General de Brigade

MR Dull · Joined: 22 Feb 2009 Posts: 3

I am rebuilding my seven years war armies for DKK and have hit a couple of problems.

1 Highlanders
These were used mostly as skirmishers but did fight in battle.
Should they be classed as independent skirmishers or a light infantry battalion?
I currently have them based as the latter but I am not sure if they were well trained enough to fight in line like normal units.

2 French Grenadiers
I know the French had the Grenadiers Royaux and Grenadiers De France but did they also detach the grenadiers from the line battalions the way other countries did?

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

angus konstam · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject:

Mr Dull (!?),

I'd be tempted to field my Highlanders as a Light Infantry Battalion, which will allow them to function in line or in skirmish order. They were trained to stand in line of battle, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

Best,

Angus Konstam

MR Dull · Joined: 22 Feb 2009 Posts: 3

Thanks for the reply.
I am glad I guessed right.

As for the French Grenadiers after further reading and more confusion I am getting the feeling that detaching grenadiers wasn't a regular practice like most other armies.
Anyone out there care to hazard an opinion?

janbruinen · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:24 am Post subject:

AFAIK the French army normally didn't use to the practice of detaching/combining grenadier to grenadier battalions (maybe in special functions as in sieges, raids etc) although picquets were sometimes combined. Also I suppose that as the mentioned grenadier units were already totally grenadiers (for a part combined grenadiers of disbanded regiments of the 1740-48 period) that they didn't detach companies.