IR #4 - 28mm Austrian Napoleonics

I Battalion, IR#4 - models from Victrix

Another batch of recruits have joined my Austrian collection.  This the first battalion, IR #4.  The models are plastics from Victrix.  These models faced several serious painting challenges, and also a little delay for bases, so I'm pretty chuffed to have them finished.   As with my other infantry units, it is beefy - 38 infantry and a single mounted model.

Waiting for the basing goop to dry

Colour party shows the variety of officers that come with the box

I scoffed and scoffed and scoffed at Victrix and their seemingly-endless delays between announcing these models and finally having them for sale.  But Victrix is laughing in the end. 

The box provides a good variety of poses, with minimal assembly

These plastics are incredible.  The assembly is minimal (and I understand from other gamers who have the Victrix French and British figures that assembly was a real challenge there).  The range of poses is still significant - everything from marching to loading to firing.   You get ample stuff for command, including a full selection of different heads for different officers, and two mounted officers.  The price is reasonable. Order from Maelstrom, and you won't even pay shipping. So hats off to Victrix for taking the cynicism of hacks like me and spiking it back hard and with authority!

A nice change from the "monopose" feel you get with Foundry stuff

The mounted officer is really into it - probably some schnapps hidden under the saddle....

The level of detail on these figures is very, very impressive for plastics.  Sure, there are a couple of detail lines that are a bit weak, and if you have sh*t primer I like I did, that can get really tricky, but these are top notch figures.  They even managed to get a cipher on the cartridge boxes.  Little details like that put these models at the top of the game.

You can see the Imperial ciphers on the cartridge boxes...a neat detail

I love how the foot-sloggers have a bit of a down-cast to their poses.  They look stoic, but with a sense of "Oh Christ, here we go again..." as they move to face off against the French, probably able to hear the French "pas-de-charge" beating through the smoke. They are ready to fight hard, but have little confidence their officers have put them in the right place or left them any real support to face the hard hitting French troops.  Nonetheless, their own (declining) Empire is on the line, and they are ready to give it their best...

Huge Austrian units are a wargaming tradition of sorts

My Austrian roster now stands at six full line battalions (one Grenz battalion, four German battalions and one Hungarian battalion), four guns, two cavalry regiments, and a unit of skirmishers, but the recruiting can't stop.  I would love to do more Victrix units, but I still have a pile of Foundry lead left, so I'm racking those up for another unit - trying for a "firing line" this time.  It will also be a little smaller - 32 model "spots" instead of 40 - a "normal" size.  While the oversize Austrian line unit is kind of an old standby for Napoleonic gamers, I think the extent to which those huge units were actually in the field can be exaggerated a bit, so it's time to get some smaller ones into the line.

The ADC encourages the men forward - that ranker on the right of him isn't so sure...

So it's quite a time to be an Austrian Napoleonic gamer - Victrix has a wide range of plastics out for the Austrians, and now the Perrys are getting their Austrian figures out there gradually.  The Sash & Sabre lines are excellent. Competition is a good thing! I hope to do some Perry Austrians later this year, but another battalion of Victrix would be great too.  It's nice to have a choice.  But sometimes the best figures are the ones you already have - for me that means a pile of Foundry stuff before getting back to some of these other manufacturers.