I went to Vapnartak in York on Sunday. The cunning plan was to pick up some Austrians to build a Sharp Practice force, using Perry Miniatures. This is going to be my main project for 2024. There is no "official" SP Austrian list but there are a couple of suggestions on the Lard Island forum and I'm going with what looks like a boring but reliable core force as follows:
Austrian Infantry Column 1809+
Leader III (Hauptmann/Captain)
Leader I (Fähnrich/Ensign)
3 Groups of 8 Line, Musket (German or Hungarian)
Leader II (Oberleutnant/1st lieutenant)
3 Groups of 8 Line, Musket (German or Hungarian)
Leader I (Unterleutnant/2nd lieutenant)
1 Group of 6 Grenzers, Musket
64 Points ( I need to check that). That gives me two very solid infantry units and a small group of skirmishers. I think theyre going to be solid but not very flexible, but I can add some variety through the support options. One drawback with the Austrians is their Level 1 Leaders are not able to command other units. That's a problem because they're not very versatile, but on the other hand it does mean they're available to keep their units together when the crap starts flying.
That was the plan, but as folks know, plans never survive contact with the enemy and this was no exception.
The first problem was the 48 line infantry. Perry's do a box of plastics containing exactly 48 models. Sadly this includes a colour party, some officers, musicians etc. All essential for "normal" games but extras to a SP list. I suppose I could have picked up an extra sprue from somewhere but I figure a second box will give me options to expand later to do Grenadiers etc. So two boxes of Austrian Infantry. This isn't so much of a problem as convention stalwart Dave Thomas always does deals at his stall, in this case 3 boxes for £55, rather than the £22 each, so it would be rude not to.
Next up the Grenzers. I intended to pick up a blister of skirmishing Grenzers - that would be six figures. I'd need a figure for the Officer but it seemed a stretch to buy a Command pack. As it happens this was not a problem, or rather it was, because Dave T didn't have any with him. I did a quick rethink and bought some Jagers and Command - I was going to get some as support options anyway. Jagers are very good but expensive, basically the same as British Riflemen.
Speaking of support options, I fancied an artillery piece so picked up a 6Pdr Wurst (horse artillery). The only problem here is there are only four crew in the blister - SP artillery needs five, but I'm sure I will be able to find a stand in somewhere.
Lastly - the third box to get the deal - I picked up a box that can be built as Dragoons or Cuirassiers.
All in all that should give me plenty of troops to build my force, with a fair choice of support options.
After getting home I had a bit of a rethink and decided to change the core force a little. I'll totally drop the Grenzers and replace them with "Third Rank" skirmishers. Austrian Battalions didn't have a designated Light Company like the British and French. Instead they were supposed to provide a skirmish screen by detaching men from the third rank of their three rank formation. In SP theyre not very good, but they're really only there to screen the main force so that's not a disaster. So my plan will be to replace the Grenzers with these "Third Rankers" Perrys do a pack of fusiliers skirmishing, and I could pick up a Command pack which would give me some spare officer types which will provide some different poses to the plastic ones.
So that's the plan. Let's see if it holds together, particularly when I start to try and paint all those white uniforms!
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