Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Die Kaiserlich-königliche Armee in Review - Part 1

 As promised after my recent Austrian debacle, I am presenting a review of my entire 28mm Napoleonic Austrian collection - tonight, the "German" infantry - most easily recognised by white trousers (pants).


IR 1 (Kaiser) Pompadour Pink Facings


IR 3 (Archduke Charles) Sky Blue Facings


IR 8 (Huff) Poppy Red Facings


IR12 (Manfredini) Dark Brown facings


IR 13 (Reisky) Grass Green facings


IR 14 (Klebeck) Black facings


IR 22 (Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld) Emperor Yellow facings

IR 42 (Erbach-Schoenberg)Orange facings


IR 50 (Stain) Violet facings

Now, the combined grenadier regiments of the German portion of the infantry. These are not historically accurate (as far as I know) - I simply created regiments that contained two bases each of one of the facing colours above!


1st Grenadier Regiment - orange, yellow and sky blue


2nd Grenadier Regiment - violet, brown and red


Third Grenadier Regiment - green, pink red

Finally, in this instalment, four senior officers, courtesy of a command pack from Old Glory





By the way, for those interested, most of the infantry are from the rather nice Sash and Sabre range, purchased via Old Glory when they had a special deal on. IR 3 and 50 are Old Glory, Second Edition.

Hope you enjoyed that - Hungarian infantry will be next I think in a couple of days time!

38 comments:

  1. One thing that is appealing about an Austrian army is the interesting array of facing colours. Lovely work Keith, and a fine collection.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, like the British, a decent variety of facing colours - unlike the French, who, of course, had much more standardised uniform regulations at this time

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    1. Thanks Michal, I do like the look of them, I just wished they could fight better!

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    1. Thanks Mark - as the famous line in The Dirty Dozen goes "They are very pretty Colonel, but can they fight?" The jury is still out on that question!

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  4. Impressive collection, I think I need a more concerted effort on Napoleonics for a bit

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    1. Thanks Matt. My Austrian army was quite a production line...a regiment per week painted over a eight to twelve month period from memory, with nothing else intruding onto the painting desk! These large collections occasionally surprise me....I don't remember it taking a year to paint, but I suppose it must have done!

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  5. Splendid army there Kieth- always liked the Austrians- well done!

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    1. Thanks Kev...most people like the look of the Austrians.I just wish they weren't so disadvantaged in action!

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  6. That's quite a collection you have there Keith!

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    1. This is only about 20% of it, Ray! Stand by for Hungarians, Grenzers, Landwehr, plus cavalry and guns!,

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  7. Very nice collection, Keith! Too bad it must all go when you are forced into downsizing...

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    1. Thanks Jon, that's a battle I have yet to fight......

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    2. Well, it certainly would be if I was Austrian😀😝😄

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  8. Lovely collection. Austrians have always been my favourite Napoleonic army

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    1. Cheers Scotty, we all seem to agree, they LOOK great...it's their fighting ability that continually disappoints! Great flags though?!

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  9. A fine array of troops there Keith and I look forward to seeing the Hungarian units soon. Let's hope one day they get to perform well on the table...

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    1. Hope springs eternal, Steve! Maybe, it's their commanders tactics that are the main cause of their poor performance.....nah, couldn't be!😉

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  10. Unique to see that you have both helmet and shako in your Austrian establishment. Most collections I've seen are one or the other, but clearly a mix is fine (didn't even notice in your battle report). No IR#4 (Hoch und Deutschmeister)? Again, every other Austrian army, from 1700 to 1914, seems to start with that one (to include my 1866 Austrians...I admit that I lacked the resolve to resist including it).

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    1. Thanks Ed...my (brief and shallow) research indicated the helmets remained in service with some regiments quite late, so I decided a mix would be fine to represent the middle years, say 1806 to 1813 ish. No doubt purists are horrified, but I am not too hung up on those sort if details! As for the choice of regiments, it as done purely on facing colours....I only added the names as an afterthought, and had to look them all up in a reference book! So, no IR 4.... I guess I already had their facing colour in my collection!

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    2. That's the good thing about the "White Menace": so many regiments that facing colors are shared. There's nothing that stops you from plopping down a blue-faced unit and calling them the H&D for the day! (I've done it: let it be our secret).

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  11. Excellent work. Vey nicely done. I always wonder about national characteristics in rules. The Austrian Empire seemed to last a fair while so they can't have been that bad.

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    1. Lol, thanks Ben. I said something similar during the game....they must have beaten SOMEONE to create an empire!

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  12. Good looking Austrians....inspiration for my venture into this force. I am suspect of rules where national differences make it too hard to lose if one plays the correct army due to all the other forces being hobbled. Keep the faith, the 'White Menace' will have its day.

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    1. Thanks Joe...I am very humbled to be your inspiration for your own Austrian forever! I look forward to following its development.

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    2. That "forever" is supposed to read "foray", Joe......!

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  13. They look great Keith. You've made all that white look much more interesting.

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    1. Thanks Chris! When I did them about six or eight years ago, I thought the black undercoat, dry brushed white, then crossbelts etc highlighted white again looked pretty good...and on the table they still look fine. They don't look quite so great in close up images on a full size PC screen, though, but I am pleased you like them 😀

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  14. Lovely looking Austrians, their day will come!
    Best Iain

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  15. Cracking load of white uniforms! Good stuff Keith.

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    1. Thanks for your visit and comment Dai - I appreciate it!

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  16. A lovely gaggle of Austrians - 9 line and 3 Grenadiers, with more to come! . I have quite a few of the same Sash and Saber castings in my collection as well. I do love the variety of facing colors as well. If the rules penalize them too much, go generic.. or field even more "snowmen"! :-)

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    1. Thanks Peter, it's probably just a case of not using them often enough and using faulty dispositions....we obviously need to play more games!

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