Prussian Reserve Infantry

To make a bit of a change from painting infantry in blue and grey I decided to have a go at depicting some of the many reserve battalions.  In the period 1813 - 1815 the Prussian army suffered from severe equipment shortages at a time when the army was expanding rapidly through the creation of reserve and militia units.  The result was a variety of uniforms in many forms and colours. As new equipment came in units swapped uniforms creating a mixed bag that was not sorted out before the end of the napoleonic wars. 

One form of dress is a plain grey jacket with matching grey trousers and minimal unit facing colours. My figures reflect two such units, although I have applied a little artistic license. First off, colours were banned from reserve units in 1813 and probably most units were not even issued any; however, there are cases were unofficial colours were reportedly carried by units. In my case the mothers and wives have produced unofficial colours for these two units, in a form commonly attributed to militia regiments.

Additionally, I think the officers should be dressed in blue standard Prussian uniforms - I have dressed my officers to match the men. All that said, I think they look OK, reperesenting the 12th and 18th Regiments: