Amateur Austronomy

I know, I should be working on Prussians, but all this fooling about with Austrians has distracted me. I couldn't resist getting them all out to have a look at them and to decide which, if any, could be cobbled together into a battalion.

It turns out that there are 98 of them - enough for four battalions with a couple to spare. For those curious to know what 98 distinctly dodgy-looking Austrians look like, they are pictured below.

Bring on the Clones

There was nothing for it after that but to get out my small collection of genuine, factory-painted Alberken/Minifig Austrians by way of comparison. These particular examples, I believe, are:

12 x AN 1W: German Line Fusilier, on guard;
2 x AN 2W: German Line Fusilier Officer;
1 x AN 15W: German Line Fusilier Standard Bearer; and
1 x AN 4W; German Line Grenadier Officer.

The Albert and Ken's

The good news is that having had a closer look at the home-casts, I decided that there may be, just possibly, a dozen or so which are genuine, in which case they're probably examples of the Alberken/Minifig code AN 5 or AN 5 W: Hungarian (or German) Line Fusilier, advancing.

The last shot is a closer view of what is definitely not an original, what might be an original, and one of the AN 1Ws. Do you know, I think one could actually make something of all of them: even the one who seems to be half man and half goat, with a bit of soldering.

What do you think? Should I do it?

Incidentally, I've started to post up a few pages about how I went about painting  the first wee man. If anyone wishes to make any comments (complementary or critical: both are very welcome), proffer advice or ask questions, please don't hesitate.

WM

Kaiserlicking Good

I've been going through an idle patch over the last couple of weeks, which is why I haven't posted anything.

That being said, I've done a little bit more work on my Reservists and also been trying out another little project, which is pictured here. I'm not exactly sure what he is, but the leading theory at the moment is that he's a home-cast pirate of an Alberken Austrian. Early on in my project I acquired no fewer than 96 of these, so there's the beginnings of an army there if anything can be made of them.

If I can successfully create the command group, I may go ahead a paint a whole battalion. It's all part of my cunning plan to persuade my friend, DM, to take up Hinton Spieling. DM has a special thing for Austrians, and said that he just might give it a go if I gave a demonstration of how to paint them. Details about how I went about it will follow in future posts!

Best regards

WM


Edit: Bit of a brain fade there. My friend's initials are DF! Sorry, DF, although I'm sure you would be a very fine Dungeon Master also.

The Battle of La Rothière

It's high time I posted a few pictures of some of the amazing vintage Napoleonics that I saw during my recent travels overseas.

Part of my trip was spent visiting friends and family in the UK. They live all over the country these days, so I hired a car and took to the road. As a certain Roy B (aka Lewisgunner) was on my route, I asked him if he would like to have a visitor and to my very great delight he not only said yes but also invited me to take part in the most spectacular Hinton Hunt war game.

The two sides were the French, commanded by Ian (Stryker) S, with me as his 2IC in charge of the right; and the Coalition, with Roy and Stuart C commanding an enormous force of Russians, Austrians and Bavarians. The fight was to be the Battle La Rothière of 1 February 1814, one of the opening battles of the Campaign de France.

It was an inauspicious start to the campaign. The strategic situation was that Napoleon, with a relatively weak force, had blundered into an army of Austrians, Bavarians and Russians of over twice the size. Napoleon's overconfident advance thus became a desperate defence in which simply securing time to organise an orderly retreat became his main the objective.

I took zillions of photos, but they really didn't do proper justice to Roy's stunning collection.

Setting up. I rather foolishly deployed my battalions into straight lines,
 They looked lovely, but made the perfect target for...

Stuart's massive  grand battery on the hill directly opposite.

Ian, meanwhile, prepared for a defence in depth on the extreme left flank.

The mighty massed ranks of Russians and Austrians in the Coalition
centre prepared to advance

While on their right, facing Ian, marched the Bavarians

Realising my mistake, I awkwardly tried to redeploy towards the centre,
 being raked by Stuart's guns all the while.

It was left to the cavalry to defend the flank. Thus began a swirling cavalry battle,
 beginning with the heavies...

....and finishing with the lights, where thanks to a run of
ridiculously favourable dice throws...

....the French prevailed. The hussars even managed to win the first round
against a Russian square. However, the didn't stick around for a second go...

....and nor did the Carabiniers, who foolishly charged Stuart's guns
and were utterly wiped out!

Meanwhile, the Coalition centre steadily advanced....

...meeting stiff resistance in the fields....

....and on the edges of the town.

on the left, however, came disaster, as Roy's cavalry burst on to Ian's right flank!

After a final desperate charge against the Austrian hordes,
 the French conceded and quit the field!

Not content with providing this wonderful entertainment, Roy and his wife also put me up for the night and fed me like a king. Lovely food, witty and agreeable company, the whole visit was simply glorious. I was at a loss to adequately convey my thanks. I was very touched to be so warmly and generously welcomed.

A special thanks is also due to Stuart C. As I really didn't have a clue how to play Ian's rules, it was Stuart who did all the hard work, He also allowed me to carry out any number of very questionable manoeuvres. This unfailing gallantry, I'm sorry to say, was cruelly rewarded by a seemingly endless run of rotten dice throws. Without these three forms of assistance I think I'd have been utterly crushed by about the 4th turn.

Also on my trip were visits to Ian, Tony and Steve C, of which more in my next few posts.

Best regards to all

WM