'Empire' From John B - Theme - Empire - falling Hungarians on both sides! 1/72 scale (48pts total)

Happy New Year to you all, I have been busy reading lots of interesting AHPC16 posts and managed at least to get off the mark over Christmas.Today is my first bonus theme entry - EMPIRE.

I have chosen some 1848 Hungarians who started the year as loyal subjects of the Austrian Empire before the year of revolutions pitched Hungarians against Austrians and their allies while at the same time some loyal Hungarian units were busy subduing the 1st Italian Unification War rebels in the Piedmont and Venetia regions.

The figures are Hat 1/72 scale and in fact are their first NEW sets in quite a long time for this period. They came out in 2025. So the first theme of the challenge was a very convenient excuse to paint some up. I chose the marching box figures. You can get another set entitled "action". Now these figures are unusual in that the back packs, bottle and scabbard etc. come separately moulded. And the quick witted will have noticed one guy has let the side down with his gear halfway down his back! How did I miss that I wonder!

I normally stick my figures in the dishwasher (top shelf) to clean them, if its about to run and then prime using Vallejo white in this case. Mostly VJ paints used this time although citadel sometimes pop in - but no contrasts used here. I did mix a couple of blue and blue greys together to get the blue trouser colour.

My standard basing is from the now venerable Warhammer Battles rulebook which came complete with figure painting guide and suggested use of bird grit for a textured surface. (I have one litre of the stuff and its still going ten years on!) Then I use craft paints - burnt sienna base, dry brush any ochre and finally yellow white (both of these colours are house paint samples (again they last a long time so good value). I use gamers grass tufts - 6mm green here.

My rules preferences for mid 19th Century warfare are Field of Battle, Neil Thomas, Fire and Fury etc. So 4 bases each 40mm square do the job. I started these minor projects as cheap as possible so opted for only three figures a base. They work for me.

My points calculation is therefore 12 figures 20mm rated at 4 points each = 48 TOTAL POINTS My final offering on this submission is a flag. I knocked it up quickly but it does the job and as its a rebel flag they can be rough :). Now for the quandry - I actually painted the unit as the 19th Regiment Carl Schwarzenburg (white buttons and light blue facings). Trouble is no regiments in blue facings rebelled so these are a fraud!

They served in the Italian campaign under the redoubtable Marshal Radetsky. My blog - the wargaming erratic has a nice post including some suitable martial music. So there you go An Empire in decline, yet with excellent music. Of course it gets better with the blue danube also by strauss celebrating defeat by the Prussians in 1866!!!