Sunday, June 6, 2021

COSSACKS: RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA

  The addition of the Don and Caucasian Cossacks (left and right, respectively) complete the Russian Cavalry.

These two units round out the first stage of my Russian Army project which was begun back in  April: the cavalry contingent (pictured above) consisting of two divisions of Russian Cavalry plus the Guard Cossacks (the horse artillery is still to come).  In this post, as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX...

DON COSSACK

Each Russian cavalry division contained one Hussar, Uhlan, Dragoon, and Cossack regiment. I decided to go with a Don Cossack regiment for one of the divisions.  For these, I used the Mollo Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army as my guide. Note the all-white furashka cap in the example.  This distinctive Russian headgear is variously depicted as white with black visor and details (and sometimes a colored band), or as all white, as above (to include visor).
 
I again went out-of-period for figures and used the Bolshevik Cavalry I of the Copplestone Castings "Back of Beyond" Range.

I decided to go with the all-white furashka as being more distinctively "Russian" and representative of the era prior to when visored caps came into more general use.  I also stuck with white strapping (as per Mollo)--there are other sources that show it as black. Probably both are correct. As with the caps, I think the white is more distinctive and representative of the earlier end of this transitional era. 

CAUCASIAN COSSACK
I decided to go with a Caucasian Cossack regiment for the other cavalry division.  For this, I used the above image from the NYPL Vinkhuijzen collection as a model.  Having painted a brown coated army before (Hungarians), I gained an appreciation for the look of brown-clad units, and was drawn to the potential of the orange and brown combination of this unit.

I stuck with the Copplestone Casting "Back of Beyond" line and used the White Russian Caucasian Cossack figures once again (I had used these figures for the Guard Cossacks).
Many different versions of brown were brought to bear on these, along with the selective use of washes and highlighting, in order to keep the brown clad riders, the brown bits (like the rifles and slings, the horse furniture, etc), and the chestnut horses distinct from each other. I also resisted the urge to embellish with extra dashes of orange and instead stuck with the understated look of the source. 
 
I've now moved on to the Russian infantry, which will be a larger project, but one that doesn't involve horses (I'm so done with painting horses right now!).

Excelsior!

12 comments:

  1. Excellent work, Ed! Your Cossack contingent continues! If I get around to expanding my Russians for the Great Game, these figures would come in handy to strength my Foundry Cossack contingent.

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    1. Thanks, Jonathan. I left out one detail: the Bolshevik cavalry have a prominent star embossed on the front of the furashka. I just took an exacto and scraped that down until it was a mound/lump and then painted it over as a cockade. Other than that, the figs can be used pretty much as is.

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  2. Painting hordes does get tiresome. That’s why I have so few ACW cav. But you did a great job with these. Nice!
    Good luck with the Russians now. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew. I was thinking that the infantry would be a bigger job than the cav, but when you think of the horse and rider as separate figures, this cavalry contingent was a bigger job than the infantry, which is some consolation going into the next phase...

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  3. Splendid looking cossacks! Lovely looking cavalry force!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain: of course, now I'm wondering if there ever will be a game where I can put all of them on the table (but then again, that's more the norm than the exception, it seems to me).

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  4. Lovely toys Ed…
    That’s a splendid cavalry force…
    I’m looking forward to seeing the infantry.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks, Aly--the infantry is just starting to march now.

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  5. Another clever bit of repurposing Ed - and why not? I am sure Cossacks looked pretty similar over quite a long period - some details of their dress may have changed and the model of rifle carried would have varied, but apart from that, they probably looked quite similar to their grandfathers from the Napoleonic or Crimean era's! Plus, Copplestone are lovely figures.

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    1. Indeed—I accepted that the rifles would probably not be absolutely “right” upon close inspection, but given the eyesight of the crew I play with, probably not something that would get noticed 😁 I also very much like the Copplestone figs.

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