Saxon Leib Grenadier Guard - Black Hussar 28mm

Saxon Leib Guard Grenadiers - looking fab in their bright red, yellow and white and black bearskin. One of the best looking uniforms of the Napoleonic era I think! These are Black Hussar models once again.

The Saxon Leib Grenadier Guard guarded Napoleon during his stay in Leipzig 1813. Together with the Polish Guard and Velites of Florence and Turin, they formed a new division of the Old Guard at this time.

Prior to 1809 many were middle aged and rather too invested in non-military pursuits (i.e. corruption during peacetime duties!) according to Rawkins. Due to this they struggled to muster a single battalion of 500 men, but reforms in 1810 increased the numbers to two battalions.  In 1813 a single battalion of 600 men was raised.

Calot (cloth patch) of bearskin was yellow with a red grenade motif, which I did a stylised  impression of this here. Officers had a red calot with silver grenade. Bearskins were black or sometimes dark brown.

Thanks for looking, with these more specialist units done, now it's time for some Saxon line infantry.

Saxon Light Infantry - Black Hussar 28mm

Light Infantry for the Saxons, Black Hussar Miniatures once again. These are available in advancing pose (4 different models, plus 3 command). 

I don't always add piping as it tends to be invisible on the wargaming table from regular viewing distance (though not in close up photos like these of course!). But given the fairly dark green and black uniform and small numbers of figures here, I decided to add a bit more colour with the red piping.

Helpful hint - Saxon muskets have red leather slings rather than white. I had painted all these and the next unit's white so had to go back and repaint them all!

I also added this faithful dog to the unit - another Black Hussar model if I recall correctly. Paint scheme I did by copying a photo of my wife's late dog 'Zelda' who came to New Zealand from Saxony at much expense (over 3000 Euros due to biosecurity regulations we have here!) and lived to ripe old age of 17. She can now guard these Saxon Lights forever more. :)

Saxon Generals - Black Hussar 28mm

Saxon Infantry Generals by Black Hussar. Nice variety of models and poses, including the horses.

Saxon von Polenz Chevauxleger - Black Hussar 28mm

Saxon Chevauxleger from Black Hussar, here painted as the von Polenz regiment.

Very colourful with bright red and light blue!

The sawtooth pattern on the saddlecloths is also quite fetching...

The flag finials are from Warlord Games. The Black Hussar figures do come with an alternative version of this, but I wanted matching ones across my Saxon cavalry and stainless steel for standards (and lances if I do the Uhlan regiment).

This unit was lost in the 1812 campaign and not reformed. The survivors and reinforcements to the Saxon light cavalry reformed into the Prinz Clemens Uhlans and the Hussar regiment.

Saxon Zastrow Kuirassiers - Black Hussar 28mm

The start of my Saxons with these Zastrow Kuirassiers from Black Hussar Miniatures in Germany.

Very lovely models. The Zastrow trooper pack comes with 3 poses, sword up, sword down, and drawing sword (right rear in photo). The drawing sword is nice to have one of, but a bunch of them not so much. I bought an extra pack of troopers (fortunately available without horses), so as to only have one of this variant in the unit. The three horses also have rather limited variety, with two of the poses very similar and only differing in head position. Mixed up this isn't really apparent though.

I went with gun metal on the breastplates, which were of course blackened metal, but with light reflection and darkening effect of scale I think it will look right on the wargaming table, as well as conveying the sense of heavy metallic menace you want from Kuirassiers.

I went with impressionistic saddlecloths rather than trying to pick out the multiple Saxon ciphers on them. As usual I'm going with "bright and colourful" wargaming figures, not museum pieces! Also as can be seen from the yellow/white lines on the edging of the saddlecloth, it's hard to see the distinction between the yellow and white in any case.

Here's a detail from the Rawkins book "The Royal Saxon Army 1792-1814", (which is excellent value as are all the titles in this series). Good luck for any who want to add the Saxon cipher in the corner! It can be done though, a particularly good example for anyone masochistic enough to try it can be found here. (Thanks Liam, likely ENT surgery teaches greater patience for such details! ;))

Rear view. No straps molded on the portmanteau (overcoat) across the back of the saddle, but that might be the way they were.

I had also already based these when I found out the trumpeters of Saxon Heavy Cavalry didn't ride grey horses!  I had painted the trumpeter horse grey same as their French allies, but after some indecision about whether it was worth it, I managed to repaint it as a dark brown before varnishing.

Having done Zastrow, I'm tempted to add the Saxon Leib Kuirassier regiment who are very similar but with red as the dominant colour.  Next up will be some Saxon Chevauleger Light Cavalry though.

I will end up adding a large Saxon contingent. They are pretty important to have for some of the later battles and are very colouful, plus my wife is from Saxony.  While she is not exactly enthusiastic about thousands of Napoleonics filling the house, she has also objected to the absence to date of her native Saxons - given the relentless mustering of all the other kingdoms and principalities!