Bob has been busy during the lockdown and here is his blog on his Petrine Army.
This is my latest project, and is not yet complete. It is
the Russian army of Peter the Great, not to fight the Swedes in the Great
Northern War, but to take on my Ottoman Hordes. It is dated to as close to 1700
as I can make it, a time when although there were uniform regulations they were
not met, and the Russian army is at its most colourful with green, red, blue,
white and yellow uniforms.
The two senior regiments the "play mates
battalions" formed from the child Peter's playmates on two estates are here. The Preopbrasjenski Guards,
and the Semonovska Guards. A
private in the Preopbrasjenski Guards was the equivalent of a lieutenant in any
other regiment. Its C in C was always the Czar.
One of the
original "soldat" regiments that survived into the new army - Sir Patrick
Gordon's regt. His flag is listed as a
white cross on a red field - since he was a Scot I have given him the St.
Andrew's Cross.
At the rear of the army is two regiments of Streltzi -yellow
and red coated. It is often stated that the Streltzi were disbanded and they
were, but Peter could not manage without their numbers and they were
reconstituted.
Peter the Great instituted new cavalry regiments, mainly
dragoons and although by the 1720s all were in green at this time they wore
yellow, red, white, light and dark blue as well. But as with the infantry there
were not enough of them so Horse and lance units were used. These included the
local nobility, as well as irregulars such as Cossacks, Culmucks, lancers and
hussars as well as reiters.
This is under construction and not all are shown but the
noble cavalry has been painted. All the
noble cavalry including the command (but not the dog) are from Hinchcliffe. The
Dog is from Irregular Miniatures..
The dragoons/Horse grenadiers are from Irregular and
Lancashire games.
The first 5 regiments of infantry are from Ebor, others from
Irregular Miniatures; Lancashire Games and Wargames Foundry. The Streltzi are from
Old Glory.
The 2 mounted officer and the engineer section are from
Reiver.
The Orthodox priest is a resin
figure from V&V Miniatures and appears with my Russian Napoleonics as well
as supporting Peter the Great.
Still as work in progress - hope you enjoy them.
The large card building is a Russian kit of the cottage that
Kutozov used as his HQ.
