Narke-Varmland Regiment- GNW Swedes

Narke-Varmlands regiment with Warfare Miniatures figures. Click all pix to enlarge the view.

I completed 24 of the 32 figures for the Narke-Varmland regiment for my Swedish Great Northern War (GNW) army. The figures are from Warfare Miniatures as are the flags. This is my first regiment using the figures wearing the karpus hat or cap with the colored brim. The regiment also has distinctive  red stockings and facing colors rather than the traditional Swedish yellow. I will probably paint the Jonskopings regiment next because it also has red facings and stockings (but wears a tricorn). This way, I will have a "yellow brigade" and a "red brigade", each of two regiments.

I still have one more stand of six figures to paint in order to finish the regiment. However, 24 figures gives you a good idea of how the final regiment will look upon completion.

Warfare Miniatures announced yesterday that its first GNW Russian figures will be arriving this week! I am really looking foreward to order 4 regiments worth of the Russians and getting that army started. Of course, I will need twice as many Russians as Swedes, so there is a lot of painting still to come.


Russian Update: Warfare Miniatures is now selling the first five packs of GNW Russian infantry on its web site. I bought enough to start on 3 x 32 figure Russian battalions of musketeers.


Warfare Miniatures Blog

Rear view showing the offset of one command figure on each base to give the illusion of a third rank.

View of the command stand: 6 pike and 2 standard bearers.

View of the flags made by Warfare Miniatures

Jonkopings Regiment in the GNW

54mm Swedish Infantry Figure (not a Warfare Miniatures figure) posted to show an example of the karpus hat.

I received some more metal reinforcements from Warfare Miniatures last week, enough to paint a Swedish regiment wearing the karpus headgear and probably another karpus and a tricorn battalion plus 18 more cavalry.

So last evening I broke out the figures and assembled 32 infantry in karpus for the Jonkopings regiment. This unit has red facings, waistcoat, breeches and karpus brim, so it should add a bit of color and variety to my growing GNW Swedish army.

The Warfare figures require a modest amount of assemble before priming. In this case, I only had to attach scabbards to the rank and file, a few pikes, and some pole arms for the officers. I've gotten to be an old hand at this by now, so it is a simple matter of kneading some green epoxy putty together and inserting a tiny ball of putty into the hole that places the scabbard in place, followed by a dab of glue and then presto bingo they are done.

Tonight I will glue the figures to temporary card bases that hold the figure whilst painting. That will be followed by a coating of grey primer and then I will have a battalion set aside and ready for painting when the mood and my painting schedule allow. I want to finish 12 more Minden Prussian Cuirassiers before switching back to GNW Swedes. I like the variety of going back and forth between the two periods and two different styles of miniatures. I might also assemble 18 more Swedish cavalry to bring the Ostgotland Kavalrie regiment up to its full complement of 36 horse and riders. Since a Swedish army can have as much as 50% cavalry, I need to get ahead of the cavalry painting before I get too far along with the infantry.

GNW Swedish Cavalry Pix

I finished off the basing and flagging of the Ostgota Kavalrie Regiment for my GNW Swedish army last evening. Both the figures and the flags are from Warfare Miniatures and their Great Northern War range of figures.

I used Citadel Scorched Grass static grass and The Army Painter tufts (Highland, Wasteland and Winter) on the bases. The ground was made using spackle compound, slathered over the base, and then dipped in a tub of fine railroad ballast. Once dry, I drybrush some light tan on the ballast before adding the tufts and the static grass. I use mostly the Highland tufts, which offset the static grass color nicely. The Wasteland tufts are dark green and provide some contrast. The Winter tufts are too light in color so I don't use much of those.

Warfare Miniatures figures and flags. 

Swedish Ostgota Regiment - Warfare Miniatures figures and flags.

Reinforcements have been ordered and are now making their way across the Pond.

GNW Swedes

Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedes

A couple of days ago I received a package in the mail that was moderately heavy and it rattled. Hmm, thinks I, what could this be?

I was not expecting the arrival of anything germane to wargaming, so when I opened up the packet, out tumbled several blister packs full of Great Northern War  ("GNW") Swedes, from the Warfare Miniatures range of figures. Go to the League of Augsburg web site by clicking on the link below:

Warfare Miniatures

Click on the "Shop" tab at the top of the page, then click on GNW Swedish Infantry to see more pictures of this new figure range.

Let me start by saying that the Warfare Miniatures figures are an absolute joy to paint and I was able to whip out a couple of samples in about an hour's time. The grenadier and musketeer represent the Uplands regiment, one of the Indelta regiments that served in the King's Army at Poltava (rather an unfortunate turn of events for them).

Doing a little bit of research, I discovered that about 50% of the GNW Swedish army of Charles XII was comprised of cavalry and the rest were infantry. This is a bit different from SYW armies where the cavalry comprise about 25-30% of the total forces.

I like to target an initial army of 12 units, excluding artillery, so I am looking at 6 units of cavalry and 6 units of infantry. Of the infantry, I will have 3 of them wearing a tricorn hat and 3 wearing the karpus hat.

More later, I have to go to sleep now.