Счастливое святки!

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

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"

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

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!

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...

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?

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?