My latest regiment painted in the ongoing Lace Wars project is from Bavaria. Using Strelets “Bavarian Infantry 1701-1714 Shooting Line”, I’ve painted half the set as the Regiment de Tattenbach. The regiment was part of the The Army of the Elector of Bavaria led by Prince Maximillian II Emmanuel Wittelsbach, the Elector himself. As part of Count d’Arco’s Corps under Major General Alessandro Marquis de Maffei, the regiment took part in the battle of Blenheim on the 13th of August, 1704.
After the Battle of Blenheim, the Bavarian army was badly mauled, effectively destroyed, and the forces of the Grand Alliance under Marlborough ravaged Bavaria.
The Tattenbach regiment wore light blue coats typical to Bavarian infantry with yellow cuffs and grey gaiters.
The firing line set comes with command figures and lines of troops in positions either kneeling, firing or loading.
Strelets figures are of their usual standard in this range and offer an impressive range of realistic poses with good detail.
The command figures come with some interesting and ambitious poses showing casualties. The NCO appears to have just been struck by a musket ball, while the senior officer lies on the ground clutching his leg.
The flag bearer just needs a flag but I need to source one as well as some fresh printer ink cartridges too!
Lots more troops still to paint from various nationalities in this colourful and decorative series!
Continuing my War of the Spanish Succession project, and following on from the recent Gardes Françaises, I’ve added another regiment to the French army of Louis XIV. The Sun King’s army employed many foreign troops including Irish, German, Walloon and Swiss. The regiment I’ve chosen to depict are the Swiss regiment Hemel who, like all Swiss regiments, wore red coats but with the Hemel regimental distinction of light blue cuffs and gaiters.
It was formed from the Régiment de Surbeck in 1714 and subsequently went through a wide number of name changes including Le Jeune, Stuppa, and Bezenwald, amongst others.
I found a somewhat garish flag for the regiment online –
The figures I’ve used are from Strelets’ WSS French Fusiliers set, together with an officer figure from another French Strelets set. I painted this pose previously for the French Régiment de Champagne. I’ve noted before the pleasing insouciant swagger that these marching figures have!
The officers:
I’m particularly pleased with the faces that Strelets have supplied. They seem to have a lot of character and reward painting with care.
I’m at that nice stage in the painting process of deciding what to paint next. I have cavalry, infantry, dragoons and artillery to choose from. Likewise, I have War of the Spanish Succession troops representing French, British, Spain and other nations. What I finally settle on will no doubt be shared in another Suburban Militarism post in due course! Until then, by the left, quick march!
For 2026, I’ve made a return to my War of the Spanish Succession project (Lace Wars). Previously, I’ve painted four French infantry regiments of the Sun King, as well as a cavalry formation, the French Horse Grenadiers. I thought I’d like to expand the French army further with some more infantry regiments starting with perhaps their most elite infantry formation: Le Régiment des Gardes Françaises, or The French Guards Regiment.
The Gardes Françaises had a distinctive uniform consisting of a blue coat with red breeches and cuffs. The cuffs and coat also featured lines of white lace. As Strelets have sculpted these as ordinary infantrymen, lace bands aren’t visible. Consequently, I’ve added some onto the cuffs but decided against it on the coats where I thought it would look a little too artificial.
I’ve added a couple of officers in their impressive wigs. I’ve still got to add some lace to their coats, though!
The Gardes Françaises were present at the WSS battles of Ramillies (1706) and Malplaquet (1709). Being an elite formation, they were subject to many and various privileges not extended to other standard regiments. The regiment was formally disbanded during the French revolution in 1789, at which time the majority of the members of this most royal of regiments had actually taken part in the storming of the Bastille!
I aim to add some more regiments to the French infantry before tackling either some artillery, dragoons or cavalry. Of the regiments that I’m considering, some Swiss and Irish troops attached to the French army may also be tackled.
For this year’s Christmas card, we see a small group of the Army of Advent’s heavy cavalry, The Christmas Carabiniers, led by Major Hollireeth, ride out in the local park following a heavy snowfall. The major’s steed, “Marzipan”, noses the snow hopefully in an effort to find a blade of grass while troopers cheekily take pot shots at snowmen!
I recently posted about a set of toy soldiers which I discovered in the Queen’s Hussars Museum. The figures were painted onto wooden blocks and suggested being a part of the tradition of paper soldiers. This inspired me to dip into my copy of Edward Ryan’s excellent book, “The Illustrated History of Printed Paper Armies of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries“. Published thirty years ago now, this limited edition book was sumptuously produced in hardback in 1995 with countless delightful colour illustrations of paper soldier sheets throughout. It’s big and very heavy (being 500+ pages), making bedtime reading something of a challenge, but anyone with an interest in model soldiers, uniforms and military artworks couldn’t fail to enjoy this book.
Reading through the pages, I noticed a number of depictions of Scottish Highlanders. Many of these old drawings were made by publishers based in mainland Europe and Highlanders were a popular subject. Consequently, some of the original illustrators were probably unfamiliar with the finer details of these British uniforms and so patterns of tartan in particular could be fanciful. I was struck by how these interpretations of highlanders stood as potential templates for imagi-nation highland troops, akin to my recent post on my own fictional Highland regiment, The Clavieburn Highlanders.
L-R: The Black Bun Watch; The Clavieburn Highlanders; The Cranachan Highlanders; The Hogmanay Highlanders. Four entirely fanciful Highland regiments.
The process I’d gone through in choosing my tartan designs seem to have their echo in some of these paper soldiers from years past including this one below by the French firm Pellerin of Épinal entitled “Infanterie Anglaise – Ecossais”. The feather bonnets almost look like turbans and the kilts seem to be an unusual yellow colour with red hoops and threads. Notably, the sporrans show badger heads, a feature actually specific to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It’s odd that the artist, seemingly a little unfamiliar with the topic, still knew that very specific piece of information about a highlander’s uniform.
Paper Highlanders by the German Anton Scholtz (below) look at once both familiar and very peculiar. The black feather bonnets seem to have turned white with black hackles. The kilt tartan meanwhile appears to feature a bizarre rainbow effect of all the colours of the spectrum! Finally a kind of white sash hangs loosely over the right shoulder. The author pithily states that the figures seem “more appropriate for a ballet than a battlefield“.
American paper soldiers by the Advance Publishing Company of New York do appear closer to the reality, although the specifics of the tartan is still a work of the artist’s imagination.
The following highlanders are made by Charles Pinot of Épinal and feature strangely skirt-like yellow kilts with dark red hoops. Also strange to see are the blue lacing on the coat, although the bonnets look a lot more realistic with their diced headbands. Altogether more fanciful, however, is the appearance of a Scottish version of what was a French military institution – a vivandière/cantinière, (a female canteen provider). Finally, note the considerably large white bag standing in as the artist’s ‘best guess’ of what bagpipes looked like (the skin of an entire sheep according to Edward Ryan).
All of which shows what interesting new ideas can be created when uniform design is entrusted to the imagination, rather than the history book. If there were 1/72 scale equivalents available, I’d love to provide my Clavieburn Highlanders with a Scottish Vivandière, her bottle no doubt containing many a ‘wee dram’ of Scotch whisky!
Highland infantry paper soldiers were often issued as black and white line drawings and this would have provided scope for purchasers to colour their own tartan designs too.
I suppose what this post has been attempting to draw attention to is that there is a long-established recorded precedent of painting semi-imaginary Scottish highland infantry uniforms going back over 200 years. Suburban Militarism is proud to be part of that tradition!
You’ll note that each regiment above references either a Scottish seasonal festival or food. The raising of the fourth and final regiment in the Highland Brigade continues that tradition.
Introducing; “The Clavieburn Highlanders”!
For those not in the know, the burning of the Clavie is a Scottish tradition celebrating New Year’s Eve, which under the old calendar fell on the 11th of January. The Clavie is a cask on a pole, filled with wood and tar. It’s then set alight and the burning Clavie is then carried through the streets of the town of Burghead before being taken to the top of a Hill and placed there while still alight.
The painting of Highlanders with all their complex tartan patterns, chequered hatbands and socks, lacing and other details strikes me as being somewhat masochistic. Nonetheless, as potentially onerous as it could be seen to be, I seem to eventually settle into the challenge and enjoy it.
I decided last year that I wanted my Army of Advent’s highland regiments to closely match the historical versions. This was in part because the Scottish highlander is so uniquely distinctive that I wanted to confirm that as being ‘genuine’ highlanders and avoid painting something absurd, leaving me the creative freedom to focus on the tartan alone.
For the Clavieburn Highlanders, I wanted a tartan that stood out as visibly very different to the other Highland regiments I’d painted. This was harder than it sounds because the tartan designs which I painted for the other three weren’t so much planned as simply ‘the tartan which I ended up with after failing at the original design’! The tartans which I previously painted were –
Regiment
Tartan
The Hogmanay Highlanders
Black-green background, flat red threads and deep green squares (this tartan is similar to that of the Black Watch).
The Cranachan Highlanders
Dark Prussian blue background, deep yellow threads, deep green squares (this is similar to the tartan of the Gordon Highlanders).
The Black Bun Watch
Black green background, no threads, turquoise-green and deep green squares (a sort-of blend of the Black Watch / Argyll & Sutherland’s tartans).
This ‘trial and error’ approach continued with the Clavieburn Highlanders. In the end, I created a tartan with dominant dark red squares, criss-crossed with Prussian blue and smaller, darker blue squares. This is very vaguely inspired by the piper’s tartan of the Scots Guards. I have forgone painting any threads for this tartan in an effort to maintain some sanity!
I’m not quite sure how convincing it is overall as a tartan but it certainly makes the Clavieburns stand out from their sister regiments. Either way, as an imagi-nation force, some creative licence might be granted.
Types of the Advent Army’s Highland Brigade. From left to right: The Black Bun Watch; a Clavieburn highlander; a Cranachan highlander; a Hogmanay highlander.
Regimental distinctions: From left – The Black Bun highlander wears a Tam O’Shanter but would otherwise have red over white feather hackle, wearing navy facings. White hackle / navy facings – The Clavieburn Highlanders. Red Hackle / yellow facings – The Cranachan Highlanders. White over red hackle / navy facings- The Hogmanay Highlanders.
Command-wise, the regiment is missing the usual senior officer, ensign and piper. I could resolve this by buying another full box of Highlanders but then I’ll have another whole box of troops to paint without any command figures and then when would it all end?! Taking overall command, I’ve pressed into service the mounted officer figure from my old childhood-era Airfix Highlanders, painted as the regiment’s highly respected Commanding Officer, Captain Burns-Knight.
The Scottish mounted Airfix veteran, now standing-in as Captain Burns-Knight of the Clavieburn Highlanders.
Other command figures for the Clavieburns are as below; a pioneer sergeant and a sergeant-major:
I had my regimental plaque made for the plinth by my usual supplier, a small business based (appropriately enough) in Scotland and not far from the Mull of Kintyre. On the rear of the plinth is the regimental motto, “Slàinte, sonas agus beartas”. This is a Scottish Gaelic phrase meaning “Health, happiness, and prosperity”.
It is admittedly quite outrageous to be presenting Christmas / New Year themed soldiery in August – but the truth is that if I leave it too close to Christmas itself then there’s a good chance that they’ll never be ready in time to parade as decorations over the Christmas season. At least the Clavieburn Highlanders are now ready to report for duty when required.
I still have other regiments I wish to raise for the Advent Army and there’s a good chance I may well get stuck straight in on one of those to join the Clavieburns later in the year.
It’s cold and miserable here in the UK. Thankfully, our failing heating system was revived yesterday by our plumber. Being a little too icy and cold to go out, not to say dark as early as 3.30pm, a little something to keep me occupied while hunkering down indoors is my habit of painting soldiers in winter campaign dress. In the past, this habit has included the painting of figures on ‘the retreat from Moscow’ during Napoleon’s campaign in Russia during the winter of 1812/13. These figures have included masses of French Napoleonic infantry, and French and Russian sledge trains.
So continuing this tradition, I’ve picked up a box I’ve had hanging around of Strelets French Cuirassiers in Winter Dress. It’s a fairly old set now, released back in 2007, and Strelets sculpting has developed at lot since then.
Nevertheless, I do enjoy the crisp detail and the character of these old-style Strelets figures, so I thought I’d give them a go.
The set includes a trumpeter and eagle bearer with cased colours.
I wasn’t sure from the remaining figures which one was the officer, I suppose it would be hard to tell under those winter coats but some Plastic Soldier Review indicates I may have chosen the wrong one. Even PSR admit that he ‘looks much like his men’. Below, my chosen officer is left and the apparently intended one is right. The officers and trumpeter have black or grey sheepskin half-shabraques, the men have white.
It is likely that the red plume would have been packed away while out on a winter’s campaign, but I’ve left them on, preferring to see a little colour amongst all the heavy grey coats. Any concept of regimental details are somewhat superfluous when the uniform is mostly hidden under those coats, but I’ve basically assumed that they could pass for something like the 2ème Régiment of Cuirassiers.
I do like how the set reveals a little of the cuirasses under the coats here and there, indicate the nature of this heavy cavalry.
I actually did the ‘Summer Dress’ version of these figures some years ago, as a gift for a young person, unfortunately I was under pressure to get them done in time for their birthday (I had a week to paint them!) so didn’t get time to photograph them too.
Well, that’s a little of this bleak midwinter passed productively here at Suburban Militarism, and I fancy I may find yet even more unpainted wintry soldiers to make a start on…
December is the perfect time of year for my ongoing Army of Advent. The seasonal imagi-nation consists of infantry, cavalry, artillery and other troops, all with Christmas-themed names. This time of year, a select few regiments get to parade out on a shelf amongst other decorations. This year has been the turn of three new regiments raised for the Army of Advent’s Highland Brigade.
The Hogmanay Highlanders (below right)
The Cranachan Highlanders (below centre)
The Black Bun Watch (below left)
I thought it was good opportunity to get the whole army out together for a seasonal review. Only Cracker Battery of the artillery didn’t attend (it was too cold to go out and retrieve them from the garage…).
The Commander in Chief, Sir Rudolf St. Nicholas is about to review the troops accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Major-General Sir Minns-Pye, Major-General Sir Stockingfiller (QMG) and his Military Secretary, Colonel Figgypudding.
Taking pride of place are the three regiments of the newly raised Highland Brigade.
The Advent Highland Brigade is commanded by the mounted Colonel McDaftdaye of the Hogmanay Highlanders.
Carols and Christmas tunes are lustily played by the band of the Advent Marines.
With mace in hand. the Bandmaster, Major Carroll-Service of the Advent Marine Light Infantry, leads the musicians in his red sash.
A trio of Basson, Oboe and Clarinet take up one of the many regimental carols played for the gathered regiments.
Some other newly raised regiments from recent years join the parade for their first appearance on Suburban Militarism, including Pudding Battery of the Christmas Artillery. They are a mortar battery (firing, it is said, only Christmas puddings) raised last year. Their facings are described as ‘plum-coloured’. Their CO, Lt. Roe-Sturkee, raised his arm in a signal to commence firing as a salute.
Also making a debut are The Christmas Carabiniers, a heavy cavalry regiment led by Major Hollireeth. The Carabiniers are mounted on black horses and wear steel helmets and cuirasses. The helmets have a brown fur surround except for their CO who is distinguished by white fur. Their coats are red with white linings, causing observers to commonly remark on the close similarity with the modern dress of Santa Claus himself…
Other regiments in attendance include the green-coated Poinsettian Rifles, engaging in an informative demonstration of Jaeger manoeuvres. A red poinsettia flower is displayed on their tricornes for such special occasions.
Aside from the Christmas Carabiniers, Heavy Cavalry is bolstered by the appearance of the yellow-coated Eggnog Cuirassiers. Light Cavalry in attendance include the Christingle Dragoons (Lieutenant-Colonel Bauble) and the Carolling Hussars (Lieutenant-Colonel Cranbury-Soarse).
Prestigious infantry regiments such as the Mistletoe Guards (light blue coats), the Yule Grenadiers (white coats), and the 1st Noel Regiment of Foot (red coats, extreme right) also take their place.
Finally, the CO and his staff officers inspect the Highland Brigade…
As Colonel McDaftdaye takes the salute, the Highlanders stand Order Arms.
Sir Rudolf St. Nicholas pronounces himself most satisfied with the new brigade and offers hearty congratulations, raising his hat to a proud Colonel McDaftdaye. The pipes and drums of the Highland Brigade strike up with some more seasonal tunes.
And with that 2024’s Army of Advent parade comes to a conclusion!
Types of the Advent Highland Brigade – a Hogmanay Highlander (left) and a Cranachan Highlander (right).
In those posts, I mentioned another regiment being planned for the Advent Army’s new Highland Brigade. And, in time for Christmas, here they are. Presenting “The Black Bun Watch”!
The figures are by Strelets and the uniform is Napoleonic. Unlike the highland bonnets worn by the Hogmanays and the Cranachans, the Black Bun Watch are wearing informal Tam O’Shanter caps. For their tartan, I used a dark green tartan with varying checks of mid-green and turquoise. This dark pattern is loosely in keeping with the Black Watch.
The uniform distinctions for the Advent Highland Brigade are:
Hogmanay Highlanders
Cranachan Highlanders
The Black Bun Watch
Tartan
Dark green with deep green squares and red lines
Navy with deep green squares and yellow lines
Dark green with deep green and turquoise squares
Hackle feather
White over red
Red
Red
Collar and cuffs
Navy
Yellow
Navy
So why are they called the Black Bun Watch? The name for this regiment is based on a Scottish fruit cake that includes raisins, sultanas, currants, spices, and almonds, bearing some similarity to traditional Christmas cake. The Scottish Black Bun was traditionally enjoyed on the twelfth night but is now more associated with Hogmanay and the Scottish tradition of First Footing.
For the regiment, I’ve also painted an officer (Captain Handsel-Mundaye), a pioneer sergeant, a piper and drummer. The musicians wear highland bonnets and are in navy, being reverse colours to the rest of the regiment.
The regiment has its usual display plinth with plaque for parading over the Christmas season as part of the household decorations. On the back of the plinth is the regimental motto – “Nollaig Chridheil” which means “Merry/Happy Christmas” in Scots Gaelic.
The Black Bun Watch join their sister regiments, the Hogmanay Highlanders and the Cranachan Highlanders for the grand Christmas parade with brigade commander Colonel McDaftdaye at their head. More on this in the subsequent post soon. Until then, I wish you all Nollaig Chridheil!
Scotland has a wonderful relationship with desserts and none more so, or more traditional than Scottish cranachan (CRA-neh-kinn). A cranachan is a very quick, easy recipe that includes oats, raspberries, cream, malt whisky, and honey. The ingredients are then layered, as you would with a trifle, for a pretty presentation. It’s a festive sweet that is perfect for any celebration, especially Christmas and Hogmanay, and rounds off a Burns Night supper beautifully. The origin of the word cranachan in Scots Gaelic means “churn.”
As promised in my last post, I present my follow-up to The Hogmanay Highlanders. My festive-themed imagi-nation “The Army of Advent” now has a second regiment to join the army’s newly-established Highland Brigade.
The new regiment are named The Cranachan Highlanders, in keeping with other regiments in the army which are all named after something festive, in this instance after the Scottish pudding mentioned at the beginning of this post. I’ve enjoyed Cranachan a number of times before now, and can attest that it is delicious especially with plenty of whisky mixed in!
Once more, the regiment sports traditional British army dress for Napoleonic period Highlanders. The minor distinctions in dress particular to each regiment are now as follows:
Hogmanay Highlanders
Cranachan Highlanders
Tartan
Dark green with deep green squares and red lines
Navy with deep green squares and yellow lines
Hackle feather
White over red
Red
Collar and cuffs
Navy
Yellow
Types of the Advent Army: A Hogmanay Highlander and a Cranachan Highlander.
It’s a curious experience painting tartan. I tend to find that the tartan which I end up with isn’t the one that I originally planned, but it is one that seemed to work the best after some trial and error!
The officer below is a simple affair with grey trousers instead of tartan and a dark red sash over his left shoulder.
I’ve given the piper reverse facings, unlike the Hogmanay’s piper who wore the same red coat as the rest of the regiment. As with the Hogmanay’s flag, I’ve simply base coated it and will design something for it at a later date. Whatever it will be, it will be something simple enough to cope with that tightly folded shape.
As is traditional in the Army of Advent, the Cranachan’s have been given their own special display base with their regimental name on the front in a brass plaque. To the back, I’ve added their regimental motto. For the Cranachan Highlanders, this is (in Latin) “Primus Pes” or First Foot, a reference to the Scottish Christmas and Hogmanay custom of first footing.
I’ve planned one final regiment in the Advent Army’s Highland Brigade, Although I may keep that particular painting project back for next year. A man can only take so much tartan painting!
“Order arms!” – My festive-themed Cranachan and Hogmanay highlanders in close order drill.
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