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Sunday, April 8, 2018

1812 Russian Guard Cossacks Completed!

They have been a long time coming, but at last they have arrived to bolster the defense of the Motherland!


 The setting sun, or burning villages, illuminates the skyline as the Guard Cossacks prepare to charge.



A fellow contributor to the Miniature Page asked that I take some close ups of the officers when done, so here is just one of a series I took to thank him for uniform help provided.



 I took inspiration for the painting style and motivation to complete these fellows primarily from two sources.  Matt from the Hintonspieler blog continues amaze with his fantastic work, and much reassurance that I was on the right track with the uniforms came from the My Ever Growing Armies blog.  
http://thehintonspieler.blogspot.com/
http://myevergrowingarmies.blogspot.com/2017/11/russian-guard-cossacks.html



 Horse butts - 😀


A rather intimidating block of cavalry.
 

With all of the straps and saddle bags and other paraphernalia, I think these figures ended up looking just as good going away as moving forward.



The original cast on lances were held horizontally, so one of the byproducts of removing them was that most of the canvas food bags had to be augmented with a little green stuff epoxy sculpting compound to disguise the cut marks.  This was more or less successful, with some turning out more convincingly than others.  Below is a series of close-ups of the troopers and officer stands.







I believe the Guard Cossacks were the only Cossacks considered a formal organized force and were the only unit of cossacks given the distinction of carrying a guidon.  I was able to find a picture of some reenactors on line who used this flag, which was confirmed as appropriate through some knowledgeable folks on the Miniatures Page.

 http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=476870




Der Kriegspielers did not make Russian Cossack Command, so these figures owe their command arms and Busby's to newline designs 20mm Ural Cossacks.  Those busbys unfortunately had no cords or plumes, so I had to sculpt those once again using Green Stuff.




11 comments:

  1. Great job, wonderful colors on these Cossacks...

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    1. Thanks Phil. I have really struggled to get a bright old school toy soldier-like red. For these it was a final red ink wash that really made the color pop.

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  2. David, they’re gorgeous, that last photo of the commander and trumpeter from the back is a tour de force of painting belts and buckles. I must now admit they look equally gorgeous from the front, I think it’s the facial hair that’s really brought them to life.

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind words Rob. It does seem that the buckles and straps really brought them to life in the end. Of course cossacks have to have a great big woolly beard too!

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  3. My mistake, it’s a ranker with the trumpeter, not the commander, but then they’re all so flash it’s an easy mistake to make.

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  4. Those are superb, Dave, and wonderfully colourful. I'm particularly impressed by the flag.
    Best regards
    WM

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    1. Thanks Matt. I've always had good luck using paper flags folded around the staff and stiffened with white glue. That allows me to paint them while flat, and add all of the creases after I put it on. It's a very forgiving process as long as you fold the flag evenly. If it gets misaligned while folding it can be difficult to separate and try again. Thanks again for all of your encouragement along the way!

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  5. Great work David...lovely unit, a tribute to the time you have invesrpted in it.

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    1. Thanks so much. Hopefully the time invested will be much less next time. The prep and conversions these required were time intensive!

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  6. Getting these done has kind of interfered with painting my Kings of War army! I did at least assemble a few more skeletons...

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