Basing Frenzy Continues!! More Russians.

Well I’ve really got the bit between my teeth, or is it grit between my teeth, and have now caught up and all my early Napoleonic Russian units are now based, grassed and tufted. I still have some more (half a dozen battalions, some more cavalry and commanders) to paint but the pressure is off. 

Five more battalions of infantry

Two battalions of the Azov Musketeers, as is usual they are Casting Room Miniatures.

Three battalions of the Fangoria Grenadiers. I chose to do these in their 1805 headgear for a change, tall mitres for the actual grenadier battalion of the left and short mitres for the two fusilier battalions. These are Perry miniatures and technically they have the wrong back packs for 1805-1808, but I wanted a standing regiment in greatcoats so went with them. 

All the flags are from Maverick Models and jolly nice they are too. 

A Few More Russians

This week I managed to complete two units for my early Napoleonic Russian project. This was supposed to only be a small (?) project to refight the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809. Like the Lambton Worm in local folklore it has grown and grown an awful size, although I doubt even all my the Russians could encircle Penshaw Hill(quite).

First up, a couple of images of my next artillery battery. This time it is a light field battery, with eight 6pdrs and four light unicorn gun/howitzers. Finding space for the whole battery has been an issue in the last couple of games, but splitting them into two works ok and makes them more manageable.

Next, is the second battalion of the St. Petersburg Grenadiers, ready to join the first battalion currently in barracks under my table. 

The 1st and 2nd battalions together.

All the figures with perhaps two exceptions are old Casting Room Miniatures. There are a couple of Elite Miniatures officers in there somewhere. The flags are slightly oversized which I like, and are from the exceptionally good Maverick Models. I can’t recall where the cannon are from as they were salvaged from the box of doom.

No game this weekend, but I really hope to get at least one decent-sized battle in over the Christmas holidays.

Pavlograd Hussars

 

The latest Russian Napoleonic unit to march out of barracks is the Pavlograd Hussars. These were painted by Barry and based by me. The miniatures are 3D resin prints. As with my resin cuirassiers, these prints are really good, detailed, and most importantly, robust enough to survive the Tabitha Test, i.e. when my cat rolls over and sits on them. 

As with my other hussar regiment, I’ve gone big. 36 figures. Too big? Nah! Six squadrons looks very impressive and can be split into two if necessary, whenever that might be…..

This week’s stuff

I took delivery of a regiment of uhlans for my early Russian Napoleonic army this week. To the best of my knowledge no uhlan regiments served in Finland against the Swedes but they will of course be very useful as and when I use the army to fight the French during the 1807-1808 Polish campaign. These are old Casting Room Miniatures acquired during one of their  Christmas sales that I’ve used over the last three years to build up the Russian army; 25 percent off makes a big difference to the list price (yes, a quarter off, I can do the maths) when buying in bulk. The minis were painted for me by my mate Rob at Northumbrian Painting Services and very nice they are too.

All I’ve done is base them and bung a couple of flags on.

Next up will be another regiment of Russian cavalry in the shape of some dragoons.

A Little Bit of Artillery Support, Russian Style.

I took advantage of the sunshine to finish these off; a full battery each of foot and horse artillery, each with 12 cannon and unicorns, hence them having six model guns each. A formidable challenge for any Frenchmen foolish enough to get in the way. Thankfully for the Swedes in their war, there were fewer guns deployed by the Russians (on their special military operation to release the Finns from their despotic Swedish overlords!) due I suspect to the terrain not being especially favourable.

In front is a light horse battery equipped with 6-pdrs and light unicorns. Behind them a heavy foot battery with 12-pdrs and heavy unicorns. Unicorns are as many will know a uniquely Russian howitzery thing. I suppose I ought to do some limbers, perhaps one per half battery otherwise it’ll run a tad pricey.

The gunners are all Casting Room Miniatures while the cannon are mixture of Foundry and Bicorne. I will be working on some generals next, and a regiment of dragoons I think, before returning to my remaining infantry in the shape of six more battalions.

No more displacement activity. Early Napoleonic Russians

I finally managed to complete these chaps today, three battalions of the Bielosurk Musketeer Regiment, 96 figures in total. I have to admit to being a little confused at one point (ok, I still am….) regarding regimental organisation and collar/shoulder strap colours due to the bewildering array of conflicting information on the subject. Ultimately I have used the colours described in Laurence Spring’s excellent book on Russian Napoleonic infantry uniforms. It is really good. 

I have the two Ospreys on the subject but they’re very old and I’m assuming research outcomes have moved on from  40 or more years ago. I have decided to organise my regiments in three battalions of 32, including eight grenadiers.

If you recall, the vast majority of my Russian miniatures are from Casting Room Miniatures, purchased over the course of three of their Christmas ‘25 percent off’ sales. I have always liked them for their simplicity and the fact they are wearing greatcoats, which the Russian poor bloody infantrymen were required to do for seven months of the year if I remember correctly. These figures were the guinea pigs for my first mass use of the much-vaunted ‘speed paints, v2’. I didn’t find them especially speedy but they got the job done. Not as good as I would have liked and I can do better, (actually I am cross with myself as they’re sub standard even for me!) but I can’t face repainting them! (Might put a spot of highlight on their collective noses). These guys were started when I was away in India last month so they’ve earned quite a few air miles before they even get a chance to hit the battlefield. 

The flags are as always by Maverick Models.

Early Napoleonic Russians on Holiday and The Great Game

By which I mean I am on holiday again, not my Napoleonic Russians heading off to their summer dachas, or worse still invading the Raj via the North West Frontier, but you knew what I meant…..

So, I’ve brought some figures to paint this trip, in the shape of a couple of regiments of Russian infantry, totaling six battalions of 32 minis each, plus two half batteries of artillery. They’re all Casting Room Miniatures (CRM) in greatcoats so painting them ought not to be a big chore (famous last words no doubt). I’ve brought some ‘speed paints’ with me to do the greatcoats, gaiters and shakos and the rest will be done in acrylic. Not sure still how speedy they are in practice, and the figures still don’t paint themselves!

In the past week I’ve decided rather unhelpfully to re-organise my Russian line infantry into regiments of three battalions, each of 32 figures. Having spent the last three years getting the miniatures together for this project whenever CRM had a sale, restructuring the army is a bit silly but it should work out. So rather than the original organisation of two battalions of 24 per regiment we now have three of 32. Eight miniatures from each battalion are grenadiers while the rest are musketeers so other than there being an extra battalion for each regiment not much has changed. My two jager regiments will now need expanding slightly and my lone grenadier regiment will need another battalion. 

Having decided to add yet another Russian army to my collection (already I have Russians for the SYW, FRW and Crimean War) with the main objective of gaming the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-1809 I've decided it'd be nice to be able to use these Russians to fight the French between 1805 and 1808.  A dastardly Russian trick however was to change uniform regulations between the end of the campaign in Poland and the start of the war against Sweden. I shall however adopt a flexible approach, by which I mean I will do what I like as I like the early jäger uniforms and busk it with the shoulder straps and collars on the grenadiers and musketeers.

Katherine’s birthday party this evening so I doubt I’ll make any progress with the Russian hoards today.