"Why Austrians?" Topic

my wife is direct descendent (from female branch) from the Emperor Francis II…I can actually confirm still now the nobility of the Austrians as a general matter.

Agreed. From my experience working as a holiday rep in Austria during my university vacations, Austrian women made fabulous, fabulous girlfriends. Really, no equals.

Many of the Prussian reforms of the 1812 manual were based on Austrian models, not French ones.

Note also the extent to which British uniforms were based on Austrian styles. The British infantry coat was cut like the Austrian only with more lace, and was quite unlike the French thing with lapels or the double-breasted German and Russian styles. The stovepipe shako was essentially the same as the Grenzers' klobuk and the Belgic shako was a knockoff of the kasket. Extant examples of the Belgic shako are all much shorter than you expect; they're like a fez with a false front, just like the kasket they're copied from. Most minis have the Belgic too tall, like a top hat.

Likewise, although the French cavalry's neo-classical headgear was copied by the British cavalry the single-breasted cavalry coats and the grey overalls with red stripe are all pure Austria.

Austrians look good even in black-white..

..but colors don't corrupt them too.

Point well made 4th Cuirassier.

The distinctly leisurely pace of the Austrian advance was evident in 1809 too. For some reason Austrian command did not like pushing their men too hard -so unlike Napoleon or Wellington- though they could move rapidly when they really needed to.

But if Quarrie was sort of right about that, he was wrong about a lot other stuff. I've just had a quick look at what he says. There's whole lot of stuff that is downright wrong (the allocation of artillery, for example), and a lot more we'd now consider tendentious (worst army in Europe other than the Spanish – terrible artillery before 1808).

Still I never played out the Quarrie rules with an Austrian army (we just did French and Brits), so I can't comment on how well the rules replicated Austrian tactics – by the sound of your experience, not too bad. We just did French and British Airfix figures. By the time my metal 15mm Minifig Austrians came on the scene, I'd moved on from Quarrie.

hi matthew

Yes, the Airfix guide was unfair to Austrians. BQ had a much, much better stab at Austrians in the 1977 Napoleon's Campaigns book. He acknowledges a number of errors and corrects the artillery mistakes.

In the revised rules the poor march rates were still there, but on the tabletop they were slightly handicapped on movement and a bit more so on formation changing. In terms of combat effectiveness they were the equal of other armies with excellent cavalry.

You could win with them, but you were on a losing wicket if you tried to manouevre against a French army. If you could contrive a simple battering-ram attack they were fine. It also helps that Austrian battalions were 30 figures and French were 24 or 18. They took a lot of breaking.

Incidentally, I am pretty sure the Austrians and Prussians were never playtested before those Airfix rules came out. Steve Tulk and Bruce Quarrie were about 23 when the former thought them up and the latter wrote them up, and in the late 60s early 70s I'd be amazed if a couple of impoverished students had acquired and played many battles with Austrians or Prussians.

here how they look amazing, even in paper

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. – Voltaire.

Napoleon abolished The Holy Roman Empire after Austerlitz.

Voltaire was a fool in some things, this especially (should had engaged more with the 18th century German Enlightenment), and Napoleon, as Paul Schroeder says, engaged in a criminal enterprise.

Voltaire was not always right. The Holy Roman Empire, was Holy because started with the incoronation done by the Pope, Roman, because it happened in Rome and an Empire because it extended formally on a very different number of peoples.

Mac I do not want crash a myth advising you to read "The errors of Voltaire" by Claude François Nonnotte written in French, I hope translated into English.

What would Voltaire know about the

Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nationen???

It is interesting to read in contemporary literature, that the German Emperor – often also wa referred to Roman Emperor.

I have to admit that I thought for a long time that it was a laugh – but recently I got quite fond of it.

To be honest, I'm not really into the Austrians in the C18th or the Napoleonic period, but for the Risorgimento or the 7 weeks war, they're great. They could have done a lot better, so using them is a good challenge. The navy is fun too. The more I look at Ironclads and WW1 naval, the more I think an Adriatic campaign between A-H and Italy is the most fun and most manageable.

I have Austrians all the way through but these are my favourites -they should have mown the Prussians down in droves with their Lorenz rifles but instead opted for a spear armed tribesmen approach…
link

Eclipsing Binaries & Sho Boki

Great pics that says it all. But in my opinion, all the various armies contributed to a great period, both aesthetically and in what they did.

@Mashrewba

Very nice! What rules do you use?

I always thought the Austrians were a good army to start new players because the individual battalions and cav reg'ts were larger and homogeneous. A player would have fewer units to control and wouldn't have to worry about who's a grenadier or voltiguer based on their plume.

Austrians – Classic style in dress – Never expected to do well against the French – Archduke Charles – Winning with them can be a challenge – Excellent cavalry – Grenz. What's not to like? I always enjoy the way some players have such a low regard for them and are embarrassed when the Austrians win.

Thank you Father
Field of Battle, Neil Thomas 19th cent and a bit of Black Powder.

Along with Russians, they are my favorite opponent of the French. I'm currently painting a full company of Grenzers (pre-1812 white coats, red facings) for skirmish fighting in 28mm. Then I'll work on a squad of rifle-armed Jagers, followed by Landwehr. Eventually I'll get around to Hungarian infantry. So much variety, probably only rivaled by the British.