Feeling Hungary...

Summer seems to finally be here, and I was able to get away for a week of vacation to visit family in the Soo. I brought my paints with me, and was able to get some painting done, finishing another battalion for my 25/28mm Austrian Napoleonic force.




I like to pride myself on rapid completion of projects, but this particular formation contains over 10 years of painting. Some of the figures are the very first 25mm Napoleonic miniatures I ever painted, back when I was thinking that I would base these for Shako (meaning a 24-man unit). I finished the 24-man contingent in 2009. Not exactly top speed.



Then Curt proposed the new-level of challenge for "grand manner" gaming, with 40-man Austrian units. We mounted the Napoleonic Challenge, and I'm now fully locked in for grand manner lunacy, because it looks awesome and is really a lot of fun. With my baseline formations in place, I looked around for some ways to expand it quickly. Re-basing the 24-man Shako unit seemed logical, so I finished off another 16 more infantrymen (the last four of them this week) and now have a new unit for the force.




These fellows are Hungarian fusiliers from Foundry. I love the blue Hungarian pants, a nice addition to the colour palette of the Austrian Imperial Army. The mix of poses in this unit is different, reflecting my preferences from 10 years ago (a front rank advancing, the rear rank in 'march attack'). I think the variety will be good for the look on the table, and the two different poses are not that incompatible.



I now have four full 40-man infantry battalions for my Austrians. Painting time will be sporadic for now as we prepare to move houses, and I will likely divert into the 15mm sci-fi mayhem. But in terms of what is next for the ongoing Napoleonic project, I need to paint three more Hussars (THAT is a long story), and finish off two more guns and crews to round out my artillery battery. I hope to get to that finished before the NFL season starts (or is supposed to start).