Cossacks! (1)

A horde of cossacks is invading the western part of Prussia, marauding and harassing the local population.... this is the common image we have of that population; and contemporary sources told already about their cruelty and ferocity (see my older post about the destiny of the Eastern Prussian town Gumbinnen 1759, just on the eve of the battle of Jaegersdorf - here.)
The cossacks mostly had a non-national self-concept because of their origins in a definition just to be against someone or something (formerly the Zsar, e.g.) - so their community was a basin for outlaws, refugees and haunted people. Their nationalities were different, also their roots. Nowadays, we locate them in Ukraine and in western Russia
For preparing the painting of their dresses, I looked also on russian sites to get more informations about them. Under a huge choice I also found the interesting fact of a cossack culture revival in Ukraine.
This sources gave me the push to paint them in different, individual dresses, but with one colour theme: a sandy, raw umbra, flour and some crimson red accents.
The miniatures are Matthias-Manske figures, placed on separate bases for a skirmish formation. They should be the Russian answer to the Prussian Jaegers.

I changed the colours of the images and took out all the contrast - sorry for that. I was just inspired by the russian film "Taras Bulba" - all around a dusty, sabulous atmosphere....

Jozef Brandt: Cossacks Return from a Campaign (1894).
source: http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/

scene of the russian film "Taras Bulba". 

Mode of life of Ukrainian Cossacks; source: http://ukraine.ui.ua/

just an eyecandy: a cossack girl
source: http://ua-travelling.com/en/article/cossacks-way-of-life