Throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the following Napoleonic Wars the Austrians were to prove a relentless foe of the French. Their efforts came at a heavy cost before ultimately ending the wars on the winning side. It is therefore fitting that the Austrian army of von Peter himself was one of the first started.

And still they're not finished! Well to be fair the original plans for the Austrians have been completed. Currently outstanding is a battalion of jager which don't really fit into the historic order of battle, casualty stands and a few vignettes.

Nigel Fun-nel is the official painter of Austrian figures for von Peter himself. Horses, cannons, basing etc by von Peter himself.  With the exception of a few Wargames Foundry casualty figures Front Rank Figurines have provisioned the little metal models. Flags from GMB Designs as is the habit at Neu Schloss von Peter.

Reserve

Any self respecting army keeps a reserve when fighting a battle. The major nations would often formalise this arrangement by having their elte units organised together into Reserve or Guard brigades, divisions or even Corps. The reserves for von Peter's Austrians are an amalgam of units from the Army Abteilung Reserve.

Reserve Infantry: Command

Because he commanded the brigade from which von Peter himself has pulled his grenadier battalions Generalmajor Furstenwarther has been given his name to the commander of the infantry of the Reserve.

On his base the Generalmajor gets a mounted adjutant to help him out, a dismounted grenadier officer to assist the humans with a visual cue that this is the command for the grenadiers. The final figure is a blue coated member of the Stabs-Infanterie who gets to wear the old helmet - even in 1813.  Their duties included protection and escort details for the general headquarters & staff and acting as headquarters gendarmes in the field.

12pdr Position Battery

Who you gonna call when the enemy presses hard or when you want to press the enemy hard? Why the twelve pounder position batteries of the Army Abteilung Reserve of course.

While we are observing the heaviest of the Austrian field artillery perhaps it is a good time to explain why some of the gunners have red facings and some blue. Those with red are the trained artillerists while the blue was warn by the Handlanger of the Artillerie-Handlanger-Korps who provided for the muscle and less skilled aspects of working the artillery.

High Command - 1st Army Corps

Because the core of the Austrian order of battle is made up of troops from the 1st Army Abteilung it seemed appropriate to have the commander of that Corps - FZM Graf H. Colloredo - to control all the Austrians of von Peter himself.

The trooper in blue behind his betters is from the Stabs-Dragoner. They along with the dismounted Stabs-Infanterie constituted the Stabs-Truppen. Their duties included protection and escort details for the general headquarters & staff and acting as headquarters gendarmes in the field. An infantryman from the Deutsch-Banat Grenz Infantry Regiment is disdainfully walking by at the back of the stand.

The two single figures perform the role of ADCs - an adjutant wearing a bicorne and an officer from the Hessen-Homburg Hussar Regiment.

All of these figures languished in the unpigmented pile for probably decades - literally!! - victims of the policy of buying figures that will be required whenever possible, ie. birthdays, Christmases and Fathers Days. It's just that once purchased they never quite made it to the top of the painting queue. Their big chance finally came with Garage Gaming Terry organising his L-A-R-G-E Wagram refights. Many were the Austrians - infantry, cavalry, artillery and commanders - required for this undertaking.

The Reserve

Any self respecting army keeps a reserve when fighting a battle. The major nations would often formalise this arrangement by having their elte units organised together into Reserve or Guard brigades, divisions or even Corps. The reserves for von Peter's Austrians are an amalgam of units from the Army Abteilung Reserve.

Currently the infantry of the Reserve consists of two battalions of grenadiers and a 12 pounder battery. The figures are in hand for a jager battalion and should they ever get pigmented then they will likely be added to the reserve. An unhistoric organisational aberration! There have also been idle thoughts of adding a couple of battalions of Hungarian infantry but there has been no action on this except for the aforementioned occasional thought.

The cavalry of the Reserve are a brigade of two regiments of kuirassieres. That should do for now!

Reserve Infantry: Grenadiers

Two battalions of grenadiers currently constitute the infantry of the Reserve. Not even a full brigade of them as they were actually fielded in 1813. But then the rest of von Peter's Austrians amount to five line and two grenzer battalions so all things in proportion please.

The Austrian grenadier battalions were composite battalions, That is that each battalion was made up of the grenadiers from usually three and occasionally two line regiments. Therefore each grenadier battalion contained three or occasionally two different uniforms as the grenadiers wore the uniform of their parent regiment. Very colourful.

There is plenty of information available on each grenadier battalion and the line regiments that provided their grenadiers. Somehow in his instructions to Nigel F. for the painting of the battalions von Peter himself screwed up. The first battalion below is not too badly out of whack with what it should be but the second battalion is totally messed up. von Peter himself has no idea how he could've got it so wrong as it's not difficult! They are what they are now and life will go on. It doesn't show up so well in the photograph but there are two different greens in the facings of the second grenadier battalion below.

The first battalion below has a mounted general figure leading them. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Reserve Cavalry

The Reserve Cavalry for von Peter's Austrians is provided by a brigade of two regiments of kuirassieres. They are an actual brigade from 1813 taken from the Kuirassiere Korps of Fieldmarschal-leutnant Graf Nostitz. They do not get used in every game but pose a very real threat when they are deployed.

These were painted for in a hurry for a convention game. Nigel came through with the figures and von Peter himself had to paint the required 27 horses at a pace that was a bit more rapid than the rambling normal. A trial of a new horse painting theory was attempted which basically revolved around differing base coat colours. In truth some were not as successful as others.

Generalmajor Kuttalckhe commands the Kuirassiere Brigade.

1st Division, Brigade Generalmajor Raigencourt

Generalmajor Raigencourt's brigade is the only brigade in the 1st Division. In earlier times of the Napoleonic Wars it would have been labelled as the Advanced Guard as it contains a mix of light troops and cavalry.

Command

The brigade commander Generalmajor Raigencourt deep in discussion with his Adjutant - "which wine shall we have with dinner tonight Karl?". From bitter experience a veteran infantryman from the Deutsch-Banat Grenz Infantry Regiment is not expecting much from "the brass" and is making his way to join his comrades at the front.

The mounted elements of the brigade ...

Mounted Command

To command the mounted elements of Generalmajor Raigencourt's brigade - and to get a "General of Hungarian cavalry" figure included in the army! - a command stand has been procured. Long stored away memories suggest that the hussar trumpeter is meant to have been requisitioned from the Kaiser Franz Hussars.

Cavalry

Two cavalry regiments were included in Generalmajor Raigencourt's brigade - the Hessen-Homburg Hussars and the Reische Dragoons.

The Hessen-Homburg Hussars are your typical gaudy hussars. But one cannot complain considering the number of times they have fought for one.

The Reische Dragoons offer a heavier option to the hussars.

Cavalry Battery

Unlike most armies of the period the Austrians did not have Horse Artillery - where all the gunners rode horses. But they were not insensible to the potential benefits of artillery that could move at an enhanced rate across the battlefield. The Austrian solution was the Cavalry Battery where some of the gunners rode astride the gun carriage on the ‘Wurst’, or sausage-seat. This was a removable leather covered padded seat.

Generalmajor Raigencourt's brigade has been assigned a 6pdr Cavalry Battery. The "Wurst" is still in place on the gun carriage ...

Infantry

The infantry of Generalmajor Raigencourt's brigade were provided by the Deutsch-Banat Grenz Infantry Regiment.

The lucky Deutsch-Banat Grenz Regiment get their own command ... who sometimes aren't really sure of which road they and the Grenz should take! These two figures were the first of the Austrians collection to muster in so they get cut some slack due to their long service.

3rd Division, Brigade Generalmajor Quasdannovic

Generalmajor Quasdannovic's brigade was one of two in Feldmarschal-leutnant Greth's 3rd Division. It provides the line infantry for von Peter's Austrians.

The Herzog Albert Kuirassiere Regiment with their red facings ...

... are partnered with the Lothringen Kuirassiere Regiment and their blue facings.

The two battalions of the Deutsch-Banat Grenz Infantry Regiment provide the light infantry battalions for the Austrians of von Peter himself. There is another battalion of light infantry residing in the unpigmented pile where it is likely to reside for a while yet!

As usual being light infantry the battalions are modelled as firing lines. Because Front Rank Figurines did not - and still do not! - provide casualty figures for their Austrian range the casualty figures used here were sourced from Wargames Foundry. The Wargames Foundry Napoleonic Austrians were sculpted by the Perry's to a 25mm size, rather than the 28mm of the Front Rankers. Thankfully the difference is masked as the casualties are all prone or sitting whereas the others are all standing.

The brown and blue uniform of the Deutsch-Banat Grenz Infantry Regiment help to break up the white of the line infantry and of itself is not a bad colour combination at all.

And lastly von Peter himself cannot believe his stupidity in placing the two stands containing the dismounted officers next to each other on the left hand side (as the observer observes the images) of the battalions. And the stupidity is replicated with BOTH battalions! What are the chances and of course it was not noticed until well after the wee men had been returned to barracks. Another d'oh! moment.

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A closer look at one of the battalions ...

... and a closer look at the other battalion.

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Albert Gyulai Infantry Regiment

The Albert Gyulai Infantry Regiment provide two battalions of white coated Austrian goodness to the forces of Generalmajor Quasdannovic.

These troops have been campaigning for decades in the service of von Peter himself. They are still on their original plasticard bases on top of magnetised rubber like "stuff". The current aesthetic treatment of the bases is on its third treatment with all the latest trendiness of various tufts now available.

Command

The brigade commander Generalmajor Quasdannovic encourages the men by waving them on with his hat while his adjutant with telescope looks on ... perhaps in horror. What's he doing now?!

Reuss-Plauen Infantry Regiment

The remainder of Generalmajor Quasdannovicmages infantry are provided by the three battalions of the Reuss-Pauen Infantry Regiment. The same comments for the Albert Gyulai Infantry Regiment above apply here.

Differentiation of the three battalions is as per the following cunning scheme ...

      First battalion: carry the white Leibfahne flag and are directed by a mounted officer

      Second battalion: carry a yellow Ordinärfahne flag and also have a mounted officer

      Third battalion: also have a yellow Ordinärfahne but are bereft a mounted officer.

6 pounder Foot Battery

Any self respecting brigade would not be complete without its organic artillery support.

Another couple of ADCs. You can never have too many. The worthy on the left provided by the Stabs-Dragoner, the one on the right is a mounted officer requisitioned from an infantry regiment.