The Lace Wars, many of them started and finished by Frederick the Great, were distinctly wars of regiments to my mind’s eye, for there was no larger lasting military entity. True, there were brigades, but they were thrown together for the battle, or at best, the year’s campaign. Divisions did not exist, and the Napoleonic Corps had yet to be envisioned. Hence, it was a war of regiments.

We always think of the Prussians as a wall of blue coats. Well, not only were their facing colors—collars, cuffs and facing colors—different, but so were their pants and vests, which varied from white to buff to yellow and even pink. Their headgear was either the tri-corn for the musketeers, the fusiliers cap (sort of a shortened version of the grenadier’s miter) or the tall miter for the elite grenadiers. And the cavalry were a complete burst of color. The fact is that each regiment was distinctive in appearance. We know their officers and their history.

In wargaming, your regiments can create their own history. When I first began gaming with 54mm in New York, thanks to the leadership of a most excellent fellow, named Dick Ford, I began regimental histories, going so far as to paint in the regimental flags taken in combat.

War in that period was very much a war of regiment against regiment. With accuracy diminishing rapidly after 40 yards, a man on the right end of the regiment couldn’t be expected to hit his opposite number on the left end of the same regiment. It was just you and the enemy standing in front of you. Musketry was the order of the day, for the bayonet was seldom employed.