28mm SYW Russian 4th Observation Corps Regiment

Progress and the light at the end of the tunnel!

Napoleonic French Legere Regiment

I have always wanted to have a Legere Regiment in full dress with all the plumes. These are not quite full-dress (they are missing boots with tasseled tops) but they are as full dress as I could manage given the availability of figures in 28mm. These are mostly Victrix with the occasional Warlord Games figure thrown in. I have also given them all the same pom-pom colour as a deliberate choice.

I based the painting on the three illustrations above.

1st Carlist War: 1st Guipuzcoan

Now that I have sold my ACW armies (some lots still remain on eBay see https://www.ebay.com/itm/112849660134?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649


that means I have no 19th century armies and so I thought I would start a new period.

I have long been interested in the 1st Carlist War since the Perry brothers made their range and published the uniform guide.

This is why:


1) great figures from the Perrys

2) Fancy uniforms

3) Small armies

4) I live close to the Basque area

5) Nice International angle as there are French, British and Portuguese legions serving on the Government side (Isabelinos)


Had I lived at the time I would probably be aligned politically with the so-called Liberal side (the Isabelinos) but culturally I sympathise with the Carlists.

Here is the first painted unit – the first Basque Guipuzcoan battalion of four planned. The Carlists of the Northern army were recruited from the countryside (the cities and towns largely remained pro-Government) and must have been incredibly fit as their marching prowess was noted by many commentators. On one occasion a unit was known to have marched 60 miles in one day which is quite incredible as most of the countryside of Northern Spain is mountainous.

The Carlist main headwear was the beret or boina or txapela which could be in a wide choice of colours but were probably one colour in a battalion. The first I show here has red but the second I will paint shortly will have blue. They wear the winter colour trousers which were red, white being used in the summer. The colour should be garance (a particularly dark red much in fashion in the 19th century around Europe) but I am not sure mine is quite dark enough.

Figures are from the Perry brothers and the flag is from Adolfo Ramos.

28mm SYW Russian 3rd Observation Corps Regiment

Here is the the second regiment painted (remember the 2^nd was not fully raised) so it is the 3^rd. The choice of flag, as I said in the previous post, is conjectural.

28mm SYW Russian 1st Observation Corps Regiment

Here is a three-battalion regiment of the Observation Corps. There were supposed to be 5 regiments (plus a Grenadier Regiment) but the second was only partially raised and was never fielded. We know the style and colour of the flags but don't know which colour was carried by which regiment. It might be reasonable to assume that the Grenadier Regiment carried the red ones, but as to the rest it is conjectural. I will give dark blue to the first, grass green to the third, light blue to the fourth and yellow to the fifth.

The figures are a mix of Foundry and Front Rank. Foundry produce OC command in winter coats but not the infantry and there are particular uniform differences between the Observation Corps and the rest of the Russian Line. That is why most of these figures are from Front Rank. For uniform details see my booklet from www.18thCenturyPress.com

I have really struggled with these figures because I am so used to painting a march-attack pose rather than this advancing one and, furthermore, Front Rank always invite a lot of painting work to get a decent result partly because the range is so old and partly because of the sculptor's style of work.

Raised in 1756 (and disbanded in 1760) the Corps was the brainchild of Shuvalov and in his mind it was to be a defensive min-army of 30,000 (with extra reinforced artillery). It was planned that he would command it in the field in person but when that time came he told the Empress that he was not well enough to do the job and he handed his pet project over to another general. It never consisted of much more than 12,000 men and was largely destroyed at Kunnersdorf. Lastly it is worth noting that the rankers were not conscripted serfs, as in the rest of the army, but recruited from the urban proletariat. It's valiant defence at Kunnersdorf, and in particular the Muhlberg, is well documented.

28mm SYW Russian 4th Grenadiers

The last Grenadier regiment is finished. The figures are mostly Foundry although there are some Front Rank officers in there.

28mm SYW Russian 3rd Grenadiers

The third regiment is shown here and the 4th will follow quite quickly. Then it is on to the super-large Observation Corps.