28mm Austrian Napoleonics

Over the last several months, I've been building a new Napoleonic army for my collection. For a change with this collection, I have painted very few of the figures. I was able to pick up the core of the army last year at the Cold Wars flea market, seven battalions of line infantry and four of grenadiers (16 figures each). Even though I didn't need to paint these figures (they are a decent wargames standard), I did need to base them all to my normal standards. This proved to be a large task since I usually base my units as I paint them. At most, I wait until I've painted four or five units before finishing the basing. The Austrian infantry were many in number and the process quickly became a chore and it took me until the New Year to get on with it (Cold Wars is in November!). Also at Cold Wars, I picked up some Austrian guns and gunners from Sash & Saber. These are quite nice figures and the guns are second to none (they're actually of the proper size). I also ordered some command figures from Front Rank, in anticipation of fleshing out this army. While I was preparing to paint the artillery and command figures, I found an eBay auction of Front Rank Austrian cavalry and infantry. For a decent price I was able to procure three regiments of cavalry and a unit of grenzers. Now it was beginning to look more like a well-rounded force.

Advance Guard
N.2 Uhlans Schwarzenberg
N.1 Hussars Kaiser
N.15 Grenz Szekler

1st Brigade
1/N.10 Reisky Inf Rgt
2/N.10 Reisky Inf Rgt
1/N.13 Wimpffen Inf Rgt
2/N.13 Wimpffen Inf Rgt
Foot Artillery (6 lb)

2nd Brigade
1/N.21 Gyulai Inf Rgt
3/N.34 Davidovich Inf Rgt
3/N.62 Jellacic Inf Rgt
Foot Artillery (6 lb)

3rd Brigade
Grenadier Battalion
Grenadier Battlaion
Grenadier Battalion
Grenadier Battlaion

4th Brigade
N.4 Dragoons Levenehr

I plan to add some more dragoons and perhaps some cuirassiers to fill out the cavalry brigade, and probably a 12lb reserve battery. The line infantry regiments could probably do with some reinforcements as well (it never ends...jaegers, landwher....). Of all of these, I've painted only the artillery batteries and the command figures. I'm happy with the results, even though I don't have quite the same satisfaction from producing an army completely from my own brush.

Below are some photos of the Front Rank command figures. These are quite nice, and easy to paint, although they aren't my favourite horses to work with (they seem a little static for my tastes, even the galloping variety).