Hesse Darmstadt

[Leatherneck24]

Hello brothers in arms

I come to lobby for the Hesse Darmstadt soldiers that fought in Massenna corp in St.Cyr division in the 3rd Brigade. These soldiers were considered the best Confederation of the Rhine troops and even one unit served in the German division in Spain so could be used for a peninsular mod. These men started the war with 4,845 men and ended the war a year later with 344 dead,983 wounded, and 137 missing for a grand total of 1,464. That is a staggering number for such a small brigade. The Hesse-Darmstadt were an interesting group of men because their regiments were called brigades but in reality were only 3 battalions or the regular size of most regiments. Two battalions were line infantry and the other were fusiliers without flags. In all there were 2 brigades amounting to 6 battalions also there was one brigade in the peninsula. Unlike most Confederation of the Rhine troops Hesse Darmstadt infantry were not forced to change from their old tactics of the austrian drill book of 4 companies but fought in 3 ranks and were considered on the same level with french troops. Their infantry proved this and fought hard at Aspern paying dearly at Wagram losing over 738 men. There cavalry served with the famous Marulaz and fought very well at Aspern and Wagram and even at the final surrender at Znaim. Their arty actually was more modern wearing shakos and a uniform that looks very close the french artillery in game. Since this game seems to have uniforms from NTW Lordz modd which I am pretty sure had 1806 Prussians all we would need is a lapel and collar change for line infantry and green coats for fusiliers and it would be done. The cavalry looks just like Bavarian Chevauxlegers but with grey riding breeches.

Here is there OOB

French Brigade Commander Schiner
Hesse Darmstadt Commander Nagel

1st Hesse Darmstadt Brigade
Leib Garde Infantry 2 battalions Uniform Dark Blue with Red Distinctive Color
Leib Garde Fusiliers 1 battalion Uniform Dark Green with Red Distinctive Color

2nd Hesse Darmstadt Brigade
Leib Infantry 2 battalions Uniform Dark Blue Light Blue Distinctive Color
Leib Fusiliers 1 battalion Uniform Dark Green Light Blue Distinctive Color

Marulaz Division
4 French cavalry regiment
Baden Light Dragoons
Hessian Garde Chevauxlegers Regiment Uniform Dark Green Coat black facings trimmed red. Bavarian Helmet.

Arty Uniform Dark blue coat black facings trimmer red dark blue breeches shako
5x6pdr
1xHwtzr

Some pictures in the same order

Final words from the the Iron Marshal himself Davout telling the Emperor that France "could not be better served than by these troops" John H Gill With Eagles to Glory: Napoleon and his German Allies in the 1809 Campaign.

[gunship24]

I ummed and arrhhed about putting these units in and decided that the units were too unique and wouldnt be used that much to warrent the effort required. I wouldnt rule it out though . It seems we have the same passion to see all then units in all their uniform glory on the field. I do intend to come back to this after the penninsula mod, i still need to do Austrian Landwehr for example and Saxons. I will be concentrating on the pennisula mod for the time being. Thank you for the info, it is not wasted. Feel free to discuss the actions of these troops here .

[Leatherneck24]

I agree they are very unique but I am somewhat fond of them because I have an ancestor from Obergude Hesse whose father was a grenadier in 1776. He was born in 1778 so I am hoping since his father fought as a grenadier he joined one of the regiment and served proudly against the Austrians! However small they are they actually fought in many battles and at the key parts of Aspern-Essling and Wagram the Saxons fleeing forced the Hessians to take on the brunt of the fighting in their sector. They also fought with Davout in the battles before Wagram at Prebburg and Engerau. Well if you ever decide to do them here are a few suggestion for units. The French arty looks perfect for them with the shako but the Austrian arty drivers would be perfect for Hessian arty drivers. The thing I enjoy about this game is I love being able to play as my favorite unit or even favorite commander of a unit. It gives someone who enjoys the Austrians the ability to redeem the commanders who failed. My favorite is probably Captain Regnier with the Bavarian light artillery in the Bavarian 1st Division.

[Saddletank]

I would have to say that, lovely looking though they are, before we consider such minor states we should first create the major nations. Britain is being worked on, but we lack Prussia and Russia entirely.

Russia is one of those armies where you could produce enough units to convincingly field the entire lot with only 20 or 30 uniforms.

[redcoat]

agree with st here.
id like to see all armys involved in the wars portrayed in this brilliant mod,but id really like to see prussia and russia.my ambition is to play borodino,and ive got some nice music for those two mighty nations! cheers

[Leatherneck24]

Well this is an 1809 campaign mod and Hesse Darmstadt soldiers spilled their blood so if we were just going off what the mod is then they deserve to be in the game. However, I would like to see Russians and British and everyone else.

[redcoat]

i do see your point,but im thinking of poor old gunship here! hes got us of less talent requesting all sorts of units and hes only one man,doing all this on his own.
im massivly impressed with what hes achieved so far by himself and hes got idiots like me blithley requesting little things like the armys of prussia and russia!

i guess we've just got to be patient,i dont doubt he'll get round to all of them in due time.cheers

[Leatherneck24]

I wish there was some way we could help him create things. I am, trying to learn how to use Garniers OOB editor so I can help out. I now have more free time since I am done coaching lacrosse before football season starts so I would love to be able to make units too since I have so much down time. Keep up the good work

[Saddletank]

Heh, I know all about wish lists... I've recently been re-reading Christopher Duffy's "Eagles over the Alps" about Marshall Suvorov's last campaign in northern Italy and Switzerland in 1799 and now I have a desperate hankering for Revolutionary era uniforms! The Russian infantry wore an almost exact copy of the Prussian 1780s uniform. French demi-brigades and various Polish and Italian Legions, Austrians in their false-front kaskett hats. Wonderful looking period.

[Leatherneck24]

The attachment rc1fsiliermusketiergren.jpg is no longer available

Off topic but just too lovely to pass up to tempt you even more! Patrice Courcelle lovely work B) Also have to throw in the Polish Legion de Nord and 1800 Austrians.