Painting 3mm Austrian Napoleonic Line Infantry

So last post was the French, this time we will tackle probably the most tenacious enemy of the French - the Austrians. Despite the general wargaming focus on the British in this time period, the Austrians fought against the French in the Revolutionary Wars, as the Holy Roman Empire, then the Napoleonic Wars. In total, of the Seven Coalitions that formed against France, Austria was in six of them. Did they do well? Not really, but against Napoleon I don't think that you can judge them too harshly. 

 My Austrians are for the War of the Fifth Coalition - in which Napoleon suffered his first personal defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, though of course he would shatter the Austrians, and the coalition, at Wagram. So what do we need to paint the Austrians? Well, we need these paints:

From left to right: Citadel Praxeti White, Citadel Gorthor Brown, Vallejo White, Army Painter Banshee Brown, Army Painter Barbarian Flesh, Citadel Runefand Steel, Citadel Abaddon Black, Citadel Yriel Yellow. You can mix and match brands as you need.

The Austrians are quick to paint, and again I'm going to suggest batch painting. Again, I do two battalions (12 stands, 120 men) at a time. You can do more or less with some ease.

My models are once again primed in black. This may seem silly for white uniforms, and I guess you could prime white and then wash with black shade, but I prefer this method.

First step is to drybrush white. You want to drybrush the body and legs, but don't be afraid to do the whole model. You can tidy up the Shakos later. If yours have helmets, the same applies. Try and avoid the bayonets if you can, but again not vital. I've found with Praxeti White it can look chalky and very bright to begin with, but it will fade to a rather pleasant grey-white. 

See, I've hit the shakos and some of the bayonets. This is meant to be an easy and effective method, not neat!

Next up, we're going to do the remaining large areas - this is the wood and backpack. I use Gorthor Brown, watered down slightly. I do the muskets first, as they are the most fiddly. Even so, it should be a stroke of paint both sides, followed by the backpacks. Remember, leave the bedding roll at the top unpainted. Minor mistakes can be ignored.

This is probably the most time consuming part. Take breaks if you need to.

The next two steps can be done in either order. My preferred order is to do the bedding first. I use Banshee Brown (or Rakarth Flesh) as it is distinct enough from the uniform, bright enough to be seen at a distance but not distracting. A quick stroke across the top is enough for this!

As you can see the colour is distinctive but not distracting.

Next up the bandoliers. There is one distictive bandolier across the chest and you should paint this white. Water your paint slightly, and use a fine brush and you should be able to do the bandolier with a single stroke. 

Now you can see why we want that pleasing grey-white as the uniform. The bandolier now stands out, and though the soldiers look more grey than white it works from a distance.

Final steps now - paint the bayonets with the silver so they stand out, and paint the faces. Remember, they are too small for detail, so blobs of colour is more than sufficient. If you are brave, pick out the hands on the officers, standards and musicians, but you don't need to. At the same time, use the black on the shakos and the flag. The flag is half black and yellow. I think the flag should actually be white with an Imperial Eagle, but for identification it is a hell of a lot easier to paint and identify the Flag of the Habsburg Monastry. 

The bluriness is more a product of poor camerawork than the painting! It's clear enough I hope.

You can then base them. I base them as 6 stands to a 30mm base. I'll do a seperate post on my basing, but in short, I glue sand to the base, paint it with watered down Vallejo Leather Brown and then drybrush with Citadel Usabti Bone and Screaming Skull. 

You can see the effect en masse. Yes, it's not bright white, but in my opinion it works well and is distinctive enough from the French infantry.

These are quicker than my French forces to paint and you can easily get two bases done per evening. As these are for Et Sans Résultat, each base is a battalion and you'll need two or three for a regiment. The individual men are not particularily impressive, but once you get a few battalions down, the effect is quite something.

The forces of Austria - the first to beat Napoleon, the most tenacious of his opponents.

In no time you'll build up an impressive force to liberate Europe from the Tyrant Napoleon and restore Europe to its natural balance of power!