Wednesday, September 1, 2021

BANG! RTW RUSSIAN ARTILLERY DONE

Russian Foot Battery: Outpost Wargame Service Russo Turkish War Figures with Outpost 75mm Krupp gun.
 
Perhaps at the expense of my readership (I've noticed that I've recently lost two followers), I continue with my singular focus on the RTW Russian Army project. In that regard, I am happy to report the completion of the penultimate stage of this effort: the artillery park.  Although not as extensive as some of the other stages, this was the last of the "big" hurdles to get through (made no less so because assembling and painting equipment--in this case guns--is among my least favorite things to do: squeezing out even horses).  
 
Left to right: (new offering) Outpost Wargame Service 60mm Russian RTW Mountain Gun, Foundry Franco Prussian War Prussian Field Gun, and Outpost Wargame Service Krupp RTW 75mm Field Gun (suitable for 60-90mm variants). 

I use the Foundry FPW Prussian Field Gun as the standard medium foot gun across all of my post-Napoleonic forces (to include these recently completed Russians).  I find that it is a nice mid-sized model that looks the mid-century part and works well with gunner figures from almost any line. Jeff at Outpost Wargame Service brought my attention to a new 60mm Russian Mountain Gun that they were offering (not as yet on their online catalog), which I will use for my Russian Horse Artillery and also to represent light foot guns.  I use the larger Outpost Wargame Service 75mm Krupp models for heavy guns (for Russians and Romanians)--I wound up doing a medium and a heavy gun model for each foot battery: double the effort but maximizes flexibility. 

Russian 41st Artillery Brigade during Russo Turkish War (Wikimedia Commons).  
 
The Russian artillery of the RTW was not the big-battery, gun-heavy force of earlier periods. Batteries were 8 guns (some sources suggest horse batteries were 6 guns).  Each Army Corps had two artillery brigades, each consisting of six batteries: three 9 pounder and three 4 pounder. Each artillery brigade operated in direct support of an infantry division. In addition, each corps had two horse batteries (of 4 pounders) that operated in support of the corps cavalry division. There were no supplemental corps guns or army artillery reserve formations (there were separate siege artillery organizations).  So much for my thumbnail lesson on the RTW Russian Artillery. Here is my study of how I rendered my Russian gunners. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post:
 
I very much like the animation of the Outpost gunners. I went with black facings with red piping. 
The Foot Artillery Park, shown with the Foundry Prussian Field guns. For my purposes four batteries will suffice. 
 
Horse Artillery Batteries: the kepi plumes are a conversion...
...for the kepis, I used a by-now familiar routine: I drilled a hole and inserted a bit of florist wire, secured with some J&B Qwik Weld (above left), and then I snipped the wire to length and used green stuff to shape the plume. The kepi plume was part of the Russian uniform, used on dress and parade occasions--so it's not a complete fabrication to show it, and it is, after all, consistent with the  "Chocolate Box Soldier" look of the era I'm after.
I ran across an illustration showing Russian horse artillerists wearing the standard blue cavalry trousers, so I added this touch as well (anyone surprised?).  The gun model is the small Outpost Russian Mountain gun.
 
Horse and Foot: the completed Russian Artillery Park.  
 
The next (and last) stage in the project will be the Russian Command.
 
Excelsior!

16 comments:

  1. I enjoy watching your RTW project take shape. Artillery is an integral part and your conversions and gun sourcing are interesting to see. You won’t be losing me.

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    1. Thanks, Jonathan: heading into the home stretch of the project now (waiting on a few figs via the mail: much anticipation).

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  2. Great looking artillery! I'm rather afraid you're stuck with me!
    Best Iain

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  3. Guns and crew all look great to me.

    I must be more tired than I thought though, upon reading '60mm Mountain gun', some part of my brain responded "how is that going to fit in with 25mm figures?" Luckily, by the time I finished reading the caption the rest of my brain woke up.

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    1. It can be even more confusing. I've seen the same piece of ordnance refereed to by calibre (ie in mm), by old school shot size (ie, 4 pounder), and in terms of actual projectile weight (ie, 12 pounder). For gaming purposes, that's why I just say light, field, and heavy.

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  4. A fine collection of guns Ed…
    I particularly like the Horse Artillery.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks, Aly: the horse gunners are a nice confection!

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  5. Nice work indeed Ed and I really like the Chocolate Box/Ruritanian look of you mid century Russians. Do you already have Turks or are they next on the production line?

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    1. Thanks, Keith: Fiction and history certainly converge in these mid-century forces. I'll have to think about adding a generic Count Rupert of Hentzau command figure :) I have how I would put the Ottomans together mapped out, but I'm not sure whether I will be able to embark on another major painting project like this given recent neck/shoulder issues (sucks getting old--then again, the consolation is shifting from painting to playing). We'll see (I may search about for a good painting service to do the Ottomans on consignment).

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  6. Beautiful batteries Ed. Please don't be put off from posting about your Russo-Turkish war figures. I for one am enjoying them immensely and your posts were a big part of my getting drawn to figures and eventual games of the conflict.
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks, James--it's good to get some confirmation that I haven't tracked myself onto a siding to nowhere (Parsley Sidings?). And always happy to prompt the hobby butterfly to flutter for anyone who may visit these parts.

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  7. A full artillery battery is a fun sight on the table.
    Though I’d rather paint guns than horses anytime. Anything but horses I say. 😀

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    1. Horses...guns...horses...guns...it is a toss up.

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