1809 Austrians

I have large 15mm Napoleonic armies based for Age of Eagles, and I have mountains of unpainted 15mm figures mocking me from their boxes. What to do . . .

Start a new scale, of course! I bought "Piquet: Field of Battle" with an idea to do some solo Napoleonic gaming. Paging through the rules inspired my project.

I would build armies for Napoleon's 1809 war against Austria. I'm an Old Glory Army member, so choosing a manufacturer was easy. I placed my first order in May and painted my first Austrian unit.

In 15mm, I'm a committed block painter. You know the drill: prime it black, hit the uniform with single colors, slap on some white belts, and you're almost there. I do two tones on the faces and hands. But for 28mm, especially for the white-uniformed Austrians, I could see that at least two tones would be needed.

I painted the uniforms with Delta Ceramcoat Mudstone and highlighted with white. I mixed my own flesh undercoat from Territorial Tan and Dark Brown, then highlighted with Medium Flesh. The backpacks got a base of Brown Iron Oxide and a drybrush of Autumn Brown. To really make the metals pop, I used Testors silver for the muskets and swords and Testors gold for the brass work.