Austrian Wagons - battle field adornments.

 One aspect of wargaming that is sometimes overlooked is the large "tail" needed for an army to operate.  

Whilst one could incorporate logistics into the table top battles we play, the logistics tail is most likely to feature in battles either as an objective (steal the enemy supplies) or as a "road block", hindering a retreating army from getting it's "teeth" arms over river crossings or difficult terrain.  

The number of wagons needed is quite considerable - here are some examples - 

Bruce Quarrie's "Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature" calculates that over 3,500 are needed to move the flour rations for 240,000 men for 25 days.  Plus the wagons for beer, fodder, ammunition, etc.

WJ Rawkins, "The Austro-Hungarian Army 1792-1814 gives a figure of 11 wagons & 26 pack horses as the official allocation for an infantry regiment.  Actual numbers would be considerably more, as Austrian Officers were definitely interested in "glamping" rather than "camping".

Without further introduction, here are the models:

Austrian Infantry Ammunition Wagon.  This was modelled on the HAT 1/72 supply wagon - beautifully modelled thus:

Suitably inspired, I made a couple of 6mm versions - Wagon #1:

This needs a pole at the front.  The wheels are from the Baccus Equ01* set.  Stowage was scratch built.  

Wagon #2.  This will have a spare wheel attached to the rear stowage rack - this will be attached once I've painted the model.

Forge wagon.  Every Austrian regiment had a forge wagon allocated.  The Austrian design had the bellows in a compartment at the back, which means if I keep the tilt on, I do not need to model it!

My source material is this excellent large scale model in the Museum of the Battle of Wagram 1809 .  

This volunteer run museum is well worth a trip.  Not only are there loads of historical artefacts, when we visited in 2018 there was an excellent display of scratch built model Austrian military transport AND a huge number of Austrian 1/72 plastic soldiers, arranged in real regiments and battalions in 1:1 scale.

So here are some "eye candy" photos of the forge wagon (thanks to Sarah for excellent photos!):

Here is scratch build progress to date...

The forge still needs the front pole, rear baggage rack & spare wheel, etc.  

*Baccus Equ01.  I bought one of these for use as generic baggage wagons a couple of years ago.  As I needed wagons with different outlines, Peter kindly took back the 4 carts in exchange for 4 x 4 horse teams and 4 sets of wheels.  Lock-down has given me the space to have a bash at getting the wagons I want! (Thanks Peter!)

Finally, for those who are interested, here is where I got the details for my quotes on wagons & logistics...

Napoleon's campaigns in miniature - Bruce Quarrie:

regarding flour rations for the troops:

"...the Imperial Guard Corps in 1812.  They were provided with ... 1,720 wagons for 'ready use", plus... 1,200 comtoises...  ... and a further... ...600 more heavy wagons... which was designed to be adequate for 240,000 men for 25 days."

In addition to the flour wagons, there was wine/beer and fresh meat, which was normally vast herds of sheep & cows.  There were also wagons needed to carry the fodder for the supply wagons.

CB2 - Austro-Hungarian Army - WJ Rawkins:

"in 1789 each infantry regiment had a support train of 14 Proviant wagons, 6 four horse ammunition wagons, a mobile blacksmith and 54 pack horses, PLUS each company had pack horses, mules & carts which carried the cooking utensils, tents, forage and sutler's stores.  The infantry regiment had 534 tents..."

"In 1809 the regimental train was reduced to 10 four horse wagons, 26 pack horses & the field smithy."  In 1807 the tents had been removed from the equipment and troops were expected to billet on the locals at the ratio of 10 men/cottage.

In 1809 the foot artillery had 1 caisson per gun/howitzer and 1 provision wagon per two artillery pieces.  The "cavalry" artillery had fewer ammunition wagons, but had pack mules and forage wagons.

Mad as Hatters - Napoleonic Austrian Artillery hat fashions for 1790 - 1815

 The Austrian artillery of 1790-1815 wore a number of different hat styles, which means that as a 6mm modeller using Baccus figures, I will have to do a bit of mix and match....  plus an odd conversion or two, if I want to field an Austrian army from 1790-1814.

As far as I can tell, the correct hats (& suitable Baccus troops, if available) are:

1790 - 1803 Tricorn (later as full dress only) (SYW Austrian artillery).

1795 - 1806 Bicorne - worn "athwart" the head (later as full dress) (French Artillery in Bicorne?).

1790 - 1806 Rundenhat - worn with the rear brim turned up (service dress) (conversion needed).  Has a plume.

1798 - 1815 Corsehut - a style similar to that worn by the Jaegers, with the brim turned up on the left. (service dress) (conversion needed).  Has a plume.

1798 - 1806 Raupenhelm - similar to infantry (Wurtemburg artillery?).

1806 - 1815 Schiffhut - a Bicorne hat worn "fore & aft" (as it was easier to work the guns than the bicorne worn athwart.  (Baccus Napoleonic Artillery).

Obviously all of these changes would take time to implement, so gunners may wear earlier styles and be correctly attired.

To cover all of the Napoleonic period with correctly attired and hatted gunners, the minimum needed are:

1790-1803...1806 Tricorne (1795 onwards parade dress)

1795-1806... Rundenhat (service dress) - these are the ones that I have converted.

1806-1815 Schiffhut

Research - here's a couple of screenshot pictures from the CB-4 Austro Hungarian e-book by WJ Rawkins.  Officers & gunners.  The style is very "rakish"!

Having worked this out, I then had a go at producing a Rundenhat with rear flap.  The Baccus Austrian gunner gives me the body & face I wanted, I just needed to change the hat.  

I sliced the Bicorne* off Austrian artillerymen and replaced with a section of 1.5mm diameter plastruct rod.  Once the hat was firmly super-glued in place it was filed a little to give rounded corners and left to dry.  

I then sliced a very thin section of 2.5mm plastruct rod, whose 1.5mm diameter hole fits neatly over the bit you've already glued.  Before gluing, the 2.5mm "doughnut" was reduced a little with an emery board to a suitable thinness and sliced about 2/3 of the way across.  

This gave a "c" shaped piece to form the horizontal brim and a smaller "d" shaped piece to form the flap at the back of the hat.

Once the hat was dry I gave it a coat of PVA glue before attaching a white metal plume (ex-infantry bayonet!).

All of which accompanied by suitable language as the plastic slid off the figures or glued at an inappropriate angle!

The attached photos shows the "Mark 1" versions of all 4 Baccus Austrian gunners with suitable hats.

I also padded out my gunners by recruiting a couple of spare infantrymen in caskets (the infamous AWL01 "man with bag under right arm" figure).  One chap got his under-arm bag drilled out and a length of staple glued as a crowbar.  The other had the bag converted to a small barrel, but I'm not convinced this has worked out OK, so he may need more work.  Anyway - the possibility of padding out your gun teams with "handlager" exists.

Here's photos of the gunners and handlagers.  

As ever, I hope this inspires you to have a go at making some different uniforms!

* The Bicornes were cut off carefully to preserve both the Bicorne and head - I have plans for the Bicornes!

Napoleonic Austrians 1792-98 - Command Group - MK2 Conversions from AWL02

 Following on from my October post, I have now converted some AWL 02 Loyalist skirmishers into Command group figures.

The "loading" skirmisher figure holds his musket diagonally across his body, with his right hand at stomach height and his left hand at neck height.  

The first step is to remove the musket above and below the right hand and the bayonet above the left hand.

The second steps are:

Flag bearer - 

2.1 drill a hole in the right hand and insert a length of 0.4 or 0.5 mm dressmaking pin.  Either don't tell the dressmaker or buy a dedicated supply of pins!

2.2 attach the pin to the left hand and leave about 1 - 2 mm of pin below the right hand (to represent the foot of the flagpole in some sort of carrying belt).

Drummer - 

2.1 attach a drum under the left arm.  I used 2mm diameter plastic rod cut into a 3mm section.  I positioned the drum at an angle to that the hands were just above the top of the drum.

2.2 attach drumsticks to the hands.  I used some very thin wire that was decoration around a wine bottle.

2.3 embellish the drum with straps and a top hoop from the wire.

Fifer - 

2.1 remove the right arm and make a new one from wire.

2.2 attach a short length of staple to make the fife.

2.3 add a plastic fife case under the right arm.

Here's the unpainted figures - 

I plan to post again, once these are painted and based.  I hope this inspires you to have a go at Austrians 1792-98.  

The flag bearer is the easiest of these conversions, so you could just substitute in an officer and make a flag bearer, to get a suitable command group.  Or go mad with knife & glue and make some music!! 

Repurposing Baccus 6mm French Guard Grenadier a Cheval

Here's some (hopefully inspirational) examples of "other purposes" you can use French Guard Grenadier a cheval Baccus 6mm figures for...

This post was in response to a query on the Baccus website forum.

1. French Line Carabiniers (the obvious choice, really...).

2. French Line Dragoon Elite Co - as part of a command base. 

3. As part of a non-command base.

4. The Mounted Officer has been reemployed as a mounted officer of the Italian Guard - in this case the Grenadiers...

Austrian Napoleonic - Command & Control........ the slow way.....

Austrian Generals.  In 1809 the Austrian Generals C&C system relied upon lots of highly detailed orders and a discouragement of local initiative.  For many battles in BBB, you don't need many (or any!!) Austrian Generals, as they are unlikely to add anything (in games terms).  

Having said that, Austrian Generals are needed on the table for many battles, so after our Aspern-Essling game in March 2020, I made sure I had "enough".  

The base with 3 figures is the CinC, probably Archduke Charles, with two ADCs to carry and transmit the reams of orders needed.  There are 3 x two figure bases, a general & his Stabs-dragoon body guard.  3 single Generals rounds off the Austrian C&C.

I also made a "fun" figure - Arch Duke Charles seizing a flag and leading the charge....

Once again, all figures are Baccus.  

Austrian Napoleonic - Lancers!

Austria fielded 4 regiments (in total) of Lancers in the Napoleonic wars.  The uniform reflected their polish origins with short jacket and csapka hat.  Whilst my normal rules don't give a specific advantage to lancers, they add a splash of colour and hopefully instil fear in the enemy!

The figures are Baccus French Guard Lancers, apart from the standard bearer, who is a French chasseur with a flagpole attached and his shako & shabraque remodelled.

Napoleonic Austrians - Landwehr - usual battle formations

 As mentioned in previous posts, the regular Austrian army did not rate the Landwehr very high.  So here is are pictures of their usual battlefield formations...

These are Baccus baggage train with Landwehr horse holders...  as rear area troops they have not fixed bayonets.

Napoleonic Austrians - Landwehr - Styria

 More Landwehr - Styria this time.  Styrian Landwehr were supposed to wear a spruce green coat and a Hetherington Hat - a style that we know as the "top hat".  Equipment shortages meant that most troops wore Grey coats and Round hats...

A side shot showing the City of Graz flag chosen by me for Styria

Figures Baccus, based for BBB.  This unit gets skirmishers - all in Round Hats.  Top Hat skirmishers will follow, in due course.

Napoleonic Austrians - Landwehr - Inner Austria

As a contrast to the massed ranks of off-white Austrian troops, I thought I would showcase some more colourful* and less known units - the Landwehr.  The Landwehr were raised in 1809 and were present at many of the battles with the French, albeit sometimes fleetingly!

Whilst the regular Austrian army regarded most volunteer and irregular troops with suspicion, some Landwehr did aquit themselves well.  Most Landwehr units, sadly, did suffer from desertion and a tendency to depart the field of battle at high speed once the firing started.  

So, the first set of figures - Inner Austria.  Grey coats, red facings.

Side shot - showing the flag.  Landwehr units had flags (probably) that were old model Austrian eagles on the right hand side and a local emblem on the left, which was usually a coat of arms.  In this case, I chose Zwettl.

Figures are Baccus, I gave them a more "ragged" look by removing some of the bayonets, to suggest poorly equipped troops.  The flag was downloaded from Napflags (for the eagle) & the internet for the coat of arms.  Based for BBB on 1" square 2mm mdf from Warbases.

*OK - grey - but it's NOT white!!

Napoleonic Austrians 1792-98 - Baccus AWL01 Conversion update

 Way back in early August, I posted pictures of the nearly completed Revolutionary Wars Austrians, suitable for battles 1792-1798.  Austrians on Workbench  Painted Austrians

The figures were, at that time, nearly ready for basing.  I was trying to get some decent photos of the finished, based, flagged & flocked figures done, when disaster struck - the new type of acrylic spray varnish I used "frosted" the figures to an unacceptable degree..... Aaaargh!

Having read (on the internet...) that olive oil can cure frosting, I painted the figures with oil and left to dry.  The frosting reduced, but basing revealed that they were now sticky, so the static grass went all over the figures and stayed there.  Double Aaargh!  

So I then washed the figures off, gently, with a bit of water and very dilute washing up water and left them to dry.  For a month.  Repainted the hats and left them a week or two....

I reverted to one coat of gloss enamel spray varnish, followed, a couple of days later, by a lighter coat of matt.  The figures now have 4 coats of varnish, so should cope with a little rough handling!  They have now been successfully flocked & flagged.

The acrylic varnish was Games Workshop, the enamel varnish I've used for 15 years is Rail Match.  To be fair, I have also been using GW "bone white" as undercoat and that has proved most excellent.  Yes, I did religiously follow all the instructions as to shaking the tin and temperature and humidity......

So, on with the Austrians.....

The overall effect:

From the left

From the rear

The Green faced unit:

The "Pinks"

I hope that this encourages you to try them!

Figures: Baccus AWL01

Bases: Warbases 1" square 2mm MDF (For BBB Rules)

Basing material: Macterials (on Ebay) Fine model basing sand

Varnish: GW Toughcoat x 2, Railmatch Gloss, Railmatch Matt

Salad dressing: Olive Oil (Don't use the cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil - it's just wasted on them!)

Flag: Napflag 1792 Pattern (Baccus do these as well...  see the Napoleonic/Austrians page in the catalogue)