Impressions 1.5

 Good news;  second big box from Hat showed up today; leaving only 1 small box still not delivered by UPS.

Further impressions on the figures (now that I’ve fully assembled a few);

While the loading figure looks fine with the separate ramming right arm, I wish Hat had just gone with an attached arm like for all it’s other 1/32 Napoleonic reloading poses (i.e. Wurttembergers, Chasseurs, etc) because looking ahead to attaching at least 456 of these with Loctite 2 part plastic bonder makes my head (and finger tips) hurt.

The backpacks seems slightly oversized relative to the figures, particularly in their depth.  I am using hot glue to attach them, and also cutting down the back peg these were made to hang from, so they look fine on the figures. Cutting down the peg provides room for the hot glue to bind to the inside of the backpack hole to keep it attached to the figure.  This also allows the backpack to be pushed tighter against the figure than possible with the peg untrimmed; which frankly I think would look bad as the backpacks do not fit easily against the figures backs even when the peg is trimmed.

But enough of the negatives; I am both very happy to finally have these figures and more than a little overwhelmed by home much work I have to do to get the figures completed and ready to put into units.

Careful what you wish for…

Cheers

First box of Hat Austrian German Fusiliers has arrived!

 Because of gross incompetence by UPS I have only received 1 of the 3 boxes of these shipped to me (now 12 days after they were shipped).   Won’t tell you how frustrating and anger inducing it has been trying to track down these boxes via UPS “customer service”.  ANYWAY…

So far I have only started clearing figures from the spru; a daunting task to consider with an order of 174 sets (so 528 total spru of 6 figures each).  I’m doing this in waves; the first 15 spru have had all the smaller parts & extraneous mold pieces cleared off, but I’ve only completely freed 1 spru of figures (and not glued on any backpacks or reload figure arms yet).

But here are my first impressions;

The figures themselves are very good;

Detail is perfect for me, not overly done, but clear and well executed (particularly the helmets)

Scale appears good, perhaps a shade on the small side, but certainly well within acceptable and compatible with Hat and other producer’s 1/32 Napoleonic scales (i.e. not as small as Call to Arms French Infantry, nor as large as Timpo’s Imperial Guard).

The plastic used is a good balance of flexible and firm.

One thing that isn’t my favorite is the mold itself and how the figures are attached to it.  There are many mold pieces to cut from the figures, including several attached to the muskets, which require a lot of time and effort to remove.  And the base of the figures attachment to the mold is very thick and requires a lot of force to cut through.  

Will update more as I progress in the great spru removal!

Cheers

The emperor’s cousins: Tirailleurs Corses

 The promised pics on my second new unit; Tirailleurs Corses (AIP Napoleonic French in Brown).

As mentioned her there is some uncertainty as to the units uniform color, but I have gone with the more unusual brown because they are more distinctive in a sea of French blue, and they were available (a key virtue these days!) https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/c_corses.html

While this unit was historically part of II Corps (and thus outside scope of my “French left” scenario), the availability of the new AIP sets (and dearth of other available troop options these days) lead me to decide to create this unit and make it part of the Lobau defense garrison under Reynier, which will be an optional part of (some of) my scenarios (particularly those involving Austrians getting close to the French bridges).

My Reynier OOB includes historic units;

 Saxon grenadier battalions Hake & Winkelmann (CTA Brit 1776 gren)

 Neufchatel Battalion (AIP French mustard)

 French 21st light Regiment, 4th bat (Hat Voltigeurs)

But also replaces some historic units with;

 Tirailleurs Corse (replaces 103rd light regiment, 4th bat)

 18th line Regiment, 4th bat (AIP French dark blue; replace Baden 3rd regiment moved to IV Corps)

Makes for a more colorful command but more importantly, one I have now completely acquired and bagged into inventory.

Cheers

Possible Hat Austrian German grenadier and Landwehr sets

 Hat is considering production of these sets from upsizing figures from existing masters used to product 1/72 sets.

https://hat.freeforums.net/thread/1211/feel-1-32-austrian-sets

Personally I am always thrilled by any progress toward more Austrian 1/32 troops!

While I had always expected these troops to be made available through swapable heads by Hat, we saw that dream die due to complications with the Austrian German Fusilier sets now in production (but not yet delivered).  

The possible new sets would be one set of Grenadiers and one set of Landwehr, each set with 6 poses including 4 action and 2 marching poses in the set (not separate Marching & Actions sets like the fusiliers).  With the Existing separate Austrian German command set including swappable heads with bearskins that is all is really needed for these (although I would love a swapable officer’s bicorn for the Landwehr), and a bugler use when converting the Landwehr to Jagers).

Cheers

Update on Hat’s Austrian German Fusilier sets

So Hat continues to move forward with getting these produced.  They shared test runs of the sprus which look good;

https://hat.freeforums.net/thread/1143/1-32-napoleonic-austrians?page=2

Still not sure when they will be available, but with the molds done well enough to produce what look like quality figures (I see no excessive flash, hollow spots, or otherwise deformed figures, and the scale looks pretty good as well) hopefully they will be for sale very soon.

A couple of new units for the French

Armies in Plastic recently came out with their French infantry in several new colors, including 2 that are appropriate for 2 Wagram battalions that fought for the French.

 First up is the mustard yellow “Battalion du Prince de Neufchâtel”;

This unit was raised in 1807-08 after Prussia ceded the territory to French and Napoleon made his chief of staff Marshal Berthier it’s prince.  Berthier himself designed the very unique colored uniforms.  

The unit didn’t arrive in the French camp near the Marshfeld unit after Aspern.  On July 5th and 6th is was part of Reynier’s force guarding Lobau island and the vital bridges over the Danube.  Supposedly it saw a little action on the second day of the battle.

It was a fairly small battalion of only 460 total at Wagram according to John Gill.

(Unfortunately for it) like so many units of allies of the French, in 1810 it was sent to the meat grinder that was Spain during the Peninsular War.

NEXT UP; the Emperor’s cousins in brown.

Austrian infantry formations; Line, Division Mass & Battalion Mass

Forgive the crappy photo, but it has been very helpful for me to do diagrams of Napoleonic infantry formations to understand them, and their relation to there own other formations as well as those of other nations,  so I thought others may benefit from it as well.

In 1809 Austrian infantry battalions were composed of 6 companies, just like the French.  However, Austria’s infantry battalions official size in number of men was much larger, the largest in a Europe.

This was because the Austrian line companies official strength was the largest as well; 

180 (German) 200 (Hungarian) rank and file +

14 NCO 

4 officers

2 drummers 

2 Zimmermen (pioneers)

And while many battalions were well below official strength by Wagram, many others had been brought back up to at or close to this level in the lull between Aspern and Wagram. 

Austrian battalion tactical sub-company units were; the half company (obvious as to what this is) and the Zug (1/4 company).  

The main Austrian infantry formations were; line, battalion mass & division mass (where here division = 2 companies).

Line: was used to engage enemy infantry (attaching and defending) and its nature is obvious.  But worth noting that the Austrians formed in 3 ranks, and the company sub-units can clearly still be seen even in this most uniform of formations. (Top of below pic)

The other 2 formations were used more when cavalry was more of a threat, or when not in the front line, or otherwise when space between units was deemed necessary.

Battalion Mass: was formed 1 company wide X 6 companies deep (bottom of below pic) multiple battalions of these could be deployed in checkboard fashion much like the smaller division masses, with artillery batteries deployed between them.

Division Mass:  was formed as 3 separate masses of men of 2 companies each (hence the name); each mass was 1/2 coy wide by 4 coy deep.  And these masses were formed with 2 up and 1 back, spaced so that they could easily form into line when appropriate. With this spacing, friendly cavalry can move around your units, or artillery can be set up in the open spaces, and any enemy cav that attacks will face lots of bayonets and support musket fire.  (Middle of below pic)

Here is my little diagram that shows each of these formations for comparison (but to be clear the units in these 3 formations would not deploy one directly behind the other as in the pic, that was done purely to facilitate comparison to each other and their frontage and spacing. 

Cheers.