Reading material for a long weekend!

In the course of a discussion I had with "Suvoroff" (James D. Gray) about various books on the Russian Army, he mentioned one I had not in fact heard of before- "From Serf to Russian Soldier", by Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter. It is a scholarly account of the soldiers of the Russian army during the first part of the 19th Century.

Although it is out of print, I promptly did an Internet search and was able to find a copy through Amazon. I immediately ordered it from the Tacoma Book Center in Tacoma, Washington. It arrived in my postbox here in Tokyo just four days after ordering- which was pretty impressive.

I will be adding my thoughts about the book to this post once I have had the chance to read it through. So tonight, I will pour myself a glass of vodka, crank up my compilation of Russian regimental marches for some suitable BGM, settle down in the armchair and immerse myself in the Russian army!

Revised Painting Chart

One of the great things about having a blog is its ability to attract the attention of fellow enthusiasts, and the exchange of information that results.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of corresponding with Mr. James D. Gray, aka "Suvoroff". A contributor to the General de Brigade Napoleonic rules forums, he is a clearly dedicated aficionado of the Russian army. On top of that, and going from the photos he has sent me of his collection of second-generation 15mm Minifigs 1812 Russians, he is also evidently a very fine painter!

His knowledge, and his willingness to share it, have been a great help.

The results of his input can be seen in the new flags you can see in my revised painting guide. He reminded me that for those regiments that were around when the 1797 patterns were issued, they would most likely not have received the 1803 pattern until the old 1797 patterns had worn out. In many cases, this meant until the end of the wars.

James was kind enough to send me images that he had created of the 1797 pattern flags for the regiments in question, and has given me permission to post them on my blog.

So, click on the link and you can see the new "plumage" of the IXth Corps. Only the Kourinski and Iakoutski regiments, both formed after the 1797 regulations had been superseded, are to carry the 1803 pattern. The rest are to fight under the more varied 1797 issue flags.

I am very pleased with the changes, as they will make for a much more colorful force that would have been the case had they all been bearing the 1803 pattern. In particular I find the black and pink colours of the Kozlovski Regt. to be striking, and they are my personal favorites.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to James for his generosity- many thanks, Suvoroff!