First battle with my Austrians and a slight painting change

 Yesterday afternoon, Thomas and I had a small wargame to test my new Austrian infantry. The battle was fought on a featureless desk at school. Each side had close to 50 troops.

The Austrian position at the start of the battle.

The battle started when the Austrian force formed a line, with Grenadiers on the right flank and Light Infantry on the left.  The French made an attack column, and moved slowly towards the Austrians. 

The Austrians were the first to fire. Several volleys tore into the first French Infantry, killing much of the front rank. My grenadiers and light infantry advanced to flank the column, targeting the middle of the formation.

Thomas countered this by moving his Grenadiers and Voltigeurs out of the column to melee their Austrian counterparts. They were successful, killing my flanking troops. 

The attack column shifted into a line, and advanced to meet my own line. While I had an initial numbers advantage, the French infantry ravaged my formation, and after many casualties, my men broke and ran, being fired apon as they did so.

 

The surviving Austrians flee the battlefield.

In conclusion, this battle was a decisive French victory. While my Austrians performed excellently in the first half of the battle, most notably the Grenadiers and Light infantry, they did not fare well when they encountered the main body of the French troops.

The battlefield littered with casualties.

Overall, my Austrians had a decent first battle, and looked excellent when amassed on a tabletop.

However, my Grenadiers look extremely similar to the standard infantry of the line, and do not stand out when put alongside them. As a result, I decided to paint them in the colours of the Hungarian Grenadiers attached to the main Austrian army, and I am pleased to say they are now very eye-catching and look very vibrant.

Note the bright blue pants and yellow facings.

Stay tuned everyone! More posts are on the way including plans for a refight of Austerlitz...