Beginning work for the Italian Risorgimento (Italian Wars of Independence) - 1849-1860 Austrian Line Infantry

For a while my friend Ed from Ed M's Wargame Meanderings has been working on a post-Napoleonic 19th century wargame rule set called Chocolate Box Wars. The premise is for armies to be made with a smaller figure count, so an army can fit inside a 'chocolate box'. Each army consists of 12-16 stands of troops and an officer or two. 

I've always been enthralled with the Italian Wars of Independence, or as they call it the Risorgimento. The story of the daring Garibaldi and his thousand men kicking off a revolution in their red shirts, French-backed forces, Austrians, Papal forces and all in a myriad of uniforms. This period is beyond approachable in any large figure count rule set, but in Chocolate Box Wars, it's a much more approachable task to attempt to amass armies for each of the combatant forces. I had suggested to Ed, should he get the rule set off the ground, I'd start making armies for the Risorgimento based on his rules. 

I had intended to start with Garibaldi's rebel army as my first force, but these 1849-1860 Austrian Line infantry somehow appeared on Ebay and called out to me. To say painted figures for this period listed on Ebay is a rarity is an understatement. In fact, these were in the USA, originally purchased from a figure reseller in the United Kingdom. So I snatched them up, re-painted some facings and touched up some wear-and-tear and re-based them for Chocolate Box Wars. Four line infantry units done. This is the Core of my Austrian army!

 

I contacted the original seller from Ebay and inquired as to if he painted the figures and he told me the history of the figures. I looked into the original figure manufacturer, Pirans Warriors, and I noticed that the painting style looked quite similar to the sample photos on their site. Pirans also does commission painting, and after some back-and-forth emails, the owner confirmed that yes, he did paint these figures and yes, he was willing to accept a commission from me to paint more! I ordered up some additional units for the army that I hope to receive sometime late summer, early fall.

In the meantime, I've ordered up a few more units that I will be painting up myself. Look for more of those coming soon!

Note: Previously I posted that I was abandoning this blog in favor for Instagram. Although I will likely be posting more content on Instagram than I do here, I find this blog a fantastic diary of my wargaming projects and once I started this one I realized that I value that highly. So, I will continue to post here, particularly for this project, but also for other projects.