In with the all the Austrian figures Don sent me recently were quite a few Der Kreigspieler Landwehr and Freikorps castings. These have been difficult to properly identify as the codes under the bases are not clear and I can't find any illustrations. However I was determined to use some of them and so I've mixed a few in with Hinton Hunt Jagers to form my version of the 'Vienna Volunteers'.
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| I believe the DK figures are 104/1 Militia (Tyrolean hat). The Jagers look like they may be Hinton Hunt BRN43 Brunswick avant-guard advancing. |
This unit was apparently armed with a mix of muskets and rifles so combining the figures works well. The original paintwork on these is by Don and I have refeshed them and made a few changes to fit with my house style. I think they're looking pretty smart and who wouldn't want a unit of Landwehr in their Austrian army?
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| The flag-bearer may be either DK or Clayton but I can't find any listing that has a tyrolean hat so he may be a conversion. |
The flag is intriguing - Don painted this from notes he made during a museum visit many years ago but can't remember what unit it was for. It's so unusual that I just had to keep it.
23 comments:
The 'Kneecap Militia' eh? They are rather snazzy for militia. I tend to think of militia more along the lines of the Russian Opolcheniye, but they will be great for defending a fortified position: rifles for range and muskets for rate of fire.
These look great Ian. Naturally, I am interested in the flag, and - also naturally - have no idea what I'm looking at - the abbreviations seem to indicate 4.Br.1.Ba, which suggests the 1st battalion of the 4th brigade - of what I have no idea, though I found some interesting stuff on the Napoleon Series archives. Very impressive unit anyway!
They do look fantastic. Now, I have seen that flag before somewhere but for the life of me I cannot recall where.
Give me time, you never know, I may have one of m lucid moments*... (*in lieu of fingers crossed emoji !!!)
Superb looking regiment, the uniform is lovely and nice to see them added to your collection, lovely figures.
They may be snazzy but hopefully they can fight!
Thanks Tony, that seems logical about the numbers and letters.
Thanks Matt, keep those brain cogs whirring…
Cheers Donnie!
I love units like these, they'll look great on the table, and I think you're right about the origins of the charging figures.
"who wouldn't want landwehr in their Austrian forces"? Hmm. They certainly look splendid....just tell me they won't be a rifle unit...hang on I've not thought this through. Zum Teufel und Katzchentatschen.
Thanks Simon they make a bit of a change to all that white!
I was thinking fire half as rifles and half as muskets depending on who’s commanding them that is!
This may be the most mysterious unit in your collection, Ian, but it's definitely a spiffy looking one!
Very nice unit. Will they be as good as the Silesians?
If you want more variety in their weapons, let them have some of these.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girardoni_air_rifle
Thanks Bob, we all like a mystery…
Interesting so I guess repeating air rifles should fire three times per turn? I will definitely not issue them to the Silesians as they’re deadly enough already!
I agree, the Silesians shouldn’t have them - only the Austrians.
However, at least one made it to the US and was used on the Lewis and Clark expedition so US militia could have some!
They look splendid. I am baffled by that flag though. There's got to be a story behind that one.
Thanks hopefully someone will have the answer!
The flag looks more like a Hungarian (red, white, green- possibly the red faded to orange ) than an Austrian. However, that doesn’t tie up with the uniforms. The Hungarians didn’t have Landwehr as such but had a levy called the Insurrectio. Their uniforms were blue laced jackets with black shakos.
The numbering is also odd as brigades weren’t numbered usually but known by their commanding officer’s name. I have only found one that was numbered but that was in central Austria not Hungary.
There were volunteer jaeger units from Transylvania (part of Hungary) but jaegers didn’t carry colours. It is a mystery!
Hi Ian, I believe you are correct about the DKs. They are either 104 (Tyrolean hatted militia) or 197 (Serbian Freicorps Assaulting). I'm staring at a sample of both, and as far as I can tell they are identical. Perhaps 197 was remastered as it does appear slightly more robust in stature. Regardless, you have a top notch unit of volunteers!
Thanks FF(?) I can’t say for sure that the flag goes with the uniform. Don originally painted these years ago and can’t find his notebook that might reveal the source!
Thanks David.
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