Russian Guard Cossacks Finished!

Ahhh so that's them done, I've uploaded a wee video of the finished unit on YouTube:

And belove are a few pics of them

So 24 finished in total and I'm really happy how they came out, Sho Boki has done a fine job of sculpting this interesting little unit. You can find a link to Sho's website on the bottom left of this page.

The command figures were the most fun to paint however I did enjoy adding and detailing the lances before I started painting.

I added a few AB casualties for a little bit of interest.

I put together a pretty simple 2nd sotnia guidon from the illustration shown in Stephen Summerfields book on the Leib Garde Cossacks (brilliant book!)

So I can now say goodbye to them till I add the 6 figures for the Black Sea sotnia. it's great to see them finished and thanks for all yer encouraging comments while Ive been putting them together!!!

So onto the next project . . .

Happy Wargaming!

Russian Foot Battery 1812-14

It's been a long, long time since my last post. 1st we've had a great summer in Scotland and the thought of sitting in the loft painting just hasn't appealed. To be honest up until today the only online surfing I have been doing has been on my phone, a quick visit here and there posting the odd comment. I also haven't played or watched a wargame in a very long time and at the moment I have to say I haven't really missed the gaming side of things. 

  

Luckily the break over the past months has kicked off a mini painting bug and I managed to slowly figure by figure get something finished. I've had a couple of AB Russian light foot batteries sitting on the work bench for a couple of years now and have managed to take 1 to completion.

  

With the later kiwer the battery probably would be better listed from 1813-14 but they will be used (eventually) for our 1812 batteries.

  

So down to the painting: I have finally settled on colours for my Russians, I have used the Foundry triad for French Chasseur a Cheval for the coats and I'm really happy with the result (even if it's hard to see the shade in my pics). The trousers are doe with an undercoat of GW deneb stone progressively mixed with white and the guns apple green is base coated in Foundry Russian light shade then the shade and middle shade of Foundry Dragoon green. I'm really happy with the finish!

  

The flesh is done with my own selected triad from different Foundry flesh.

  

There are only 2 sets of poses in this battery at the moment however when the 2nd battery is complete I'll mix through the different sets of crews as all will be based and finished the same way.

  

The new shades of green on the lower right gun and a gun from my original AB battery painted a few years ago. I picked up most of my AB Russian figures from my buddy Stuart that had been machine gun painted by JP. I kind of got sucked into following his original paint patterns however from now on all my Russians will be done with my own shades.

  

My completed battery with the final battery with all the base coats applied.

 God only knows when I'll get it finished!

  

I'm not sure what I'll be working on next? I have an eye on some of Sho's new Russians and some of his Generals are in the post to me at the moment however I may hold off on them until he finishes the additional command figures he is working on. Sho's new General range looks to be completely compatible with AB's Russian command figures so it is truly exciting times for 18mm late war Russian fans!

A wee appeal: Does anyone have a GW foundation Deneb stone they dont use? my pot is on the turn plus is running low and is my favourite for Russian trousers. They are now very hard to come by and I would be willing to pay for the tub or possibly trade for some colours I have. I have plenty of Foundry Napoleonic paints I don't need.

Kutuzov 1812

So here he is at very long last my old buddy Kutuzov. His command stand is the 2nd of the big 3 I plan to paint, with Blucher already completed I aim to do Napoleon and then everything afterwards will be a bonus.

  

As you probably will have guessed the story of this scene is a type of Borodino 1 although not specifically the great redoubt. You'll have to give me a wee bit of breathing space here as there are a few mistakes such as the damage to the gun (how did it get in that state?). Also I would like to point out that I wouldn't myself cut up an AB gun at £3 a pop! I received the gun with figures from a friend in Germany and he had already done the damage for a command base.
  Obviously he's some sort of millionaire type? I myself would have hunted down an OG or Minifig gun. 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it has turned out. I have settled with my new greens for all future Russian troops (the Foundry French chasseur greens x3). I have found them to shade very well and have a nice depth to them. The Russian greens from the set appear far to dark to my eyes for 18mm.

  

I think Kutuzov came out well. The head swap looks a wee bit more like him than the original although his hair is a wee bit thicker than maybe a man of his age would have but who knows?

   

As I mentioned the sash bugged me but not that it was wrong, just that I didn't notice it until I had pinned the head and made the cap as if I had noticed I could have used the original figure I took the head from! Anyway I see that Sho (Boki) will be doing a Russian set similar to the Perry set sitting so will look forward to doing them when they are released.

   

These 2 are my favourites of the base as both are head swaps with the guard officer coming out the best.  

   

Maybe a wee bit crowded? Would they leave a wounded Frenchman so close to Kutuzov? I'm sure there are a few Opolchenie on the way to take care of him (Phil again sorry for yet another French casualty however I have balanced it up a wee bit with a few Russians to show the ferocity of the fighting).

  

My knowledge of French cuirassiers is lacking at the moment and I painted him with pink facings. I just hope they were around somewhere in Russian where Kutuzov was fighting?

    

The Russian casualties were good fun to do and I feel came out well and tell a story of their own.

   

Ok, so thankfully some more of the lead pile is finished and a main command stand for 1812 at that but still a lot more to do. Now that it's finished I'm pretty happy with the layout and I'm sure it will be used a good few times in games to come.

I now plan to do a Bavarian command for a friend and finish of the Von Lutzow conversions.

Happy wargamining and painting!

1 Command, 1 Beer!!!

Got my wee Cuirassier command base completed, not super duper however completed and will do me fine.

 

The officer in the middle is a spare Bagration figure with a new hat and sword with saddle cover added out of green stuff. I had to redo the chest of the figure after adding a cuirass and then taking it off again (daft I know!).

  

The trumpeter turned out not bad but was tricky to clean up after the Army Painter was applied especially the chevrons.

 

I'm happy how the wee AB French casualty turned out and the gun is a spare that I probably wouldn't have used.
  

All in all a nice command base and I now wish I had added casualties to my other command bases.

   

I will have to apply more varnish to a couple of areas that are still a little shiny.

  

So what next? More commands, more troops, artillery? I have some figures almost finished that I think I will complete as I haven't got much time to do a full unit from scratch at the moment.

     

My buddy Cameron and I are planning on doing an Austrian army in 15mm mostly with Battle Honours and AB figures. I remembered I had some old 25mm Austrians kicking around so I looked them out for future reference.
 

 Got my Russian beer!!! Yeah!!!

Pavlov's Finished!!!

Well it has been a loooong while since I started them but finally I have finished my 1st battalion of the Pavlov grenadiers. Sorry for the quality of the pictures as I am still taking pictures under my painting lamp and dull house lights (energy savers aye!!!).
 

Not much to say as I have already posted the figures pretty much finished in my last post.
  

Every army of the period has a unit we all know and want to paint. The French have plenty (Dutch lancers, Polish lancers and pretty much all of the guard) the Prussians have the Lieb Hussars, the Brits the 95th rifles and what Russian army of the Napoleonic period is complete without the Pavlov grenadiers?
  

I don't think they came out as well as the other grenadiers I completed however I am still very happy with them.
  

I wasn't so happy with my converted officer at 1st however now that he is painted up he looks fine, his tash came out very well.

 

I managed to avoid the 1812 kiwer (shako) in the ranks of my Pavlovs.My shading is a little heavy in areas however I didn't really have much time to spend on them so I did what I could an hour at a time.
 

I used the GW foundation red (like a brick red) on the rear of the mitre so as to differentiate it from the red of the collar etc.
  

The highlight of a lighter gold was totally pointless on the badges at the back of the mitre and with the 2nd battalion I will just leave them the base gold as the AP gives it enough shade.
 
Thanks for looking!

Dragoon Command Base

Painting is still slow at the moment with me, however I have managed to complete my AB Russian dragoon command that I started last year (yes you read that right "last years"). I start loads that get pushed to the side until I take the notion again.

 

 I converted the General a while back and can't quite remember what he looked like originally? I think his hat was in his right hand and I added the sword?

   

I have painted them for the Kurland dragoons and I have 30 dragoons to go with them but they will be done at a later date (much later knowing me!). For the moment they will be leading my Russian cuirassiers into battle until I complete my cuirassier command base (in progress at the moment).

 

If you read my last post you will remember that I stripped the trumpeter after painting his lace yellow (as his buttons are brass). Strange seeing him with white lace but he looks fine and that does appear to be accurate for all the dragoon trumpeters of the line (guard having yellow lace).
  

A funny thing, when I received my dragoons I noticed that all the trumpeters had the early style caterpillar crest on their helmets. I asked Ian at fighting15's and he said that AB never created a figure with the later style helmet crest, hmmm strange? so I had to carve it myself.
  

When it came to painting the officer and trumpeter I noticed that both appear to have the large gauntlet style glove on their right hand but had the small glove on the left with coat cuff of facing colour over it. All the troopers appear to have the gauntlets so I added the detail needed with green stuff.

My Pavlov's are coming along slowly but are coming along. I have jumped slightly by working on units and command bases that I started a good while back. Thanks to everyone for keeping me on track especially Von B and RTB who fill me in on their own progress and give me loads of encouragement!

St. Petersburg Grenadiers

Deep breath . . . . . . . . . . . aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
   

Finally I have completed my 2 battallions of the St. Petersburg grenadier regiment. I have had the figures sitting around finished for a good while now and kept putting off basing them as I based up a big batch of FOW Americans (and also some old space characters for my nephews in the Philippines).
  

I am very happy how the 2 battalions turned out and the Army Painter continues to leave me all warm inside.
  

As always with my Russians a HUGE thank you to a Gentleman in the USA who goes by the handle Suvoroff as he was kind enough to send me the flags he created for his own 1812 Russian army.
  

All the figures are from the AB 1812 Russian range and I really enjoyed painting them. 
    

Only bother I had was gluing the flags in place. I drilled out the hands as usual and attached the flags to straightened paper clips, however when I went to glue them with my trusty super glue (the best glue I have ever found in my years of modelling) the bugger had turned so I hunted for a new tub and thankfully it worked a treat, phew!!!
    

I had a little fun here zooming in to see how close I could go before the dreaded cast lines we try so hard to remove begin to show. This officer is my favourite figure of the whole regiment which is weird as when I 1st seen him in bare metal I wasn't keen on him and here he is leading the 2nd battalion (or should that be 3rd battalion with the 2nd back at the depot or is that just the line regiments?).
   

And here they are altogether, my 1st full AB Russian regiment complete with brigade command.
   

Getting tired now, better get this finished and head off to bed!
  

Probably to many photos but it is my 1st complete AB Russian regiment ;0)

 

More zooming in (far to close!!!).
   

I think the brigadier should have had a dark green plume but I got carried away and promoted him to general.
 
I was trying to decide what to paint next, my 3 options were to complete my Kutuzov command base I have now finished converting, finish a light foot battery or paint up my Pavlov regiment. I was going to take Johns advice and do Kutuzov however I still need troops on the ground and I feel I owe the Pavlov's since I have owned them in 15mm Minifigs plus 25mm Essex (now gone from my possession) and never completed a full battalion.
 
So Pavlov's it is! I actually have around 40 spare Pavlov's that I will paint up and see if I can sell them on ebay to raise some funds. I painted up a test figure and stupidly forgot to take his pic. 
I'm happy how he turned out.