The Petrograd Hussars and the Completion of the Russian Napoleonic Project.

Although the dragoons were the most numerous of all the Russian cavalry types in the Napoleonic Wars nothing speaks of eastern European cavalry more than the hussars. There is something inherently romantic about hussars, especially Russian hussars. Any mention of them sets my mind racing with those spectacular movie scenes with the dashing hussar officers at the grand balls in the St Petersburg palaces. 

 

When I came to add a regiment to my Russian Napoleonic army, choosing which hussar regiment to do was never really an issue. It was always going to be the Petrograd Regiment and there were three reasons. First, it was the regiment I painted way back in the 1970’s for my original Russian army and sold some time in the 90’s. As I have mentioned before that 1970's army, made up from Hinchliffe figures, provided the inspiration for creating this one. Second, it was the regiment in which Nicolai Rostov served in Tolstoy’s War and Peace – and who can forget the imagery of that charge after Kutuzov (or was it Bagration) ordered “...send in the Petrograd Hussars”? Third, it was the uniform - green breeches and dolman, turquoise facings and pelisse, yellow braid and red houndstooth edging on the shabraque.

As usual these are the Perry figures. In service most units dispensed with the shako plumes and the pelisse, but what is a hussar without the plumes and pelisses? So my hussars are in full dress.

 

So the army is complete…well maybe. There may be a "need" for a few more units (perhaps some in the 1809 uniforms since many units did not receive their 1812 issue uniforms until as late as 1813) and maybe some limbers and supply carts at some time in the future, but for now at least it is finished.

 

And the final count:

 

1 High Command Group (8 foot figures)

1 Infantry Division command group (2 mounted figures)

3 Infantry Brigadiers (3 mounted figures)

8 Musketeer Battalions (192 foot figures)

4 Jäger Battalions (96 foot figures)

1 Artillery Commander (1 mounted figure)          

2 Field Batteries (16 foot figures, 4 guns)

1 Position Battery (8 foot figures, 2 guns)

1 Cavalry Division command group (2 mounted figures)

2 Cavalry Brigadiers (2 mounted figures)

2 Cuirassier Regiments (24 mounted figures)

2 Dragoon Regiments (24 mounted figures)

1 Hussar Regiment (12 mounted figures)

1 Horse Battery (8 foot figures, 2 guns)

 

All in all that is:

328 foot figures

70 mounted figures

8 guns

 

Laid out in their Divisional Review they look an impressive force.

The Infantry Division, the artillery, two musketeer brigades and the jäger brigade (rear)

The First Musketeer Brigade

The Second Musketeer Brigade

The Jäger Brigade

The divisional artillery

The Cavalry Division, the cuirassier brigade (left), the horse battery and the dragoon brigade, with hussars attached (right)

The Cuirassier Brigade

The Dragoon Brigade

The high command group

 

But they pack away neatly into four plastic drawers...

...that in turn slide into a stacking case.

This week also sees the finish of the base for the Russian winter church, the completion of which closes out another project.

Saxon Village Houses

With the lead (and plastic) pile temporarily levelled, I have turned to my old fall back - buildings.

This weekend I have finished the last of the Dark Ages buildings, two Saxon dwellings.

The first is a simple A frame structure with a low door and thatched roof.

Second is another thatched building, with a timber and daub base.

Then to put all three Saxon buildings together...

There is still a little work to finish here, such as constructing the animal pens and similar, but I shall use the Renedra plastic fencing for this and they will wait for a while.

Next up, while I wait for the next batch of lead and plastic to arrive, will be a Russian village in winter that I shall document in due course.

East African Terrain

Once again this has been a week for making scenery items.

First up is a small outbuilding that will stand along side the Plantation house from last week. There is another small wooden structure that will go along with this. 

Most of the rest of this post is a tutorial in response to a request from a reader for a description of how I made my jungle pieces. But before I get going kn that I want to give a bit of a plug for Auckland wargamer John's new blog that documents his grandfather's experiences in WWI through his grandfather's own account. Each post is reports exactly what occurred 100 years ago.

Details can be found here.

Now on to the tutorial.

As the base of my jungle pieces I use foamcore board because it is light and quick to cut into shape. When I started the project I made them about 60mm by 50mm in irregular shapes. Before long I decided to make these pieces bigger, about 150mm by 100mm and in varying heights.

For the examples here I have made two pieces from foamcore board, stacked three and four levels high, and one large piece made from expanded polystyrene. The latter is intended as a high rock outcrop or cliff into which I want to cut some caves.

Below is the four level piece assembled. Note how there are some steep slopes that feature areas of erosion. Then it is time to attach small stones in random patterns. Still further below is the rough shape of the polystyrene piece.

 

 

 

The polystyrene piece was worked on first. The first thing to be done is to cover the whole piece with tissue paper. First the surface is covered with PVA glue then the paper is pressed onto it. Then a watered down solution of PVA is applied over top, adding more paper if needed, allowing the paper to wrinkle and bunch as much as possible. When finished and dry the surface has the appearance of a rough cliff face.

 

On this same piece I want a really rugged rock face and for that effect I have used some pine bark that I have scavenged from the garden, see below. This bark is then stacked and glued on the stepped top of the piece.

 

Then the whole surface of the two smaller pieces is now coated in PVA, covered with coarse builder's sand and some small stones were added. I only put sand on the flat top surfaces of the polystyrene piece. They were then left in the sun to dry.

 

When the glue us dry all of the pieces are painted black. For this I use a low cost artist acrylic that is thick and helps to hold the sand, the stones and the bark to the pieces. Again they are left in the sun to dry.

When the black paint is dry I dry brushed a coat of burnt sienna, to provide depth. Then I dry brushed a mix of burnt sienna and yellow over the whole surface to to provide contrast, and finally an even lighter mix as a highlight. On the big piece only the exposed top surfaces are given the earth tones.

 

 

Next the rock surfaces are painted a mid grey and then dry brushed with two lighter tones of grey

 

 
Now I add different types and tones of foliage. First I glued on some bushy pieces on the high ground and on rocky ledges. Then I add one or two pieces of twig from the garden as fallen logs. Finally, to the smaller pieces, I added the plastic "bushes" that a friend got me for a small cost. These come on a large sheet of 81 bunches, each of which contain eight individual bushes. The first thing to do is to cut the individual bushes from the bunches. Then with an awl I puncture the surface of the base and then with a small amount of end of PVA fix them in position. 

 

And these are the finished items.