From GregB: 28mm Austrian Grenzers for the Seven Years War (40 points)

"This way, lads!" Austrian Grenzers for the Seven Years War - 28mm figures from Front Rank.

And now something...well, not completely different, but just...a bit different, a slight adjustment to the control dials of historical periods.  These are Austrian Grenzers from the Seven Years War. The castings are 28mm metal figures from Front Rank.

Lovely reds and greens...the Christmas skirmishers!

The Seven Years War is another one of those long-simmering-but-never-boiling gaming interests of mine.  I do love gaming the Austrian side in just about any conflict, and my real heart-and-soul Austrian interests have been found in the Napoleonic wars. I have a small-but-healthy collection of Napoleonic Austrians, and have played some wonderful games with Curt and the crew over the years.  Curt was the one who pointed me in the direction of the Austrians when I we first got to know each other and I was just getting interested in Napoleonic gaming.  Of course I was hooked, and this has just increased over time. I love Austrians!

Love the animation of that officer...he looks ready to jump right into action...

Ah, the lovely long hair, tied with a black ribbon...

Following this into the Seven Years War seems(ed) like a natural step. The Austrians were a major participant in the wars, still wore cool white uniforms and had very cool-looking units. But I haven't yet dived in...I have done all of the preliminary things that help one get set up for a new period - like amassing a considerable amount of supporting info on the uniforms etc.  But I haven't yet tackled the painting part of it...in fact, my Austrian Seven Years War collection in 28mm so far amounts to a single unit! But hey...you know...you have to start somewhere, right?

Another view showing the kit, canteen, blanket roll and sword.

Anyway, I found these Grenzers while rummaging around in my pile of shame last week.  Inhabitants of the "grenz" - the border areas between the Austrian and Ottoman Empires - the Grenzers were fierce fighters and fine light infantry/skirmish troops, a nice dash of violent flexibility for a military establishment which was otherwise quite hidebound.

These poor figures have been sitting in there, primed, since 2013. That's six years ago! Yikes! I saw them and I thought it would be fun to just knock them off.  After all, the Grenzers wore some pretty fun colours in the Seven Years War period. Why not crack open the paints and enjoy! I flipped through some handy Osprey colour references, and came across the Carlstadt Liccaner Grenz. Red! Cool! Off we went! 

Ready for some skirmishing...

The figures are from Front Rank. I have not painted a lot of Front Rank figures, but wow, I really like them.  They are hefty, "well-fed" and have a certain character to the sculpting and posing that I just love.  And they are so fun to paint!  These guys were a treat.

These are based individually so as to represent a skirmishing formation for rules such as "Black Powder".  Grenzers always seem to be skirmishing, so I thought this approach most appropriate.

These eight different 28mm figures should get me another 40 points - my goal is getting even closer! And wow, this is now, technically speaking, a second unit for my Austrian Seven Years War collection...hey - progress is progress, right?

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Grenzers have always been among my favorite units. They add a splash of color to the forces of the Empress-Queen in any period, but especially during the WAS and SYW. Give those vile Prussians of Freddy-the-Not-So-Great a right royal thrashing!

Though, given the French subsidies to the Austrians make these pseudo-French, we won't hold that against Greg.

40 points of sartorial elegance, sir!