A PERSONAL MILESTONE

 

The Meanderer...transitioning from figure 2 to figure 1 (we'll leave it an open question which is the wasted and which is the useful life...)

 

I generally like to keep this blog centered on hobby topics, but I thought I'd follow up on something I had mentioned in earlier posts--and mark the day.  Last fall, I accepted an early retirement package from the University where I had been employed for the last 14 years (I along with 350 of my colleagues who also took up the offer: quite a stampede)...it was one of those cost cutting measures brought on by the pandemic (which many suspect provided cover for ideas that were already being cooked up for dumping people, but we'll leave that bit out).  In order to provide for the maximum transition and continuity in the program I ran, I remained on the job until the last day allowed, which was Friday, June 25--my last day.  Thus, today marked my first post-work day, and it was a fine thing.  I spent the day watching the Euro Football Cup matches (Spain v Croatia and France v Switzerland), doing a spot of painting, walking the dog (and watching the dog swim in her kiddie pool: it's hot in these parts), posting some rules questions on a forum (Pikeman's Lament)--and for the first  time in years--NOT having a stream of thoughts and concerns always going on in the background about what was transpiring at work or would be waiting for me upon my return to work, or wondering if I should be checking work emails...because I don't work there any more, and I ain't gonna return!    

I'm still decompressing--but am looking forward to the next stage, which will have more time, energy, and emotion available for personal pursuits (hobby activities, of course, being chief among them).

Excelsior!

 

DISMOUNTED COSSACKS: RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA

Two units of Outpost Wargame Service Russo Turkish War Dismounted Cossacks Join the Force.

Having completed the cavalry, in this post, dear reader, we report on the first step in the next stage of the Russian Army project of the Russo Turkish War: the infantry.  To get going, I decided to do dismounted cossacks--being cavalry walking, they present a nice transition between cavalry and infantry. In Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) game terms, these units will stand in for the militia/conscript level troops of the Russian Army. Yes, dear reader, the CBW project may have stalled, but it is still among my intended things to get done--and in any case, these could also be used in my VnB 19th Century variant as well (in much the same role).  But enough of that. In this post, as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

 

Unlike the mounted Don Cossacks, I decided to go with a blue cap rather than the all white  furashka.  I made this choice for several reasons: the headgear on these figures clearly has more structure than that of the mounted Copplestone Don Cossacks--in other words, this seems to actually be an early modern visored cap as opposed to a furashka, and as such, painting it all white would have made it look huge; the second reason was that (eventually) my Russian Guard infantry will be in white furashkas--this way I avoid players having to keep straight that this unit in white caps is Guard and that unit in white caps is dismounted cossacks (ie militia). The third reason is that the example paint job on the Outpost website shows this color headgear (and there are examples of colored visored headgear among the sources and re-enactors).  Enough of that. Here is a study of how I rendered these...

Once again, I went with the white as opposed to black strapping.  And speaking of strapping, I had originally thought that these would be fairly quick and simple figures to knock out. However, the strapping wound up being deceptively complicated to render. For the red piping, I first painted it white and then went over it in red in order to get it to stand out.  Having a small figure count allows one the luxury of doing a detail like this twice--whether doing it in a single step of red over blue would have rendered the same effect is something I just don't want to think about at this point.

 

It wasn't until I started taking pictures that I noticed that there isn't a repeat pose/figure in the unit.  This nicely adds to the impression of these as irregulars.  That plus the headgear is reminiscent of the blue feldmutz of the Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr, another signifier of status for gamers familiar with napoleonics (which is the case with many in my group).

 

The dismounted cossacks deployed for inspection at "gaming distance."

 

Next up and on the painting table, two independent rifle battalions...

 

Excelsior!

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!