Catholic-Imperialists 1632
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Over the winter, where I lived in another place, my catholic-imperialist army suffered terribly. Some flags yellowed, other got moldy. Infantry got smashed. In other words, they needed a make-over.
Seeing Charge The Gun’s Lutzen battles was also very inspirational.
So I turned my attention to the catholic-imperialists in the thirty years war, 1632 being the year of choice, starting with the generalissimus himself, Albrecth von Walsdstejn, known as Wallenstein. Opportunist, cunning, devious……he made money out of conflict. Many things were said and written about him, generally bad. But he had his abilities, and in 1632 he did make a difference for a beleaguered Ferdinand.
I kept the original miniature I had but replaced the standard bearer because he was a life-guard cuirassier of the first bodyguard he had in 1627 – in 1632 he had a different bodyguard. I added an ensign and a guardsman, both metal minis from the p&s command group 4. The first photo shows them ready before gluing to base, since they seem quite obscured by Wallenstein. For the general I repainted his horse.
Thanks CTG – and thanks for the unit size tip. I used it!
Comargo Infantry Regiment done. A leaguist regiment, it was raised in February 1620 (Brzezinski says 1619) by Levin von Mortaigne. Six years later Jacob Ludwig von Furstenberg became its new colonel. Comargo took over leadership on the 20th of May 1629.
Theodor Freiherr de Comargo seems to come from Flanders. His youth is shrouded in mystery. At the beginning of the war, he was a captain in Guglielmo de Verdugo’s infantry regiment. A few years later he served under Fugger at Bergen op Zoom. According to Weber in 1626 Comargo was accused of murdering his ‘libertine’ wife in Gallarante, Lombardy (northern Italy) but was acquitted after an investigation. In 1627 he was back in the field under Tilly and served as commander of Stade. Augustin von Fristch, a junior officer, is reported to have described Comargo as quite a ‘rough’ man and wasn’t much liked by his soldiers. During Pappenheim’s attack on Maastricht he was wounded in the arm. Comargo’s last battle would be the battle of Lutzen in 1632. His regiment was pushed back by the Yellow regiment and withdrew. Joining with Baden’s regiment under Lt Col. Stopler, the new combined infantry stopped the Yellow Brigade in its rampage while Bredau’s cavalry smashed into the swedish flank. Comargo seems to have been taken out of action in the first phase of the fight, and Munchuasen took command of the regiment for the rest of the battle.
I painted Comargo from the p&s command group 4 pack, and also painted a drummer. The rest were ‘re-painted’ older models and rebased.
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Another regiment restored – Grana Foot Regiment, raised in 1627. Francesco Antonio Grana, Marchese del Carretto, seems was quite unpleasant. Count Harrach, a relative of Wallenstein, received a letter from the generalissimus, that stated that Wallenstein ‘prefered hospital than being near Grana, and disliked him more each day’. Grana’s lust for material greed was shown during the sack of Bayreuth and Kulmbach, so much so that Wallenstein wished to send him to command a frontier fortress in Raab than giving him command, but Grana, being incompetent, wasn’t fit for fortress command. Grana took stock of Wallenstein’s displeasure and quickly joined the ‘anti-Wallenstein’ party in Vienna to plot against his commander. Many years later, in 1639, he was made Field Marshal. At Lutzen Grana commanded the leftermost infantry brigades, though why he was chosen instead of Comargo or any other senior officer puzzles me. His regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. Giulio Diodati, who left an eyewitness account of the battle. After Lutzen, Wallenstein sent Grana to Vienna to give the news of Gustavus’s death to the Emperor (probably to get rid of him), but on his way Grana got sick and Diodati had to ride to the imperial court himself.
The flags are speculative, though they carry the emblems of the Imperialists – the double-headed black eagle, the Burgundian Saltire, and the Emperor’s cypher (F monogram) for Ferdinand. Coats and hats repainted, a couple of pikes changed and sergeants added.
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