BALKAN BOYZ FOR ONE HOUR SKIRMISH II: SERESSANERS

 

A study of Seressaners in Vienna after putting down the revolt, circa 1848/49. 

Josef d. J. Lanzedelly (Lanzedelli; Lancedelli) (lithographer), Johann Höfelich (Printer), Anton Paterno's Witwe (publishing house), "SERESSANER (ROTHMÄNTEL.)" (aus der Serie "Skizzen von Wien im October 1848."), 1848, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 96488/6, CC0 (https://sammlung.wienmuseum.at/en/object/3566/)

I mentioned in a comment in my Feb 24 Post that I had another work in progress to add to the mix of elements I'm putting together to game my One Hour Skirmish (age of rifles) variant set in the Balkans (that's a mouth full!).  I won't reprise the rationale, convergences, and various events that caused my butterfly to flit this way other than to say that the very low level of this particular rules set is ideal for games with these sorts of elements. For those who may have missed it, I expound more on the rationale in my Feb 24 Post (link above).  In this post, I'll concentrate (if I am able) on the latest addition...

...a contingent of Seressaners. Above: 28mm "Seressaner Running" from Keelman Miniatures (Hungarian Revolt Line).   I'll post more pix of the completed figures down the page, but first, a bit of background (because that's what I do). As usual, in this post you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

Study of a Seressaner attached to the Croatian Grenz-Infanterie-Regiment Sluin/Szluiner during the occupation of Romania in 1854-57 by Theodore Valerio.

You may have heard of "Croats" as the irregular light cavalry, usually aligned with Catholic/Imperialist forces, in the 30 Years War/17th Century, or the more well known Austrian "Croat" light infantry of the the Seven Years War, the signature of all of them being their red capes. The Seressaners in this post are the same fellows, only advanced to the mid/late 19th Century. Rather than try to compose my own tract on them, I'll post a collection excerpts of some rather good summaries that I've found on the interwebs to give a complete (brief) idea of them:

Seressaner with a Grenz Infantry soldier. 

Rudolf Otto von Ottenfeld. Image from Barac and Pervan Auction.

From Wikipedia:
The Seressaner (German: Serezaner, Croatian: serežani, Serbian: сережани) were an Habsburg military police unit in Lika, Croatian Military Frontier. The name is derived from Saracens ("tent dwellers").

The Seressaner troops were established after the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) and had both military and police duties. The members were not paid, but were freed from paying all taxes. As an irregular unit, they wore folk costumes rather than military uniforms. Over the following century, each regiment had one section of the serežani, led by a oberbaša or harambaša (sergeant), several unterbaša (corporal) and vicebaša (lance corporal). They organized the border patrols towards Bosnia, particularly on difficult terrain, and stopped incursions of bandits. They required extensive knowledge of the territory, good marksmanship and to be constantly under arms. They also maintained public law and order in the area of their regiment. There were also cavalry serežan units that served as escort to the high officers of Frontier regiments, carried urgent orders and carried out special patrol duties.

Josip Jelačić with his seressaners before the Battle of Schwechat. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848,

Josef Kriehuber, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jellasics_harcosai_kozott.jpg

In addition to their paramilitary policing and security roles in their home border districts, they had a military role as well, perhaps most famously during the Ban of Croatia's campaign in Hungary during the Hungarian Revolt of 1848/49: by then, each Grenzer Regiment had a company (roughly 200) of Serressaners attached who provided scouting and a range of "small war" missions--as well as providing a body guard for the Commander (Jelacic). Ultimately, they also wound up being instrumental in putting down the revolt in Vienna, and were stationed there afterwards. As such, they captured the eye of the populace (and artists) of the city... 

Carl Anton Goebel (auch Göbel) (lithographer), Johann Rauh (Printer), "EIN SERRESSANER.", 1848, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 13424, CC0 (https://sammlung.wienmuseum.at/en/object/67943/)

Adolf Othmar Witzendorf (Verleger), Anton Zampis (Lithograf), Johann Höfelich (Drucker), "EIN SERESSANER." (Aus der Serie "ERINNERUNGS=BILDER / aus / WIENS OCTOBER-TAGEN 1848 / VON / A. ZAMPIS."), 1848, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 199109, CC0 (https://sammlung.wienmuseum.at/objekt/369369/)

Carl Anton Goebel (auch Göbel) (water-colourist), Ein Seressaner (vor Wien im Oktober 1848), 1848, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 20349, CC BY 4.0 (https://sammlung.wienmuseum.at/en/object/3827/)

And (finally), drawing on these sources...

...here is my contingent of Seressaners for my Balkan One Hour Skrimish project.

The recent (and excellent) Honved War by Nigel James Smith, and the Osprey on the Austrian Army of 1836-66 (Infantry) both suggest that Seressaner outfits were of sky blue coat and trousers with yellow cords, red cape, and red cap with yellow band. Of course, there was no actual "uniform" but as a general guide for gamers, this serves as well as any other. So I did a few of these figures along those lines. 

Looking for a bit of variety, I did some in white trousers with red distinctions and blue hatbands. 

Unfortunately, for all of that detail work, this is what they will look like in use: red blobs seen from above. I do have to add that there is a wash of black and highlighting to these capes, but the lighting has flattened that texture. Getting back to what will be seen on the table...given the average eyesight of my gaming group, and the 4 foot (or more) viewing distance when playing, much of the detail on any figure is probably not going to be noticed. Nevertheless, I (and most of those reading this, I suspect) still indulge ourselves in these painting exercises. But I digress...

...I wanted the leader figures to stand out, have their own schemes, and be easily recognized on the table (functionally speaking). So I did one in white shirt with red vest and dark blue trousers (left), one (inspired by one of the studies) in cream trousers, sky blue jacket with red distinctions and a yellow-lined cape (center), and one in blue over blue (again, based on the studies) with red distinctions. 

Most importantly, I wanted the leaders to be easily recognized when viewed from above and behind. So, Aside from cape distinctions, I added details to the caps...

...the fellow with the yellow lined cape and blue on white cap details will be the high ranking figure on the table; the figure with the blue lined cape with the white on blue cap details will be the number 2, and the fellow with blue the hat detail (only) will be the number 3 (or maybe a figure with a special ability). 

Completed Seressaners in "bowling pin" formation ready for action. 

Of course, it is important to recall that the organized Seressaners referred to in connection with border security and military operations were not the only "Croats." Their "unform" is the national costume, and as such, there would be plenty of others, from other clans (for lack of a better term) who were not part of the official establishment. Thus, these figures could be put on the table one day as "police" and another as the "bandits" (ie, going about the feuding, reprisals, and herd stealing of every day life in the frontier regions) --and in the latter role in particular they could be pitted against any number of other factions. In their "special missions" capacity, they could be employed in any number of interesting scenarios. They could also be used for small war operations against conventional light troops. Representative of their role in putting down the revolt in Vienna in 1848, they could even be used in street fighting (although that would mean putting together a collection of insurrectionists for them to battle...). 

Excelsior!