Estorff Salad

One of the glories of Napoleonic wargaming is the riot of colour that results once you've managed to paint up a few of the opposing regiments. Hanoverian hussars, however, manage to be a colour riot all on their own.

The regiment I've chosen to do is the Lüneburg Hussars, more popularly known as Estorff's Hussars after the Hanoverian notable who raised them in 1813. I'll say a little more about them in my next few posts, but in the meantime suffice to say they are painted according to one of the versions of the uniform they are thought to have been wearing by 1815.

The figures are all Der Kriegspielers from set 164: British Cavalry 1815, Hussars. My intention is to keep plodding away on them until the regiment is finished, but there's a distinct possibility I'll crack and do something else for a while.

Speaking of which, I must be off to finish the Sunday roast!

Best regards,

WM

General Uprising

Wallmoden's Corps of 1813 consisted of about 25,000 men, of whom something like 6,000 were cavalry composed more or less exclusively of hussars and cossacks. I've made a start on some hussars, but all I have to show at the moment is their commander. He is Major General Wilhelm Caspar Ferdinand von Dörnberg, or "Uprising Dörnberg" as he became known for his part in an abortive attempt to kidnap Napoleon's brother, Jerome, the new-crowned King of Westphalia, in 1809.

I can't say that I know a great deal more about him. After escaping from Germany, Dörnberg wound up in Britain and eventually rose to command the Brunswick Hussars in Spain. The British anglicised his name to William de Dornberg. Volunteering for service in Russia in 1812, by the following year he was in North Germany where he was given command of a brigade of Hanoverian hussars, stiffened by the 3rd Regiment of Hussars of the King's German Legion, which had been hurriedly sent over from Spain.

Dörnberg's only other claim to fame, at least far as the Anglosphere is concerned, is his failure to pass on early intelligence that Napoleon's army was about to invade Belgium in June 1815! However, he seems to have made up for this by leading numerous gallant charges at the head of the 3rd British Cavalry Brigade at Waterloo.

Vintage 20mm Napoleonics connoisseurs will instantly recognise the figure I've used as the Alberken/Minifigs version of the Earl of Uxbridge. I thought he'd be just the ticket for Dörnberg, however, after I found a portrait of him made in 1813 held in the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. This can be seen here.

The first squadron of the hussars he is to command are now quite advanced and so with a little bit of luck I may be able show them off next weekend.

Till then

WM

Edit: I've added another shot to give a slightly clearer view of his face. Alberken commanders can be a bit vague in the face department, but this one's not too bad.