After painting a pile of white uniformed Austrian infantry I needed a change. I'd enjoyed creating my first two artillery units and fancied doing some ammunition carts or wagons.
After a few searches on the internet I spotted a couple of things that looked interesting. I found that Magister Militum carried the Hallmark range of Carts, Wagons, Equipment and etc. The wagons and carts come without horses or crew. I wasn't sure how the figures they have would compare to the ranges I'm using, so I had to look elsewhere.
I decided on Warmodellings Limber set, which was reasonably priced. Unfortunately this set has limber riders wearing shakos, which I think is a later uniform that you would see at Marengo. Luckily I had a few leftover Jagers, so a quick headswap or two later and the addition of a couple of plumes and I had the riders I needed.
Here's the finished ammunition/supply wagon...
Next up was an ammunition cart, again from Magister Militum / Hallmark, and using a Warmodelling horse. The figure leading the cart is a Warmodelling Austrian Line Infantry figure from the casualty pack. He was a bareheaded, fleeing figure, but with the addition of a Green Stuff bicorne, he now looks suitable as Artillery. To be honest, I'm sure the pack and equipment are totally wrong, and he probably shouldn't be wearing the brown uniform, but it looks good.
And finally, here are both sets together....
Knesvich's and Briey's Brigades in my army are supported by two guns each of 3 pound Regimental Infantry Artillery. I've given my artillery slightly larger bases than most rules suggest, just because I felt it looked better to give the miniatures a more realistic amount of space - I wouldn't like to be standing where most miniatures stand when a cannon is fired!
The guns are from Warmodelling and were painted in a 50/50 mix of Ochre Verde (Vallejo) and Yellow, then given a light wash of GWs Agrax Earthshade. The crew are a mix of Warmodelling and Blue Moon artillery figures. The uniform of the Artillery of this period seems to be contentious, especially the colour of the coats. I've given them a worn earthy brown colour and varied the shades between some of them to give them a campaign look. Hopefully is close enough to be reasonable accurate.
This is the second of three battalions of German infantry that make up IR23 Grossherzog Ferdinand von Toscana (the Regiment of the Grand Duke of Tuscany) that fought at Morengo under Generalmajor (GM) Vincenz Freiherr Knezevich de Szent-Helena.
Again, the figures are from Old Glory, and were picked up as a bargain from eBay. I also managed to find a couple of eBay auctions for Austrian officers and generals, with figures from Old Glory and Battle Honours. Battle Honours are a little bit small compared to some of my other figures, whereas I find the Old Glory to be quite large, even compared to AB or Warmodelling. The officer figure leading this battalion seemed at first to be a perfect miniature to lead the unit, but the more I look at him the more I feel his head is twisted to a strange angle. Still, I like the way he has his hat raised on his sabre.
Welcome to my new Blog. It has taken a while to start this as I've been concentrating on getting some figures painted so that there is something to show on here, but now I'm ready to get the blog up and running.
I've had an interest in Napoleonic wargaming for many years and have started quite a few armies, but never completed that many. I've had French, Russians, Prussian, British, and Austrian, all from a range of manufacturers including Minifigs, Essex, Old Glory.
The newer and larger miniatures from companies like AB, Warmodelling, Blue Moon etc, where you also get a few poses rather than a single pose like we had way back, have reignited my interest. So during the summer holidays I put aside my 15mm scifi project and my 28mm World of the Greeks project, and started a new army - a 15mm Austrian army for the Battle of Marengo, 1800.
I was lucky to spot a Order of Battle for Marengo in a back issue of Wargames Illustrated. The OB was for the General de Brigade rules, and I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it was a good basis for making a start.
My first battalion to be completed was the Banat Regiment of Grenzers. Although I'd had some Austrians from Minifigs many years ago, I never had any Grenzers, so I decided to try something different from the usual white uniformed troops that make up the majority of an Austrian army.
Here is my first completed battalion;
The Banater Grenz IR#4.
The figures are from Warmodelling (previously Fantassin).
Next up was my first line infantry battalion. I was lucky enough to pick up a bundle of figures from eBay that was composed of exactly how many figures I needed for a battalion, so this was the next unit, a German line unit. The IR23 Toscana comprised three battalions, this represents the first of the three;
Toscana Regiment IR#23/1
The figures are from Old Glory (currently available from Timecast).
I'll post more figures as I complete the units, with more line infantry, artillery, jagers, and generals all almost ready for the table.
