The Austrian Army in Italy during 1859 consisted mainly of line infantry with the ratio being 4 line to 1 light (jager or borderer) and roughly 1 saber or lance to almost 10 bayonets. A similar ratio prevailed in 1866 except that the ratio of line to light was 6 to 1, and the cavalry increased slightly. The artillery was also diluted during the interim. With the high proportion of line infantry, the painting problem is simplified. Before 1867 all Austrian and Hungarian infantry wore a white tunic with light blue trousers; piping, cuffs, and collar being of the distinctive regimental colors which were matched with yellow or white metal buttons for regimental identification. Knoetel does not provide lists of colors for 1859 or 1866, or, for that matter, even for 1849, those being the years in which the Austro- Hungarian Army was most heavily engaged. But the Seven Years War table provided seems to carry over in the vast majority of cases to the 1914 table where the old regiments are concerned. For example, the Gross Herzog von Hessen Infantry Regiment No. 15 shown by Preben Kannik as having black distinctions in 1859 is shown by Knoetel as having black distinctions in the 1760's and on the 1914 table. There are exceptions, but I feel safe in using the 1914 table without condemning myself as a fantasy gamer. The big difference in uniforms is that the 1850 tunic worn in 1859 had a double row of buttons in front and a standing collar, while the 1860 tunic was single breasted and the collar fell back in lapel fashion. Kannik also shows the 1859 soldier wearing a fatigue jacket whose distinctions are limited to a rectangular lozenge on the collar and whose buttons are covered with white cloth. The conical shako had a brass double eagle plate on the front and a cockade above the plate from which a sprig of greenery might appear. Again, however, in the mundane uniform shown by Kannik which was commonly worn in the 1859 campaign, the shako was covered with a black cloth cover. Trousers of the German infantry were loose, conventional, and usually worn over any foot gear. In full dress they are often shown with piping in the distinctive color, but Kannik's nondescript campaigner lacks that elegance. In Hungarian regiments the trousers were tight, had a yellow hungarian lace (hussar style trefoil) on the thigh, and ended in short boots. So far as I can tell the only obvious distinction for grenadiers, who were abolished between our two wars, was the common wearing of the moustache and short sword. The borderers (Grenzinfanterie) were formed in the same manner as the line with almost the same number of soldiers to the battalion, and usually 3 rather than 4 battalions to the regiment, each battalion having a paper strength a bit over 1,000. However, as both the 1859 and the 1866 orders of battle will show, they tended to be split up and parcelled out to brigades of line infantry to support the latter as skirmishers. These troops were accustomed to fighting in open order, but did not have quite the formidable reputation of the lager for marksmanship. The cut of the uniform was the same as that of the Hungarian line, but the coat was usually a chocolate brown and the belting black instead of white. The Jagers were probably the best troops in the Austro-Hungarian (or Royal Imperial) Army. Their marksmanship was far superior to that of the line infantry even in 1859 when the line infantry was really trying to shoot people, but if so directed, the lagers could execute bayonet charges with the best of them. While there were at times regimental structures of Jagers, they were normally in detached battalions. The uniform was gray (said to have inspired the Confederate uniform) with green distinctions. in place of the shako a distinctive hat with turned up brim and green plume was worn. During the fighting in the Schweppenwald at Koenigraetz they were a great vexation to the Prussians, who complained that they flitted from tree to tree like ghosts and shot with remarkable accuracy. It must be noted, however, that the French Zouaves were able to cope with them pretty well in 1859. Belting on the Jager, like that of the Borderers, was black. Kannik shows a brown overcoat for 1864. Artillery in both wars wore uniforms in essentially the same cut as the infantry, with chocolate brown tunics and red distinctions. The horse artillery wore sabers and riding trousers, but was otherwise the same. Guns were apparently of the same ochre yellow color favored by Austria in the Napoleonic and Seven Years Wars. Tubes in both wars were bronze, ferrous metal fittings painted black. In 1859 all the guns were smooth bores, the horse artillery using a short barrelled 12 pdr which relied on an experimental powder-alas I have no idea what difference that made, and am inclined to treat it as a light field gun against personnel in the open, since the higher weight of shot was probably offset by lower rate of fire, although the larger shell would logically have more effect on positions and equipment. By 1866 the light batteries equipping the brigade artillery were 4 pdr bronze rifles while the medium guns of the corps artillery seem to have been 8 pdr rifles. Horse artillery was essentially light artillery (4 pdr) with mounted gunners. During the 1859 war the dragoons, hussars, and uhlans had an essentially Napoleonic look about them. The dragoons usually wore white, hussars combinations of light and dark blue with regimental distinctions in the shako and trim color, uhlans green with regimental sczapska distinctions. Most of the German speaking cavalry was converted in 1860 to unarmored cuirassiers and continued to wear white. The distinction seems to have been that cuirassiers had the horse pistol - possibly with detachable stock, while the hussars and dragoons had a short version of the Lorenz rifle as a carbine. Uhlans probably lacked shoulder arms. The tunic had replaced the Napoleonic jacket, and the hussars wore a short shako like the infantry, although of distinctive colors. Uhlans continued to wear the czapska and cuirassiers and dragoons the crested helmet - although the latter lost its plumage in the 1840's. Shabraques seem to have been red trimmed in the button or tape color. Up to 1860 the cuirassiers wore breastplates which like the helmet were painted black. Between 1859 and 1866 a change in the cavalry uniforms was taking place. A volunteer uhlan regiment raised for the 1859 war was dressed in light blue with a shortened czapska, and wearing the jacket over the left shoulder on many occasions in pelisse fashion. This essentially caught on with the hussars as well, although the bag of the short fur cap which replaced the shako and the coat colors differed by regiment,and madder red trousers were introduced somewhere along the line. A contemporary painting shows Hungarian hussars charging Prussian infantry in 1866 who appear to be wearing their only jacket in pelisse fashion, but with white shirts showing. In that painting the red shabraque seems to have given way to a buff or brown leather saddle cloth. Fortunately, as in the case of the French cavalry uniform changes in the 1867 regulations, the conversion was incomplete prior to the war. You are therefore free to carry forward the 1859 cavalry into 1866, although you have the option of putting in a couple of new uniform regiments. The tables for 1859 are shown for regimental distinctions, along with the old rundown provided in an ancient copy of The Armchair General. (Ed. Note: The author's wargame magazine of the late 60's that helped inspire The Courier.) MODELING THE ARMY IN MINIATURE When it comes to raising armies for use in both wars, there are just enough discrepancies to make things challenging. I began by raising a corps for 1866 in 1 to 100 scale or so, which gave me4 corps for my Grand Tactical 1 base per battalion level. There is some wastage when I convert to 1859, since the 3 battalion regiments must be resorted into 4 battalion regiments. Also there are too few Jagers and Borderers. That problem has been resolved by raising a Titel Grenz infanterie unit in 1 to 100 and faking it. On the whole I would recommend that to go from 3 battalion regiments to 4 battalion regiments in either the OTR or my own Grand Tactical schemes you might wish to make up single base grenadier units and tack them onto 1866 regiments. At higher levels of representation this may seem a little much, since the grenadiers come to about 1 man in 6. Unfortunately the grenadier figure may have to be a conversion, since the Munroe Miniatures grenadier is in the 1849 uniform, and I don't know of any others. To my way of thinking, the run of uniforms for 1859 and 1866 are so similar that it isn't worth making up one in double breasted tunics and the other in single breasted tunics, especially since I don't know of anyone who manufactures the 1859 uniform. I use the same Austrian Corps in 4 bases to the battalion for the fall guys of 1859 and 1866 in single base battalions. Essentially the Hungarian infantry is made out of Airfix Japanese, while most of the Austrians are warmed over Yankee infantry, Jagers Confederate infantry. One 1866 brigade of 12 bases however, is made out of Airfix Waterloo Prussian Landwehr - whose double breasted tunics without waistbelts are ideal - the shakos requiring some work, however. The same adjustments are obviously easy in 5-6mm. After all, who can tell the difference with those dratted midgets? In 15mm, Frontier and Pioneer put out nice 1866 figures that can do double duty. Relatively minor changes to Austrian Napoleonics can help fill in some of the gaps. As for artillery, the pictures of the Batterie of the Dead (Austrian gun line at Koeniggraetz) seem to depict double trail bronze guns with ochre yellow wooden carriage parts. It is almost impossible to tell if a wargame cannon is rifled. You can carry over your Napoleonic Austrian guns and teams, but the gunners have to have brown tunics and black conical shakos (light blue trousers, red distinctions). The overcoat, sometimes worn in the field by itself (like the French capote), or over the tunic, was double breasted, dark gray or black for infantry and dark brown for lagers. it had a waist belt and a patch in the distinctive regimental color on the collar. You can have a lot of fun with Austrians, but if you want to beat anyone with them you will need Italians. I'll try to get to that later on. UNIFORMS The basic infantry uniforms were white tunics with collar and Swedish style cuffs as well as piping on the edges in the regimental color. The blue pants of the Hungarians were decorated with yellow lace and piping; according to Knoetel the German infantry trousers were piped in white with no lace in the front. The 1914 distinctive colors for trim and buttons are given since they seem in most cases to match earlier colors for regiments existing in the earlier periods. AUSTRIAN INFANTRY UNIFORMS FACINGS, LINE INFANTRY Facing color: German Regts. Hungarian Regts. White Buttons Yellow Buttons White Buttons Yellow Buttons Dark-red 18 1 53 52 Scarlet - 45 39 37 Madder 44 15 34 - Lobster-red 20 35 - - Rose 38 13 6 5 Pale red 36 57 - - Cherry-red 23 43 - - Red-brown 17 63 - - Dark-brown 7 12 - - L~ ht-gray 49 30 - - Dark-blue 24 11 33 51 Light-blue 29 40 - - Sky-blue 3 4 19 32 Steel-green 47 56 60 48 Grass-green 28 8 62 61 Parrot-green 10 26 50 46 Apple-green 54 9 - - Sea-green 25 21 - - Orange-yellow 42 59 - - "Kaiser"-yellow - 27 31 2 Sulphur-yellow 41 16 - - Black 56 14 - - AUSTRIAN INFANTRY UNIFORMS FACINGS, GRENZ INFANTRY Facing color White Buttons Yellow Buttons "Kaiser"-yellow 2 1 Orange 4 3 Lobster-red 6 5 Pale-red 7 8 Light-gray - 9 Crimson 11 10 Sky-blue 12 - Borderers wore the same cut as the Hungarian infantry but with dark brown coats. Their distinctive colors were imperial yellow, lobster red, pale red, carmine, scarlet, sky blue, or light blue gray. The Titler Border Battalion wore a light blue uniform with red distinctions. The cuirassiers wore white tunics from 1850, blue trousers from 1840, with crested black helmet. From 1860 the black breastplate was done away with. Shabraques were red trimmed button color with a sheepskin cover in 1859 when the cuirassiers did not go to war, but may have been in the process of conversion to more mundane patterns by 1866 when they did go to war. My best guess as to distinctive colors is based on seniority when the cuirassiers were converted to dragoons after the war. The dragoons were similarly dressed but in the 1866 campaign seem to have been limited to the Savoy and Windesratz regiments. Both hussars and uhlans wore sashes or girdles of yellow with black knots for the hussars, alternating black bands for the uhlans. The uhlans were dressed in green uniforms with yellow epaulettes in 1859 except for the volunteer regiment mentioned. After the conversion in 1868 the coats were generally of light blue, greatcoat brown. The fur lined double breasted jacket worn pelisse fashion did not come into general use until much later. Pennants were yellow over black when worn in 1859 but were being phased out in 1866. Curiously the hussars went from shako to fur cap between 1859 and 1866, but returned to the old pattern later on in the century. HUSSARS 1854-67 REGIMENT SHAKO ATTILA AND TROUSERS BUTTONS 1 . Emperor Fran, Josef grass green dark blue yellow 2. Grand Duke Nicholas white light blue yellow 3. Prince Carl of Bavaria white dark blue yellow 4. Schlick scarlet light blue white 5. Radetzky scarlet dark blue white 6. King Wilhelm of Wurttemberg scarlet light blue yellow 7. Prince of Reuss grass green light blue white 8. Elector of Hessen scarlet dark blue yellow 9. Liechtenstein white dark blue white 10. Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia grass green light blue yellow 11. Prince Alexander of Wurttemberg grass green dark blue white 12. Haller white light blue white HUSSARS 1856-68 REGIMENT BAG OF KUTSMA ATTILA TROUSERS OLIVIETTES 1 . Emperor Franz Josef dark blue dark blue madder red yellow 2. Grand Duke Nicholas white light blue madder red yellow 3. Crenneville white dark blue madder red yellow 4. Eclelsheirn madder red light blue madder red white 5. Racleuky madder red light blue madder red white 6. King Karl of Wurttemberg ash gray light blue madder red yellow 7. Prince Friedrich Carl of Prussia light blue light blue madder red white 8. Elector of Hessen madder red dark blue madder red yellow 9. Liechtenstein white dark blue madder red white 10. Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia light blue light blue madder red yellow 11. Prince Alexander of Wurttemberg ash gray dark blue madder red white 12. Haller hire light blue madder red white 13, lazygier and Kumanier dark blue dark blue madder red white 14. Hussar Regiment madder red dark blue madder red yellow UHLANS 1854-66 REGIMENT LANCER CAP BUTTONS 1, Civalart imperial yellow yellow 2. Schvvarzenberg dark green yellow 3. Archduke Karl scarlet yellow 4. Emperor Franz Josef white yellow 5. Wallmoden-Gimborn light blue yellow 6. Emperor Franz Josef Imperial yellow white 7. Archduke Karl dark green white B. Archduke Maximilian scarlet white 9. Liechtenstein white white 10. Clam Gallas light blue white 11. Grand Duke Alexander carmine white 12. King of Sicily carmine yellow UHLANS 1860-68 REGIMENT TATARKA LANCER JACKET CUFFS AND TROUSERS BUTTONS 1. Grunne Imperial yellow light blue madder red yellow 2. Schwarzenberg dark green light blue madder red yellow 3. Minutillo madder red light blue madder red yellow 4. Emperor Franz Josef white light blue madder red yellow 5. Wallmoden-Gimborn light blue light blue madder red yellow 6. Emperor Franz Josef Imperial yellow light blue madder red white 7. Archduke Karl dark green light blue madder red white 8. Emperor of Mexico madder red light blue madder red white 9. Disbanded - 10. Clam-Gallas light blue light blue madder red white 11. Emperor of Russia dark blue - madder red white 12. King of Sicily dark blue - madder red yellow DRAGOONS 1859 REGIMENT JACKET COLLAR, CUFFS, SKIRT EDGING BUTTONS 1. Archduke Johann white black white 2. King of Bavaria white dark blue white 3. Minutillo white dark red white 4. Windisch-Graetz white light red white 5. Prince Eugen of Savoy white dark green white 6. Picquelmont white light blue white CUIRASSIER REGIMENTS DISTINCTIONS REGIMENT FACINGS BUTTONS 1 dark red white 2 imperial yellow yellow 3 dark red yellow 4 grass green white 5 imperial yellow white 6 black yellow 7 chrome yellow white 8 scarlet yellow 9 grass green yellow 10 chrome yellow yellow 11 scarlet white 12 black white Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com