Painting 3mm Napoleonic Grenzer Light Infantry

 The Austrian army was quite varied in it's composition and part of that army were the Grenzers - light infantry from the border with the Ottoman Empire. Fierce and possessed of the qualities that made excellent scouts, they make a interesting addition to the Austrian army.

Tactically, the Grenzers often formed part of a "light brigade" and so are often found in Orders of Battle alongside cavalry - in the case of Abensberg, they are alongside the Hussars and Uhlans.

So how do I paint mine? Well, the uniforms are distinctly different from the main infantry, so we're aiming for a brown uniform, with light blue trousers, so I used the following paints:
                    Jackets:                             Steel Legion Drab (Citadel)
                    Trousers:                           Hoeth Blue (Citadel)
                    Wood and Backpack:        Gorthor Brown (Citadel)
                    Bedding and Bandoliers:   White (Vallejo)
                    Bayonets:                           Runefang Steel (Citadel)
                    Flesh:                                 Barbarian Flesh (Army Painter)

We're following the same idea as with the French and Austrian Line Infantry, so if you've read those, this will be very familiar!

Start by basecoating in black. This does darken the model down, but it hides a multitude of sins if you miss things out. Remember that you are aiming for the overall effect of massed figures, so if you mess up a figure in rank 3, you probably won't notice!

Next paint the jackets. You want the brown to be different from the wood, so I went with Steel Legion Drab. You might want more of a terracotta or red-brown depending on what sources you look at, so amend as necessary. I've seen some depictions of them looking much closer to Austrian Line Inantry, so you could also do them in that style.

The covering on this is a bit patchy I notice when photographing them. Remember that in life these are 3mm high and you'll be looking at them from several feet away, so minor mistakes don't matter!

Next is the legs. You are painting them with quite a light colour, so you may need a couple of coats, or merely a "thick" one. Usually a "thick" coat is the equivalent of blasphemy, but in this case it's probably justified, given the size of the models. At larger sizes, you couldn't get away with this, but that's the joy of 3mm!

You can see that some models only have one leg painted. It's the same on the back and it gives the impression of marching. 

Next up, paint the muskets and the backpacks. The brown is close to the uniform, but it is distinctive enough so that you can see the difference. Thin your paints and use single brush strokes where you can can, so that you don't need to make too many touch ups.

Already starting to come together.

Next is the white. You are going to be painting the bandoliers and bedding, so it's single brush strokes again. Take your time, but don't sweat over minor mistakes. 

Final steps now. Paint the bayonets with a bright silver. I use Runefang Steel, but as long as it's bright, it'll work. The bayonets are a focal point and look impressive if they are eye catching. Then dot on the faces, and the hand of the standard bearer if you're feeling brave. Clean up the shakos with black, and paint the flag as with the Austrians - I use Black and Flash Gitz Yellow.

This is clean enough, though I did neaten some of the shakos up. The blue pants are very faint, but since these are in the middle of the unit, I'm not bothering doing more blue.

Base as per your army. I have 60 men per unit, so they come out looking something like this:

A bit blurry, but actually illustrates my points. The silver of the bayonets, the flags and the general impression of the units matters more than the neatness.

Grenzers add a flash of colour to your otherwise uniform Austrians and are an integral part of the light brigades in many cases, certainly in 1809. They are fierce troops and in concert with your cavalry can help push those French back to where they belong!