"Skoryi Szag!"

Счастливое святки!

2011-01-06T10:26:00.008+09:00

Which, if Babelfish is to be trusted and your computer is set up to read Cyrillic, is Russian for "Happy Sviatki". This being the time for the Russian Orthodox Church's two-week celebration of Christmas.

As way of marking the day, here is my scene of Russian priests (monks?) blessing the troops on this auspicious day in 1813, prior to them going on and kicking Boney's butt all the way to Paris- if with a few setbacks along the way.

This little vignette was inspired by this scene from War and Peace, which captured my imagination ever since I first saw it.

The miniatures are from Front Rank, all heavily converted. Old Rasputin wielding his cross was actually made from an old Ral Partha ashigaru miniature as a frame, with arms from a Dixon ACW officer and a head from a Front Rank Cossack. Robes and beard from epoxy putty.

The reliquary for the icon was from- of all things- the bridge from a Tamiya 1/700 Fletcher class destroyer (it comes with two versions). I added doors from plastic card.

The kneeling infantrymen also show the dark green I want for my Russian army. I used Vallejo Russian Green (go figure), given a wash with Ceramcoat's Jungle Green.

I despair of ever finding a really matte varnish; I've only got the remnants of one can of Testor's Dullcoat, and when that's gone, that's it as it is unobtainable here. So I use it very sparingly!

These were fun to do, and have been about ten years in the making- I kid you not. Hopefully the dragoons I'm working on now will be done in a fraction of that time!

The Tofusky Redoubt

2010-12-12T16:01:00.009+09:00

Ready to repel the minions of Bonaparte and hurl them from Sacred Russian soil!

Yes, it looks odd to see horse artillery manning fieldworks, but needs must as I haven't started on foot artillery yet.

I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out. A far cry from the plastic tofu tubs I rescued from being tossed out into the garbage.

It took some time and a major repair job after some serious warping, but I was able to repair it so that there is minimum evidence of any distortion at all now.

Thin layers of papier-mache, clamping the whole thing down to the workbench while it dried thoroughly, and lots of patience did the trick.

You can see how the project developed here.

All ready in good time for next Sunday's game. It may end up being manned by French artillery, though, depending on the balance of forces available.

Lieven on "Russia & Napoleon"

2010-10-12T23:05:00.003+09:00

One of the most interesting books I've read recently was Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon, and I was thrilled to see in von Peter's blog that there was a podcast available from the London School of Economics of a lecture given by Professor Lieven himself on the subject: "The Tsar Liberates Europe".

On thing I like is the fact that he addresses the paradox of 1812 being the celebrated campaign in Russia, when it was the 1813-14 campaign where they really made an impact.

This is great stuff to listen to while commuting or at the gym. As Abraham Lincoln said, "People who like this kind of thing will find it the kind of thing they like".

Thoroughly recommended, and thanks to Peter in New Zealand to bringing it to our attention.

A redoubtable undertaking

2010-10-09T16:47:00.013+09:00

A Russian redoubt for my artillery, inspired by-of all things- tofu tubs!

I had been wanting to make some terrain for our Napoleonic games for a while, but hadn't given it all that much thought until yesterday morning when the "Tsarina" was about to toss these into the recycling bin. Small tofu containers that are common in supermarkets here.

I thought that they might come in useful for something, so I rescued them. Having recently finished the licorne, I found myself thinking of how cool it would be to have a small Russian two-gun redoubt ready in time for the next game.

That same evening she went off to an accounting seminar, so I was able to start cutting, planing, and sanding bases without hindrance. After some hot work with saw and glue gun, I was able to knock up the basic shape thus:

I added foam-board chunks for the embrasures and to build up the final shape, and covered all the joints liberally with PVA to anchor everything down.

I'll leave it a day or two to dry out thoroughly, and then cover it with strips of towelling soaked in PVA, filler, and sand. Once that is done I'll add the gabions and any planking, and then texture the whole thing with a coating of my trusty, home-made papier-mâché (a.k.a. "messy but effective gunk") before painting it.

As is the way of such things, I had some substantial cutoffs left over from the MDF board, so I also prepared bases for both a row of houses which will have fenced-off back gardens (I had a bunch of Hovel buildings lying around), and a strip of trees with a hedgerow for pesky voltigeurs to hide behind while taking potshots at us.

I haven't worked much on terrain pieces since my Dolomite fortress, so this will make for a nice little project (and will be easier to store). I've already sent off an order to Front Rank for some more gabion sets. I have a trench work from Kallistra that will make the basis of a much larger redoubt later, but this one will do fine given the number of figures we have ready to go at the moment.

As far as painting goes, I'm finishing up a French 6-pdr. gun and some infantry to clear table space. Then it's on to more Russians, and an additional section of horse artillery (a 6-pdr. this time), so as to have two guns for the redoubt. Not to mention the (tedious) task of removing the flash and casting lines from twenty-four Russian cavalry- the Kharkovski Dragoon Regiment!

Painted Russians!

2010-10-03T22:53:00.013+09:00

I finally had some hobby time today, so here it is- a finished stand of Russians!

A 10 pdr. Licorne of Horse Battery #8 ready to do some GBH to the French. Front Rank miniatures, and a joy they were indeed to paint. These are some of their best figures in my opinion.

Notice that the Czar's representative, Count Anatoly Maximovitch Bricoloff, observes the proceedings along with the British liaison officer, Major Bartholomew Fetlock-Withers (MP), 3rd Lord Nosebridle.

Seconded from His Britannic Majesty's 36th Regiment of Foot to serve on the staff of the Army of Silesia, the major is here to ensure that both King George and Parliament are getting the biggest "bang" for their subsidy guineas- and that the funds earmarked for outfitting the battery do not surreptitiously end up being channelled into cases of vodka.

The brave (if rapacious) Count Bricoloff is a conversion- head of a Russian dragoon added to the body of a Prussian general officer from Front Rank's SYW Frederick the Great vignette. I'm quite happy with it, and the cloak was a lot of fun to paint.

Ready to dispense death and destruction on Bonaparte's hordes.

One gun model is fine for the Black Powder rules. Only five more models to do, and I'll have a full battery for Republic to Empire!

The green coats are a little lighter than they should be. The Russian green was a very dark shade. But as with my French, I find that in 28mm I need to make allowances for scale colour, and to lighten the shade somewhat. Otherwise the figures end up looking too dark on the tabletop.

The gun is already a veteran, as I fielded it (although with a "naked" base) for our first Black Powder game that we played last week. It was a hard-fought encounter between the British and the French, and while the French were victorious in the end, it was extremely close- a bloodbath for both sides. But it must be said that it would have been much more of a walkover for les Crapauds had it not been for the excellent performance of the Russian Horse Artillery, in fact the only artillery piece in the game.

For the longest time, the beleaguered licorne passed all its break point rolls, and pretty much devastated what had been up to then a successful French attack on the centre of the British line. It halted one infantry battalion rendering it incapable of any further offensive action, and proceeded to savage another which promptly high-tailed it off the field.

To top things off, the gun then went on to destroy a regiment of Chasseurs au Cheval. By this time the French were desperate to take out the Russian battery, so the French commanding general ordered the cavalry to charge in what proved to be a suicidal frontal attack. Les beaux sabreurs hurled themselves at the gun, only to be decimated and utterly broken in just one turn. Urrah!

The licorne finally met its end when it received a flanking volley from French infantry, but by then it had almost single-handedly plunged the French plans into ruins.*

The Tsar would have been well pleased with the performance of the 8th Horse Artillery. The Russians more than justified the British subsidy!

* (Unfortunately, I was the commanding the French! )

I wish...

2010-09-25T13:37:00.001+09:00

Front Rank would do Napoleonic Russian cavalry wearing greatcoats.

I was looking at the picture of the Crimean War Russian cavalry in the Black Powder rule book, and found myself thinking that they would be a lot faster to paint, and indeed look rather natty.

But I do like the dark green jackets. Here's the licorne almost finished. This picture gives a much better impression of the shade of green I'm using for the uniform.

Just the ironwork on the gun left to do now (ugh!), and then the base once the glue has completely dried.

Freikorps Pfaffenhofen?

2010-09-24T17:17:00.007+09:00

Now, these are not the best Landwehr models out there- Calpe remains my first choice for doing Prussian militia.

But they may do very nicely for the fictional Freikorps Pfaffenhofen. I can always rationalize away the inaccuracies, and hack 'em around a bit.

And for painting, what could be simpler than black with rose facings?

Horse Artillery Nosing towards the Finish Line

2010-09-24T16:44:00.001+09:00

This year's work on the Russians has been very productive. However, these have been my Russians of 1943-44! We have been gaming using the WW2 Blitzkrieg Commander rules, and have been thoroughly enjoying them. So naturally a lot of my hobby efforts have been focused on getting my Soviet hordes out on the table.

But this coming week our club has its first game of Napoleonics using Warlord Games' Black Powder rules. If all goes well, then Napoleonics may hopefully be a regular item on the club menu.

The first game will see the French taking on the British in the Peninsula, with His Britannic Majesty being given artillery support in the form of a section of Russian Horse Artillery. My first painted Russian unit, I'm pleased to report.

Here they are, a stone's throw from being finished. Since this photo was taken, I painted the gun barrel and have completed the brass work on the helmets and equipment. The only thing remaining to do on the gun crew is to paint the metal scabbard fittings and to highlight the helmet crests.

I've just varnished the Litko base on both sides to reduce the chance of warping. Tomorrow I'll give the figures a coat of varnish too.   Once dry, I'll glue gun and miniatures to the base and texture it. After the putty and sand on the base has dried out, I'll then paint the base.

When all is done, I'll post a picture of the completed stand- hopefully in better light so that the colours come out close to what they really look like.

My photography sucks, and I always have trouble with reds, blues, and greens. The colours seen in the photo above are quite unlike how they appear in reality. Despite my best efforts at tweaking things around on iPhoto, reds always come out looking far too pinkish, and greens comes out much brighter then they actually are.

Back to the infantry, I have been dithering around with the minis I want to send to Roger to paint. Partly as a result of procrastination and of taking my own sweet time over the hated task of prepping the miniatures- removing flash and mould lines (ugh!), but also because as I mentioned much my limited hobby time has been spent on building up my WW2 collection for club games.

There was another hold up as for a while I was having second thoughts about unit sizes. The other guys have been going for 20-24 figure units and for a while I was wondering if I should conform, if for no other reason it would speed up painting time.

Being the selfish bugger that I am, though, I decided in the end that I'm going to stick with for the 28 to 36 figure units using my favoured 1:20 ratio of men to minis a la Peter Gilder. I like the look, my French have been organized that way, and I'm not about to change now. And I'm certainly not about to re-base those I've got done already!

Fortunately many rule sets- including Black Powder- accept the fact that few gamers are about to re-base their entire collections, and can accommodate different unit sizes.

As I mentioned before, the following is being shipped off to the UK to come under Roger's loving brushwork.

Tern's Brigade:

1st Batt. Kourinski Regt.
3rd Batt. Kourinski Regt.
1st Batt. Kolyvanskoi Regt.
1st Batt. 12th Jager Regt.

Here they are "in the raw", organized on their bases.

The Russian infantry were pretty uniformly dressed in 1813, even more so than the French who would take liberties with musicians and the like when they could get away with it (which was often!). With a Russian army, there are much fewer options, but there remain a number of ways to make Russian infantry battalions look different from one another so that it is easy to tell stands apart in the game, other than just the standard regimental distinctions in shoulder straps and in the colours of flag staffs and drumsticks.

I decided to have the two battalions of the Kourinski in greatcoats and mixed headgear, but one will be advancing and the other will be in march attack poses. Kolyvanskoi will also be in march attack, but is wearing a mix of greatcoats and tunics, and all will wear the kiwer. The 12th Jagers will be advancing in a mix of headgear, but no greatcoats. Still with me?

Even in summer many men preferred to wear the greatcoat, as it was looser and more comfortable than the tunic which they would simply roll up and put in their backpacks. My Russians will be modelled as they were in autumn at the beginning of the Leipzig campaign, so anything goes!

I will work myself on the Vitebski and Koslovski regiments which are already on my workbench, along with two more battalions of Jagers. So if all goes well, I'm anticipating that by the end of the year, I should be able to field the entire 15th Division under General Kornilov.

As I'm sure you will agree, Roger is an excellent painter and you can see his work here. Drool fuel. I have to say I'm really looking forward to having a collection I in which I can take a lot of pride.

Work continues...

2010-03-27T13:20:00.001+09:00

...on removing the flash of a bunch of Russians I'm going to outsource to Roger. Not exciting work, but I'll be sending him the first contingent the first week of April.

Meanwhile, I'm thoroughly enjoying the Lieven book, and recommend it to any aficiando of the Russkis.

Inspired enough so that I have been converting a Front Rank Russian mounted officer by giving him a Cossack's head from the SYW range. I added an epoxy putty bag to the fur hat, and have given him a plume with fuse wire cords, and of course a coiled knout in his right hand!

He'll be commanding the Ukrainian Cossack regiment.

Time to curl up in an armchair with a glass of vodka!

2010-02-20T16:47:00.002+09:00

I haven't had much to read in the way of the Russian army in the Napoleonic Wars since I got my copy of Alexander Mikaberidze's The Battle of Borodino a year or so ago, so I have been long overdue for some literary inspiration.

Well, my friend Kris in Frankfurt has remedied that by sending me a copy of Dominic Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe 1807-1814.

This looks like being a terrific read, and along with the copy of the Black Powder rules that Kris also sent me, it should keep my feet planted firmly in the early 19th C. for a while!

Help on the way...

2010-01-31T18:08:00.005+09:00

It became obvious to me long ago that my painting output is nowhere even close to what I want to achieve. My productivity has been increasing, but not nearly as much as it needs to if I am to make so much as a dent in my embarassingly high Napoleonic lead pile.

While my French are making progress, I keep looking over my shoulder not only at my reproachful Russkis, but also at a number of other projects, all crying out for my attention.

Therefore, I have decided that it has become high time to hire some mercenary brushwork. After an exchange of emails, I have decided to outsource a brigade to Roger (RTB), whose work on some Bavarians for Iannick (aka Archiduc Charles) has really impressed me.

Roger is a fine painter who is proving to be very professional in his approach to the business of figure painting.

I have been selecting the figures I want him to paint, and currently I am busy removing the flash prior to sending them to him. I'll be basing them and adding the flags, but he will be doing all the painting.

This will not be a cheap undertaking, but Roger knows his backpack from a bricole, and quality is important to me. So it is well worth the money if it means that by Autumn or so I will have at least a critical mass of the Russians done at last. Knowing that makes the challenge of painting more myself less daunting!

The lucky battalions to be selected for an appointment with Roger's talented fingers are part of the 15th Division; Col. Tern's brigade of :

The 1st and 3rd Battalion of the Regiment Kourinski
The 1st Battalion of the Regiment Kolyvanskoi
and the 12th Jager Regiment.

Four battalions in total; they will be making an appearance in this blog a battalion at a time, but I do believe it will be a collection to be proud of, if Roger's work as seen on his blog is anything to go by.

In the meantime I will be working not only on my French, but also on a battalion of the Kozlovski regiment, some Cossacks, and on some artillery.

And what is a little financial sacrifice if it is for the cause of Mother Russia?!

Kleine Krieg- The Encounter at Kartoffelkopf

2009-12-23T16:21:00.022+09:00

When it comes to wargaming, I realize that I have always tended to enjoy the more modest, smaller engagements rather than the larger set-piece battles with no flanks and hub-to-hub artillery.

This is partly because smaller games are far more practical to set up and transport (unless you belong to a thriving gaming group whose collective membership can field huge armies, like the one I was lucky enough to be a part of when I lived in Vancouver), It is also because smaller games could frequently provide more of a tactical challenge as a result of having more manoeuvre space available. Thus not only were the games less unwieldy, but you had flanks to worry about!

Of course I love the spectacle of the big games, and would jump at the chance of participating in one should the opportunity arise again. But the smaller games could often end up being more interesting to play. I always enjoyed the "narrative" that they often generated, especially when they were part of an ongoing campaign. In these kind of games you are not too busy just rolling dice and keeping track of the effect of endless rounds of musketry, so that an element of role playing can come into things.

And of course, you do not need so much table space!

Now most of my time painting recently has been on my French Napoleonic forces, but progress on the French has been going well enough (by my standards!) so that I have recently taken brush to the Russians, and they are looking good.

I base my forces, as I almost always do, on historical orders of battle. But by creating the the Freikorps Pfaffenhofen (as well as the Streifkorps Mussinpushkin from the ranks of the Russian IXth Corps) I can engage in a whole series of small, fictional- yet historically plausible- scenarios that can have me gaming well before my forces ever get finished (and yes, I'm planning on mercenary brushwork at some point to speed up production;. It's either that, or paint until I'm 135 years old...).

On top of that my gaming partner, Giovanni, has been expressing interest in doing a Napoleonic skirmish game sometime. Well, I'd be happy to oblige.

What better way than to start the adventures of the Duke of Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen and his Freikorps, as they attempt to run roughshod over the German countryside? A romp which, of course, the French under the command of Général Victor-Eugène Bouillon-Cantinat, are determined to stop.

To kick things off I have decided to start by raising the forces I will need for the Encounter at Kartoffelkopf in 1813, a small skirmish scenario that will see the start of an Allied effort to cause confusion to Boney in the lands around Anhalt in 1813. It will also give me a focus on my painting for a while, including some cavalry.

******

ENCOUNTER AT KLEINE KARTOFFELKOPF, 1813

(click on image for larger view)

BACKGROUND

The armistice with France has ended, Austria has joined the Allies and the Army of Silesia prepares to take on the armies of the Corsican upstart. As the campaign begins, the Allies are hopeful that France's allies in the so-called Confederation of the Rhine can be persuaded to see common sense, and recognize that since the disaster of the Russian campaign, Fortune has indeed finally deserted the Emperor of the French. Soon, and with the Blessings of Providence, the people of Germany will rise and finally throw off the yoke of their French masters.

To this end, the Duke of Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen has been sent to the occupied Anhalt region on the flank of the Army of Silesia, with the following brief.

To disrupt enemy communications and deny supplies to the French field armies.
To raise the banner of Liberation throughout the territories of Anhalt, and to recruit as many able-bodied patriots as can be found for service with the Freikorps Pfaffenhofen.
When circumstances are favourable, to surround, cut off, and otherwise render hors-de-combat any isolated detachments of French forces as the opportunity presents.
In addition to his Freikorps, the Duke will operating in close cooperation with Streifkorps Mussinpushkin, who will follow and assist the operations of the Duke, and who will liaise with the remainder of the Army of Silesia.

Action was swift in coming. Two days after entering Anhalt, French deserters and patriotic townspeople have brought intelligence that the region was teeming with French troops. A brigade of General Souham's 8th Division under the command of Général Bouillon-Cantinat have been rebuilding strength and numbers in preparation for the forthcoming campaign, and was billeted throughout the region.

Word is that there are two companies of Voltigeurs stationed in the small settlement of Klein Kartoffelkopf, a half-day's march from Hausenpeffer from the north, and about the same distance from the town of Trinkenwasser to the southeast. They are unaware of the presence of any enemy forces in the area.

If the Duke can sieze this town and take it's garrison captive, it will enhance his reputation and that of the allies, improve the prospects of future recruiting, and force the French to use valuable troops and time dealing with this new threat to French arms.

Time will be of the essence, as the rest of the French regiment is believed to be stationed in nearby Trinkenwasser, and may be expected to attempt to relieve the detachment one they hear the sound of the guns.

The next post will cover scenario details, rules, and figures!

Workbench update...

2009-08-04T10:38:00.009+09:00

Here in the suburbs of Tokyo, I'm lucky enough to live in a nice house that is quite spacious by Tokyo standards, and which is surrounded by a lot of green hills and is close to the Tama River. I also really enjoy my work here, which takes me to various locations in and around the Tokyo area and beyond.

But the downside of life in this metropolis of 12 million people is that commuting can really eat into time and- moreover the energy- for painting. Still, I've been trying to discipline myself to do a little something at least every day, even if it is for only twenty-thirty minutes or so.

The weather- and light for painting- has been crummy recently. The paintbrush muse has clearly been off on his summer vacation these past few days, so instead I decided to go for a change of pace and try to get some more figures assembled and ready for painting.

Above is a shot of the workbench. In the foreground is a 10 pdr. licorne howitzer of the Russian Horse Artillery (a section of two guns in gaming terms) for the Streifkorps. It's just waiting for the epoxy to cure.

It will have a crew of four, be mounted on a 60mm x 80mm base, and will have a battery commander on a separate base at the rear. The commander himself is a simple conversion, a SYW Prussian in cloak with his head replaced with that of a spare Russian dragoon trumpeter. He is accompanied by a British officer- no doubt making sure that His Britannic Majesty is getting sufficient "bang" for his subsidy guineas.

In the background you can see "Da Boss" himself- General Olsuviev waving his hat. This is actually the Front Rank single-piece casting of our beloved Czar Alexander, but I'll demote him a few ranks so that he can serve as the commander of the IXth Corps.

I had doubts about the strength of the horses' rear legs, so I drilled a hole -very carefully- through the base and up through one of the legs, and epoxied in a piece of hard steel piano wire. Short of banging him directly on the head with a mallet, he'll now stand up to pretty much any abuse the tabletop can offer (although damage from disobedient cats and from earthquakes is a much bigger risk!)

Assorted aides and hangers-on in the rear. The figure in white doffing his hat is another major conversion. He's a cuirassier officer, in undress order, serving as an ADC on General Langeron's staff. He'll be bringing orders to Olsuviev, and is here accompanied by a cossack in a epoxy putty cloak. In the back is another conversion, a rather haughty and arrogant looking Cossack officer. Looming in the background on the right in black is a Russian ADC in hussar uniform.

Iconic imagery...

2009-07-30T20:13:00.014+09:00

Russia's Greatest Love Machine? (until 1916 anyway)

"Our Lady of Novodski-Nargil". Every self-respecting Czarist corps needs its Icon and Orthodox Priests to inspire the men.

I've been working on these on and off for a long time now, and have finally finished them. They are the most complex conversions I've done so far, involving a fair amount of epoxy putty and paper clips!

The priest on the left (or is he a monk? I know little about the organization of the Russian Orthodox Church) began life as a Front Rank French Napoleonic line infantry standard bearer, and I replaced the head with that from one of their Seven Year's War Cossacks. I filed down the uniform details on the body, and then slowly built up the robes from epoxy putty. Once the robe was done, I added a fuller beard.

The icon itself is, of all things, the bridge section of a 1/700 Tamiya Fletcher class destroyer (it came with two optional versions). I added plastic card "doors" to the icon and mounted it on a wire pole. It took me some time to do the Virgin and Child!

The venerable gent blessing the troops is a real hodge-podge. The basic skeleton was a Ral Partha ashigaru figure from a fantasy Oriental range. The head was again from a Front Rank SYW Cossack, and I added arms from a Dixon 25mm ACW Union officer! I once more built up the robes from epoxy putty, modified the cap, and added a ZZ-Top-inspired beard. The crucifix was cobbled together from wire and putty, with a chain added from twisted fuse wire.

They were a lot of fun to do, and painting was the biggest challenge as black isn't easy to do convincingly. I used very dark charcoal grey with washes of very, very dark black greens and blues into the folds. The colours didn't come out so clearly with the camera I'm using, so the image was sharpened a fair amount so that the shading would appear a bit more clearly.

I'm now working on a pair of kneeling Russian soldiers modified from some Front Rank casualty figures. When they're done, I'll add them to a plywood base as a little vignette, and post piccies.

Some mood music- Russian Orthodox choir singing "God Preserve the Czar". A tune which postdates the Napoleonic wars, but which is so synonymous with the 1812 campaign thanks to Tchaikovsky!

Freikorps Pfaffenhofen

2009-07-25T11:17:00.016+09:00

The Streifkorps Mussinpuschkin will be working in close cooperation with the Freikorps Pfaffenhofen.

This unit has a unique and interesting- if little known- history. Herzog Reinhardt Avenberg von Loseth-Pfaffenhofen, Hereditary Duke of Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen held lands in Austria bordering on the Tyrol and Bavaria, and his family had faithfully served the cause of the Habsburg monarchy for centuries. Much of his considerable wealth came from the silver mines that were located in this small, but prosperous, enclave.

Reinhardt Avenberg von Loseth-Pfaffenhofen,
Duke of Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen

But others naturally coveted the Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen lands, and the Duke saw much of his holdings seized by the Emperor Napoleon and awarded to the Bavarian monarchy after Austerlitz in 1805. What remained of the Duchy was confiscated in its entirety after the failed campaign of 1809. The proud and outspoken Duke chose exile and service with the Russians, rather than face the humiliation of having to pledge his allegiance to the Corsican upstart.

Thus the Duke nurtured a bitter hatred towards Bonaparte, and his desire for revenge and the restoration of his rightful inheritance had no bounds. As his family had amassed considerable wealth and influence in many of the courts of Europe, he lost no time in taking advantage of the French disaster in Russia, and during the armistice of 1813 he petitioned the Russian and Austrian Emperors for permission to raise a Freikorps, at his expense but clothed and supplied by the respective governments.

This permission was duly granted, and when hostilities resumed in the late summer of 1813 the Freikorps took to the field and began making life extremely difficult for the French forces unfortunate enough to be within the energetic Duke's reach.

The Freikorps Pfaffenhofen consisted of the following units.

1 Jagerbattalion:

This was uniformed in the Austrian style, as the Austrian Emperor allowed Duke Pfaffenhofen to raise them on the condition that after the peace, the regiment would be incorporated into the Austrian service whereupon the Duke would be compensated accordingly for his expense.

The uniform was identical to the Austrian jagers, except for the initials L-P engraved on the brass buttons. This was a highly drilled and well-disciplined unit.

Two squadrons of hussars:

Dressed in the Russian style, in uniforms provided as a gift from the Emperor Alexander himself, these men wore black dolmans and pelisses with rose facings.

Two squadrons of Uhlans:

Also dressed in Russian style, and in the black and rose ducal livery. Pennons rose over light blue.

One section of artillery:

Supplied and equipped as with the Austrians, but again with black coats and rose facings. Guns were of the 6pdr Austrian pattern, and carriages in the original yellow ochre.

Leib-Jaeger section:

These were men of the original Ducal Jaeger-garde of Avenberg-Pfaffenhofen, who found themselves pressed into Bavarian service upon the duchy's incorporation into the Bavarian kingdom. Fiercely loyal to the rightful Duke, through various stratagems they managed to avoid having to take an oath of fealty to their new masters, and when the opportunity came to desert from the Bavarian service soon after the Grand Armee began its retreat from Moscow, they promptly went over to the Russians.

With the raising of the new Freikorps after Austria formally joined the Coalition, the jaegers were reunited with their rightful ruler, to whom they were to give excellent service in the coming campaign. They are recorded as having worn dark green uniforms with rose facings, still dressed in Bavarian uniforms including the distinctive raupenhelm. They had a reputation for being crack shots, and were considered by Sir Robert Wilson as being equal to any member of the 95th Rifles in enterprise, skill and discipline.

Streifkorps Mussinpuschkin- order of battle

2009-07-25T10:37:00.006+09:00

Major The Count Mussinpuschkin

The Streifkorps Mussinpuschkin was created by order of Marshal Blucher to Count Langeron, and was to cooperate with the Freikorps von Pfaffenhofen in reconnoitring the French rear areas, attacking convoys and other targets of opportunity, and generally to tie down forces which would otherwise be used against the Army of Silesia.

General Olsuviev was given instructions to detach the following forces for service under Major Mussinpuschkin, who had demonstrated a flair for independent action during the engagements along the Katzbach:

2 squadrons, Kinburn Dragoon Regt.
(12 figures)

3 Sotnias, Ukrainian Cossacks
(12 figures)

Tirailleur companies, 1/22 and 3/22nd Jaeger Regiments (8 figures)

1/12th Jaeger Regt.
(32 figures)

1 bttn. Kolyvanskoi Infantry Regt.
(32 figures)

10 pdr. Licorne section, Horse Battery #8
(1 gun)

This is a really small force- but doesn't seem too daunting to paint, and will allow me a quick game!

Streifkorps Mussinpuschkin

2009-07-20T12:29:00.013+09:00

The Czarist Bear has awoken from hibernation!

Other than the base coating the occasional greatcoat or two, and some (hated) figure preparation, I've been making little real progress on my Russkis recently. Mainly because I've been concentrating my Napoleonic painting on my French collection these days.

As I've mentioned here before, one of the problems with not having a club or a regular group of like-minded gamers nearby is not only the lack of peer pressure that helps project discipline, but also the fact that both sides need to be painted! And although the French can be fiddly with all the elite company trimmings and so one, they are fun to do. Which, along with working on other non-Napoleonic projects, has meant that what painting I have been doing lately has been at the expense of my Russians.

Another related problem is that having set myself the task of wanting to ultimately paint up a Russian Corps as well as a French Division (roughly 15 battalions each), it is clear that this is a daunting target!

I fully intend on achieving it, even if it means that at some point I'll have to look to outsourcing the lions share of the painting. But I do want to have some of my own painted units to game with, and I really want to get gaming as soon as possible. Yet painting even a brigade of infantry per side is clearly going to take an age at my current pace, and I've been getting quite discouraged about ever getting any actual gaming in.

But I may have found the solution- a Streifkorps!

I had come across references to Streifkorps in many orders-of-battle for the 1813 campaign, and they seem to have been very mobile, ad hoc collections of cavalry (often cossacks and/or hussars), infantry (often light infantry or Freikorps such as Lutzow's gang) and even on occasion artillery.

Usually consisting of a total of five or six squadrons and battalions, these formations were detached from their various corps and sent off to reconnoitre, raid, and generally raise merry hell in rear areas held by the French.

Two articles from wargaming magazines jump-started my jaded brain, and made me realize that here is a way I can get gaming with a varied force of miniatures that I can field on a small table, and that will not take a decade to paint up.

First I came across this old Miniature Wargames article that I had way back in 1994, and which I clipped out and saved for a rainy day. Well, it's pouring now and it looks like keeping it on file was a smart thing to do.

click to enlarge pictures

The article sets out a short scenario for a fictional Freikorps- von Strieker's- that the author created for a mini-campaign as a break from his usual big-battle Napoleonic fare. It made for a fun read, and apparently for some fun games.

The other inspiration was the scenario featured in the Table Top Teaser special publication by Charles Grant for Battlegames magazine, in particular Teaser #4, "Plunder and Pillage" (with a name like that, there can only be no end of fun for your average Cossack!)

Now this seems the way to go. Reasonable painting targets, variety, and the promise of some practical gaming! So, I have decided to "flex" historical fact and create a mixed-nationality detachment led by Major Mussinpuschkin of the Vitebsk Infantry regiment, with the brief of racing ahead of the Army of Silesia and inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm on isolated detachments and convoys of the benighted forces of Bonaparte!

Mussinpuschkin was an actual person (he commanded a brigade of the IXth Korpus in the 1814 campaign), but his Striefkorps itself will be a flight into alternative history.

My next post will look at the organization of the Streifkorps Mussinpuschkin.

1797 Russian March- found this and liked it!

2008-11-30T19:05:00.000+09:00

Mother Russia is waiting...

2008-08-16T09:01:00.016+09:00

A Jager anxious to poke some holes into some convenient Frenchman.

Recently I've been working steadily on my French army; but the Russians, while on the back-burner, have certainly not been forgotten.

As with Jean Crapaud and his chums, I have decided to go the two-rank deep basing method as per General de Brigade rules. As many of my Russians are in advancing pose with levelled musket (see photo above), this means I have been cleaning the flash from some figures advancing at the port arms position that will make up the second rank.

The new basing system can be seen here. There will be about seven figures to a company, each stand having a 60mm frontage and a depth of 50mm. This is a little deeper than my French battalions which are 45mm deep. The Front Rank Russians are a little "bulkier" and need the extra space. Doesn't make any difference to game play- the depths are grossly out of scale as it is!

Note that the elite company will be split into two platoons, with the tirailleur platoon on the left, and the grenadier platoon (carabinier for jagers) platoon on the right flank of the regiment. This rather nicely places the flags in the centre of the unit when in line.

Once I finished the targets I set myself for August, the next step will include Russian infantry- a battalion of line and one of jagers most likely.

Progress. Slow, but Progress...

2008-06-01T16:59:00.014+09:00

Officer of 38th Jagers in very much campaign wear! One of a number of Foundry minis in an otherwise Front Rank collection. He's not as "bug eyed" in real life as he seems to be in this shot!

Progress of sorts, anyway. I have been steadily daubing paint on my Russians (and French!) these last few weeks, namely because I have learned how much easier it is to start with a black undercoat! I have always used white or grey in the past, but I am finding that black actually suits my painting style better, and I was actually rather pleased with the results I have been getting. I did need stronger lighting over the painting table, though.

My collection is not all Front Rank miniatures; I broke down some time ago and ordered some of their Russian command figures for variety, this despite their almost piratical postage rates to the Far East (and which compared badly with just about every other manufacturer out there- grrr...).

Now these are Perry-designed miniatures, so nice design and detail throughout. They are larger than The Foundry's range of French, and while the Front Rank figures are a mite taller, these are certainly compatible even when mixed in the same unit.

The biggest disappointment was the casting quality, or lack thereof. The moulds have been allowed to deteriorate far more than should be acceptable, especially given the premium rates that The Foundry charges. This manifested itself in drums and scabbards, etc. that had not come out completely and which required some major work with epoxy putty to repair.

I very much doubt I'll be troubling with further orders from these guys.

Now having said that, I am happy with the extra variety they lend my Russian army, notably the officers, and especially the greatcoated drummers and standard bearers, something Front Rank never covered. What between them and the conversions I have been carrying out on a few of the Front Rank minis, I can add something "different" to each battalion.

Picture taken with my new 5-megapixel cellphone digital camera. Green and blue remain difficult colours to get right, though. I need to experiment more with the settings and lighting.

A new look & some improvements

2008-02-25T15:52:00.008+09:00

Russian Drum Major-(after Viskovatov)

It has been an age since I last posted, but I have been distracted by other projects. It seems I really do have the attention span of a moth suffering from Alzheimer's.

Anyway, I have been tuning up my blog, now that I have learned how to produce decent headers and to link music files. The result can be seen here.

Musically speaking, Here are three marches now using MP3 format so you should be able to just press the button and have the martial splendours of St. Petersburg waft through your speakers.

"The Fall of Paris" was actually a parody of the French Revolutionary song, "Ca Ira".

This one is from the movie "Gettysburg", but it was originally written to celebrate the victory of the Allies as they overthrew Napoleon's regime in 1814.

The famous Preobrazhenskoi Guard Regimental March. is rather special for me, as it was also the slow march of my father's old regiment, the Royal Marines.

The March of the Semionovskoi Guard Regiment is one of my favourites- it just has that stately cadence which I have always imagined Russian soldiers would be goose-stepping to.

The Kinburn Dragoon Regiment

2007-10-23T23:29:00.000+09:00

I've begun getting to work in earnest on the smaller of the three dragoon regiments of the Advanced Corps, namely the Kinburn Dragoons. To the right are are images of the flags it carried (drawn again by James D. Gray). Below right is the coloured standard (white cross in center). Above it is the first (colonel's) standard.

On the left I've added an image of a trooper of the Kinburn Dragoons as featured in one of Bryan Fosten's plates in the Osprey publication, The Russian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (2): Cavalry 1799-1814 by Philip Haythornthwaite. I have always found the Russian cavalry uniforms of the time to be quite elegant compared to the showy garb of some other nations of the time, and this illustration conveys that very well. The dark green sets off the yellow facings nicely.

I prefer a darker green for my Russians- the original green was almost black when new, and although it would fade over time, I still feel that a lot of Russian miniatures out there are painted a shade of green that end up being too light- or too bright- for my tastes. While allowing for the effect of scale colour, I go for a very dark green (although I may highlight with something lighter, especially when only a small amount of green may be showing- between straps for example).

Painting cavalry can be a pain what with the straps and trying to get a horse to- well, look like a horse! But the biggest chore is to remove flash and to actually glue the riders to the horses. It almost always takes some filing and tweaking to get a good fit between the two. I cannot stand having a big gap of space between the equine posterior and the saddlecloth!

In the case of the Kinburn, I am modifying the officer figure as I like to model some variety between the regiments. A few troopers will be wearing forage caps or bandaged heads instead of helmets for the same reason.

I will have two, six-figure squadrons of the Kinburn Dragoons. The Kharkov and Kiev Dragoons will each field four squadrons- a lot of dragoons in this army!

Reading material for a long weekend!

2007-09-15T14:08:00.000+09:00

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

2007-09-15T13:24:00.000+09:00

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!

Orders of Battle

2007-08-13T10:53:00.000+09:00

A lot of time was spent on selecting an appropriate Order of Battle. In the end I relied mainly on the orbats found in the appendices of George Nafziger’s Napoleon at Leipzig and Napoleon at Dresden. It was clear that there were a lot of changes in the composition of Langeron’s Army Corps- and in the IXth Corps itself- in the time between the beginning of the Leipzig campaign and the invasion of France- this seems particularly to have been the case with the cavalry, where divisions were split up, separated, and reunited only to be split off again according to the strategic demands of the situation.

It was also very clear that attrition took its toll over the months, and the number of men- and of battalions- decreased steadily over time. On paper, a Russian division was to consist of up to six regiments for a total of fifteen battalions of 640 men each. By Leipzig, it seems the average Russian regiment consisted of about at no more than 475 effectives.

Again, what I was looking for was an organization that would give me a good-sized wargaming force, along with a reasonable contingent of cavalry to help fend off the minions of Napoleon. In the end, I settled for the orbat provided in the Leipzig book. The number of battalions in the division at that time, and the cavalry that made up the Advanced Guard under Rudsevitch, added up to a balanced and reasonable force (read: not TOO expensive) to collect.

There were some inconsistencies in some other sources. Digby Smith’s excellent book on the Battle of Leipzig has the Kursk regiment in place of the Iakoutski regiment in the 15th Infantry Division. While certainly there were some instances of regiments and even brigades being reassigned from one division to another (for example, the 12th and 22nd Jaegers were originally from the 13th Division), the Kursk Regiment should normally have been with the 10th Division under General Osten-Sacken. As the Iakoutski regiment “reappears” in later orbats with the 15th, and the 10th Division did not appear strong enough that it could “donate” battalions to other corps, I decided to stick with Nafziger and keep the Iakoutski as an original member of the line-up for the 15th Div. Besides, I already had the flag!

Still, as the Kursk regiment does not appear in any of the orbats for the 10th Division, I would be interested to know what happened to them- burned up at Lutzen and Bautzen, perhaps?

The artillery was another area where I had conflicting information, and many batteries seem to have been attached and re-attached to units, or put into reserve, depending (understandably) on the needs of the moment. Here I settled with Nafziger and decided to field two batteries, one heavy line battery and a light battery of the Horse Artillery. Likewise, I have included the third battalion of the Riajski Regiment, which sometime between the opening of the campaign and the battle of Leipzig, seemed to have disappeared from the order of battle- most likely being disbanded to provide reinforcements for the first battalion.

Rogues' Gallery

2007-08-13T10:36:00.001+09:00

I have added a link to a pdf showing the commanders of my Russian force (where pictures are known). The pictures are from the collection of portraits of many of the higher-ranking officers who fought in the 1812 campaign at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, via my copy of "The Russian Officer Corps of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars" by Alexander Mikaberidze.

This is one of the best and most enlightening books out there on the Russian army of the time. The best thing about the book is the human "face" it gives to an army still pretty much seen as one of automatons. Recommended!

I had run into a hitch when researching the officers. There is no doubt that the commander of the IXth Corps was Generallieutenant Olsuvief. However, I found to my surprise that there were two of them in the Russian army of the time, and my question was, which one commanded the corps up to and including the Battle of Champaubert? Okay, I confess I can be pretty anal, but as I wanted to identify the commanders appropriately I may as well get it right- and I do love a mystery!

The candidates were:   Zakhar Dmitrevitch Olsufiev I (1772- 1835), and his younger brother, Nikolai Dmitrevitch Olsuvief III (1779-1817).

Any cross-referencing or web searching was not made easier by about the half-dozen variations in the spelling of "Olsuvief" that I have mentioned earlier. A picture accompanying Tranie/ Carmigniani's description of Champaubert in "Napoleon 1814- La Campaign de France" showed a portrait of Nikolai Dmitrevitch.

The entry for Zakhar Dmitrevitch Olsufiev in "The Russian Officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars" has him as the one who was captured at Chaumpaubert following the steamrolling IXth Corps received at the hands of the Corsican General. However, his biography of Nikolai Dmitrevitch Olsuviev has the younger brother leading the IXth Corps at Brienne up to Vauchamps and Paris- clearly not the same general who would have been captured, and furthermore Nikolai is mentioned as serving at Kulm and Dresden in 1813. Yet the IXth Corps was not present at these battles, being with the Army of Silesia north of Leipzig at the time.

Although I suspected the correct entry was for Olsuvief the Older, I wasn’t yet convinced. Finally I sent off an inquiry to the Napoleonic forum on the web, and Mr. Mikaberidze was kind enough to reply that it was, in fact, big brother Zakhar who commanded the IXth Corps. He had noted the inconsistency in the text, and had earlier sent a correction to the publishers- who then failed to include it in the final version. He also provided further information on who commanded what was left of the IXth Corps after Champaubert (General Kornilov). Case closed, and a big “dostevedanya” to Alexander Mikaberidze!

Russki Painting Guide

2007-08-13T10:15:00.000+09:00

I have added a painting guide to my blog (see sidebar). I had originally thought that the Russians would be an oh-so simple army to paint, but when I got down to the details, I realized that there was more complexity in painting the Russians than I had first imagined. The information was out there, but it was spread over a number of different sources making easy reference difficult.

I needed an easy schematic for painting the Russians, so I created this combination of an order of battle and painting chart on Word, and converted it to a pdf file. Those out there painting a Russian army may find it useful. Feel free to let me know if there is anything you disagree with.

It was a lot of fun to work on!

What it's all about...

2007-01-14T18:26:00.001+09:00

I have long had an interest in the Russian Army of the Napoleonic wars- some of the first ever metal miniatures I got for wargaming were 25mm Russian grenadiers back in 1972-, and when I decided to build up a Russian army in 28mm using the excellent Front Rank figures, I had already decided that I would do one based around a historical order of battle.

No guards for me. I wanted a typical infantry and cavalry force that reflected the average Russian military force of the 1813-14 period.

I decided on a force from Langeron’s Army Corps in General Blucher’s Army of Silesia. The Russian IXth Corps, consisting of the 9th and 15th Infantry divisions- with supporting artillery- under the command of Generallieutenant Z.D. Olsuviev.

The IXth saw much action from the Katzbach, through Lowenberg, Leipzig, the siege of Mainz and on to the crossing of the Rhine. In France it was at Brienne and then went on finally to its virtual annihilation at the Battle of Champaubert on February 10th, 1814. I wanted to celebrate a formation, which reflected the up-and-down fortunes of the Allies as a whole, and if its commanders were no military geniuses, they were by no means incompetents. The soldiery frequently lived up to their reputation for steadfastness and bravery, all the while being a very, very long way from home!

It is also a good choice from a wargamers standpoint. Although nominally a “corps”, by the time of Champaubert it was, after the attrition of almost a year of combat, little more than the size of a division- and a weak one at that.

For cavalry, I chose the Advance Guard from Langeron’s Army Corps, under Generalleutenant Rudzevitch, to which the 15th Division of the IXth Corps was attached (and from the command of which he had been promoted). Through this direct link with the IXth Corps, this gave me the chance to field dragoons, mounted jaegers, and of course cossacks. What is a Russian army without cossacks?

This is proving a very interesting- if at times frustrating- project to research and to work on, and entailed a surprising amount of detective work for an army that is generally considered to be a fairly straightforward one to paint and collect.