Friday 16 January 2015

An army finished - Russian SYW - Roll call!


Today I put my brush down on my Seven Year War Russian army. Finishing an army is a significant moment for any war gamer. The chance to say "finished" is never one to be sniffed at. Every usable Russian in my lead pile has now been painted. Every planned unit has been done.

Will there be more units to come? Maybe but, not in the immediate future. I may, in years to come, add a unit of field guns, two or three units of line infantry, a unit of dismounted dragoons, and possibly a unit or two of jagers, but not for now; for now I have enough; my enough is, thankfully, nowed.

What did I need to paint to finish the army? Well, actually not that much but, after the Zorndorf project, I felt uninspired to finish the last three units of cavalry and command stands. The units I have added are force balancing additions for campaigns and the like.

What made me paint them now?  I looked at the battles I could do and found Paltzig 1759. I could just about do it if I added a couple of units of cavalry - which I had in the lead pile - so I waded into them. With just 11 more figures needed, after that, to remove the pile completely, the temptation was too much. I had to take them off the to do list altogether.

So now, less three units and three commands to bases I have to finish basing (a mere trifle), I have decided to "Roll Call!"

After register, the army musters 931 (little lead) men and 12 guns.

Dragoons and Horse Grenadiers: Two regiments of each.
Hussars: There are four regiments of hussars but one is at double strength - Horvat - this latter unit wore the same uniform as two other regiments, so it's a useful colour scheme.
Cuirassier: Four units of cuirassier.
 Three batteries of howitzers.
Five units of the Observation Corp. The four regiments that took part in the SYW plus their combined grenadier regiment (?).
 The line infantry....
..that amount to 15 units - perhaps too few?
Combined grenadiers from the infantry: There are three units of these.
Cossacks: I have painted 64 of these buggers. You absoletely need them for any Russian army, but you can't find any (war game) military reasons to include them. We are not talking 1812 here - these cavalry were generally useless, even in campaign terms.
Field guns: Three batteries, of everything, these might be the first component of the army that might need reinforcement, but only by one battery.

There is, of course, another thing I've been painting. It's not complete, but my next post will detail my plans and show where I'm at...........






EDIT: Whoops, forgot to mention these guys. Four Grenadier Regiments.

19 comments:

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Awesome comes to mind!

Christopher

TamsinP said...

A fabulous sight indeed.

I've recently finished painting the first tranche of my SYW Russians - in 15mm, so much less detail than yours. The most painful part was painting the moulded-on standards (Essex - Grrr!).

Bedford said...

Great work as per James.

A real pleasure to see the whole army laid out like that.

Darrell.

Anonymous said...

Wow really great looking army with an impressive painting quality throughout. Enjoy the momentary feeling of success as you know you'll be on to other stuff soon enough. :)

Rog said...

Superb work, aboslutely amazing! Congratulations!

Carlo said...

Lovely work and congratulations on completing the army...and you call yourself a wargamer! :-)

Phil Robinson said...

Superb and nice too see a "proper" wargames army:-)

rct75001 said...

They are wonderful to look at. A great accomplishment - but not the first time you have finished an army - well done.

Capt Bill said...

What a handsome bunch of lads...Bill

alex sengir said...

I read that the Russian army during the Seven Years' War was a great, now I have seen it

Gonsalvo said...

Wonderful looking Army, James!

Bluebear Jeff said...

Amazing . . . Awesome . . . Wow . . . I am envious, Sir.

Do you even have any idea how many wonderfully painted figures you have across all of your armies in all of the periods you game?

Truly fabulous.


-- Jeff

Phil said...

Stunning pictures as always!

Steve J. said...

Wonderful to see the army laid out in all its glory. It is satisfying when you have finished an army, even though there is always the temptation to add a few more units...

David said...

A fine sight there, and no mistake! But 'finished'? What kind of wargamer says that?

BigRedBat said...

What an achievement! A stunning force.

Keith Flint said...

What can one add? Lovely, and an inspiration to us all.

Keith.

peter said...

What an impressive painted army! Love it, and it's very colourfull!

Greetings
Peter

Paul Howes said...

Splendid Panoramic View !