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Brunswick Cannon

Does anyone know what type of carriage and colour the Brunswick cannons were at Waterloo?

What ive found so far is that some say they were British single block carriages, but some say French.
As for colours it again ranges from a British Blue Grey to a dark blue or even that green/brown colour of the French.

Does anyone have any clearer info on them?

Thanks in advance and I hope you all had a great Christmas day.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

The cannon were French 6 pounders bought at auction from equipment captured at the battle of Leipzig. The color was officially light blue.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

The 2 Brunswick batteries (foot & horse) participating in the 1814/15 campaigns were indeed equipped with captured guns from the 1813 Battle of Nations, taken from French, Westphalian and Dutch units.

Both batteries had 2 howitzers and 6 cannons each, not sure if all cannons were 6-pounders though.

Equally uncertain about the colouring, light blue and dark brown/black are both widespread interpretations.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

Howitzers aside,all captured French 6 pounder`s, the all important colour, pale blue is what I settled on years ago, having struggled to find the definitive answer, I suspect no one took any notice they played such a small role in the two battles,I have also seen them painted in French artillery green, but that could just be the painters too struggled to find the answer and settled for the original French colour of the captured guns.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

Many thanks for the replies chaps.

Sounds like its French Guns, i've just the carriage colour to decide on.

I suppose its a question of would they have just kept the French colour as mentioned or changed it.
If they did repaint I can see a case for them repainting in a blue more close to that of the Prussians, but then i can also imagine them repainting in black, what with the reasons for the Brunswick corps being uniformed in black in the first place.

Hmmm decisions decisions. I think one thing I can settle on is they were most probably a very dark colour, to match the theme of the Brunswick Corps. Somehow any sort of light or colourful shade doesnt sit right to me with the Brunswickers. I know some have said a pale blue, but im thinking of maybe a dark navy blue or even darker. I might do one of each and see what "fits" the best.

Yes they did play a small role. Im only doing 1 crew & 1 gun each of foot and horse. Im just doing them as a little subject to paint for a change. Still recovering from the Tartan of the 79th!!

Re: Brunswick Cannon

It sounds as if there is enough uncertainty about these gun carriages to allow you to use a bit of careful 'artistic licence', Roger.

A reference book that I use quite a lot is 'Napoleonic artillery' by Dawson, Dawson and Summerfield (published 2007 by Crowood Press), which gives the 'olive green '(ie: French artillery green) colour for the Brunswick guns. But it also mentions that Netherlands artillery was 'various shades of brown as well as olive green', suggesting that a bit of variation in colours was not uncommon for some 1815 armies, not least those who had previously fought for Napoleon I.

Whilst repainting gun etc carriages would clearly not be practicable in the field/on campaign (all that wet paint!), there would have been enough time before the start of the Hundred Days for the Duke of Brunswick to order this for his newly-purchased artillery. Indeed, he might have been so pleased to have a small artillery arm to add to his Corps that it is quite probable that he would have ordered this!

Given that the standard British colour was grey and the Prussian a light blue-grey, a darker shade of either would be perfectly reasonable for the Brunswickers, with black ironwork (what else?). I'd say that Navy blue is too 'blue', but a duller dark Prussian blue/grey might be OK? This colour mix would have been achieved by the Brunswick painting crew by taking Prussian artillery paint and adding a dash more black to it in the mix.

Which model guns and figures are you planning to use for your Brunswick batteries?



Re: Brunswick Cannon

Hi Minuteman
Ive got all sorts of Napoleonic guns spare to choose from, French etc, a mix of manufacturers. Mostly plastic but I think there might be some metal ones hiding in the spares box!
As for the crew i have a pack each of some Newline Designs Brunswick horse and foot artillery crews.
I know some think Newline are a bit small for mixing with 1/72 but having incorperated other Newline figures within my units, im a bit more relaxed about that. In fact they seem to blend in well when placed among certain plastic figures from some manufacturers. Its when manufacturers make giants I find it more awkward!!

As for the colour choice, yes on further thought navy blue could be too "blue". I have some Vallejo dark Prussian blue & dark sea blue i could experiment with. Only other blues ive got are lighter than that. Im gonna go with French guns, but I think the colour would of been changed.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

Sounds good! I'm sure that your Brunswick artillery will look fine with the Newline figures: they look good I agree, and for a stand-alone gun crew ie: not shoulder to shoulder with much taller figures, will be fine.

The Prussian Dark Blue from Vallejo is a good colour which I use quite a lot. I think the sea blue might be a bit too 'green'?

Re: Brunswick Cannon

I used the French guns for the Dutch-Belgian artillery, from ACTA. Painted grey with black ironwork. Think the Brunswickers will borrow it if not in use!
For Brunswick Horse Artillery, I used British Rocket Artillery bodies, with Brunswick Leib HorseHair plume heads. The pose with a rocket being carried horizontally lends itself to a man carrying a rammer.

Re: Brunswick Cannon

JonL
I used the French guns for the Dutch-Belgian artillery, from ACTA. Painted grey with black ironwork. Think the Brunswickers will borrow it if not in use!
For Brunswick Horse Artillery, I used British Rocket Artillery bodies, with Brunswick Leib HorseHair plume heads. The pose with a rocket being carried horizontally lends itself to a man carrying a rammer.
Do you mean the set of artillery made by Waterloo 1815? If so, this assumes British-design single trail carriages, which appears not to be what the Brunswickers (or. for that matter, the Dutch or Belgians) had in 1815. There is some helpful commentary here: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=326

Re: Brunswick Cannon

Sorry yes and no!

Yes, you are quite correct, I mean Waterloo 1815 Dutch-Belgian figures.

I gifted them French double-trail guns, painted as described above.