Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann

Von Breymann was one of the Brunswick officers who was employed in Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign. He was the colonel of a Brunswicker combined grenadier battalion and commanded the Advance Corps, which consisted of a detachment of Hesse-Hanau artillery, Barner's light battalion, a company of jaegers and Breymann's own grenadiers. Brunswick was in fact the first German state to sign a treaty with Britain for the supply of troops (4,300 men in total). Breymann didn't fare well in the campaign. He was wounded at Bennington, where in command of the relief force Breymann failed to arrive in time to save a foraging expedition (and was criticised by Burgoyne for contributing to that disaster by marching too slowly). Breymann was then killed at Bemis Heights in the redoubt that was named after him, possibly shot by "friendly fire".

These figures are from Eureka's Seven Years War Saxons range. This range is more suitable as Brunswickers than Perry Hessian figures (for example) because of the larger cuffs and the arrangement of the buttons on those cuffs. Mollo also has the Brunswick toops in black gaiters, which most Perry figures do not wear. These Eureka sculpts are a bit smaller than Perry/Foundry figures but not excessively so; grouped together they look fine. Although I have no doubt that in real life Burgoyne's army would not have ferried bassoons and oboes around the Hudson Valley, I reckoned that a colonel who had been criticised for taking his time on the march would be the kind of person who would enjoy having his own band. We know next to nothing about Breymann and this vignette probably does him a great disservice, but it looks neat and these Eureka musicians are really quite diverting sculpts. The yellow and sky-blue uniforms were particular to Brunswick musicians and deserve plenty of tabletop exposure. Modern oboes and bassoons come in all kinds of shades of brown and black, but I painted these in standard natural wood on the basis that this is probably authentic for the late 18th century.

Painted February 2008. Tree stump from Front Rank.