I am very thankful to Peter Lenders for his wonderful articles relating the Dutch contribution to the War of Austrian Succession. The original manuscript runs 58 pages ( 8.5" x 11") plus a large assortment of maps, uniform and flag drawings. Needless to say, this Journal is not big enough to accomodate an article of such length without dividing it into two parts and spreading the material over two consecutive issues. As editor, I like to have such problems since it guarantees that I have plenty of material for the next issue on the docket. Peter's article conveniently divides into two distinct parts: Part I details the Dutch involvement in the campaigns in the Low Countries between 1744 and 1748, while Part II (Vol. 8 Issue No. 3) provides us with a comprehensive listing of Dutch infantry and cavalry regiments, plus uniform information and standards for the same. I hope to augment this with an article about the types of wargame figures that could be used to depict the Dutch Army. Can anyone provide me with information on suitable wargame figures for the Dutch in 15mm and 25mm? I assume that one must use assorted French, Swedes and Prussians and "convert with paint."

I have often wondered what became of the Dutch during the mid18th Century. It seems that historians have forgotten them, but as you will discover, they played a meaningful role in War of Austrian Succession. For me, it is a real treat to be able to read Peter's material and discover new things about 18th Century military history. Hopefully, Peter's efforts will inspire some of the members to add a Dutch contingent to their wargame armies. To the best of my knowledge, Daniel Schorr is the only person on this side of the pond to actually field a Dutch wargame army. Brave lad is Daniel! You may want to look up some of the back issues of The Courier wargame magazine for some of Daniel's articles on the Dutch. This would complement Peter's articles quite well.

One aspect that I found interesting was the inclusion of Bavarian units in the Dutch order of battle during the war--a fact that I was not aware of. The Pragmatic or Allied Army was a diverse lot and one that would be quite colorful on the wargame table. Just think of it: red-coated British and Hanoverians, white-coated Austrians, dark blue Dutch, Bavarians and Prussian-styled Hessians all in one army.

I recently commenced my own 15mm Pragmatic Army project for Age of Reason wargame rules. However, I have added a new twist that promises to make for a colorful and eye catching collection. I plan to double the size of the infantry and cavalry regiments so that I end up with 24 figure infantry battalions and 12, 18 or 24 figure cavalry regiments. The infantry will be mounted 6 figures per stand and two ranks deep, but with the same frontage as the 12 figure AOR battalions. I have always preferred the look of double ranks in my wargame units, and given the relative low cost of 15mm figures, it doesn't require a huge financial outlay to secure the necessary figures. I have added one other element to my new units, and that is the inclusion of regimental guns with each battalion. AOR factors the regimental guns into its firing tables, but does not require one to actually field the artillery piece on the table. I plan to substitute a regimental gun for one infantry figure in the battalion.

Thus there will be 23 figures plus one gun casting. Figures will be mounted six per stand, except for one stand which will have five soldiers and one gun casting -- the gun represents the 24th man. One could also substitute a pair of artillery crew for two of the infantry figures for added effect.

As of the end of May 1995, I have painted one British brigade of five regiments (8th, 12th, 23rd, 37th and 42nd regiments of foot) and I am really pleased with the way it looks. Next, I will paint five battalions of French and then add cavalry regiments to each side, before adding a Hanoverian or Austrian brigade, then another French brigade, and so on and so forth. Eventually my Pragmatic Army will include 8 British, 4-5 Hanoverian, 6 Austrian and 6 Dutch infantry battalions for a total of 24 - 25 battalions. Naturally, the French must outnumber the Allies, so I'll probably have approximately 30 French infantry battalions including the Gardes Francaises.

For now, I am using an assortment of Old Glory and Essex figures for my British and Allies, while my French are exclusively Essex. Old Glory does not make the French as yet, but there are rumors that such figures might be available by the end of 1995. Hopefully, Old Glory will produce a pack of Maison du Roi cavalry for the French, especially since no other figure manufacturer seems to offer the Maison du Roi. Write to Old Glory and tell them that you want the French and their Household Cavalry. I wrote to Essex a year or two ago requesting additions to their French line, and they informed me that they did not plan to add to their SYW/18th Century line. Maybe a few letters to Essex in the UK will give them an indication of the level of interest for more SYW French figures.

Married

I thought that it would be appropriate to make a little announcement at this point, and that is, that I am getting married on June 3, 1995. My bride-to-be is Anne Van der Vort and she has taken great interest in "the little men" as she calls my wargame figures. She is the one who encouraged me to start painting figures and participating in wargame events after I had gone through a six-month period of wargame "burn-out". I feel very fortunate to have Anne in my life and it is sort of a bonus that she likes the wargaming hobby.

RSM Gone

RSM Ltd. has decided to strike the tent and close their business, due to the fact that their casting machine literally fell apart and presumably the level of orders could not justify the expense of a new casting machine ( I understand that these cost about $10,000 for new machines and maybe a third less for a used machine). Perhaps someone or a group of people might have an interest in purchasing RSM's molds and continuing the business. Another possibility might be for someone to buy a spin-caster and make a deal with RSM to cast their figures.

Regardless, I feel a certain sense of sorrow over the passing of this fine line of 18th Century 25mm miniatures. I always thought that RSM figures actually looked like real people, only, of course in miniature, as opposed to the "cartoonish" appearance that seems to be popular today. There is a certain elegance to the RSM figures that evokes the grace of the 18th Century like no other line of figures, in my opinion. I hope that something can be worked out to keep the line going. Interested parties should contact Dennis Smail at 188 Woodland Ave., Lexington, KY 40502.

Along similar lines, if anyone has any spare unpainted RSM Austrian or Prussian castings, then I would be interested in purchasing some of the same to add to my collection. I would also be interested in inexpensive painted figures that I could repaint or touch up in some manner.

Convention

On a more pleasant note, the 12th Annual SYWA Convention was held in South Bend, Indiana on April 7th and 8th, 1995. The venue was the Holiday Inn Downtown, for the second consecutive year. This seems to be an ideal location for the majority of the membership given its proximity to Chicago, Detroit and the Northern Indiana gaming community. I rather enjoy taking a short drive out of the Chicago area for the weekend because it seems like a real vacation. A tip of the tricorne should go to Dean West and Jim Mitchell who organized the event. Dean reports that we had a record high 90 attendees at the convention and 70 at the annual banquet. Dean attributes the record turnout to the fact that Professor Christopher Duffy was the guest of honor and featured speaker. Professor Duffy gave a splendid presentation on the Battle of Leuthen, from the Austrian perspective and offered his assistance to Paul Petri, who showed videotape of the 1995 Duffy tour to Germany and the Czech Republic.

Professor Duffy indicated that he was willing to start scouting out accommodations near Frederician sites in Silesia for a proposed Silesian battlefield tour, probably in the spring of 1997. I heartily recommend that everyone start saving for this tour as a follow-up to last year's smashing success. Professor Duffy also wanted me to mention that his tour of Saxony (see Vol. 8 Issue No. 1 for details) has been rescheduled for this Fall and that there are still several openings available for anyone interested. Again, refer to the previous issue for details on how to get in touch with Duffy if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity.

Duffy also informed us that his rewrite of The Army of Frederick the Great was completed and is scheduled to be published by The Emperor's Press sometime late summer or early fall of 1995. There is a significant amount of new material in the newer version, so even if you already have a copy of the old version, you will undoubtedly want to buy a new copy. I will include an announcement in the Journal about the publication date when it becomes available.

Meanwhile, back at the SYW convention, there were at least a dozen or more wargames including re-enactments of Camposanto, Mollwitz, Fontenoy, Chotusitz, Zorndorf, Domstadtl, and of course the ever-popular Marquis of Granby's Cup. The latter event seemed to have its fair share of good-natured back stabbing and dastardly deeds as 12 horsemen with different agendas raced around the table, hoping to finish ahead of the pack. Dave Olster was this year's winner of the horse race; it seems that Dave chose to take one of the shortcuts, and despite having to hack his way through maurauding bands of hussars, Pandours and flocks of killer sheep, he still managed to win by a mile. Bill Biles reports that John Curran's victory condition was to see that Bill did not cross the finish line in one piece. Apparently Monsieur Curran hired three or four other players to put a "hit" on poor Bill. You sort of get the idea of how this game works. There were also a number of American Revolution and French & Indian War skirmish games plus Greg Nichols' highly entertaining canoe races.

I noticed that a number of members took advantage of Duffy's presence to ask questions and test out wargame theories with an acknowledged expert. Messers Petri and West were having a rather lively debate about the ability of cavalry, being charged in the flank, to turn and meet their charging opponents. Monsieur West, taking the affirmative position, was over-ruled by Professor Duffy, much to the delight of Mr. Petri and a few amused onlookers. I particularly enjoyed watching Duffy use some of Dean's "little men" to demonstrate his point.

Dean and I have had a running disagreement over whether light troops should be able to charge into formed cavalry. While Dean does not think it likely, he allows for the possibility, however remote the chance. My position, on the otherhand, is that no amount of prodding could get a band of Croats to leave the safety of a woods or town and run out into the open to taunt a regiment of cuirassiers. (You can probably guess which of us had a regiment of Prussian cavalry rout away from charging Croats). At any rate, when I asked Professor Duffy if such an event were possible, he smiled and said, "I should think not!" The upshot of all this is that Monsieur West saw the merit of my position, and created "The Jim Purky Rule" which prohibits light infantry from charging formed troops in The Final Arguement of Kings rules. Of course, Dean takes every opportunity to tell players about the shameless behavior of my Prussian Cuirassiers whenever someone asks about the origin of said rule.

I should also mention that we had a terrific turnout of association members from lands far away from the Midwest. Michael Becher, Dan Fogelman, and Mike Edinger flew in from the Washington DC area; Paul Dangel came from Philadelphia, Bill Jones from New Orleans, Michael Lowry from Mississippi, and John Curran from Los Angeles were but a few of the many who traveled long distances to get to the convention.

I want to thank all the game judges, dealers and everyone who attended for helping to make this year's convention one of the best yet. Next year's convention will be held at the same venue on March 29th and 30th, 1996. Paul Petri and Brian Vizek are this year's men on horseback who have volunteered to host and organize the 1996 SYWA convention. I will keep you posted about related convention news in this Journal as it becomes available. I hope that we can see everyone at next years convention for more good times, wonderful wargaming and friendly comraderie.

Austrian Grenadiers

Does anyone know anything about the organization and military use of the Austrian grenadiers? In looking over various battle maps in Christopher Duffy's books, one can see numerous examples of grenadier companies deployed either independently or in conjunction with other grenadier companies. Peter Lender's orders of battle also suggest company formations of grenadiers. I have always wondered, did Austrian grenadier companies converge into regular battalions as per the Prussian army, and if so, were grenadiers converged from specific line regiments and commanded by a specific inhaber?

For example, grenadiers from the Prussian 3rd and 6th infantry regiments were always converged togeather, and they were commanded by von Hacke during the SYW. Did the Austrians use the same system. One also finds reference to grenadiers being deployed in front of the main line of battle, as skirmishers perhaps?

Perhaps one of the members has some insight on the Austrian grenadier formations and could submit an article to the journal for the benefit of the membership. If anyone can help with regard to this issue, then please let me hear from you at the earliest convenience.