Wallach-Illyria Grenz Regiment No. 13
Back in Post 36, I posted my attempt at painting a trial
Pendraken Grenz infantryman figure. I painted the
figure as a member of the 13th regiment with light
pike grey facings. I needed to finish off a battalion of
the regiment so got to work on the remaining figures.
First of all, the Pendraken drummer figure and the
two Pendraken rank-and-file figures all sported
outdated pigtails, so they had to be cut off. I then
made several changes to my previous colour choices.
As I mentioned in Post 36, I had based my choice of
brown jacket colour on the Osprey colour plate in
Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (1): Infantry.
However, the colour reproduction in a different copy
of the book I happened to see was more in keeping
with the colour used in the majority of illustrations of
Grenz infantrymen. So I ditched Foundry’s Peaty
Brown 61B in favour of a redder brown: Foundry’s
Spearshaft Shade 13A. According to regulations, the
Grenzers had been due to change jacket colour from
white to brown in late 1808 but by 1809 only some of the
Grenz regiments had made the change. Belt colour was
meant to change as well but, according to specialist
author David Hollins, white belts were not replaced by
black belts until after the Danube campaign. I also
decided to paint the rolled cloak on the backpack red
rather than grey. I ignored what looked suspiciously
like French inner turnbacks on the Pendraken figures,
just painting the outer ones facing colour. I couldn’t find
any reference for brass chinstraps on Grenzer officers’
shakos but the Pendraken officer obviously had them –
just like his French counterpart. I also painted some Old
Glory Grenzer figures for the 13th Regiment. Old
Glory’s Grenzers – like the Pendraken Grenzers – came
in four figure poses, all with a nice natural poise about
them. The Wallach-Illyria Grenz Regiment No. 13, a
Banat Military Border regiment, had light pike grey
facings. However, it’s unclear if the colour was only
adopted after 1809 and whether in 1809 the regiment’s
facings were actually a shade of blue. My original
source, Osprey’s Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars
(1): Infantry, didn’t give any indication of a previous
colour.
POST 124
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