Horvat Hussars (Russian) & Cossacks

Russian Horvath Hussars (click pix to enlarge)

Over the weekend I finished a dozen of the Russian Horvat Hussars, which fought at Zorndorf during the Seven Years War. The regiment was rather large at 10 squadrons compared to the usual 3 to 5 squadrons that most Russian cavalry regiments put into the field.

For a history of the Horvat Hussar regiment, please click on the link to the Kronoskaf page that details the history and uniforms of the regiment:

Horvat Hussars - Kronoskaf

I used the Minden Austrian hussar figures as suitable substitutes for Russian hussars and these basically require no conversion work other than paint. The sabertaches would have the "ER" cypher of the Empress Elizabeth and there would be some noticeable saw tooth edging (or '"Van Dyking" as it is often called) on the edge of both the shabraque and sabertache. I did not bother to paint the cypher onto the sabertache - too much extra work for minimal  visual payback, in my opinion.

Horvath Hussars are actually Austrian hussars that I have "converted with paint". In the left background you can see some Connoisseur Napoleonic Russian Cossacks.

This points again to one of the things about 18th Century military uniforms and available figure castings: they are very similar country to country so it is easy to substitute Austrian, French and Prussian castings for the various Russian castings that one requires. While Minden does not yet have any Russians, other than the artillery crew, this is no reason not to start of SYW Russian army if you want to field one on your table top.

I am working on a few things behind the scenes that hopefully will address the need to add Russian figures to the Minden range. More about that later as the events unfold. I will just say that I think that you will be happy when the news is released.

I finished off the basing with the usual tufts and static grass on the hussar bases, and while I was at it, I also finished off the basing for the second group of Cossacks that I painted last week.

Two 12-figure pulks of Cossacks, one in small fur hats (L)  and the other in tall fur hats (R).

Here's how they look once I have mixed the two different hat styles into two separate units. This looks much better to my eye and creates more visual diversity.

Here are the Cossacks again, but this time they have been mixed up into one large 24-figure unit. I think that the RSM and the Connoisseur Cossacks (in the left corner) are compatible in size and so I plan to use both units in my SYW battles.

In the three pictures above, if you look at the upper left corner of each photo, you can see some Connoisseur Napoleonic Russian Cossacks that I had previously painted. They look to fit in very nicely with the RSM SYW Russian Cossacks (mountedon Minden light cavalry horses) so this enabled me to increase the Cossack horde from 24 figures to 36 figures, without painting any more of them. Nice!!!!

In the picture below, you can see how the two styles of RSM Cossacks look when you mix the headgear styles (small hat and large hat) together in one unit. This creates a more diverse look to the horde. Also, painting different kaftan colors and different horse colors adds to the irregular look.

A close up view of the growing Cossack horde.

Next in the Russian Queue

I always paint one sample figure of new units that I have never painted before for several reasons; one, I want to see what the figure looks like after it has been painted, and two, to figure out the order in which to paint the various parts of the figure. Sometimes this reveals a potential difficulty in painting that is easy to solve by simply changing the order in which you paint a pelisse versus the dolman or the breeches, etc.

I like the Gruzinsky Hussar in the yellow and red uniform and so I plan to paint a 12-figure squadron of these in the near future. I don't like the look of the dark horse, so I will paint these with lighter colored horses so as to show off the rider and his uniform without the darkness and distraction of the horse.

The cuirassier is an Austrian cuirassier from the Minden range and does not require any conversion work.

Russian cavalry painted samples: 3rd Cuirassiers (L), Horvath Hussars (C) and Gruzinsky Hussars (R). Click to  enlarge the picture.

So as of today, I have 12 hussars, 24 horse grenadiers, 24 dragoons and 36 Cossacks in my Russian army.

I am making good progress on the Russian cavalry combat arm and only need to add 24 more hussars and 24 cuirassiers to complete this part of my army.

After that, I will turn to painting more infantry, hopefully including some of the new figures that are in the pipeline.

I am aiming towards hosting a SYW Russian versus Prussian game at next year's Seven Years War Association Convention in March 2018. It will be based on one of the historic battles during the war and in fact, I spent the weekend developing the tabletop map from the historical map, using a board game map and Google Earth satellite images.