Great Northern War Compendium

My copy of The Great Northern War Compendium arrived yesterday and my first reaction, upon opening the books, is "WOW!" And my second reaction is that the books greatly exceed any expectations that I might have had when I placed my order about a month ago.

As the late Ed McMahon might have said to Carnak the Magician ( Johnny Carson), "everything that you could possibly want to know about the Great Northern War is in this book!"

The two volume compendium is written by a virtual army of experts in the field from a wide variety of countries including Sweden, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the UK and the United States.

The book's topics are diverse and include biographies of key participants, uniform information ( Sweden, Russia, Saxony, Dano-Norwegian, Polish, Holstein Gottorp, Hanover, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire), tactical studies of the various countries, battle summaries and maps, logistics and fortifications, and even a section on the plague that struck the Baltic region of Europe.

At the end of Volume 2, there is a listing of museums, reenactor groups and even manufacturers of wargaming figures. The set costs $125.00 and it looks to provide a lot of value for the money. I think that this is one of those books that you will go to time and again if you are even remotely interested in the period.

The books are published by THGC Publishing ( www.thehistoricalgamecompany.com ) in St. Louis, MO.

In short, I give the book set my highest recommendation .

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GNW Russian Musketeer Regiment

Wow, do I have a lot of things to report and post about on my blog. I will break the topics up into individual posts this week, so keep coming back for updates. Among the updates are some new painted Hungarian musketeers, new SYW Russians, some painted figures to post for sale, and of course a 2015 Year in Review report and a 2016 Preview of the Year.

The first item, an appetizer if you will, is a battalion of Great Northern War ("GNW") Russian musketeers, figures from Warfare Miniatures:

Warfare Miniatures GNW Russians (click pix to enlarge)

I use 32-figures in a battalion of infantry for my GNW Swedes and Russians mounted on bases that measure 60mm wide by 80mm deep. The extra depth helps to protect the extended bayonets of the charging poses and leveled pikes, because if they don't protrude over the edge of the base, they are less likely to break off during handling of the figure base. The same applies to leveled muskets in the firing pose.

I really enjoy painting the Warfare Miniatures GNW figures. They paint quickly and easily for me and the animation is really nice. It is as if each figure is a different figure. I also really like how the Russian armies of the GNW and SYW look with the predominant Green and Red coloring.

Warfare Miniatures will be adding a significant number of new figures to the GNW range in 2016 including Russian cavalry, artillery and grenadiers and Swedish cavalry, artillery and grenadiers. I can see that I have a lot of painting ahead of me.

Overhead view of the battalion.

I like to place at least one "command figure" on each stand and offset it a little bit to imply a third rank. When you place all of the bases together, then the effect of the third line becomes more clear, as shown in the picture below:

Rear view showing the officers, NCOs and drummers forming a  virtual third rank.

Side view illustrating the "third rank" effect achieved by the deep bases and offsetting the command figures.

SYW Russian Army Project Update

I have completed painting of three stands of musketeers using the Crann Tara Miniatures 'Savoy" infantry figures. The figures are completely compatible with Minden, Fife & Drum, RSM and Crann Tara figures. Since the Russian infantry had large cuffs and no lapels, the Savoy figures work just fine. The only change that I have to make is to paint a red collar onto each figure. Otherwise, the figures are perfect Russians "as is".

SYW Perm Regiment, work in progress (3 of 5 stands completed so far), using Crann Tara "Savoy" figures.

More to follow this week.

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.

Ostgotland Kavalrie Regt. Completed

Ostgotland Kavalrie Regiment - click pix to enlarge.

So here I am serving up a double wedgie of Swedish cavalry for the Great Northern War (GNW) using Warfare Miniatures Swedish cavalry figures, in 28mm. As the Russian troops might say, "ouch!"

I have finished painting the first 18 Swedish Kavalrie that I recently purchased from Warfare Miniatures, adding them to the two infantry units that I painted over the past several weeks. I am trying to pace myself by only ordering figures that I can paint in a reasonable time period; once they are completed then I can order more figures. This is opposed to my normal method of just buying an insane amount of figures for the whole project and then only painting a fraction of what I have ordered.

The cavalry regiment depicted in these pictures is the Ostgotland Kavalrie Regiment at Poltava. My eventual organization will likely be two 18-figure squadrons in one 36-figure cavalry regiment. So really what you see in these pictures is only one squadron. Swedish cavalry regiments had two squadrons, apparently.

I am still experimenting with the basing, but I think that I like placing three figures on a 60mm by 80mm base, with one figure in front and two figure in a second rank. So when I clump three or more stands together, I get a wedge formation per Swedish tactical doctrine in the GNW.

Frontal view of two squadrons

A view of the proposed basing scheme, with three figures on a 60mm by 80mm deep stand, with the figures attached to the stand in a triangle shape. When several stands are placed together, they yield the visual of a wedge formation that the Swedish cavalry employed in their tactics.

A ground level view of the regiment.

I have now run through all of my Warfare Miniatures Swedes, so more are on order. While I await the delivery, I will turn back to painting Minden SYW Prussians and maybe start some Saxon cavalry at Kolin, using Austrian or Prussian castings.

Ostgotland Kavalrie Regiment - GNW

Warfare Minitures GNW Swedish Kavalrie Regiment Ostgotland. (click all pix to enlarge)

Same regiment, but this time depicting a separate Kavalrie commander.

I completed the first 10 of the 18 figures that will comprise my first GNW Swedish cavalry unit, the Ostgotland Kavalrie Regiment in service in the King's Army at Poltava. The figures are from the Warfare Miniatures Great Northern War range of 28mm figures.

The Swedish army had regiments of Kavalrie and regiments of Dragoons. Following normal European conventions of the times, I take that to mean that the Kavalrie are considered to be heavier battlefield horse whereas the Dragoons are one notch lower on the quality ladder. The uniforms of both appear to be exactly the same.

My GNW Swedish cavalry (generic term cavalry, to indicate anyone on a horse) will be organized into three squadrons of 12 figures for a regimental total of 36 figures. At a 1:20 figure to man ratio, that yields a field strength of 720 riders. The established or paper strength of the cavalry regiments were around 1,000 but I figure that attrition would result in a lower number of riders on campaign.

My brief understanding of Swedish cavalry tactics is that the Swedes loved to charge and they did it in some sort of a wedge shaped formation. I have to do some experimenting with basing to come up with a basing format that I like. For the time being, though, I am using a 60mm wide by 80mm deep base, same as the infantry stands, for the cavalry. I could turn the bases onto the long edge so that the 80mm side is the frontage of the unit. I haven't decide on this yet.

One advantage of the 60mm frontage is that cavalry units would have the same stand frontage as the infantry units.

Note to Dannie Fogleman: what size bases are you using for your Beneath the Lily Banner rules?

A squadron in the Swedish "wedge formation".

Same as previous picture above.

Formed in a more traditional wargaming line.

After working on two Warfare Swedish infantry units, I have a better understanding of how to assemble the figures and get them into the priming booth quickly. The cavalry figures require gluing on the right arm and the sword scabbard as well as the usual attachment of the rider to the horse. I use a little bit of green epoxy putty for the assembly, placing a small dab of putty into the socket holes that the figures provide for the arm and scabbard attachments. These are nicely deep so that you can easily locate the part into the hole. The putty creates a stronger bond and I recommend combining green putty with super glue for the assembly. I then use white Elmer's Glue to attach the figures to temporary cardboard bases and then prime them with grey primer. I seem to have moved away from the black primer system, just because, well just because.

The painting of the figures is relatively easy. They are not loaded down with equipment so there are fewer things to paint. For whatever reason though, the Warfare figures seem to paint rather quickly and are fun to paint.

It appears that the range does not yet have dedicated command figures for the cavalry (officers, standard bearers, and musicians) so these are provided by other generic figures wearing tricorn hats. The officers and standard bearer wear a cuirasse plate under the coat and have a large sash around the waist. I don't believe that the Swedish army used cloth waist sashes during the GNW so you kind of have to live with this error. The sashes can not be carved off of the figure, and in any event, it would be too much work and not worth the payback in time. Thus, I elected to paint the sashes yellow since this seems to be a predominate  color in the Swedish Army of the GNW. The figures look fine even with the sashes. I assume that at some point in the near future, the Warfare sculptor, "Clibinarium" will add the command figures to the Swedish army.

I will also need an infantry brigade commander and I think that the one depicted two pictures above (see wedge formation pix) on the round stand will work just fine as a general officers for my Swedes. Again, I expect that the range will add the extra command figures in the near future. Warfare will be releasing the first of its Russian GNW infantry by the end of September or early October 2015, so I am looking forward to giving some of my Reaper Paints "Elven Green" paint a workout.

Finally, I just really like the animation that the Warfare Miniatures cavalry figures have and that is one of the things that attracted me to both the period and the figure range.

GNW Swedish Brigade

Ostgotland (front) and Upplands (rear) regiments . Click to enlarge.

I have now completed the first two regiments of my Great Northern War ("GNW") Project - Upplands  and Ostgotland are now ready to serve Charles XII of Sweden.

All Swedish battalions will have 32 figures on five bases: 6/6/8/6/6 with the command stand having eight figures - six pikemen and two colour bearers. I include one command figure set behind the two ranks of infantry on each stand. This represents the officers and file closers who operated behind the infantry line and it also gives the illusion of there being a third row of figures on the stands.

Side view depicting the "third row".

Ostgotland (left) and Upplands (right)

I finished the Upplands regiment bases this evening by applying a mix of Winter and Highland tufts plus light green Winter Grass static grass on each base. I wanted the grass colors to be pale and washed out to depict type of terrain that one might see in the Fall and early Winter. Once the Ostgotland bases dry, I will dry brush the grit with a tan color and then add the tufts and static grass.

I am running out of Warfare Miniatures castings to paint, so I will have to wait for the quartermaster to place his requisition for more figures. In the meantime, I have 18 Swedish cavalry figures that I can start working on.

Ostgotland Regiment WIP

Ostgotland Regiment at Poltava. Click to enlarge.

I finished painting the Ostgotland regiment for the Swedish Army at Poltava in 1708: 32 figures using Warfare Miniatures. As you can see, I still have to terrain the bases and add the colours, but the painting is completed.

Front view

This regiment incorporates the more aggressive "action" or attacking figures in the Warfare Miniatures range. With all of those levelled bayonets, one needs a deep base. I use 60mm frontage and 80mm depth, which provides adequate room to place three ranks and still have room for the bayonets, so that they don't break off from wear and tear during a game.

Side view showing the "virtual third rank" of supernumeraries.

The regiment includes four stands with six figures and one central command stand with six pikemen and two standard bearers. Note the grenadiers on the righthand base in the picture below.

View of the full regiment from the front. Two partial battalions of 18 figures are shown in the background.

I have two partial 18-figure battalions ready for primer, but I need to order more figures to boost them up to 32 figures. While I wait for delivery of the next order, I will probably start on the 18 Swedish cavalry that I have on hand. My cavalry regiments will have 36 figures in three squadrons of 12 figures.


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Upplands Regiment Completed

Upplands Regiment - Warfare Miniatures (click to enlarge)

I finished the Upplands Regiment today, using the Warfare Miniatures Great Northern War ("GNW") figure range and flag sheets. I also completed the first stage of the basing process: troweling on the spackle compound and dipping it into a box of fine railroad ballast. Once the stands have dried, the next step will be to ink the bases and then add flock and tufts.

Ground level view of the Upplands Regiment. Flags are also from Warfare Miniatures.

Along the way, I decided to increase the unit size from 30 to 32 figures, using the following basing convention:

4 stands of 6 musketeers
1 stand of 8 figures (6 x pikemen and 2 color bearers)

The original idea was to have a 30 figure regiment (2 x 6-figures; 2 x 5-figures, and 1 x 8 figures), but my sense of symetry compelled me to increase the regiment by 2 figures so that all of the non-pike/command stands would have the same number of figures.

Rear view showing the third rank of supernumeraries.

The illusion of a third rank is attained by just placing a few supernumeraries  behind the regiment acting as file closers. It gives the illusion of having a 3-ranks formation.

A side view providing a different angle of the faux third rank, using just a few command figures to sugges a  third rank.

I use 60mm wide by 80mm deep wooden bases (MDF). The extra depth is needed so that the charging figures can be set back into the stand to minimize breakage. It also provides enough spacing to add a third row of soldiers.

Upplands Regiment WIP

Warfare Miniatures - Upplands Regiment

Here is a quick picture that I took this morning showing the first dozen Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedes that I have painted so far. I selected various regiments from the Poltava order of battle disclosed in the Osprey Campaign book on Poltava. I would imagine that a lot of other collectors use the same methodology- organizing around Poltava.

The figures are informally placed on their 60mm by 80mm stands to give an impression of how they might look when based.

The photo is uploaded from my iPad and for some reason, Blogger will let you edit your pix in any manner possible (save for improving the focus), but it will not upload pix that you can click and enlarge. However, if I email the pix to myself and download them into my desktop computer and then upload them into my blog, then the pix magically enlarge. Blogger, how stupid can you be; why don't you fix this feature in your software? Blogger wins my Stupid Company of the Year Award.

At any rate, I will fix the pictures this evening after I get home from work and add some better posed shots.

The Great Northern War in Europe 1700-1721 Map

Not the map, but a bunch of angry Swedes on the attack.

I found this nice map of Europe at the time of the Great Northern War. Click on the link below to see the full size version.

The Great Northern War in Europe 1700-1721 - Full size


On the painting front, I have completed 12 of the 30 figures for the Upplands Regiment.

Assembling the Swedes

Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedes after assembly process.

I assembled 78 Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedes yesterday. Each figure requires a modest amount of assembly, either gluing on a sword & bayonet scabbard or a pole arm or pike. The marching figures' left arm has to be glued onto the torso as well. My plan was to assemble two 30-figure regiments but I had a few marching poses left over so I decided to assemble them as well.

After a little bit of trial and error, I realized that I needed to break out my epoxy putty so that I could stick a tiny bit of green stuff into the cavities for the pegs that hold the scabbard to the torso. I tried a couple figures without the putty and it was difficult getting the metal to metal bond to hold, as the join was a little awkward to me. Putty definitely speeds up the bonding and assembling process, so I would recommend using it for these figures. Then it took me several models before  realizing that one needs to clip off the bayonet flange that sticks out of the combination sword and bayonet frog. Why? Because the bayonet is already cast to the musket and so the little piece of bayonet that sticks out of the scabbord is a duplicate or redundant. So I took a pair of scissors and just snipped off the little piece of metal. That was easy enough, it just took me several figures before I figured it out.

Front view of two regiments plus a partial regiment of 12 figures marching in the third row.

All in all, assembling is an easy, but somewhat tedious project, for these figures but it is something that you need to do. It doesn't dissuade me from buying more figures, but it did take me a couple of hours to do this mass of figures. Tonight, I will give them a quick soaking in rubbing alchohol to remove any mould-removal agent on the metal. Then I will glue the figures to a square of cardboard and once the glue dries, prime the figures with grey primer. I hope to be able to paint some samples over the weekend.

I now have two charging regiments of Swedes and enough leftover marching poses (which I did not use in the two regiments) - 12, to start a third regiment of 30 figures.

GNW Swedes from Warfare Miniatures

Two regiments of 30 Warfare Miniatures Swedes for the Great Northern War

I received some reinforcements for my GNW Swedish army from Warfare Miniatures the other day, and now I have enough figures to create two 30-figure battalions as shown in these pictures.

Since many of the figures are charging with levelled or extended muskets/bayonets, I chose a deeper base to place them on so that the bayonets do not get broken or bent from use. This also provides enough extra space to create a perception of a third rank by offsetting some of the command figures, such as the drummers, officers, NCOs and standard bearers behind the first two ranks.

For now, I am basing the figures as follows: 2 stands of 6-figures, 2 stands of 5-figures and one command stand with 8-figures. The command stand will include 6 pikemen and 2 standard bearers.

So, what do you think so far?

Side view of the regiments, showing the formation of a third rank with supernumeraries such as officers, drummers and standard bearers.

Great Northern War Project - Swedes

Warfare Miniatures Swedes (painted by Barry Hilton)

I have had a bee in my bonnet to do the Great Northern War in 28mm for some time now and this has been stoked by the recent production of Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedes and Russians. Click on the link below to see the Warfare figures both painted and unpainted.

Warfare Miniatures GNW figures

The three color pictures of painted figures were knicked off of Barry Hilton's League of Augsburg website, where you can purchase the GNW Swedes and Russians. Hopefully Barry won't mind that I am borrowing his pictures and giving him a plug for his terrific looking figures.

Suffice it to say, I really, really, really like these figures and I like them enough to dive head first into a new wargaming period - the Great Northern War.

Warfare Miniatures Swedes, Charging, in Karpus (painted by Barry Hilton)

So for starters, I am trying to decide how many figures to have in each infantry battalion and how to base them. I would like to hear your feedback on three options, so please feel free to leave a comment and give me your opinion as to which option looks better and why you feel that way. Table size and game space is not a constraining variable, so I am not necessarily limited by table space when it comes to choosing a size and basing option.

The choices are 24 figures, 30 figures or 36 figures.

My rules choices will be either Beneath the Lily Banner 2, a GNW variant of Batailles dans l'Ancien Regime ("BAR") or a variant of my own SYW/AWI rules.

Warfare Miniatures Swedes in Tricorns 2nd Rank Charging

My tendency is to go with the largest unit -- 36 figures for an infantry battalion, which would have a frontage of approximately 12-inches. (see picture at the top of this blog thread). All of my options have five stands plus one command stand that is placed behind the center stand of the five. This is where all of the flags and drummers will be placed. You can see the 36-figure option below:

Warfare Minitures Swedes - 36 figures on five stands

My understanding is that about one-third of the Swedes should be carrying pikes, while the remainder carry muskets. The pikemen will be placed in the center stand under all three options.

Below is the 30-figure format with a frontage of approximately ten-inches:

30 figure Swedish battalion on five stands

Here is the smallest of the three options, 24-figures with a frontage of approximately 8-inches.

24 figure Swedish battalion on five stands.

And finally, here is a picture of the three different basing options, below:

Basing options (top to bottom): 30 figures; 36 figures and 24 figures

My plan would be to have a Swedish army with twelve elements, 6 infantry battalions and 6 cavalry regiments. The Swedish army typically had 50% of its forces in the cavalry branch. I haven't made any decisions on the Russian army, but it will probably have twelve units too.


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