Tom's trip to the Museum of Military History

Last winter there was the traditional "long night of museums" (Lange Nacht der Museen) here in Vienna.

The idea: Once a year, from 18:00 to the early morning hours, admission to all museums in Vienna is either free or very cheap (our British forumites may frown at this, considering that museums are generally free all year in the UK... luckers), and they make a special bus network so you can easily travel from museum to museum free of charge.

Really cool stuff.

Of course, I HAD to go see the military museum. Turned out to be the coolest of all those I visited (you cannot possibly view all museums in one night).

Why? Because they had a huge-ass Wargaming table with historians/wargaming nerds, replaying/explaining the battle of Aspern-Essling, and I snapped a couple of pics with my phone (I apologise for the poor quality and for failing to bring a proper camera). Additionally there were guys dressed as french and austrian soldiers, complete with rifles, tents, blacksmith shops, hay-stacks, banners and all that stuff... REALLY cool.

I thought that DeafNala in particular as a - dare I say - part-Austrian - and historical wargamer/sage may appreciate the pics.

Sorry again for the poor quality, but I think the scale of the table still comes accross as pretty impressive. The guy told me they had over 7000 miniatures out on the table


... painted

















And last, a pic of Admin Tom with an Austrian Imperial Grenadier Nice hat dude...

OH BABY! That brings back memories...& NO I wasn't at the actual battle,: I was over here fightin' Injuns . For a reinenactment war games style of Austerlitz, I was dragooned into painting up an Austrian Brigade: i.e., 4 Bns plus a combined Grenadier Bn. 266 minis in all...the "all" being all white . That is a FANTASTIC looking table...VERY IMPRESSIVE!

those are some sturdy gaming tables if they can crawl all around them!! (though I kind of frown upon that practice, for the miniatures' sake) Looks like a good night of nerdness! haha

We got a similar night coming up, maybe I should see if we got a military museum like that too

Nice

Admin Tom wrote:

(our British forumites may frown at this, considering that museums are generally free all year in the UK... luckers),

Not so much frowning! Museums have only been free in England since 2001 - they aren't all free in Scotland or Northern Irland.


Great photos!

WarbossKurgan wrote:

Not so much frowning! Museums have only been free in England since 2001 - they aren't all free in Scotland or Northern Irland.

Still keeping the colonies down.

Thanks for posting this Tom.

Shush, Colonial!

That table is the largest gaming table I have ever seen! Holy cats!

Tom, take me with you next time.

That's awesome! I want a table like that!

Nice pics Tom! Thanks for sharing! Oh to see that battle unfold in person would have been awesome.