Austrian Artillery Gunners
I painted 16 Austrian artillery gunners to add to the
four I had already painted (see Post 75). What made
these 16 figures stand out as unique to my 10mm 1809
project so far was that all 16 gunners were different
figures. It helped that they were from three different
manufacturers – Pendraken, Magister Militum and
Redline. The real variety, though, came from the
number of Redline gunners: two full crews and even
one more figure that didn’t get painted! It was
interesting to see what details the different sculptors
had chosen to include and what they had decided to
miss out. The Magister Militum figures, for example,
were the only ones to have sabre tassels while the
Pendraken sculpts were the only figures to have one
with a leather satchel.
types if I wanted to. However, I was more
likely to follow the time-honoured tradition
of using the number of crew on a base to
distinguish the calibre of the gun.
ABOVE The observant might notice that one figure is
missing – see the last post (he’s off on a toilet break).
As I had already painted four Pendraken
Austrian gunners (see Post 75), it meant I now
had enough gunner figures for the five guns
on my painting list – all the guns I needed for
the Austrian 5th Column at Essling. And
enough different gunners, in fact, to
distinguish the different Austrian artillery
Austrian artillery officer and gunner by Ottenfeld.
POST 108
108
types if I wanted to. However, I was more
likely to follow the time-honoured tradition
of using the number of crew on a base to
distinguish the calibre of the gun.
ABOVE The observant might notice that one figure is
missing – see the last post (he’s off on a toilet break).
As I had already painted four Pendraken
Austrian gunners (see Post 75), it meant I now
had enough gunner figures for the five guns
on my painting list – all the guns I needed for
the Austrian 5th Column at Essling. And
enough different gunners, in fact, to
distinguish the different Austrian artillery
I made slight changes to two of the Pendraken
figures. The officer’s arm was bent a tad. A
gunner had his handspike snipped off and
arm remodelled (see Post 44). I painted him
with light-blue facings as a member of the
Handlanger-Corps, the Austrian artillery’s
added muscle. I had thought he might make
a good bucket carrier – but he seemed even
better pulling on a drag rope! I also took the
opportunity to correct the piping on the
backs of the jackets of the first gunners I
painted (see Post 75 for the earlier paint job).
I looked at the Redline Austrian gunners back
in Post 52. A whole year had gone by and,
sadly, there were still no more of the fantastic
new sculpts ready to buy. Meanwhile, the
Austrian gunners had painted up nicely and
importantly mixed in with the Pendraken
gunners far better than any of the other 10mm
figures available (see Post 52). I painted one of
the figures with light blue facings as a member
of the Handlanger-Corps. I painted only some
yellow pompons on the hats as there wasn’t
much sign of them. Like the Pendraken figures,
I was sure to paint the white straps on the
black leather ‘holsters’ although they weren’t
modelled on any of the figures.
Although admittedly the Magister Militum
figures were somewhat larger than the others
(see Post 52) and so had more room for greater
detail, their faces – certainly – were full of
detail and I could have spent much longer
painting them. Saying that, rather confusingly,
some of their left ears appeared to be missing.
The figures had pretty exaggerated bicorne lace
loops although it was possible to paint the
sides hat colour to diminish them. The figures
didn’t really mix well with the other figures
but I was curious to see what they might look
like if I tried to make them appear a little
smaller, perhaps by remodelling their hats.
