IR23/IR47 Combined Grenadier Battalion

Here is the IR23/IR47 Combined Grenadier Battalion. I used Blue Moon's German Grenadiers to build this unit, my second grenadier battalion. These are really nice figures and match well with the German infantry though they seem taller - which they obviously should be. Maybe its just the height of their bearskins adding to effect, but they do look slightly bigger in scale.

Anyway, I didn't find this to be an issue and enjoyed painting these up. I decided that I needed to have some Austrians that looked like they had been in combat. They always look like they are straight off the parade ground. We really need a manufacturer to do some "campaigning" figures for this nation. There are plenty French or Peninsular British that look as if they've fought a few fights and walked many more miles.

So to try and make these a little less pristine I changed from pure white to a stone grey (and mixed in a little brown or sand on various figures). The effect was quite subtle and unfortunately seems to have been lost on the photographs - probably due to the flash. 

And here they are, a Combined Grenadier Battalion with grenadiers drawn from IR23 Toscana and IR47 Kinsky. The command base and one half of the battalion is wearing the red of IR23 as (I assume) they are the senior regiment, while the rest have the dark green of IR47.

Once I had done these I got out the rest of my completed battalions and set them out on the table. I was quite impressed by how it looked and I'm really motivated to get onto my Austrian cavalry.

Here is the two battalions of IR47 Kinsky with the combined grenadiers in the background.

Followed by three battalions of IR23 Toscana.

And finally the Hungarians, IR52 Anton, O'Donel's Freicorps, and a combined Hungarian grenadier battalion at the back.

Casualty Markers

One of the things that always bothers me when wargaming is "where do the casualties go?" It bothers me in films as well. I remember watching The Water Margin when I was really young and you'd see guys dropping dead all over the place, but then you'd see the ground and there were either no bodies or only one or two. Reading historical novels, like Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe books, you get the feeling that when the bodies start piling up it gets pretty damned treacherous underfoot, with ground that "in game" is classed as easy going quickly becoming rough going. So I always want to represent those figures that are lost with casualty figures. It gives the battle field a bit more realism, and also makes the killing of your troops a lot less sterile and clean. Facing a pile of dead where your favourite battalion of figure once stood is a lot more emotive than just lifting them from the table and putting them aside.

General de Brigade rules require casualty markers, which gives me the opportunity to show the more unpleasant side of the battle, and to put something a little different onto the table. While it was appealing to put casualties on the table, when there is a choice between these or another fighting battalion, I had to weigh up that desire against my limited funds. Luckily I was able to pick up a pile of cheap Old Glory Austrian casualties from eBay, so put together a few markers. 

I'm planning on having at least one marker per battalion, so these first three are painted in the colours of IR23 Toscana. The figure from Old Glory consisted of three poses, two taking injuries and one face down. I'm not sure if that's all there are in the range, but that's all I got off ebay, so I decided to trim a couple of the guys taking hits off their bases. I think it worked quite well.

Each side of the base is marked with white dashes, to represent one to four casualties, so the base would be turned to keep track. I've not put these into practice yet so hopefully this will work.

15mm / 18mm Austrian Napoleonic Comparison - Old Glory and Blue Moon

With the great selection of 15/18mm Napoleonic miniatures that we have nowadays we are almost spoiled for choice. Almost, but not quite. Early Austrians in helmets are well supported with most manufacturers having these in their range. But they're not all compatible. So far I have Austrians from Warmodelling, AB, Old Glory and Blue Moon. Campaign Games also have these in their range, and although I have some Artillery crew on order, I haven't seen any of their miniatures in the flesh.

Old Glory are the most common manufacturer in my collection so far, mostly due to the cost, but as you'll see from the photographs, they are considerably shorter than the others I have mentioned. I do like these figures, and they certainly paint up better than their reputation had suggested.

Blue Moon are the newest range in my collection of 15/18mm Napoleonic Austrians and the second most common, again as they are economical to purchase. They are taller than the Old Glory, and very clean sculpts. The poses are slightly too similar in my opinion, with the positioning of the head the main difference between poses. My main gripe would be that the cross belts and other straps don't seem as well defined as could be, especially when compared to the likes of AB. Also the backpacks, cartridge boxes, water bottles and blanket roll are all quite small. They may be more realistically proportioned than other figures equipment, but they felt small when painting them. The bayonets are also quite short, but this seems an issue through the range. I've heard a few comments about the thickness of the "telegraph pole" that the standard bearer is carrying, but as you can see, once the flag is attached they look fine, and will last longer.

I will be mixing Old Glory and Blue Moon within my collection, but they'll not be mixed within the same battalion or regiment. I'll probably even try to keep them is separate brigades. Anyway, here's the comparison shots so you can judge for yourself...

I nearly forgot to mention. The Old Glory are IR23 Toscana, as shown in previous posts. The new battalion will be IR47 Graf F. Kinsky Regiment, which will be represented by two battalions, with grey green facings.

Left base: Old Glory, Centre base: Blue Moon, Right base: Old Glory. Mounted figures are; Left: Warmodelling, Right: AB Miniatures.

IR23 Infantry Regiment, Toscana (Grand Duke of Tuscany) completed.

Now that I have completed the IR23 Grand Duke of Tuscany Infantry Regiment I thought I would post some pictures of the full Brigade. Three 32 man battalions, two batteries of 3 pounder foot artillery, and GM Knesevich is command.
The figures are mostly 15mm Old Glory, Austrian Infantry in Helmet March Attack, with a couple of Road March thrown in for variety. The Mounted officers in the 2nd and 3rd Battalions are from Old Glory and AB. The Generals are from Old Glory. The artillery crew are from Warmodelling and Blue Moon and the guns from  Warmodelling.

Regiment advancing in Massed Column.

Regiment in Line

IR23 Infantry Regiment, Toscana (Grand Duke of Tuscany), 3rd Battalion

I have finished the 3rd and final battalion for IR23 Toscana. Again this unit is using Old Glory figures, this time with a mounted officer from AB miniatures. I really like the old Old Glory miniatures, even though they are a little small compared to other current ranges. There is a action to their poses that gives the look of a unit marching into combat rather than being on parade, and now that I have new glasses I can see a lot more of the detail - The blanket rolls on these guys is really rather nicely done. I just wish my painting was good enough to get them perfect.

General-Major Vincenz Knesevich

At Marengo General-Major Vincenz Knesevich led a brigade consisting of three batallions of  IR23 Tuscany. Knesevich's Brigade, along with de Briey's and Marselle's Brigades formed Feldmarschall-Leutnant Von Kaim's Division.

I have tried to find some biographical information about Knesevich, but the sources I've found online are contradictory, and there seems to be a couple of Austrian officers of the same name. I hope this is accurate information.

Vincenz Freiherr Knesevich de Szent-Helena was born on  the 13 November 1755 in Gračac, in the military border area with Turkey. During Austria's Turkish War of 1788/89 he raised and commanded a Frei-Corps.
By the start of the War of the Second Coalition he had reached the rank of Oberst and commanded Hussar Regiment N°2 and was distinguished by forcing the surrender of a French Division at Verderio. He again was distinguished in the Battle of the Trebbia River on 17-20 June, in the Battle of Novi, and at the Siege of Coni.
On 29 October 1800 Vincenz Knesevich was promoted to Generalmajor and commanded an infantry brigade in Kray's division in northwestern Italy. By the end of May, he had transferred to FML Melas' division, and served in FML Von Kaim's main column at Marengo.

Vincenz Knesevich (1755-1832),
Croatian nobleman and general of the Habsburg Monarchy imperial army (from Wikipedia)

This picture is the only visual reference I could find of Knesevich. I'm not sure whether his uniform is correct for Marengo, or if it is more correct for when he was commander of the 2nd Hussar Regt (who wore light blue with red shako), but I liked the idea of him wearing red rather than the usual white. So, I put together a command base with a General wearing a red uniform (both figures from Old Glory).

Here is Knesevich's Brigade so far, the third Battalion of IR23 is still in progress.

3pdr Regimental Artillery for Knesvich and Briey's Brigades

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.

IR23 Infantry Regiment, Toscana (Grand Duke of Tuscany), 2nd Battalion

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.