Since I started Napoleonics I knew I wanted hussars. They have the most elaborate uniforms (at least in the Russian army) and have a cool air around them as death-seeking party people. When all regiments have very distinct colours you have many good options. From the beginning I fell for the Akthyrka hussars with brown, yellow and blue in their uniforms. Brown uniforms!? Yes, I don´t know what hit me but I like the combination. They also started using lances in 1812 (not all hussar regiments did) and are said to have used them with skill at Borodino - so you can use them as lancers in Sharp Practice without twitching your eyes. To avoid too much brown I opted for black horses with many white markings on them. "Then they'll be the first squadron of the regiment" I thought... but then it came up that the Russians just blended horses without even trying to sort them by colour. My bad. But the combination of brown in the uniforms the and black horses looked good! When I painted up some additional hussars later on, to beef up the unit, I gave them two dark brown horses and it looked good as well. The miniatures are Perry, and I like them a lot. They could have had more defined detail (whch would have made them easier to paint) but I still think they are the best ones out there. Painting these brings a good looking unit with speed in it to my army. They are quite a headache to paint with all yellow/blue and fur details in the uniforms, but it's well worth it when you are finally done! I had them with pelisses even though armed with lances because it looks so badass. It was a quite hard decision, but I don't regret it - the pelisse is half the hussar! I also made them with the campaign trousers on - that´s because I´m a sucker for the hearts on their knees. A military uniform with hearts on it? You just have to do that! The full dress without pelisse would have been the most realistic/historical choice. But I regret nothing! I made one conversion and that´s the flanker with a carbine. You can see him at one of the flanks of the unit! The "Command group" - NCO, musician and officer. The officer has a more exclusive, (self-purchased) uniform that is redder and makes him stand out. I re-painted the musician's horse when I added the lance-armed hussars. I usually don´t re-paint miniatures but here I made an exception. A close up of the NCO, with a good view of the sabertache-cipher. I hand-painted this on all hussars. Take one line at a time and it´s not THAT hard. I used wire lances instead of the pewter ones that I got with the miniatures as I think wire looks much better, mostly because they are thinner. I also got plastic pennants from a club mate who had left overs from Warlord's plastic French lancers. I trimmed them and bent them a bit so they didn't look all the same or too big for the wire lances. The sabre-armed second rankers. I think the models really has a good panache to them! The Akthyrka hussars arrayed for battle. A most pleasant sight to behold and something of a mile-stone accomplishment for me as a Napoleonic player!
Hurrah, hurrah, hussars!!! /Shirty
4 Comments
Jim McCabe
2/1/2019 21:15:34
Lovely figures and excellent painting. Do you play Russians in Sharp Practice then?
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Shirty
2/1/2019 21:27:51
Thanks and yes indeed! You can find battle reports with my russian force the blog. You will also see a campaign coming soon!
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Ray Evans
25/2/2019 10:09:19
Hi Shirty, they look brilliant. I use British and french for Sharp practice at mo, but want to get into Russians, as I got a load of cheap warlord figures and cannons. With this and the engineer conversions you’ve given me lots of food for thought, where did you get the wire lances? Keep up the good work.
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Shirty
26/2/2019 15:43:32
Hello! I cut some landsknekts wire pikes of :) artizan or warlord ones. Good luck with the russians then! Infantry and guns is an essential start. Oh, cossacks are as well. Next up for me will be mounted and dismounted ones. Cheers!
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