something which will be repeated in 2015.

Beautiful WW1 table with 1/300 bi-planes from Shapeways.

DFFCON 2014: A great little convention held inside the Royal Danish Armory. There was about 10-12 different games of high quality, all open to participation. I got to try out some Samurai skirmishing, walk a tour in the museum, plus we enjoyed great interest in our hosted Battle of Lund table. As an added touristic bonus, Jesper and Michael got to try the Danish open sandwich specialty - Smørrebrød, which was consumed with much approval by the Swedes.

With that summary of 2014, I wish you, dear reader, a merry Christmas! Hope you’ll all have a great one, and find time to sneak away for an hour or two of peaceful solitude at the painting table during the holidays, I know I’ll be!

Thank you very much for your support and readership in 2014!

Stonewall Jackson & the Battle of Chancellorsville

Stonewall Jackson pointing at the Plank Road,

leading his Corps on the flanking march at Chancellorsville .

Long have I wanted to play a classic battle from the Eastern theatre of the American Civil War, but replaying these massed infantry battles at the significantly reduced ratio offered by the 28mm scale, takes both time and space. So, with Christmas around the corner, and a few days of holiday coming up, I decided the time was perfect to arrange a large all-day-game of 28mm ACW at our local gaming club here in Stockholm.

Stonewall on the Plank Road.

I quickly settled on the Battle of Chancellorsville, mainly because it’s considered Lee’s finest victory, but also as it is a showcase for unconventional tactics and more importantly markes the end of the career and the life of one of the Civil War’s, if not all time’s finest generals, Stonewall Jackson.

Stonewall have always fascinated me, with his enigmatic mix of military pragmatism and fanatic religious zeal, making him one of the big characters of the Civil War. At the Battle of Chancellorsville all these characteristics would concert in him, to form one of the most daring moves ever made on a battlefield.

Color adaption of B&W photo.

Actual photo of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

Chancellorsville was one of the key battles of the Civil War fought by 85.000 Union troops under Hooker vs. 40.000 Confederate under Lee. The battle was fought over a series of days in the beginning of May 1863, just next to the Rapidan River in Virginia, only a few miles away from Fredericksburg, where Lee scored a mayor victory over Burnside only five months earlier. 

Stonewall Jackson with the Virginia flag waving behind him.

Taking up the reins after Burnside, Hooker and the Army of the Potomac had taken up a defensive position, carefully gaining the advantage of the high ground while deploying his massive army in a strong centralized fashion. On the other side, Lee was sitting down with Stonewall to have a council on the best way to attack the Yankee position.

Stonewall informing Lee about the possible flanking route.

The Army of Northern Virginia under Lee was outnumbered about 2,5 to 1. Still Stonewall suggested to Lee, that the Army be divided, and he’d be allowed to take his Corps of 27.000 men on a 12 mile march around Hooker’s flank, using a local unmapped plank road through some deep part of the forest. Lee looked at Stonewalls suggestion, and understood the potential. While 13.000 Confederates would stay visibly to Hooker’s front, fixing his attention, Stonewall would march around the flank, in broad daylight but covered by terrain, to hit the Yankee flank, and roll up their line. It was a risky but clean shot at victory, and Lee approved the plan.

The Battle of Chancellorsville.

To the left the 12 miles flanking move of Stonewall Jackson is traced in red.

Source: Wiki.

On the 2nd May the Union far flank was made up by Howard’s 11th Corps, resting behind the lines, at a position they thought safe and secure. Though scouting parties had noticed the commotion made by Stonewall’s move, and reports even reach Hooker who consequently told Howard to “Be prepared, enemy might try to go around your flank”, Howard made no efforts to raise the alarm, but simply moved two guns up the flank, just in case. Then Howard went south to inspect some skirmishing going on with what was actually Stonewall’s rear-guard, leaving his 11th Corps without its commander. It was a huge blunder.

20.000 Confederates storming at the unsuspecting Union soldiers in camp.

Advancing in complete silence, the 27.000 Confederates swung around the flank, and quietly reformed into battle line reading to storm the 11th Corps camp site. With him Stonewall had Rodes, Colston and A. P. Hill. Strict orders were given to officers that neither the feared Rebel Yell nor drums or bugles were to be used during the advance. Surprise was key. When all was ready Stonewall quietly told his generals: “You may proceed”.

The massive 2 miles wide battle line of Confederate infantry started to move forward through the wood. Slowly they picked up speed, still silent. Ahead through the trees they could see the clearing and the camp of the Union 11th Corps.

Another view at the command stand.

All minis are Perry, flag is GMB.

Enjoying a relaxed time behind the lines, the soldiers of the 11th Corps were quietly going about their business in camp, some preparing coffee others meals. Suddenly the woods around them came alive. Out from among the tress at the wood's edge came foxes, deer, birds and even squirrels, all storming through the camp scared wild. This mystic phenomenon of nature was soon explained to the Union troops, as behind the animals followed some 20.000 Confederates acting as a massive wall of “clappers” on the hunt. 

The deeply religious Stonewall Jackson is being watched by his men,

as he quietly takes council with God.

As Howard’s men threw away their coffee cups scrambling for their muskets, the 20.000 Confederates let the Rebel Yell ring out. The few Union units, which actually formed and made a stand were quickly overlapped, and had to fall back. It was a rout, and Howard’s Corps disintegrated loosing about 25% of its men in the process, despite the return of its commander, who now was desperately trying to rally his troops. 

While inspecting the forward lines, Stonewall is shot by Confederate pickets,

mistaking his scouting party for Union cavalry.

Stonewall’s push went on for nearly two hrs from 5.30 pm to about 7.15 pm, and only stopped when the now likewise disorganized Confederate attackers were reaching the heavy defensive Union earthworks around Chancellorsville. 

It was later that evening, while on a full moon ride, inspecting the enemy lines and the potential of a night attack, that Stonewall Jackson was hit three times by friendly fire. One of the bullets tore through and broke his left arm. In Civil War medical terms that meant amputation. 

Stonewall Jackson died from post-surgery pneumonia, 

at this plantation office in Guinea Station, just south of Fredericksburg.

Lee went on to fight out Chancellorsville, taking full advantage of the push created by Stonewall. Later during the battle, when news of Stonewall’s amputation reached Lee, he was deeply touched, and is suppose to have said: “Jackson lost his left arm, I’ve lost my right”. It would be a right arm sorely missed by Lee at Gettysburg, just some months later.

Stonewall never recovered from surgery. Instead pneumonia set in, and eventually he died on May 10th, 1863. When he understood that death was the inevitable prospect, he commented that: “The Lord have granted my wish, I always wanted to die on a Sunday”.

The funeral cortege of Stonewall Jackson.

Stonewall Jackson's last words:

A few moments before he died he cried out in his delirium, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks"—then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly, and with an expression, as if of relief, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees." (Source: Wiki)

Thank you very much for reading!

The Royal Swedish Household Cavalry & The Great Northern War 1700-1721

The Swedish Household Cavalry charging home in "V" formation.

2015 is fast approaching and the project list for the year to come is filling up quickly.

I’ll return to this matter of joyful planning in a later post, but for now reveal one coming project. Inspired by the announcement of the release of Warfare Miniatures Great Northern War range, it was decided at our local wargaming club in Stockholm Sweden, that we would put together a battalion based collection in 28mm for the Battle of Holowczyn 1708. 

A strict protestant discipline was attended in the Swedish Army,

and field priests was a core ingredient of the traveling Swedish war-machine.

Painting: Gustaf Cederström.

The Great Northern War is arguably one of the most important conflicts fought in Scandinavian and Russian history. In 1700 Sweden was one of Europe’s top three military powers, with perhaps the most well drilled and professional army of all. Sweden was at its pinnacle of power, with all of Finland, Estonia, most of Latvia plus possessions in Poland and Germany under its direct rule. At the same time, a sleeping bear to the east was starting to wake up, gathering power under the guidance of Tsar Peter the Great. 

Swedish possessions were widely spread over the Baltic region 

and in Northern Germany.

Peter the Great had one goal in mind, to pool all Russia’s military resources, and establish an empire with a capital modelled on a Western grandeur situated with waterway access to the Baltic Sea. Only problem was – this was a Swedish dominated area. Forging an alliance with Saxony, and the ever Swede-bashing Danes, Peter’s coalition declared war in 1700 on Sweden, ruled by the only 18 years old Charles XII.

Detail: The shabraque is marked with three crowns,

signaling the unit's position as Royal Household Cavalry.

Charles would prove to be nothing less than a brilliant military commander, later receiving praise and alliance-proposals from all of Europe’s courts, and he even had an ode written in his honour by Voltaire, but… After knocking out the Danes and successively the Saxons, Charles turned on Peter and the vast domains of Russia. 

Charles XII, the toast of Europe after he successfully wiped away the Saxon army.

It was all to change after the failed Russian campaign and Poltava 1709.

Painting: Gustaf Cederström.

Peter’s pledges for peace were scrapped by the vindictive Swedish king, and he set out to do what Napoleon and later Hitler would both try to – conquer Mother Russian. Needless to say, he got the same result as his historic counterparts, and it all ended with the destruction of the Swedish army at Poltava.

Holowczyn 1708.

Holowczyn is a battle fought as part of this Russian Campaign in 1708. It poses the Swedish army, carrying out a sneak-attack led personally by the King, against the entrenched Russians forces in camp under Prince Menshikov. It’s a highly playable battle in wargaming terms, and we’re very excited to get started with this core subject in Swedish history.

Gå På! The unit is based on 2 pcs of 60x60mm bases from Warbases.

I love that you can get these with the little rounded corner, which adds some finish to the base.

As my first unit for this collection, I chose the Royal Swedish Household Cavalry – not to be confused with “Drabanterna” which was a much smaller unit acting as the King’s personal bodyguard.

The Household Cavalry traces its roots back to 1536, first formed as regional cavalry units. These regional units would later be merged into the “Livregementet till Häst” = Household Cavalry, and in 1687 formed into 12 Companies totalling about 1.500 elite horsemen. They took part in mayor battles of the war such as; Klissow, Holowczyn, Poltava and the later battle of Helsingborg.

The uniform of the Household Cavalry.

Source: Tacitus

Their uniform diverted significantly from the standard dark blue “unity uniform” introduced in the Swedish army both in the cavalry and infantry. Their jackets were sky-blue, and their standard was all white with gold embroideries and their regional heraldry in the top inner corner. 

They were, like many Swedish units, completely wiped out with any surviving troopers caught after Poltava, and had to be re-raised from scratch in 1710 back in Sweden. 

Swedish cavalry charging forward 

in their preferred knee-to-knee "V" formation. 

They are based in a forward going “V” formation, which was according to the Swedish shock attack doctrine of the time. Its said that each trooper had his knee touching the knee of the horseman next to him, but that might be more of a theoretical doctrine as the unit will no doubt loose cohesion as the horses build momentum. Safe to say, they tried to stick with this “plough” tactic, and they were compact units charging forward sword in hand on their small but sturdy Swedish horses, acting as a wall of flesh and steel coming at the enemy’s ranks.

Thank you very much for reading!