Tonight a few images of the recently completed Repnin's Grenadier Regiment for my Great Northern War expansion. This regiment wears bearskin caps instead of mitres, which made them instantly attractive as a "different" looking unit. Fortunately, each of the 6 sprues I got includes two bearskin grenadier heads - plus I had a few I had saved from my previous WSS collection - so I had sufficient for an 18-figure unit.
Once again, uniform details are from Russian Infantry Uniforms 1700-1721 (tacitus.nu) as below
And here is my version of this attractively uniformed unit:
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The light blue flag was copied from another blog I came across whilst doing a Google search on the unit name - I don't know where the other blogger got his info, or if he just chose the flag because its a nice colour - the inference was, it was accurate as per Barry Hiltons Warfare Miniatures website, so that's good enough for me (albeit, the blog had the grenadiers wearing normal mitre caps, not bearskins....!)
Three close ups of each of the 60mm x 60mm, 6 figure bases that comprise a unit in Beneath Lilly Banners
I noticed when taking the pic above that I had not finished off the officers sashes in the requisite white/blue/red of the Russian flag - that's fixed up now!
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View from above to show off the basing
Rear view.
Unfortunately, I had insufficient of the "extra" figures to do a drummer for this unit. I could have waited and ordered a metal one in a bearskin from Ebor....but I don't have that level of patience! Infantry didn't march in a cadenced step in this era anyway, so who needs a drum to keep the beat?!
I really like the look of this unit and am happy with how they have come out, despite the fact that basically, 16 of the 18 figures are exactly the same!
Next up is another cavalry unit, which is 80% completed and really only needs the horses done before they get based up. Probably have them up here in 48 hours or so and this is what they will look like:
Thanks for dropping by!
Nice work there Kieth on the Grenadiers- you've certainly have the patience to paint up all those Brass Buttons- well done. KEV.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kev.....I do have to wear very strong "painting" glasses to see all these small details nowadays!
DeleteBeautiful work as always sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal.
DeleteI really like the look of this regiment too. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jon.
DeleteLovely looking troops Keith.
ReplyDeleteCheers Richard!
DeleteVery nice Keith, though it’s always annoying when you only spot some error or omission as you are posting pictures of the unit. Happens all the time to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks JBM. For me, it is usually "dust" from when I apply the basing! I try to remember to give them a quick shake then brush to remove ant extraneous flock etc, but painting errors are harder to fix!
DeleteNice work Keith and look forward to seeing Kropotov's horse grenadiers
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Neil, the horse grenadiers should follow soon
DeleteVery high quality painted figures, Keith! I finally understood ... You deliberately allow inaccuracies in historicity for the sake of artistic result. Otherwise, one cannot explain the bear hats of the Russian grenadiers, which never existed, and the presence of banners in the consolidated units, which are the Grenadier regiments.
ReplyDeleteThanks Valentine. I would not say I deliberately include inaccuracies, but I can live with a few! The bears kind cap is vases on the date from the Tacitus blog and he based it on Hogland and others, but if it is incorrect, I can live with it 😉 If I had known the grenadiers had no flags, I could have done a drummer figure instead!
DeleteAnother thing I may have wrong is the officers headwear in general. A few images I have seen infer officers always wore a tricorn hat, even in a grenadier regiment ?
DeleteBy 1704, the Russian army had completely switched to European uniforms. Hungarian clothing with fur hats and corded coats is a thing of the past. And the Grenadier regiments were formed in general in 1708, before Poltava. The grenadiers' headdress was introduced to make it more convenient to throw grenades with it ... The officers did not throw grenades, so they did not need such hats. In addition, officers wore wigs, which are much more comfortable to wear with a cocked hat. With sincere respect.
DeleteA nice change of pace with the bearskin caps. I can understand you not wanting to order and wait for the additional figure. You never know about the standards. I remember reading that in the Napoleonic Wars the Spanish consolidated grenadier battalions would sometimes take a second battalion standard with them.
ReplyDeleteI guess I should take responsibility for only a very brief skim of research Lawrence ....I gave my Napoleonic Austrian converged grenadier battalions flags too, I think
DeleteNice looking unit Keith. I didn't notice that 16 of them were exactly the same so you must of done a good job with adding a small amount of variation. I feel bad for the flag guy being the only one without a fuzzy hat. 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew, heads looking in different directions and a variety of hair colours helps hide the fact they are basically all the same pose!
DeleteNice work Keith. Good choice of unit. They look great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, glad you like them !
DeleteWell yet another lovely unit there Keith. These days slight accidental inaccuracies I don't worry about, unless it's WWII, where I try to be pretty accurate. Hence why I think I've moved much more towards the ImagiNations route, so I can paint units I like and play with them, which gives me great joy:).
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve, I think my approach is as accurate as possible but with some poetic license if required. An example is the fact I have six or more kilted Highland regiments in my Napoleonic collection....I only discovered some years after painting the figures that only a few of them actually fought the French in Europe, as the remainder were stationed in India for the duration....which is mildly annoying but would never stop me putting them on the table in a Peninsula battle, for example!
DeleteGreat looking new GNW regiment, Keith. Your work on these older Wargames Factory sculpts really makes it tempting to start another period - dang!
ReplyDeleteHaha Dean.....resistance is futile!
DeleteOooo very nice. I likes them a lot!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Ray...me too!
DeleteNicely done Keith, the same heads do give a slight feeling of ‘similarity’ but that is on,y because we have all gotten used to such a lot of variety from manufacturers. Once upon a time you only got one sculpt and a perhaps a command figure. 👍
ReplyDeleteCheers Matt. Quite right...and once upon a time, we would deliberately buy two or three packs of Airfix French Napoleonic Infantry, so we had enough of each pose to create units of figures that were all exactly the same! Fashions and tastes change, and most of us have forgotten the gloss painted units on bright green bases (although there is a sizeable number of people who now look back on this type of figure with affectionate nostalgia.....not me, but plenty of others!)
DeleteGreat looking unit , damn accuracy full speed ahead!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain 😜
DeleteSplendid Keith…
ReplyDeleteThe bearskins and red coats work for me…
All the best. Aly
Cheers Aly...me too although I would not have deliberately chosen the wrong hats, if I had known the image from the blog was inaccurate! I don't do Imaginations......yet!
DeleteGood lord I am so behind on checking up on your blog. Many aplogies Keith....
ReplyDeleteLovely looking unit and the bearskin hats are definitely a selling point. Drummers are annoying anyhow - holding sticks instead of a gun is just silly.