"15mm Minifig SYW Austrians" Topic

Ok, so I have painted up my French. The Prussians are nearly done and it time to think about the next army. The intention is to have all five major powers done by 2017.

I've started and stopped this project a few times, I couldn't find a range that ticked all the boxes for me. I've tried Essex, Eureka and Old Glory and I couldn't face painting an army of any of them, let alone 5 armies. Then I rediscovered the Minifigs range. Wonderful figures that really do it for me. They are a dream to paint and look right for the period.

I'll probably get the Russians next, after all, painting red and green all day is my idea of painting heaven!

But, looking at the Austrians options, to me it looks like there is something missing. Not sure if it is a case of me just not seeing them, but I can't see any Croats or Hungarians on the Minifig website. To me these are must haves to make an Austrian army, so does anyone know of another range that would fill in for these and would not look out of place with hordes of Minifigs?

TIA!

Minifig Tricorn (2nd Gen) included a Grenzer light infantry figure for the Austrians – I have a battalion of them painted up. If you link me to the minifigs catalog I'll see whether I can pick anything out for you.

Russian Pandour troops in tall cap are useable as Austrian Grenzers. Old Glory Grenzers are in skirmish poses which is ideal.

Cheers,

Thanks Zippy.

link

Although, aren't those the old Minifig (US) figures that are currently unavailable?

Hi Timurilank, I did wonder about using the Russian Pandours, although the officer has a metal plate on the cap, while a Croat officer wears a tricorne…a minor problem I guess…

Probably the best bet….

Bindon Blood, I can't recount all the evolutions and revolutions that Minifigs have gone through over the past 20 years. About half my SYW collection is 15mm Minifigs Tricorn figures, yes they were made by Minifigs USA.

I see the problem with the current Minifigs UK list. All the Austrian figures are listed as Austro-Hungarian, there are no seperate listings for Hungarian infantry. The illustrated 'Austro-Hungarian Sharpshooter Advancing (cap)' is wearing the 1769 Kaskett, which would only have been worn in the SYW by the KaiserJaeger, FreiKompanie Lascey and maybe the Pioniers. I presume that the 'Austro-Hungarian Frontier Infantryman (cap)' and the 'Austro-Hungariqan Fusileers March Attack (cap)' are in the same Kaskett, which lasted until the beginnings of the Revolutionary wars.

Russian Pandours can pass for Grenzers in a bad light. You might want to look at Essex 15mm SYW, which are just a skosh bigger than 15mm Minifig Tricorn and which make up another part of my SYW collection.

15mm Essex cavalry are notably bigger than Minifig. It's the horses. Essex Cuirassiers vs. Minifigs Dragoons or Hussars looks really good to me on the game table.

I've been buying (British) Minifigs recently for my 1737-39 4th Austro-Turkish War project, and also Freikorps figures. These notes might be useful….

Minifigs "Pandours" – 4 positions – one wearing the red cloak with hood up, one a funny hat (Osprey "Austrian Frontier Troops" book, A3) and two the Slavonian uniform with the tall, yellow hat (B3)

Freikorps Pandours – much better pandours, all with the hooded cloak, BUT completely hidden in their catalogue! They list them as "Hungarian light infantry" or some such, under the Rennaisance heading! (A1) These are your "real" pandours, not uniformed grenzer.

Freikorps Austrian Grenzer – good general purpose Grenz soldiers with rolled cape and leather pouch, as shown in the Osprey illustrations C and D. The figures are on the small side. The Command packet comes with two tricorn wearing officers (correct!) two buglers and four more grenzer exactly the same as their ordinary Grenzers. The officers wear moustaches nearly as big as mine.

Minifigs "Austro-Hungarian Frontier Infantryman" 33V – I've been told by Minifigs that he wears a "tall hussar-type cap".

Minifigs "Austro-Hungarian Infantry" 36V – He is an Austrian, wearing gaiters and tricorn.

Minifigs "Austro-Hungarian Cuirassiers (Tricorn) 29VC – do NOT have visible cuirasses. This means that I shan't be using them as cuirassiers, but I will be using them for the d'Ollone Dragoons, who wore a cuirassier type jacket with no lapels!

Freikorps Austrian infantry – I don't have any yet, but the reviews for them on the QRF Models website are glowing, and the photos look good. Definitely Austrians. Presumably their Hungarians are equally good.

Freikorps and Minifigs can be mixed freely. They are both 15mm, not 18mm.

Hope this is useful!

Freiherr Graham, thank you very much for your comparison review…most helpful.

I am mixing the exact same two lines, Minifigs and Freikorps (QRF/FK, QRF is the distributor name). The infantry indeed mix freely, with the QRF/FK having slightly fuller bodies, but oddly enough, are cheaper. Regardless, they mix well, and it opens up more models and poses.

The snag that I do hit is that the QRF/FK cavalry seems to be a bit overwhelmingly big compared to Minifigs. Hence, I have been keeping all my cavalry in Minifigs. However, if I had to do it all over again, a major consideration is that the QRF/FK rider and horse come as one figure, versus Minifigs, which are two figures. It's a tough call, although I like the single unit and slightly cheaper price of QRF/FK, I do like the Minifig poses better. Although they are blander and more uniform, they are more in a "charging" pose.

Minifigs are good and I have some French and Austrians in that line, but I went back to FreiKorps. I have done Austrians, Prussians, French, and once we get our new house built and I get my shop set back up, some German allies to help out my Prussians. I have mixed some Minifigs mixed in with the French and Austrians and they blend in fairly well. FreiKorps has a good variety of figures for all nationalities, and they even mix up some alternate poses in the same packs like 3 different poses for Hussars and some variations for the heavies as well. You may need to use Prussian hussar figures for Hessians or something like that but once painted no one can tell the difference.