MY RUSSIAN ARMY

  Organised for Die Kreigskunst   

I've always been something of a Russophile - at one stage in the early 1990's all of my wargame armies were Russian - including enough 1/300 scale T-34's to filed a Soviet Tank Corps in 1:1 scale! Nowadays I've expanded the national repertoire a bit, and my defenders of the Motherland are limited to my 20mm Second World War Red Army, and this lot - the stalwart heroes of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. We don't speak about that slimy little shit Tsar Peter III, who got his much-needed come-uppance at the hands of his wife - the future Catherine the Great.

This was the Russian army which (discounting a brief tiff with the Swedes) hadn't fought a European land campaign since Peter the Great's time. However, it performed surprisingly well, especially considering the traditional Russian problems of dumb commanders, barely-literate troops and a logistical support that was at best haphazard and at worst completely chaotic. They had immense distances to march between their winter bases in Poland and the Prussians, and they were always chronically short of all the essentials of warfare - horses, shoes, cabbages and vodka.

Still, they managed to fight off the Prussians at Gross-Jagersdorf, hold Frederick to a draw at Zorndorf, and win convincing victories at Paltzig and Kunsersdorf. Those loveable Cossacks raided Berlin (which had already been picked over by Austrian hussars), while the main field army occupied East Prussia and captured the port of Colberg. Frederick never really managed to have an answer for them - proving himself strategically unable to deal with both the Austrians and the Russians at the same time. In 1761 the Austro-Russian army trapped Frederick's weary veterans at Bunzelwitz, but the campaign petered out in a fortified stand-off. Finally the Russians were all set to deliver the death blow - then the Empress died - and the ner-do-well Paul became the new tsar. This pro-Prussian creep promptly switched sides, and was even all set to dress the army in dark blue rather than green coats before Catherine and the Guards regiments put the boot in.

My entire army consists of 28mm Foundry figures (well, with the odd Front Rank guy to make up the numbers), and despite my often less-than-perfect paint job they look really great - lots of animation, and almost cartoon-like features which are great to paint.

I base my infantry battalions in 16 figure battalions - with four figures per 40x40mm base (in two ranks). The cavalry are mounted two to a base (50x50mm square), with 16 figures in a regiment (although just 12 in a cuirassier one, as the Russians were chronically short of decent heavy cavalry horses until the very end of the war. In these rules battalion guns are "factored in" to the units, so the only artillery consists of positional batteries.

Anyway, here's my 28mm Seven Years War Russian Army, based up for Die Kriegskunst:

    Commander-in-Chief:  

    Lt.-Gen. Petr Semenovitch Saltykov 

 

 

Major-General Dolgorukov’s Infantry Brigade

·         Apcheronski Infantry Regiment  (2 Battalions - each of 16 figures)

·         Narvski Infantry Regiment           (2 Battalions.)

Major-General Panin’s Infantry Brigade

·         1^st Grenadier Regiment                     (2 Battalions.)

·         Tchernigovski Infantry Regiment        (2 Battalions)

Major-General Manteuffel’s Infantry Brigade

·         2^nd Grenadier Regiment                  (2 Battalions)

·         Belozerski Infantry Regiment            (2 Battalions)

Major-General Uvarov’s Infantry Brigade

·         Rostovski Infantry Regiment                  (2 Battalions)

·         Nizhegorodski Infantry Regiment            (2 Battalions)

 Major-General Demikov’s Cavalry Brigade

·         Tobolski Dragoon Regiment (4 squadrons - 16 figs.)

·         Ryazanski Horse Grenadier Regiment  (16 figs.)

Major-General Gaugreben’s Cavalry  Brigade

·         Novotroitski Cuirassier Regiment (3 squadrons - 12 figs.)

·         Heir Apparent Cuirassier Regiment  (12 figs.)

·         Hetman Uvarov’s Cossacks      

              Don Cossack Sotnia  (6 squadrons - 24 figures - usually split into two units)   

Artillery Train                                 

·         One 12-pounder Battery        (2 models - Heavy Guns)     

·         Two 8-pounder Batteries       (2 models each - Medium Guns)  

·         One Secret Howitzer Battery (2 models - Light Guns)                   

That's a total field strength of 256 infantry, 80 cavalry (including cossacks), 32 gunners and 10 staff = a total of almost 380 figures.

By the way, the little figures carrying the flags shown here designed as paper soldiers, are courtesy of the Junior General

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The Russians in Action - Die Kriegskunst scenario: Gross-Jagersdorf, 1757

Die Kriegskunst basing, unit sizes etc.   Die Kriegskunst Playsheet

My guides to the army (written when I was building this lot in 15mm):

Seven Years War         Horse & Musket           Home