At the start of the 18th century the challenges facing the Habsburg Empire were considerable. Although it had just completed a highly successful war with one perennial opponent, the Ottoman Empire, it now faced open warfare with another, France, over the succession to the Spanish throne. This enormous conflict, which would last over a decade, would stretch the resources of the Empire as it sent its armies to Italy, Spain and North-West Europe, as well as to areas closer to home, and Habsburg arms would also have to deal with insurrection in Hungary. As a result, Habsburg troops marched over much of Europe, and while the initial aim of placing Archduke Charles on the throne of Spain had not been accomplished, the Empire ended the conflict feeling more secure than previously, knowing that a super state of a combined France and Spain, which would have threatened to dominate the whole of Europe, would not be created.
Imperial infantry uniforms followed the conventions of the day, and consisted of a tricorn hat, loose-fitting single-breasted coat reaching to around the knees, breeches, stockings and shoes. The coat had large cuffs, and largely obscured a smaller waistcoat worn underneath, as well as the shirt etc, although a neckcloth was generally worn visible at the neck. All the figures in this set accurately reflect this uniform, and show all the correct details such as the horizontal pocket flaps, although the tricorn hats, while showing the cockade properly, all seem to be missing any indication of the field sign (a sprig of foliage) which was normal wear for Austrian forces, even when not yet in battle. Also commonly worn by many regiments when on campaign were a pair of long gaiters, called spatterdashes, and every man here wears these, which obscure the stockings and the tops of the shoes, as well as much of the breeches as they cover to above the knee. However there was no absolute standardisation of dress in Imperial regiments, even after an attempt to introduce it in 1709, so some elements like standing collars or early lapels would have been seen on some individuals, but the figures here are pretty typical and so a good choice.
The kit these men carry is minimal; they have a waistbelt from which hangs their sword and bayonet scabbard, and another belt over the left shoulder which supports their cartridge pouch. This is all correct, but we were somewhat surprised that no man has any sort of water bottle, and also that there are no knapsacks or bags of any description for personal effects. While some of these might be discarded before going into action, we would have expected a fair amount of baggage on men simply on the march, and this might also have included other items such as spades, tent components and cooking equipment, so to us these seemed unduly light for men on the march, though they would work better as men manoeuvring for battle.
Our final row includes the single-copy command figures, and as you would expect these vary from the appearance of the ordinary troops in several ways. The first of these is an NCO, who is dressed like the men but has his coat open, revealing his waistcoat, and also that he has his belt and sword under his coat. Since he carries no firearm he lacks a cartridge pouch, but is fortunate enough to be wearing gloves. Next is a fifer, who also lacks a firearm and ammunition pouch, but has the case in which his instruments would be stored. He too has his coat open, and as a musician his coat is much more heavily decorated than the rest, with much lace and wings at the shoulders, all of which is nicely done here. The third man carries a flag staff, and has a highly decorated coat and a full wig, plus a sash around his waist, clearly marking him out as an officer and, in this case, an ensign (Fähnrich). When in battle a flag would indeed be carried by such a man, but on the march it would usually be held by the more humble Führer or Fahnenführer, who would not have looked like this. The last man is clearly an officer too, again with an elaborate coat and hat, plus a waist sash, although his appearance was not regulated and was dependant on the taste and wealth of the individual.
All the men appear to carry flintlocks, which is fine, although at the start of the period some matchlocks would still have been in service. All those here have a sling, which technically makes these men fusiliers rather than musketeers, though the difference is really just a matter of pedantry for us today. The men also have a straight sword as a sidearm, which identifies them as from a ‘German’ regiment (Hungarian regiments had a slightly curved sabre), but none have a powder horn. Despite carrying flintlocks, many sources show the men still carrying a powder horn, even though largely redundant, and while this did disappear along with matchlocks as the period progressed, its absence is worthy of mention. The NCO carries a halberd, known as a Kurzgewehr, which by its design tells us that this is not a corporal, so this man is perhaps a sergeant instead. Such men, and officers, often also carried a cane, partly as a symbol of rank, but neither the NCO nor the officers in this set have such an item visible. Officers also usually held a partizan as their primary ‘weapon’, but here the officer has drawn his sword, which is not a great choice in our view.
The bulk of the poses are of men either holding their musket upright, supporting it by the lock or butt, or else with the musket resting more casually on the shoulder. Both are reasonable and useful, and look fine. The men are all in different walking poses, which is also fine as few armies marched in cadence in this period, but the first figure in our second row has a very unnatural walking pose. The poses of the command figures are also quite appropriate, with the exception of the officer, who like any such gentleman would always have been riding a horse when on the march, not slumming it on his own two feet.
The sculpting perfectly matches the rest of this extensive range of War of the Spanish Succession figures from Strelets, with nice if slightly chunky detail and fair proportions. There are some interesting details to note, like the fact that, although the rest of the men wear their long hair loose, the fifer has his tied, or the observation that the sergeant has a moustache while everyone else is clean-shaven (we are not aware that this has any significance however). Another detail is a bit more problematic, because all the men have a bayonet in their scabbard on the left front, which is fine except that they all also have one fixed to their musket. No one ever went into battle with a spare bayonet like this, so perhaps the intention is for the customer to physically remove whichever version of the bayonet is not wanted, as it does look odd this way. The bayonet scabbard is one of those items that is much too thick here, and so poorly proportioned, and our eye was also caught by the pipe being smoked by the first man in our final row. Pipes this long (and longer) certainly existed, but for obvious reasons it was the much shorter versions that were generally smoked when on the move like this. Flash is generally pretty minimal, but there is quite a lot in a few places. The last man in our second row leans dramatically to the right (not readily apparent in our image), which cannot be deliberate and so seems perhaps to have been taken out of the mould before the plastic cooled sufficiently (all our examples were the same). Also the third figure in our top row is at one end of the sprue, and his right arm is deformed or only partly filled on all of our examples, though this damage varies between sprues and may not be repeated on all copies.
As can be seen, the flagpole has no flag, allowing customers to attach their own flag of choice. The staff is about 45 mm long (324 cm), and the gap between hand and finial, where the flag could easily be positioned, is a little less than half this, which is insufficient for early flags that were often 2.2 metres square, but later examples may have been smaller, and to our eye this staff looks a good enough length anyway.
Marching poses are particularly useful for gamers, and of course reflect what real soldiers did much of the time, so are a great idea. The thinking behind this set is first class, and in general the execution is too, but we were not happy about the features that we have highlighted, particularly the lack of more burdensome kit, the officer carrying the flag, and the officer on foot with drawn sword. However some of these would make more sense if moving about on the battlefield rather than on some route march, and so are not without their uses. The issues with plastic-filling and leaning figures are annoying, though they can be fixed, so with a little work and some imagination this could be a very serviceable set.