Life Guards Horse Regiment

You might just remember that back in the beginning of April I painted a test figure for a Russian Life Guards Horse Regiment. This unit then got set aside while I focused on the newly arrived Cuirassiers and then the Jagers. I've now put that right.

The figure is PN73 Prussian Garde du Corps (mounted) charging with a paint job conversion to represent the Russian Life Guards Horse Regiment. The only modification to the figure is the removal of the canteen slung above the scabbard. 

The trumpeter is converted from the same figure.

These are not original figures which you can see here clearly by their rather slim physique. Short rations I guess.

I have to say that I haven't particularly enjoyed painting these. I think the fact that they're not vintage castings coupled with the fact that they're not actually the proper Russian Guard figure is to blame. However, they will fill a gap in the OOB so that's good.

On a different subject - I've been experimenting with using ChatGPT to help me run a solo campaign with my Boer War figure collection. This has been quite fascinating so you may want to take a look (click here) even if colonial wargames isn't your thing as the same ideas could be applied to other periods.

6th Jagers and fighting Churchill

The Russian 6th Jagers are finished. The figures are about one third vintage castings and the rest are modern reproductions, all nice castings though. The standard bearer and drummer are conversions.

The firing figures are RN.15 Infantryman, firing.

The standard bearer is a conversion of RN.11 Officer, charging and the drummer is a conversion of RN.14 Infantryman, charging.

Here they are doing Jagery type manouevres.

Yesterday I braved the Edinburgh bypass for a War of the Spanish Succession game at Tony's with his excellent 20mm Les Higgins collection. I was in command of the Franco-Bavarians while Tony took on the persona of Lt. Gen Charles Churchill.

The sneaky Brits had built a lot of earthworks to hide in. I twice managed to get troops into this redoubt but each time was ejected at the point of a bayonet.

More earthworks on the British left flank this time occupied by Hessians.

A double 6 is not a throw you want to see if you're a general but it seems very unfair on the dog too. This is Tony's General Pickering in charge of the right-flank British Horse.

My troops are on the left of the table. I had lots of them but that led to some traffic jams that made manoeuvre (and retreats) difficult.

Tony didn't just have earthworks but also this huge Fortress. The mortars within fired to little effect thankfully.

The British and French lines clash in the centre. The battle here swayed to and fro but eventually went a bit too much fro for my liking as my VP lead slipped from 7:3 to 8:9. 

The final act was the Hessians unsportingly charging out of their earthworks to deliver the coup de grace to my right flank .

 

It was a really enjoyable game even if I did have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

It was a close run thing but a lot of fun.

A flag for the Jagers and Elchingen

I finally finished those Russian Jagers I started back in May and to celebrate have issued them with their colours. I have a couple of sheets of old REVO flags No24 Russian Inf 1813 bought way back when (see I told you Mrs S they'd come in handy some day). I'm not sure if the Jagers would actually carry colours but what the heck mine will.

Colour bearer converted from a line officer. The flag needs a bit of a touch up around the edges. I was amazed to find that the self-adhesive was still working after 20 years!

Goya came over this week to christen my new Command & Colors hex cloth. I chose the battle of Elchingen simply because the map doesn't have much terrain and niether do I. I've wanted a CCN mat for years after Tony lured me into me into the game system with his magnificent hex table and terrain. Here are a few pics from the game, I won't bore you with a game narrative but suffice to say I was trounced 7 to 3 by Goya's Austrians.

The hexes on the cloth are 120mm across the flats and neatly accommodate my movement trays. I only picked up the hill hexes from Warbases the day before the game and didn't have time to paint them.

We both thought that my large French force was going to steamroller the Austrians but how wrong we were.

My first move was to occupy the town. This was the first and last part of my plan that went well.

In go the Noddy's (they always make me think of Noddy but nobody else seems to agree).

You can never have too many Cuirassiers, certainly not in this game anyway.

The Austrians remained calmly 'nailed' to their ridge - the Duke would have been proud.

My Carabiniers squashed between two Austrian cavalry units towards the end of play.

I will be working on adding further terrain for the hex cloth and finding a scenario that the French can't lose.

Astrakhan Cuirassiers

I finally got around to finishing off the Russian Cuirassiers which I have painted as per the Hinton Hunt painting instruction sheet, as the Astrakhan Regiment. The figures are all David Clayton castings of RN.30 Russian Cuirassier (mounted) charging that were originally in the collectiuon of Don W. In this case the figures were stripped and repainted rather than restored. The trumpeter was converted from a casting with a dodgy arm.

In a postscript to the previous post that featured the RHA Rocket Battery, I should mention that Goya also presented me with a very nicely painted 3D print of Archduke Charles as he appears on the famous statue in front of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

I'm hoping this little model won't be as damaging to the Emperor's prospects of victory as the Rocket Battery was. 

Russian Bus

Typical really, you wait years and years for 20mm Hinton Hunt Russians and then three units come along at once! I find myself in the position where I am simultaneously painting three Russian units - The Garde du Corps, Astrakhan Cuirassiers and Foot Jagers.

This is my test figure for RN/30 Russian Cuirassier (mounted) charging. I'm painting him in accordance with the Hinton Hunt painting instructions as a trooper of the Astrakhan Regiment. The black horse makes him hard to photograph when varnished but I do like the contrast between the black and the yellow.

The Hinton Hunt painting instructions. This version is one that Clive painstakingly re-keyed from the original flimsy copy because the original was too feint to scan or photograph well. I like to refer to these sheets whenever I can.

These are RN/15 Russian Infantryman, firing. I'm painting them as Jagers - or more accurately as Jager-Chasseurs because I didn't want to cut off the plumes.

This is not the sort of painting pickle I would normally get myself into so I will put the others aside and focus on the Cuirassiers for now.

 

Terrible painting finished

The 57th Les Terribles are finished. These have been a bit of a struggle to complete mostly because I kept getting distracted with other things on the painting desk. I was also putting off painting the flag as this is the eighth one I have done and the lettering is a real pain and my eyes aren't getting any younger. The figures used are:

1 x FN/1 Officer (charging)

1 x FN/4 Colour bearer (charging)

1 x FN/6 Drummer

1 x FN/241 Officer (charging) - 1807/12 range

20 x FN/244 Fusilier (charging) - 1807/12 range

All my French units have the same battle honours inscribed on their flags as these were the ones Marcus Hinton engraved on them!

It was only when I based the figures that I discovered some of them were orientated at a slightly different angle which meant that lining them up was a right old faff. Interestingly (in a nerdy way) my other unit of this figure type (the Swiss) are all orientated in yet another direction. I know all the figures I used are genuine vintage castings but presumably they have come from different molds.

In other news I was very pleased to receive some Russian cuirassier castings from Don W. in the US last week. This was exceedingly generous of him and I have already stripped the figures and prepared them for undercoating also converting a trumpeter.

RN/30 Russian Cuirassier (mounted) charging - one-piece-castings.

These cuirrasiers together with my Garde du Corps will certainly catch the eye of the Czar once painted.

Russian Horse Guard - or is it?

Well, no this is actually a Prussian Garde du Corps trooper with a small modification and paint job conversion. The modification is that I have removed the canteen slung above the scabbard, apart from that the figure is unchanged.

PN.73 Prussian Garde du Corps (mounted), charging - painted as a Russian Life Guard.

So why have I done this? The simple answer is that I don't have any Russian heavy cavalry figures and as you know they are a bit on the rare side and this has stymied the growth of my Russian forces. I have infantry, artillery and some light cavalry in the lead pile but without the heavies you really can't fight Borodino can you?

The figure is similar enough to the Russian version to pass inspection. The saddle cloth is not square cut and the portmanteau is square not round but hey, who's counting?

What I do have are some recasts of Prussian Garde du Corps that were destined for Blucher's forces however last year's aquisition of Prussian dragoons and Cuirassiers means that old Marshal Vorwarts no longer needs them.

First though I must finish those French infantry.

Commanders for Dresden

Hopefully we'll be playing my scenario based on the Battle of Dresden next month and I realised that I was short of a couple of key commanders. These are Marshal Saint-Cyr to represent the player commanding the French right and General Wittgenstein for the player on the Allied right.

Hinton Hunt never made a specific figure for Saint-Cyr so I decided to use a spare casting of Marshal Soult in his place. I particularly like this figure as he has been modelled holding a marshal's baton. Of course back in the day I would never have known this and would probably have painted it as a telescope.

FN/357 Marshal Soult on horse FNH/10 painted as Marshal Saint-Cyr.

According to my copy of  Macdonell's Napoleon and his Marshals Saint Cyr was "the strangest, most freakish, and least understandable of all the Marshals". In his youth he studied art and also tried his hand on the stage but with the start of the Revolutionary Wars quickly became a staff-officer in the army rising to the rank of General. It was said of him that "Desaix knows how to win battles, St. Cyr how not to lose them".

In 1800 while in Madrid (rather bizarrely) he was involved in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase but he later blotted his copybook when he refused to sign the petition begging Napoleon to become Emperor and even refused to attend the coronation. He had a strange habit that, after a battle, instead of following up the enemy or looking after his wounded he would lock himself in a room and play the violin for hours. He took his violin with him on the Russian campaign where he won his Marshal's Baton for his victory at the 1st Battle of Polotsk.

His men and officers all detested him but said he was the finest defensive soldier in Europe (not sure what the Duke would say about that). He was known as "The Owl".

RN.85 Russian General painted as Prince Wittgenstein.

Prince Wittgenstein was a Ukrainian General of German descent who fought in the Russian army at Austerlitz and Friedland. He later fought against and beat Saint-Cyr at the 2nd Battle of Polotsk earning the title "Saviour of Saint-Petersburg". In the 1813 campaign he took over command of the Russian army after the death of Kutusov but following the defeat at Lutzen he stepped down and became a Corps commander fighting in this capacity at both Dresden and Leipzig.

Pavlovski Guard Grenadiers

The Pavlovski’s are finished and luckily for me too late to take part in the recent Campaign with Rob. This brings my rather small Russian force up to a total of three infantry units but hopefully there will be more to come.

Looking a bit anachronistic for Napoleonic warfare but then who doesn't like a miter cap?

I read somewhere that the miter caps were handed down rather than replaced and that some in use in 1914 had bullet holes in them from Borodino.

The figures are:

21 x RN/7 Pavlovski Guard, marching

2 x RN/1 Pavlovski officer, charging (one converted to standard bearer)

1 x RN/14 Infantryman, charging (converted to drummer with head swop).

The flag is from my 1995c stock of Revo ones that have long since lost their sticky but this is easily remedied with Pritt Stick. The drum was donated by a Newline Designs Highlander.

Next, I think I should be doing something to even things up a bit by adding a unit of French infantry.

More Pavlovian response

Thanks to all who responded to the last post and particularly to Matthew and Goya for their efforts to seek out information on the mysterious ‘greatcoat’ stowed on top of the pack. The first thing to mention is that I was wrong when I said that it only appeared on the marching figure because Matthew sent me the photo below showing the same item on vintage castings of the charging and firing figures.

All three figures are modelled with a rolled item above the pack that has three buttons at the top either side of a central securing strap.

This means that, whatever it is, Marcus Hinton intended to sculpt it and must have had a reference source that showed it. This is one instance where the Hinton Hunt painting instruction sheet would be very helpful but sadly, I don’t have one. Matthew, Goya and I have trawled the internet for images that might reveal the nature of the mystery item but to no avail although Goya did find this one below.

This looks promising except that the illustration shows the 1817 regulations and is also of a line infantryman not a Pavlovski Grenadier.

Goya also found this bit of text which may explain what the roll was:

For the cover for the coat and leggings. — The coat must be rolled and wrapped in the leggings [kragi] so that it is as long as the knapsack and its diameter is 6 inches in thickness. It is placed into a round oilcloth cover made to these dimensions with an opening at one end that is closed with a drawstring. This case is to be carried on the knapsack with the opening to the left side and in the middle tied by the greatcoat strap to the strap that holds the canteen.

However, the item modelled on the figures very definitely has six buttons on the top and doesn’t look as if it is supposed to represent a drawstring bag so back to the drawing board.

While repainting the roll I also took the opportunity to tidy up the back of the mitre cap.

In the end I have decided to paint the roll as a canvas/brown bag which is good enough for my purposes but if anyone does have a copy of the Hinton Hunt painting instructions I’d be interested to see them.

********* EDIT *********

Eagle-eyed Rob spotted the picture below.

Although this isn't a Pavlov the mystery roll does have buttons just like the figure - still not sure what it is but problem solved.

So it looks like I will be repainting them black!

********* FINAL EDIT *********

Thanks to ongoing work by Goya and Rob we appear to finally have the answer regarding the mystery item. I'm 99% sure that it is the leather gaiters that are strapped to the top of the pack and that the figure has been modelled in 'summer' trousers.

Painted for the third and final time, Pavlovski's in their summer best.

A close examination of a line Grenadier casting next to a Pavlovski castings has confirmed this as the line figure is wearing his gaiters with buttons to the knee, whilst the Pavlovski has buttons halfway up the calf which would fit with the summer trousers theory. So that's it, the figures have been repainted accordingly now it's time to move on.

Pavlovian response

Like many wargamers of a certain age the Pavlovski Grenadiers are right up there in my affection with the 95th Rifles and the Grumblers of the Old Guard so it’s no surprise that I have felt the urge to paint some at last, although I must add that I have been careful not to drool on them in the process.

RN/7 Pavlovski Guard, marching.

I’ve had these figures in the lead pile for well over 10 years but I’m not entirely sure of their provenance. The castings seem too light and crisp to be vintage ones but too well defined to be Clayton’s, I can only assume they are recasts but if they are, they are very good ones.

I've painted the rolled up greatcoat on top of the pack black in an effort to disguise it.

One curiosity is that the marching figure not only has a greatcoat rolled around his body but also one rolled above his pack. This is an odd mistake for Marcus Hinton to have made but I do have a few Clayton’s as well, and they have the same error. It’s just the marching figure which is like this as I have samples of the other positions and they don’t have the second greatcoat.

If any of you have bona fide (should that be bona fido?) vintage castings of same, then please let me know how many greatcoats they have by leaving a comment – perhaps they have been issued with two because they are Guard?

Russian Artillery

For quite a few years now I have wanted to find enough Russian gunners to field a battery or two of guns. Finally, I have scraped some together although they are the DK version of Hinton Hunt gunners as the real things are rarer than hen’s teeth.

The figures are:

2 x RN70 Officer, pointing, holding map

2 x RN71 Gunner with porte-fire

2 x RN72 Gunner ramming home

2 x RN74 Gunner holding hand spike for traversing

The guns are by Newline Designs

The limber rider is a vintage casting of RN76 Artillery Driver riding on DK versions of draught horses H/1 and H/2. The limber is an unknown make I had hanging around.

One of the things that has always impressed me with Roy’s Hinton Hunt armies is that he has a limber for every model gun – and there’s loads of them! I have determined to field at least one limber per army and hopefully over time a few more than that.

It’s been a nice break to paint these gunners after a year so far spent painting cavalry but there are already more horses undercoated and waiting on the painting desk.

Pavlograd Hussars

The Pavlograd Hussars are finished, somewhat latter than I had anticipated but ready for action nonetheless. This is the first unit I have painted in the Hut where the temperature of an evening is currently around 10-15 degrees but then these Russian chaps should be used to a slight chill in the air.
 

They do look very colourful and were fun to paint. The castings are copies (of unknown origin) of RN.38 Russian Hussar (mounted) charging. In my previous post on these figures I mentioned that the plumes had been cut off, but I was wrong as the figure never had plumes – thanks to the Archduke for pointing this out.

I’m not sure what section of the lead pile to tackle next but I’m thinking it may be something French.

Cannon fodder for the Czar

The Russian infantry unit is finished and ready to take up it’s place in my rather slim Russian battle-line. This unit is nameless (although it carries the flag of the Moscow regiment) but represents a line unit as the grenadier plumes had been docked by the previous owner. Hinton Hunt never produced any line troops so I guess Marcus Hinton always intended that the plumes should be discarded if not required.

In the best tradition of this project this unit came together using figures from different sources but surprisingly they are all vintage Hinton Hunt castings except for the Clayton drummer and DK flag-bearer. The marching figures in greatcoats were a recent eBay purchase while the Crimean War figures are originals I have had for a few years.

RN.18 Private in great-coat marching x 18
RC/17 Russian private, marching x 3
FN/11 Officer, charging (with head swap) x 1
Clayton Pavlov drummer (with head swap) x1
DK colour-bearer (painted by Goya) x1

I’m going to try to keep focussed and complete my Russian force so next up will be the Hussars.