Painting Challenge Submission 14 - Austrian IR 38 in 28mm

The troops of Austrian Regiment IR 38 practice drill on the marchfeld in my kitchen...figures are 28mm.

The end of the current edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is nearing - fortunately my points target is in sight too! I figured I would march straight across that goal line in style, with a big unit of 28mm Austrian Napoleonic infantry. These figures are all from Sash & Saber with the exception of the mounted officer, which is a Wargames Foundry casting.  The flags are from "Flag Dude".

A view down the line...

The Napoleonic setting is a gaming era which has not seen any attention from my paint brushes for a number of years now.  I last painted a few individually-based 28mm Austrian infantry officers for an incredible game of "Sharpe Practice" hosted by Curt back in 2016.  I can't remember the last time I added an actual unit to my Austrian forces. But when I found those SYW Grenzers that I had painted a couple weeks ago, I also spotted these fellows sitting in my unpainted-pile-of-shame.  They were all racked up, just waiting for a base coat before I got going on them...they have been sitting in that state since around 2012, I think.

All foot castings are from Sash & Saber, while the mounted officer is from Wargames Foundry.

A variety of different things motivated me to dig these guys out and get them painted. The theme of this edition of the Painting Challenge, "Fellowship" had me reflecting on friendships and connections I have made over years. In fact, my Austrian Napoleonic collection is closely tied my friendship with Curt - when we first met (about 20 years ago) I was curious about Napoleonics, and he encouraged me to paint Austrians in the first place. I have fallen in love with gaming Austrians ever since.  My collection started out in 15mm back in 1999. Since then I have painted some in 6mm, and some more in 3mm. Of course I ultimately tipped into 28mm. Nine years ago, Curt inspired me to do up these 28mm units in a sort of "Grand Manner" style, and I started painting them in the summer of 2010 - the same summer I got married! In fact, Curt's wedding gift was magnificent command base featuring Archduke Charles himself :)

Love the different NCOs you get with Sash & Saber.

While it has been many years since Curt moved from Winnipeg, anytime I walk past my figure collection, I always see the 28mm Austrians, and I always think of Curt and Sarah, and wonder how they are doing.  And while of course anyone who has even casually followed either of our painting tracks will see that Curt and I wander all over the bloody place in terms of scales, periods, settings and projects, there is always something extra fun for us a Napoleonics game is taking place...and there have been a number of magnificent games over the years, too many to recount here.

These sculpts have great character - and good variations to break up the marching poses.

Anyway, when I spotted the Austrian figures in the pile, and I knew that Curt was coming to visit too - I thought it was all a sign from the hobby gods.  There was no way I could let an edition of the Painting Challenge based on "Fellowship" pass by an not add another unit to my 28mm Austrian collection, particularly one which had been waiting years for attention!  So here is IR 39 Herzog Ferdinand von Wuttermberg.

Another shot of the command figures...you can also spot the sapper, marching along with his comrades.

Of course, the Austrian units have to be larger, because they had bigger battalions, right? Hence the 40-figure size for the main Austrian battalions, to take on the 32-figure units in Curt's French collection (and Byron's, as he has started adding a unit here and there for the French as well). The models have 15mm of frontage, and so are packed in quite close.  The bases are 50mm deep, to allow for a little extra protection, and some depth for mounted officers to mix in with the foot-sloggers.

One more group photo...

I painted IR 38 for two reasons - first of all, they have pink facings, which is neat. There are few units in the horse & musket era which had pink facings, and I had always wanted to paint one up.  Second, the soldiers of this unit were raised from Wallonia, which is in modern-day Belgium (I think).  Back in the early 19th century this region was still a Hapsburg dominion, and so provided soldiers to the Holy Roman Emperor.  I believe the Austrians lost this territory following their defeat in 1809...but it is still a kind of interesting acknowledgement of the great diversity of soldiers that made up the Austrian army in the era.

My Austrian brigades wait for a call to action to resit the Corsican upstart...

In terms of points, this submission allowed me to decisively stomp across my points target for this edition of the Challenge! It was great to paint some Napoleonics again.  In particular, it was fun to paint quite a few of these fellows while Curt was visiting! Staying up until all hours painting and chatting was great fun. 

I look forward to seeing them in action on the table some day soon - hopefully in another great Napoleonic game with Curt.  Cheers!