Prussian Line Musketeers

Marching | Officers | Trail Arms | Advancing/Charging | Firing Line | Mounted Officers | Foot Officers (Uberrock) | Special Packs | Advancing (2011 Packs) | General Poses (2011 Packs) | Trail Arms Poses (2012 Packs) | Charging Poses (2012 Packs)

Please note that these figures are not suitable for use as line fusiliers.

I would like to thank Mr. Peter Bunde (Brigade plates) and Mr. Peter Hofschroer (the author of the Osprey books on the Prussian army of this period) for their advice and assistance, particularly as concerns the appropriate poses for the marching and trail-arms figures.

These figures have been designed to appear as Prussian line musketeers would have done on campaign. As such, all figures have:

Prussian infantry wore jackets (kollets) in Prussian blue. This was a very deep blue, almost black. Collars and cuffs were in provincial colours � Brandenburg, red: Pommerania, white: Silesia, yellow: East Prussia, brick red: West Prussia, carmine. Shoulder straps were in the seniority colour for the regiment � first regiment, white: second regiment, red: third regiment yellow: fourth regiment, light blue. Turnbacks were red for all regiments. A black neck stock was worn under the collar.

The breeches were grey worn tucked into the black gaiters or marching boots (for NCOs only).

All belting was white for musketeers. Note that the chest strap for the back pack was often worn under the greatcoat roll to facilitate the easy removal of the grey greatcoat. The leather sheath on the greatcoat roll was, in fact, the foul weather cover for the musket lock and was placed around the greatcoat for convenience (this information supplied by Alfred Uhmey via Peter Bunde). Reliable illustrations show infantry but not officers wearing the leather sheath on their greatcoats since officers did not carry muskets.

The pack and sabre scabbard were of red-brown leather as was the musket sling. The cartridge pouch was black with an oval brass metal plate on the cover. Sword knots were white with a toggle in company colour which is impossible to paint on a 25mm figure so don�t bother with it! The canteen strapped to the pack was covered with a canvas (off-white) cover the same colour as the haversack worn on the left hip. No water bottles are seen on Prussian line infantry until after the Napoleonic Wars, I can only conclude that this item was carried in the canvas haversack.

NCO distinctions were gold lace on collars and cuffs and the black leather marching boots.

Musketeer officers wore a coat of the same colour as the men with the same facing colour combinations but the tails of the coat were longer and the epaulets worn on the shoulders had silver lace piping according to rank. A new type of shoulder strap with distinctive gold crescents was introduced in 1814 but was not in widespread use in the infantry until after the Napoleonic wars. The officers also wore a silver sash at the waist. In the field officers wore grey overalls with a red stripe and a row of gold buttons down the outside seam. Musketeer officers carried a straight bladed sword in a red leather sheath. Not infrequently, the officers wore a grey frock coat (uberrock) instead of their kollet when on campaign. This had a collar in provincial colour with the usual rank epaulets at the shoulder and sash at the waist but no other facing or rank distinctions. Officers on foot always wore a backpack the so called 'badge of dishonour' introduced after the 1807 reorganisation of the army.

Mounted officers wore the same uniforms as described above. Shabraques were usually black 'bearskin'. Knotel has a number of illustrations of a dressier shabraque in red with a gold border and matching holster covers of a very distinctive type with the pistol handles poking visibly over the top of the cover. I will use this shabraque to mark higher ranking mounted officers. Saddles were often in brown leather but all other horse furniture was in black leather.

Flags were carried by senior NCOs. Several reliable illustrations show these men wearing what appears to be a double greatcoat roll. It took me some time to work out that one is indeed the greatcoat roll while the other is the rolled up cover for the flag. This was usually of black oilskin.

Musicians had �swallows nests� at the shoulders in facing colour with white piping. Those regiments with white facings had red swallows nests. The protective apron on the left knee was of the same calf-skin material (and colour) as the packs.

Further Information

Unless you want to spend a lot of time and money pursuing original sources such as the Knotel and Brauer plates, the best modern source is undoubtedly Peter Bunde�s Brigade plates. Another good source of information is the third book in the series � 'Les Planches De La Belle Alliance'. This book reproduces the cards from the famous (and now difficult to find) Sturm cigarette album for the 1813 -15 'War of Liberation'. A last source worth mentioning for those of you with deeper pockets is the new re-print by LCV of Clement's 'Napoleon en Allemagne'. Although the text has been faithfully reprinted, LCV asked Alfred Uhmey to provide the documentation (illustrations) for a book originally bare of these. Alfred Uhmey is renowned for his collection of Napoleonic items and illustrations and has gathered in one (expensive) book many illustrations relevant to the armies engaged in Germany in 1813. His illustrations of the Prussian army are some of the best I have seen in any single book including Knotel plates and paintings, Brauer plates and some of the cigarette cards mentioned previously.

Prussian Line Musketeers: Marching

Prussian Musketeers: March Attack
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Code Description
PM1Right leg straight, left leg bent at the knee. Facing forward
PM1bAs PM1, facing right
PM2Left leg straight, right leg back. Head turned to the right
PM3Left leg forward, right leg back. Head facing forward.
PM4Left leg bent high at the knee, right leg straight. Head facing forward
PM4bAs PM4 facing left
PM5Left leg stretched forward, right leg trailing back. Facing forward. Holds musket with both hands
PM6Marching standard bearer
PM7Marching standard bearer

Prussian Line Musketeers: Officers

Musketeer officers were armed with a straight bladed 'Degen'. All foot officers were required to wear a back pack, the so-called, 'badge of dishonour'. Most officers also wore the greatcoat roll like the men, as it afforded them some protection against sword and bayonet thrusts.

Code Description
PM8Marching officer holding sword at 45 degree angle to the ground
PM8bAs PM8 but wearing forage cap. Greatcoat roll added
PM9Marching officer, sword resting on shoulder left hand held high, greatcoat roll
PM10Advancing/charging officer. Sword held high
PM10bAs PM10 but wearing forage cap and greatcoat roll
PM11Advancing/charging officer, sword held high, greatcoat roll

Prussian Line Musketeers: Trail Arms

According to Mr. Hofschroer, this is the correct pose for advancing Prussian infantry. The musket was carried in this fashion until the advancing infantry were about to make contact with the enemy. At this point the porte arms position was adopted. The reason for this was that the musketeers were armed with short swords which needed to be restrained when the men were moving at speed. The men were trained to advance holding the musket in their right hand while their left held the sword.

Code Description
PM12Left leg forward, right leg back, head turned to the left
PM13Left leg bent at the knee, right leg straight, head facing forward
PM14Left leg extended forward and bent at the knee, right leg straight back, head turned to the left
PM14bAs PM14 but with head turned to the right
PM15Enthusiastic musketeer, right arm holding musket in the air

Prussian Line Musketeers: Advancing/Charging

Code Description
PM16Right leg forward, left leg back
PM17Right leg forward, left leg lifted back
PM18Left leg forward, right leg lifted back
PM19Left leg forward and bent at the knee, right leg back
PM20Right leg forward and bent at the knee, left leg straight
PM21Standard bearer
PM22Drummer, holding drum

Prussian Line Musketeers: Firing Line

Code Description
PM23Standing firing
PM24Standing ready, head turned to the left
PM24bAs PM24 but with head turned to the right
PM25Loading, biting cartridge
PM26Loading, ramming musket

Prussian Line Musketeers: Mounted Officers

Code Description
PM27Sword arm down, head turned to the left
PM28Sword arm held out horizontally, head turned to the right
PM29Officer wearing the lagermutz (forage cap) and uberrock (short greatcoat favoured by officers on campaign)

Prussian Line Musketeers: Foot Officers (Uberrock)

Code Description
PM30Marching officer, sword held down. Wears the shako, faces left
PM30bAs PM30, wearing forage cap. Head turned right
PM31Marching officer, sword shouldered, motioning with arm. Wears the shako
PM31bAs PM31 wearing the forage cap
PM32Charging officer. Pointing with sword, waving other arm. Wears shako and faces right
PM32bAs PM32. Wears cap and faces left

Prussian Line Musketeers: Special Packs

Code Description
PM marching bareheaded packVersions of PM3 (bareheaded) and PM4 (bandaged head)
PM marching forage cap packVersions of PM1 and PM2 both wearing the forage cap introduced in 1813
PM advancing/charging bareheaded packVersions of PM12 (bandaged head) and PM17 (bareheaded)
PM advancing/charging forage cap packVersions of PM13 and PM18 wearing the forage cap
PM firing line forage cap and bareheaded packVersions of PM23 (forage cap) and PM26 (bareheaded)
PM falling casualtiesOne falling forward the other back
PM prone casualtiesOne lying on his stomach, the other on his side

New Prussian Line Musketeers: Advancing (2011 Packs)


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Code Description Photos (click to enlarge) Price
P1 Three individual figures in advancing poses with levelled muskets (parallel to the ground).   �3.30
P2 Same as P1 but with two head turn variations and one bareheaded variant.   �3.30
P3 Six individual figures in advancing poses with muskets held at 'high-porte' (45-degrees to the body).   �6.60
P4 Same as P3 but with two head turn variants, two bareheaded variants and two forage cap variants (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �6.60
P5 'Tete de colonne'.'comprising standard bearer, drummer and NCO in advancing poses (figures painted by Stephen Maughan).   �3.30

Prussian Line Musketeers: General Poses (2011 Packs)

The following figure packs are compatible with the above but can also be used with the trail-arms and charging sets soon to be released.

Code Description Photos (click to enlarge) Price
P6 Three figures in 'enthusiastic' poses (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �3.30
P7 Three falling casualties (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �3.30
P8 Three extra NCOs in advancing and charging poses. �3.30
P9 Three advancing foot officers.   �3.30
P10 Three mounted officers in the Kollet (the uniform jacket) (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �3.30
P11 Three advancing/charging foot officers in Uberrocks (short grey coat) (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �3.30
P12 Three mounted officers in Uberrocks (short grey coat) (figures painted by Stephen Maughan). �3.30
P13 Three foot officers in charging poses.   �3.30

Prussian Line Musketeers: Trail Arms Poses (2012 Packs)

Code Description Photos (click to enlarge) Price
P14 Six figures in trail arms poses.   �6.60
P15 Same as P14 but with head variants.   �6.60
P16 Command pack for trail arms figures.   �3.30

Prussian Line Musketeers: Charging Poses (2012 Packs)

Code Description Photos (click to enlarge) Price
P17 Charging front rank.   �3.30
P18 Charging rear ranks.   �6.60
P19 Charging front rank head variants.   �3.30
P20 Charging drummer, standard bearer and NCO.   �3.30
P21 Charging rear ranks head variants.   �6.60

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