Sunday 25 June 2017

Russian Napoleonic Generals

This has been a busy week on the painting table with work on three projects: 

• The Napoleonic Russians
• A batch of German Askaris for a friend's WWI East African force
• Phase two of the Dark Ages collection

While more than fifty figures have worked their way off the table, only the mounted Russian Napoleonic generals have been based up and finished.

For these I had to go outside the Perry Miniatures range. The Perrys make a lovely high command set (which I have), but it consists of Kutusov's staff at Borodino, and they are all dismounted. For divisional and brigade command, I want mounted officers. The only mounted figures they make are colonels, which I also have.

The only correct mounted generals I could find in 28mm are made by Front Rank. 

For my army I need an infantry divisional command, three infantry brigadiers and a divisional artillery chief. I also need a cavalry divisional command, two cavalry brigadiers and a cossack brigadier.  I like to make the divisional command groups two figures and the brigades one. I decided to "reassign" the mounted colonels set, by making one the artillery chief and the other two as the second figure on the divisional command bases. 

For the infantry division I chose the Front Rank Barclay de Tolly figure to which I added the Perry colonel in fatigue cap.



For the brigadiers I chose the Front Rank general in regulation dress.



For the artillery chief I used the most passive of the three Perry colonels.


The complete infantry divisional staff.

For the cavalry division I used the Front Rank General Uvarov  figure and the Perry grenadier colonel.



For the two cavalry brigadiers I decided to use cavalry officers and used a cuirassier officer and a dragoon officer, while the cossacks would be commanded by Platov, all three are Front Rank  figures.





The cavalry divisional staff.

14 comments:

  1. One would not realize that men do not follow such superb vignettes of command! Excellent!

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    1. Thank you Phil. One needs an inspirational general to lead the litt men to victory!

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  2. Nice to see a few Front Rank figures make it onto your blog Mark - in some ways, they are still my favourite figures - they are so easy to paint! Beautiful basing as always too.

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    1. These are the first Front Rank figures I have done since 1999 and it is like meeting up with old friends. But I struggled with them a little. First the posing is a bit forced - not as natural as the Perrys or Paul Hicks - and second the detail is so intense that I found them hard to work with - not so good for my slap-dash painting technique. That said they are the only mounted generals on the market that fit the bill. I may also need to use them for some Russian horse artillery.

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  3. Mark, painting 50 25mm figures including cavalry is not a sum for mere mortals. Unbelievable productivity from your hand!

    That sculpting of the Front Rank figure of BdT looks a bit off to me. It could be distortion from the photo angle but the weight of his head seems almost too much for his neck muscles to sustain.

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    1. Jonathan, of the fofty or so figures 24 were Askari infantry that are really quick to do (I can get through 12 in a night) and 13 were Dark Ages infantry that are almost as simple to do.

      I agree that the Front Rank figures have rather accentuated features. I would have preferred Perry or Foundry, but neither do appropriate generals.

      Nonetheless I have great affection for the Front Rank range as we manufactured them under license in New Zealand from 1986 thriugh to 1999 and I watched them develop and improve. The detail is superb, although my painting doesn't do them justice. The other thing I like about FR is that you can still buy figures individually

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    2. I like Front Rank figures very much! Most of my 28mm Napoleonics are FR.

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    3. I think over the years I have painted (and on-sold) many hundreds of Front Rank figures. In fact the figures I consider my best painting are a unit of Front Rank AWI British infantry - the only time I have ever done eyes, eyelids and eyebrows on 28mm figures.

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    4. I am in the camp of painting eyes on 25s. Not on anything smaller, though.

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    5. Sad to say i gave up on eyes some time ago

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  4. Very nice, and yes the lack of 28mm Napoleonic Russian general figures is a problem!

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    1. They exist in on most of the other Perry ranges. It is like the Russians are the poor cousins!

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  5. Lovely work as usual. I have all these figures ahead of me, and can't wait to get stuck into them. I too am a fan of Front Rank, and actually really appreciate the bulk that some others find less attractive. I thoroughly enjoyed painting their Spanish figures in particular some four or five years ago, and managed to put some eyes on a unit of the Irlanda regiment which I consider my best work to date.

    I can't believe you manufactured them under licence, and will add that to the list of stuff I would like to know all about when we do finally get to have that beer (or coffee), hopefully next time I'm over...

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    1. I like amy things about the Front Rank ranges, but feel that in many cases they lack the animation and personality of the Perrys or Paul Hicks. For me the best FR ranges are the French and Indian War and the Jacobite Rebellion.

      Yes FR made up a good portion of our sales. I can recall many hours sweating over the furnace casting them, although on a morning like this, with the temperature hovering just above zero, that furnace would be very welcome.

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