Russian Line Infantry - Perry 28mm

A dozen Russian line units painted, from the Perry miniatures kits.  Any Napoleonic army needs a good number of line. I actually got these 10 years ago for a birthday present from wargaming buddies - painted at last!

From left to right, theses are the line regiments of the 24th Division, 3rd Dvision, and 22nd Division. Each had two battalions but I have painted up just the first battalions for variety and because I usually play at regimental level for big games (and Russian battalions were often so under strength in 1813 onwards that many regiments were battalion sized).

I chose these divisions because they still had the 1797 era flags in 1812, where the white flag was coloured with theme of the regimental flag, rather than being uniform.

24th Division

3rd Dvision

22nd Division

Here's the first regiment of the 3rd Division, Chernigovskiy to show the scheme I went with for these Russian regiments. 

Painting Choices

A couple of points on the paintjobs chosen. I painted all troops with the same red shoulder straps of the first regiment of the Division, and 1st battalion, 1st company pompons and sword knots. This was for practicality reasons - firstly these tiny details are not noticeable except in very close up photos. Plus if I did paint them then keeping track of which bases go with which units would quickly become a nightmare as units are removed during a game and piled up in the casualty pile in the heat of battle. 

For similar reasons I didn't add the grenadier or light figures to the units, which should have red and yellow details, and black plumes for the grenadiers.  Each unit should have 3 figures with black plumes and red pompons for Grenadiers, and yellow pompons for Lights, if you were painting these as a battalion.

For correct historical detail see the sheet you get in the Perry box below. Just wanting to be clear about this so I don't put anyone wrong on these details! Though, I understand that evidence from Russian archives suggests some additional complications to these conventions if you want to research it further.

Another interesting observation is that as I understand it, the 1812 Kiwer headgear is a mysterious thing that may not have existed, so I've chosen to go with the 1809 era Shako. This would have still been around in numbers even if the Kiwer was a thing I imagine. 

For the Russian Green choice - I've gone with Vallejo Black-Green, highlighted with Deep Green.

The flags used are from ESR and enlarged. See here. As in the video below I also bought their rulebook and 1812 source/scenario book to peruse so will review that at some point in the future on this blog. Thanks!

Prussian Command - Perry 28mm

Week 24 and here is the end of my backlog posting! To finish here we have a selection of Prussian Generals from Perry. These are from the two command packs Perry makes, plus a pack of metal dragoons.

For the aides in green I just used metal Prussian dragoons, which are not quite right but near enough from what was available. And given it is late Prussia probably possible in any case (e.g. detached Jager).

The figure in the foreground below is the free Colonel you get when you buy three or more boxes of Perry Allied Prussian/Russian Cavalry, and comes with option to make him either a Prussian as here, or a Russian.

Though I don't imagine he'll see the table with the small Prussian force I have planned, I also couldn't resist painting up Blucher and chums in their grim grey very un-Napoleonic uniforms.

So after 6 months of posting every week, I've finally posted all my presently painted Napoleonics - phew! It will be bit of a wait until the next lot due to work demands over next couple of months, but rest assured, there will be more to come! :) Thanks for looking.

Prussian Dragoons - Perry 28mm

Week 23 of backlog, and this time it is a couple of units of Prussian Dragoons. These are from the Perry Allied Cavalry plastic boxset. 

A change from the darker Prussian blue, I chose Vallejo Andrea Blue for the highlight, as coats for Prussian Dragoons were a significantly lighter shade of blue than was used for most other uniforms. I also went for red facings for both units in this instance to add even more colour.

Prussian Horse Artillery - Perry 28mm

Week 22 of the backlog, and here are some Prussian horse artillery. These are similar to the line artillery I posted last week, but the crew wear the longer litewka coat, and they have white rather than black crossbelts. Perry models again.

Prussian Line Artilllery - Perry 28mm

Week 21 of the backlog, and here are a few more Prussians, some line artillery. I have dozens of guns for my other forces but the Prussians are just a side project to supplement friends forces, so not as many needed.

Once again the artillery are Prussian Blue with a Prussian Blue/Pastel Blue mix drybrush, while the crew have Dark Prussian Blue highlighted with Prussian Blue. All Vallejo paints.

Prussian Limbers - Perry 28mm

Week 20 of backlog and here is the beginning of a small force of Prussians. These limbers were painted up for our Leipzig refight last year as Horse Artillery Limbers, hence the white cross belts, and are Perry figures. My Prussian force will not be large as several friends have Prussian forces already, but useful to have a few extras available given how persistently they were involved in the 1813-15 period!

The Prussian artillery and limber colour I went with is Vallejo Prussian Blue highlighted/drybrushed with a mix of that colour and Vallejo Pastel Blue. Meanwhile the coats of the drivers are Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue highlighted with Vallejo Prussian Blue. This seems to give the right sort of colour and contrast between the two, though I'm actually happier with how this has turned out in photos as compared to real life! The Prussian army as a whole is probably the most dull looking of the period, in greys and dark blues with rare exceptions, though the facing colours, and lighter blue of the artillery and Dragoons at least provides a bit more colour! The 1806 Prussians were much prettier looking, though present in far fewer and more one sided actions, and thus not as good for wargaming.

 

As with all my limbers the ropes are made from the Gale Force 9, 3 strand rope.

The teams come with six horses, but I've left the front pair separate.