19thC - Austrians

It was really the Franco-Austrian or Second War of Italian Independence which triggered my interest in the "hyphenated wars" of the 19th century and at one point I had a 15mm Austrian army long before I collected French or Prussian forces. So when I kicked of the FPW project I knew it would be extended back to 1859. 

I've had some of Piran's Warriors 28mm Austrians for a while. Initially I had just enough for a skirmish game so some expansion was needed to bring their numbers up. I knew that Pirans were due to expand their range so I dropped them a line. 

Originally comprising just line infantry in mixed poses and Hussars, the range now has Jäger, Uhlans and Cuirassiers. The infantry now have a marching pose to supplement their firing and loading poses. I understand that artillery and command are in the pipeline too. 

The figures are chunky and well sculpted and fit in very well with my existing Ironclad Miniatures French. I really like the marching pose, but the Jager are very nice. The Uhlans are an essential for an Austrian army. But IMHO, the best of the cavalry are the Cuirassiers, the sculpting style brings out the best of these big men in armour. 

(Not finished mine, so some shots off the Pirans Warriors Website)

I have decided that Austrian units will comprise of 4 stands compared to the 3 of French and Prussian units. That's because their regiments were 4 battalions strong in 1859, usually forming brigades of 1 battalion of Jager or Grenz infantry and a single regiment. Field uniform for line, Jager and Grenz was a lose fitting, double breasted, white tunic for all three types of unit and light blue trousers for line and Grenz and grey ones for Jager. Shako's for line and Grenz were covered in a black waterproof cover while the Jager wore a version of their famous hat, the brim raised on both sides. Crossbelts etc were black for Grenz and Jager and white for line. A simple combination of white and grey or blue but one which looks good on the tabletop. 

1859 Austrians from the Osprey "The Austrian Army 1836-66 (1)"

North Star do 1866 Austrians but, swathed in greatcoats, you miss the brightness. You might argue that an 1866 army can be used against Prussians and Danes of '64, so you get two wars to play, but then the Austrians of '59 fought the French with Guard, Zouaves and Turcos all heavily involved and they fought the Piedmontese both on the plains of Lombardy but also against Garibaldi's column in the hills, plenty variety there. 

So who to match these figures to? Right now....Ironclad French (if you don't mind the lack of epaulettes),  Athena miniatures do French Guard and Turco/Zouaves. Both of these companies figures are similar in style. Great War Miniatures Crimean French in Kepi are spot on in terms of kit and uniform. There are ranges from Gringo40's, Cibo's Little Dudes and Shako64 and Mirliton. And if you have an eye on what the Perry's are up to, their French will also be usable.

Sugar Islands News

 Wargaming the Sugar Islands Campaign is still available from myself, from Graham at CrannTara and now also from Caliver Books and from On Military Matters in the US. 

You can find details on the their websites, and the post below or by contacting me using the form on the right hand side of the blog. 

https://stuartinschwargames.blogspot.com/2018/11/now-available-wargaming-sugar-islands.html

Thanks to everyone who has already bought a copy and to those who have yet too, now it's even easier.

Some New Goodies

 It's nice to be nice to yourself. If you can't look after you, then you can't do that for others. 

Working from home and using my hobby room as an office is not ideal. It takes my fun place away. So I was chuffed when the doorbell rang and three packages arrived. 

The first was some Gt.War Miniatures Crimean French Chasseurs. I need 9 of these to represent a battalion for my 19thC French. They are lovely sculpts and the command and skirmishing packs give plenty of movement. The uniform hardly changed between the 1850's and 1870 and and so they will serve equally well in The Crimea (or Baltic), Italy or France.

Next up was a book I've fancied for a while. Also scratching my 19th century itch this covers the Hungarian Uprising and specifically the Honved army. It's like a giant Osprey. English and Hungarian text, but little of either and plate after plate of gorgeous uniforms. No background but that's available elsewhere. A nice coffee table book for a wargamer. 

The final package was also a book. Barry Hilton's Every Bullet has a Billet. Now this is an excellent book, well written, well illustrated and with the type of eye candy pics we expect from on of his publications. It's a potted history of the the wars of the late 17thC, the armies (and navies) involved, what they wore, how they fought and how to do it on the tabletop. Even if you know and love this period you will love this book. If you don't it's a perfect primer.I note that Helion, the publisher, has a similar guide on the Great Northern War due in summer. If that's half as good it will be worth getting. 

Batteries recharged!

Last Tuesday I managed to have an online game of Rebels and Patriots using Tabletop Simulator along with the lads from the club. I drew up the map and made the lists and digital guru Ross transferred these to the vitualmtabletop. It was our first go at this online. Other TTS games have crashed or been too fiddly to work properly but this went very well. The scenario was the Lament Ridge game from the book. Surprisingly the Americans won, mainly because the Brits got some terrible movement activations but it was a good game and in my opinion, much better than shuffling counters.

We have another game on Tuesday.

Hey Ho, Let's Go!

It's a new dawn and a new day and a new year. So lets start with looking forward not back.

Wa have a lot to look forward to this year, seeing friends, playing games, maybe even winning some battles too. New projects to start, old ones to see on a table again. Conventions, club meets and gatherings. New books, articles and knowledge. New toys to enjoy.

It's going to be good.

I am looking forward to finishing Against Spain, the sequel to the Sugar Islands. I am also working on something covering 16thC battles in Aberdeenshire.

For the tabletop, I am working on some figures to use in scenarios for the Philippines right now. 

After that I have Indian solders for WW1 to complete. Facing them will be either Turks or Germans and Askaris.

Some Jacobites will make an appearance too.

But my big project will be the Franco-Prussian War, in 28mm, on a grand scale, in collaboration will Graham H. 

I can't wait to get started!

  

200

 200th Post.

Well it's been a long time since I started the blog. Thank you to everyone who pops in to have a look and leave a comment.  Huge thank you to everyone who bought the Sugar Islands Campaign. Against Spain is still being worked on but with covid and big changes in my workload I've not had the headspace to work on it as much as I'd like. This has been a year like no other that's for sure. 

I have continued painting. Both 18thC  and 16thC lately. An experimental game of Pikemans Lament with my Marian / Corrichie stuff and it worked well. Playing against my son the first game saw me take the rebels as clansmen and forlorn hope and thanks to a lucky die roll, gained some reinforcing shot. These fended off the royalist border horse trotters, whilst my clansmen and forlorn hope crashed into the shot.

We switched sides for game two and it was a closer run thing. This time I too, the royalists and pushed out my shot and trotters to wear down the approaching Rebels. This worked to a degree and gave me time to close ranks with my pike so I was ready to attack the rebel foot first. It was still touch and go but a more even fight and it came down to both sides being a couple of figures off 50% casualties when a good roll from me won the day. 

Now that I know the rules work I will finish off the bases and paint the movement trays, ready for the battle proper. I still have some flags to do too. 

I received some of the new Crann Tara figures on Friday. I will use these as militia for Cuba and the Philippines and for anywhere else that needs a locally raised levy. They'll do perfectly for the AWI and FIW too, even as Jacobite lowlanders and as always are cleanly cast and sculpted. Graham's figures got from strength to strength. 

This post is dedicated to Danny. 2006-2020. 

My furry bud.