Tuesday, February 12

Régiment de Nettancourt...

Régiment de Nettancourt were formed in 1695, and were known by that name until 1704 (from 1704 to '08 they were then known as the Régiment de Mailly).

They were formed from the old regiment of Vaubécourt who were raised 1589 by Henri de Nettancourt, Count de Vaubécourt, in Lorraine. They were admitted into the service of France on April 24, 1610. (The graphic by the way is from the beyond excellent, and travelling towards the sublime, website "Praetiriti Fides" - click on it to go there.. a must for all WSS/WAS/SYW wargamers with French armies)


The most senior regiments in the French army were known as the Vieux Corps and comprised three regiments each raised in 1569; Picardie, Piémont, Champagne. After these were the "Petits Vieux"; lower in seniority, but still in the higher echelon of the army, and Nettancourt were one of these regiments, ranked 11th in seniority.


All "French" regiments of the army had royal, princely, or territorial titles, or took the name of their colonel. In the case of Infantry Regiment Nettancourt it was the latter, and they were named after their colonel (presumably an ancester of their founder). I've not managed to find out any information about why the regimental name changed, but one is forced to the assumption that given the change of Colonel was in 1704 then he may have perished at either the Schellenberg, or Blenheim??


The regiments of the Vieux Corps and the Petits Vieux remained on the establishment up to 1791, when the Army was reorganised by the Revolutionary government and all the existing regiments received numbers in place of their traditional names. Regiment Nettancourt becoming the 21st Regiment of the Line - they served in various guises until the regiment was disolved in 1963.

The figures are 15mm (of course), Minifigs in their entirety (lovely!), and unusually for me, feature a front rank in the firing position. I don't normally like this pose, as they look a bit strange marching across the table in firing mode, but I hate waste, and I had enough of them to create a firing line, so why not! The flag, as ever (and the guy deserves a knighthood) is by Warflag (link to the left)..

3 comments:

  1. Steve,

    Are you aware of the new Yahoo Group dealing with the LoA and WSS? Here's the link:

    http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Early_Linear_Warfare_Society/

    I think that you might be interested.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Isn't it funny how mini figs make such good 15mm and yet their 25....?

    I really like the look of that regiment and for me the background information for the regiment makes it that bit more alive. Well done.

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  3. Jeff - thanks for theheads up - I'll investigate soonest - I wasn't aware of their existance...

    John - thanks for the kind words.. appreciated. I go into a little more detail on my WSS Project page but I would 'kind of' agree with you... but basically, I like Minifgs infantry, whether 15mm or 25mm (though I agree the 15's are a little nicer), but their cavalry is nowhere near as good....

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