5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie

Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie
[Knötel Band XIV, Bild 3]

The latest unit to leave my painting table was the 5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie, again for my Völkerschlacht / Möckern project. Like all the other Landwehr units Landwehr cavalry was raised from those men that were between 17 and 40 years of age and not serving in a regular unit. One interesting fact about them is that they were armed with the lance until 1816. As a result the Prussians even had more cavalry that can be classed at Lancers in the field at Waterloo than the French.

Just like their infantry brethren their training was no worse than with any regular unit, but their equipment often was. So their uniforms were often plainer, with less piping or fringe. [The trooper in the background of the Knötel print is representative of troopers during the 1813 period, while the one in the foreground is representative of the newer uniforms around the time of Waterloo.] tried to depict this here as well, leaving their cuffs in the colour of the coat, which was often the case with the Landwehr cavalry. While most Silesian Landwehr cavalry units used white sheepskin covers as saddle cloths, I intentionally went for black here. I wanted to depict them at the lower end of the supply “food chain”, so their horsecolours are less to regulation than with the other cavalry units I painted, with a higher number of light coloured horses. So to get a contrast I went for black sheepskin covers.

The minis are all from the Calpe range (except for the French casualty one of them is jumping his horse over, which comes from Perry). They are based for Republic to Empire and the pennants are from GMB (although I did bend them so much that I actually rubbed them thin and had to repaint them in many places). I have to say that I am happy, that this will be the last Silesian unit for this project. I was getting quiet sick with the yellow trim for the blue uniforms after painting three units of Silesian Landwehr already.

But now on to the photos. Please excuse the shine on the minis. The weather has really gotten poor here over the last few days and the varnish I use dries better with lots of UV light. But they will turn perfectly flat in a couple of weeks.

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie (1st base)

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie (command base)

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie (2nd base)

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie (3rd base)

5te Schlesische Landwehr Kavallerie