Russian Pandours, Seven Years' War

These figures are old Minifigs 25mm depicting grenadiers of Russian Pandour regiments of the Seven Years’ War period. There were two such regiments, each consisting of 20 companies, 15 of musketeers and 5 of grenadiers. They were formed from Serbian refugees who had been displaced by the Turks from the Austrian-Turkish frontier and settled in a region of Ukraine designated as “New Serbia.” The yellow boots were worn only on parade. There were also light cavalry (hussar) regiments. The uniform is depicted in Kannik’s Military Uniforms of the World in Colour and Mollo and McGregor’s Uniforms of the Seven Years War, 1756-63.

There is a full description of the Pandours in this excellent article by Vlad Gromoboy on Jean-Louis Vial‘s splendid NPI site:

http://vial.jean.free.fr/new_npi/revues_npi/17_2000/npi_1700/17_russ_pan1.htm

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (3)

Here is some information on the organization of the musketeer regiments:

Regimental Staff
1 colonel
1 lieutenant colonel
1 first major
1 second major

The first three officers were battalion commanders.

Musketeer Company
The authorized strength of the musketeer company was 162 officers and enlisted personnel, as follows:
5 officers
7 NCOs
4 bandsmen
144 musketeers
2 non-combatants

Musketeer Battalion
The authorized strength of musketeer battalions was:
20 officers
628 musketeers
8 non-combatants

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (2)

There were 46 musketeer regiments -- the number cited will vary, depending on source and year. Each of these consisted of three musketeer battalions and two grenadier companies. The musketeer regiments for the most part had territorial designations, such as the names of cities, towns, and provinces. When musketeer regiments were assigned to field armies, they generally sent two battalions, retaining the third as a depot battalion. The grenadier companies were told off to the grenadier regiments and served separately from their parent regiments. In the field armies, an infantry brigade typically consisted of four battalions, two each drawn from two musketeer regiments.

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (1)

These figures show the typical uniforms of the Russian line musketeers of the war. They are Minifigs 25mm, painted I suspect sometime in the 1980s. I have quite a large number of them (as befits a Russian army). My group at the time, in metro Washington, D.C., used homegrown SYW rules, and my recollection is that they gave a satisfactory game.