paints brigs for the British fleet.
For most of the Wars of the French Revolution, the Austrian army depended for its light troops on its frontier (Grenzer) and volunteer (Freiwillige) formations. Amongst the diverse array of Freiwillige units, often collectively referred to as the Freikorps, were the prototype formations which would later form the basis of Austria's famous rifle armed Jäger battalions of the Napoleonic Wars.
Grenzers
By the early 18th Century, Austria had finally seen off the Ottoman Turkish threat and resolved to secure its reconquered southern lands by creating a permanent defended border along the Danube and Save Rivers, extending from the Adriatic coast in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. To man this long frontier zone, units of locally-based militia were raised, called Grenzer (or frontiersmen) regiments. The sparse local populations of the reconquered territories were not sufficient to sustain this force, so a policy of resettlement was introduced, drawing on the large numbers of Christian refugees from the Balkans and other settlers from the north. Land and farms were offered in return for their periodic military service, policing, and defending the frontier.
However, it was not long before Austria was harvesting this frontier force for additional military manpower, and during the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) and the Seven Years War (1756-63), Grenzer battalions were mobilized to serve away from the frontier on campaign with the regular Austrian army. Unregulated and wearing their own colorful uniforms at this time, they were something of a revelation to the rest of Europe. Their frontier skills in the so-called 'small war' operations of patrolling, scouting and counter insurgency made them excellent light infantry. Unfortunately the traditionally conservative Austrian authorities, instinctively wary of the irregular nature of these units, steadily strove to regulate and control the Grenzer's organization, appearance and tactics – probably to the detriment of their fighting effectiveness. So by the outbreak of the Wars of the French Revolution in 1792, the Grenzer regiments had been formally incorporated into the regular army for some time, and were subject to official uniform regulations – at least when on campaign with the rest of the army.
All Grenzers being mobilized for campaign service away from the frontier were supposed to leave behind their home-spun frontier uniforms and equipment, collectively called the Hausmonter, and present themselves at depots to be reequipped with a campaign uniform, the Feldmonter, which in 1792 was essentially the same uniform issued to the Hungarian regiments in the line infantry. This officially consisting of white jacket, blue trousers, and the low, false-fronted, black leather hat (kaskett) commonly worn throughout the Austrian army, but it is questionable as to how efficiently this uniform regulation was imposed. At least some Grenzer units on campaign retained elements of the frontier Hausmonter – opting in particular to keep their tall, cylindrical felt hats or klobuks. This may have been out of choice in defiance of the regulations, or perhaps out of necessity because of a lack of available kaskett hats. Economic constraints and shortages blighted Austrian military supply throughout the period, which may explain the retention of the klobuks and other Hausmonter items when on campaign – such as the distinctive Grenzer red cloaks (instead of the standard issue grey greatcoats).
Another important inclusion in the range are the sharpshooters. Each Grenzer regiment was expected to field around 250 sharpshooters equipped with the unusual Doppelstutz, a double barrelled under-and-over weapon with a rifled upper barrel for sniping and a smoothbore lower barrel for faster, short-range fire. The sharpshooters also carried a half-pike called a Hackenlanze to compensate for the lack of a bayonet, which also doubled as a rifle/musket rest utilizing a hook attached to the shaft of the pike.
Figures are sold individually, in any quantity, unless a set is indicated. The number in parentheses denotes the number of available model variants for that product code. Variants are supplied randomly, but Eureka Miniatures will always endeavor to ensure customers receive a representative sample of all the variants.
100WFR541 - Grenzer Officer/Hungarian Officer, in action pose, in kaskett hat (1)
100WFR542 - Grenzer Officer/Hungarian Officer, in action pose, in bicorne (1)
(Grenzer officers generally wore bicornes or kaskett hats, and not the klobuk shako. For march-attack Grenzer officers, plus other command figures in kaskett hat – use Hungarian officers, standardbearers and musicians from the range)
100WFR543 - Grenzer in kaskett hat, march-attack (3)
100WFR544 - Grenzer in kaskett hat, advancing (3)
100WFR545 - Grenzer in kaskett hat, firing & loading (3)
100WFR546 - Grenzer in klobuk shako, march-attack (3)
100WFR547 - Grenzer in klobuk shako, advancing (3)
100WFR548 - Grenzer in klobuk shako, firing & loading (3)
100WFR549 - Grenzer NCO in klobuk shako (1)
100WFR550 - Grenzer drummer in klobuk shako (1)
100WFR551 - Grenzer flautist in klobuk shako (1)
100WFR552 - Grenzer standardbearer in klobuk shako (1)
100WFR553 - Grenzer sharpshooter with Doppelstutz rifle and Hackenlanze in kaskett (5)
100WFR554 - Grenzer sharpshooter with Doppelstutz rifle and Hackenlanze in klobuk (5)
100WFR555 - Grenzer in klobuk shako and frontier (Hausmonter) dress, skirmishing (5)
Tyrolean Jägers
The Austrian Freikorps in 1792 comprised of a multitude of auxiliary volunteer infantry battalions, variously described as "Freikorps", "Jägers", "Jägerkorps", "Sharpshooters", "Volunteers" and "Legions". The Freikorps also included cavalry units and a few combined cavalry/infantry formations. Many of these were of little worth and most were destined to be consolidated into the 15 newly created light infantry battalions in 1798, which were themselves ultimately disbanded at the end of the Wars of the French Revolution because of poor performance.
However, there was one Freikorps unit during this period that particularly stands out: the Tyrolean Jägers (Tyroler-Schärfschützen-Corps). First raised in 1788, the formation had expanded to two battalions of six companies each by 1792. They were predominantly recruited from tough mountain men and hunters, and they were all volunteers (the Tyrol region being exempt from Austrian conscription laws), so they were well motivated and possessed skills ideal for light infantry operations. They were highly regarded, and they pop-up in numerous Revolutionary War battles, usually dispersed into company-sized detachments supporting larger line-infantry formations.
The principal piece of equipment that set the Jägers apart was their rifle, but at this time only a proportion of the Jägers were so armed and at least half, if not the majority of each company, carried smoothbore muskets. The sparse evidence makes it difficult to be precise about the exact numbers, or the rate at which the proportion of rifle-armed Jägers increased as the Wars of the French Revolution unfolded, but the Eureka range offers Jäger figures skirmishing with muskets as well as rifles. In 1792, most of the issued rifles were the 1779 Jäger-Stutzen. This weapon was noticeably shorter (110cm) than a 1784 smoothbore musket (150cm), but for hand-to-hand combat it was fitted with a long-bladed sword bayonet called a Hirschfänger. Musket-armed Jägers seem to have carried the standard infantryman's bayonet and short sword combination.
The Tyrolean Jägers officially wore a blue-grey uniform of the same design and cut as the Austrian line infantry, with the addition of a green plume above the pom-pom on the left side of the kaskett hat. However, it seems that, like the Grenzers, some Jägers chose to swap their kaskett hats for more traditional headgear in the form of a Tyrolean round-brimmed hat, turned up on one side (a forerunner of the later corsehut). Due to the type of warfare they engaged in, the Jägers do not appear to have carried standards in action.
These figures, especially the variants in the round-brimmed hats, can be used to represent some other units in the Austrian Freikorps, such as the Deutsches Feldjaeger-Korps (latterly known as the Dandini Jäger, and then the Mahony Freikorps), and the Le Loup Jägerkorps (raised as the Niederlaendisches Feldjaeger-Korps) – all of which wore a uniform almost identical to the Tyrolean Jäger.
Figures are sold individually, in any quantity, unless a set is indicated. The number in parentheses denotes the number of available model variants for that product code. Variants are supplied randomly, but Eureka Miniatures will always endeavour to ensure customers receive a representative sample of all the variants.
100WFR539 - Tyrolean Jäger/Austrian Infantry Officer, in action pose, in kaskett hat (1)
100WFR540 - Tyrolean Jäger/Austrian Infantry Officer, in action pose, in bicorne (1)
(For more Jäger officers – use any Austrian infantry officer figures in bicorne or kaskett hat)
100WRF560 - Tyrolean Jäger in kaskett hat, with 1779 rifle, skirmishing (4)
100WRF561 - Tyrolean Jäger in kaskett hat, attacking with 1779 rifle and fixed Hirschfänger (2)
100WRF562 - Tyrolean Jäger hornist in kaskett hat (1)
100WRF563 - Tyrolean Jäger in round hat, with 1779 rifle, skirmishing (4)
100WRF564 - Tyrolean Jäger in round hat, attacking with 1779 rifle and fixed Hirschfänger (2)
100WRF565 - Tyrolean Jäger hornist in round hat (1)
100WRF566 - Tyrolean Jäger in kaskett hat, with musket, skirmishing (4)
100WRF567 - Tyrolean Jäger in round hat, with musket, skirmishing (4)
(Any of our Austrian infantry figures in kaskett hat can be painted to represent Jägers with muskets, if you require more figure variants).