Austrian Pontonniers - Victrix & Perry 28mm

Week 8 of the backlog, and something a bit more unusual this time. Here we have a couple of detachments of Austrian Pontonniers. These are made from a combination of bits from Victrix Austrian Landwehr figures, and Perry Austrians (the two figures with aprons), plus some axes and plumes from the Victrix French Line Infantry set.  The plumes were glued to the Landwehr heads which was an easy conversion with plastic figures.

The role of Pontonniers was making pontoons and supporting other water crossing operations, which was pretty important given all the rivers in the Austrian Empire (and generally for that matter). 

In some Napoleonic rules, including my own quick play ones, engineering units like this can build or destroy bridges, and help in defending and attacking obstacles like built up areas. Quite necessary rules to have if you are refighting some historical battles.

Below are some reference pictures of Pontonniers, from the now sadly unavailable Rawkins book (EDIT: I've just learned Anschluss Publishing is rereleasing this series, which is good news, though the Austrian one has not yet been released). Coats varied from Licht-Kornblume or Light Cornblue (which I have used to distinguish them from more common darker blue uniforms) to darker shades, and breeches were often the same colour, or white for dress uniform, or whatever was locally available.

For reference also, the Sappeurs and Miners wore a similar uniform, and carried similar equipment, but the jacket was a Eisengrau or Iron Grey as below. I considered painting one of the sections like this, but this scheme resembles Landwehr which could be confusing so I stuck with the Potonniers.

Thanks for looking and more next Friday! :)