Pegasus Hobbies 1:72nd scale Log houses

 One thing we still need for Borodino is some buildings for the villages. Pegasus Hobbies do a range of 1:72nd scale Russian log houses so I ordered a couple of sets of each. They were about 8 pounds each from Wayland Games. 

They took about 10 minutes to assemble. The simple log house set comes with 2 houses so you can't really complain about that. Undercoated black and drybrushed in various brown shades they should be great for the game- sightly underscale but with the size of a battalion footprint I prefer them to be smaller and indeed 15mm buildings to represent buildings also works.

An hour later and they look like this. A quick undercoat and then heavy drybrush of dark brown and then a couple of lighter shades and we are good to go.

Craig

WIP- Hussars of the Guard

Front Rank Russian Hussars- the first stand painted up tonight.These will represent the Hussars of the Guard which were part of the First Army's 1st Cavalry Reserve Corps at Borodino.

According to the book I've got the pants should have had yellow stripes, not buttons but I'm not that anal about figures and most people I play would probably not know/spot the difference :)

My basing is pretty straight forward, I simply cover the base in PVA and then cover it in sand. Once dry it is undercoated black, a heavy dry brush of dark brown and highlighted a light dry brush of a tan shade before the static grass and silflor flowers are added. One of the advantages of painting in winter is half an hour or 40 minutes in front of the log burner and the pva glue has set and the bases are ready for the black undercoat so the process is pretty quick.  

I'm pretty pleased with the ay these turned out and can't wait to have the ful un it ready for the table but alas this stand will probably be all I have time for this week as we shift back  into the city this Friday. So thenext few nights I'll be busy packing, although I have allowed for some time out on Wednesday night to give Kent a game of Black Powder- and hopefully a report will follow.

Craig

Cossacks & Uhlans

I've completed the first unit of cossacks- very characterful figures from Front Rank, a joy to paint.

Last night I also finished the unit of Uhlans of the Guard- I just need to get some lance tips to complete them.

The Perry's have also just released their Russian Dragoons which I've ordered so should be starting two units of those in the next couple of weeks. We move house though at the end of next week so  not sure how much time I'll get in the enxt coupleof weeks for painting.

Craig

Cossacks- WIP

My first stand of Cossacks for Borodino. John is looking for 10 units of Cossacks for the game. I am aiming to have two done. These are  more of the lovely Front Rank figures. As these guys are meant to be irregulars I am seriously considering only putting two figures per base to differentiate them from the more regular units and make them look a bit less orderly.

Today Kent is coming over for our playtest of Black Powder- as we are half way though packing for the shift at the end of the month I need to spend a bit of time this morning making room for a gaming table.

Craig

Cuirrissars

I've just rebased my Cuirissars to my new (3 figure) basing standard. I prefer the look of this to the smaller base with only  figures on it.

Joh has decided to up the size of divisions for Borodino- 5 for Russians 6 for French, so it looks like I'll need to add a couple more battalions of infantry painted.

Craig

Napoleonic Russians Update

Kent and I are planning a game of Black Powder on Friday so I've been busy finishing off the rebasing project. We will have 8 battalions of infantry per side and a couple of units of cavalry and artillery.

I have now 9 battalions of infantry rebased or painted and only one more battalion (Warlord Plastics) left to paint. Tonight's job is to rebase the two units of cuirassiers. I am not very happy with the GMD flags, they have faded badly so will be replacing them with the ones out of the Warlord and Perry plastics boxes (I;'ve just ordered some Perry plastics).

Other good news, I had an e-mail from Perry's yesterday saying that their new Russian Dragoons are due to be released in the next couple of weeks I am looking forward to getting a couple of large units of those done before the Borodino game.

Craig

Basing Continues

Tonight I rebased another 4 battalions of Russian infantry as well as completing the bases of the Uhlans. It's been a bit of a major pain getting the figures off the old bases but it was well worth it. I am very happy with the massed look this basing gives. I'v one battalion left to do and have to finish another 12 figures to complete the eighth battalion.

Some touching up still to be done but we are almost there.

 More Uhlans are required.

Craig

A Busy Night

Bad news regarding my copy of Black Powder- four pages fell out the seond time I opened it! Even my Battle Front books don't fall apart that quickly!However, Warlord Games are sending a replacement- which is great service.

A busy night tonight. I've managed to rebase 2x units of Russian infantry to the new standard and must say I love the look of the 24 figure battalions so I guess I now have to accept that I'll be painting more figures per unit. The overall look is well worth it though and the units look more Napoleonic than the previous system. I  have a few more figures to paint to get back to 8 battalions of Grenadiers which means I will need to paint another 4 battalions worth at some point before too much longer.

Much better visually as far as I'm concerned.

As well as rebasing, painting, flocking and adding some scenic grass clumps I managed a game of Impetvs vs Kent. Dave and I ran my standard Seljuk force vs Kent & Stephen using Kent's Crusaders.

Dave
2x 3 light horse commands

My command:
2x Seljuk Nobles
2x Ghulums
4x skirmishers (shortbow)
1x light troops (javelins)

Kent's command had:
6x knights
2x Armenian light Horse

Stephen ran something like:
3 foot knights
3 foot sergeatns
2 bows
2 crossbows

Crusaders on the left, the Seljuks on the right. Kent massed his knights vs Dave's light horse- or more accurately we massed our light horse vs Kent's knights.

 Kent got to move first and sent his knights forward.

 Stephenn went next and did the same with the Crusader infantry- alas the crossbows got stuck trudging through the woods- and so missed most of the battle. Shame that.

 Here they come. Already the Seljuk composite bows are disrupting the knights.

 My own Seljuk nobles and Ghulums move forward while the horse archers rain a steady stream of arrows on the advancing knights. The light horse managed to tie the knights up for most of the battle.

 A swarm of light horse raining down arrows on the knights- frustrating the impetuous knights.

My skimishers stick to the woods- having been run over numerous times by the foot knights I've decided that massed skirmishers to control the bad going is a more useful tactic than taking militis or other heavier foot troops- and it worked.

 We had already killed the Armenian light horse and a unit of knights with the Seljuks when one unit was caught by some angry knights- a wee bit of revenge.

 Meanwhile my Seljuk heavy Cavalry advances to support the light horse.

  Stephen's infantry continue forward.

The Ghulums charge the Crusader general but become stuck in an inconclusive battle.

 So I throw in another unit- with the same result. If we can kill the general its all over as Kent is very close to breaking.  Stephen threw some infantry in to support the general but the Seljuks forced them and the general back.

 Stephen's infantry are getting too close but it is too little too late.

 The foot knights manage to catch my javelin troops in the woods and slaughter them.

 

 End game. Massed archery from the light horse has been decisive. Although Dave is within a whisker of losing one of his commands he has more than taken care of the Crusader knights, breaking their command!

The most decisive victory yet. However, Stephen and Kent made a few mistakes. They failed to get their missile troops into action and Kent raced forward with his knights on turn 1 to engage the seljuk light horse which then proceeded to dance round and mass their nasty composite bows. By moving out so quickly meant Stephen's foot were uanble to support the knights and we were able to mass most of out troops v Kent's command. Screening the knights with misisle troops and a more combined arms approach would have probably worked much better for them. Looking at the troops massed against us it looked like Dave and I were going to be in trouble but the lack of coordination of the Crusader army helped us out- after the post game debrief about possible tactics to negate the light horse I think  we will be in trouble next time.

Great game guys, lots of fun as always

Craig