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| Luzan Regiment shown with 32 figures in two ranks plus a row of file closers. |
I have embarked on a new 18th Century painting project: building an Austrian army for the War of Austrian Succession with battalions sized at either 32 or 40 figures. I had been experimenting with basing 32 figure Austrian battalions (so that they would be the same number of figures as my new Prussian battalions) on deeper bases, but the same frontage as before.
This started when I painted a battalion of Austrians in a firing line, which required deeper bases to protect the extended musket and bayonet. The extra depth of the stand made it possible to add a third rank of file closers (NCOs, officers and drummers). The end result looks realistic to me (see the next two pictures below).
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| Two ranks of musketeers and some NCOs and drummers behind them. |
War of the Austrian Succesion Austrian Army
The War of the Austrian Succession (1741-1748) Austrian army has a different look from its Seven Years War (1756-1763) counterpart, a look that makes it more colorful. For starters, many of the infantry regiments had colored waistcoats and turnbacks in the facing color. For example, the Deutschmeister and the Baden-Baden regiments had dark blue cuffs, waistcoats and turnbacks. The Luzan and the Wied regiments had green cuffs, waistcoats and turnbacks. However, in the SYW, the regiments no longer had colored turnbacks, using white instead, and most no longer wore the colored waistcoat. The drummers' uniforms were in the reverse colors with white cuffs.
Really Cool Looking Flags
At the start of the WAS, the Austrian army was still using flags of Charles VI, the father of Maria Theresa. Charles died in 1740 and while it was customary for new flags to be issued bearing the cypher of the new monarch, the Austrian army of 1741 did not have time to change its standards.
There were a variety of designs including horizontal stripes bordered with flames of alternating red, yellow and black; also flags that had a checkerboard pattern of red and white around the edges of the flag. Another flag pattern had a green field with the Austrian eagle and coat of arms in the center and the edges were bordered with red and white flames.
My newly painted Deutschmeister regiment has the red and white striped flag, which I hand-painted over an image that I captured from Pinterest.
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| Deutschmeister Regiment with old style flags |
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| Close up of the stripped flag |
The first battalion of my Deutschmeister Regiment sports a white Colonel's Color and an orange-yellow regimental flag
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| An example of the flag with the checkerboard pattern. |
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| Front view |
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| Austrian Senior General |
sss
Beautiful looking figures old chap! What figures have you used?
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
DC
As always, simply wonderful looking units, enhanced by the flags which are great.
ReplyDeleteLovely work as always, Jim! The different flags are really eye catching.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Really good looking Units. I especially like the flags and your style of shades. I'm eager to see your hussars and dragoons for that period to compare them with my figures. There were some interesting Units, which were not more in Service during the SYW like the Regiment Styrum (red uniforms with green cuffs). Styrum for example was present in many battles of the WAS on the Western Theater of war. I think now I would use Gudenus as my favorite source, although the figures there are from the 1730s. The uniform of the Regiment Khevenhüller for example is very interesting: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Uniforms_Gudenus?uselang=de#/media/File:Kaiserliches_Dragonerregiment_D_V_1734_Gudenushandschrift.jpg
ReplyDeleteCheers and best regards,
Damnitz
The Sprecher regiment has red facings and blue waistcoats. I just finished painting it and will post the pix in my next blog post.
DeleteI also plan to paint some Prussia Dragoons in white coats.
Hi Jim they look great. I've started basing my French WAS army on deeper bases. Much better visually.
ReplyDeleteMy thought too. I sort of stumbled onto this idea. Rather than trying to rebase everything, I decided to base everything in this manner with new units, going forward.
DeleteFine looking new project! Onward!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding paint job! It's great to see these stalwarts of mayhem and warfighting on your table top> You should do a pass in review for Empress Maria Theresa like you do for Frederick.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. I have a couple more battalions in the painting queue that I want to finish before the parade.
DeleteGreat looking battalion. I love the older style flags. Simon
ReplyDeleteA truly exceptional work, rarely do you see figures painted so well.
ReplyDeleteThe ASW period is the darkest for uniformology and it is not common to find someone tackling a job like yours.
I have been desperately looking for information on the uniforms of the Traun and Marulli regiments for a long time. Things are also complicated by the fact that, having been disbanded at the end of the ASW, they do not appear in the lists of the 18th century regiments (and therefore their history) but only in the battle orders.