Picture of the Week : SYW Russian Cossacks

 

Russian Cossacks (RSM figures on Minden horses) supported
 by Russian Hussars (Minden Miniatures).

Click photo enlarge

This is one of my favorite pictures in my SYW photo album. It depicts a vast hoard of 36 Russian Cossacks and a second line of Russian Hussars to back them up in the fight.

The Cossacks are RSM Miniatures that I have place on the more dynamic Minden light cavalry horse and there are probably a few Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI horses in the mix. I really like the way that the Cossacks turned out after painting them. The figures aren't encumbered with much equipment so they paint rather quickly. About the only thing that I had to do to prepare them was to cut lances (from North Star) and attach them to the hands. I place a tiny ball of green stuff putty in the hand prior to gluing the lance to the hand.

I separated the Cossacks into smaller groups of about 9 figures and paint each batch with similar colors. For example, all 9 might get blue caftans and another 9 will get brown caftans, etc. Then I go back and paint the trousers in random colors across all batches of painted figures. When I am finished, then it is a simple matter of mixing the different colored figures onto two figure stands which produces an irregular appearance to the unit. For example, a tan caftan and maroon caftan dressed pair of figures are placed on the same stand. Theoretically, no two stands should look the same.

There are plans in the works to add Cossacks to the Minden range of Russian cavalry figures. Stay tuned for more information.

The Russian Hussars are actually Austrian Hussars that I've "converted with paint" which amounts to nothing more than not painting edging and insignia on the horse furniture. Sometimes the uniform differences between one nation and another is indecipherable so your paint brush will make the distinction fo you.

The rest of this week will see me making preparations for my trip to Historicon next week. I will be running my "Bread and Croats" SYW skirmish game on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

So far I have just layed out the terrain mats on my table. I will add all of the buildings and terrain, next,
and then figure out how to pack all of the terrain into the minimum number of boxes
so that I can maximize cargo space in my car.