Saturday, September 27, 2008

Austrian Gaurd Units

From theminiatures.com Napoleonic Discussion Forums:
I am thinking of painting these 3 small units for a change.they are (First
lifeguard of halberdiers),(gentlemen at arms),(royal hungarian Noble garde)and
leibgarde-infrantrie-kompagnie.i would like to know how big were these units.
thank you robert

My Response:

In theory these garde units were of regimental size (unless noted) at least
on paper and responsible for the well being of the Emperor of Austria (or
Francis varying Titles) as well as other courtly function.
The Erste Arcieren Leibgarde (First Life Guard of Halberdiers) wore a black coat with red sleeves richly ornamented with Gold. During the Napoleonic Period they
principally wore a Bicorn with Gold hat lace.
The Trabanten Leibgarde (Gentlmen at Arms) – wore a red coat with black lapels with red pants and waist coat. They wore a Raupenhelm during the Napoleonic Period. The uniform is again richly ornamented in gold.
The Leibgarde Infantry were of company strength during the Napoleonic Period. They wore a Grey Coat with Black Facings. The pants were blue with a white stripe. They wore a black bicorn with gold hat lace.
The Leibgarde Reiter Eskedron (Squadron of Cavalry) were dressed like the Infantry except with Riding Boots.
The Konigliche Ungarisch adleige Leibgarde (Royal Hungarian Nobles' Bodyguard)
wore the Traditional Hungarian Hussar Uniform in red with Silver Lace and a
panther skin dolmen and pelisse.
The Polish Lifeguard (1780 – 1795) wore the traditional Polish Uniform with White fur for lace.
The Bohemian Nobles Guard (official title unknown to me) was raised in 1812 and disbanded in late 1814. They wore a white single breasted jacket faced red with Gold
lace. This unit also wore a bicorn laced in gold and a black feather plume.

As for me …I started painting up a stand to be the Emperors Body Guard and slowly I ended up with the entirety of the Guard at Paper Strength. Now when fantasy battles occur I can pull out my "guard" and pretend too.
I should note that I am working on the entirety of the Austrian Army for 1809
(for Napoleon's Battles) at paper strength. All the regular units are done,
the border regiments are done, the Guard, and now I am onto the irregular units (Austrian Cossacks got to love them).

Now I am not sure what concerns me more, that I knew the answers to this question or that someone else is demented enough to actually want to paint them up.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The correct answer is 'C' - All of the above. :-)

New Austrian players often get jealous of the fact that they have no 'guard' units, even after you point out the crapload of grenadiers and Cuirassiers that saw the battlefield more often that the Old Guard or similar reserve units.