Russian Regiment Narva

This is the advancing Regiment of the City of Narva, used as Reserve Corps for my Russian army. The figures are manufactured by Matthias Manske, they wear their summer uniforms. 

More soon!

 

Russian Messenger and officer

This summer we plan with my nephew Anselm a big summer battle again - finally he will travel from US to Europe and we can meet for the annual wargame day at our home!
For our wargame,  we developed our own rulebook. To make a chain of orders from CinC to the regimental officer more realistic, we would like to introduce messengers. They are faster then normal cavalry in the movement and use a higher range to reach also the farest regiment on the field. But: they have to bring every new order of the CinC - that takes time and reduces the speed of orders.

We will try that in our battle to see how it works.
Here is a Russian messenger from Matthias-Manske-Zinnfiguren, placed o drop shaped base.

 And this is a wonderful officer of the Trident range (a French of the FIW), painted as Russian officer.
Also his drummer is originally a French.

Russian 3rd Cuirassiers

Russian heavy cavalry got some reinforcement by this splendid green-toned Cuirassiers. I am not sure, if this an original color, worn during the campaigns in the Seven Years War, but I found in the huge Vinkhuizen library a nice picture of this regiment. So, I gave them the name of the 3rd Cuirassiers. The figures are of Matthias-Manske, the saddlebags are made of paper, their details are printed in the computer. I am sorry to confess, I am not talented enough to paint such small decals by hand....

"Kirasirskii nasladnika polk" - the following regiment - whatever that means...
source: Vinkhuizen

Russian Infantry regiment Schlisselburg

Meanwhile I finished 3 new regiments, the first of them I would like to present you today: it´s the Russian line Infantry Regiment of Schlisselburg, the very beautiful town nearby St. Petersburg.
The privates are of Matthias-Manske, the officer is a Trident jewel (AWI Hessians range).
Their summer dress were worn for the campaigns in Poland and Pomerania.

Russian General with entourage

The summer break after the annual battle with Anselm was beneficial, but not dormant. Russia got one of the fabulous Frontrank Officers on horse, who I modified into a General. He is accompanied by his own standard bearer (Trident) and footman (Irregular Miniatures). I changed the color of lapels and saddlebag into a light reseda, which is pure fiction, but gives them a particular recognition and matches well with the flag. That´s all.

Russian Dragoons "Pskov"

A new Russian cavalry regiment is finished now, recruited in the old city of Pskov, near the Latvian border. Wearing the classic Russian blue coats, I like in particular the orange flag in combination with a light brown saddle cloth. That´s all.
The troopers are from the range of Irregular Miniatures (poor Ian - he produced more than 100 horses and riders the last half year only for me!!), the command is from Matthias Manske.

Russian General Staff "Oberkommando"

In the serie of making command structures for all armies, today Russia got a new vignette, containing general, staff officer, standards and a "Trommelbursche" or "Barabanshik", an example of the oftenly seen trend, using adolescent drummer boys as decorative "accessories" in the armies of the 18. century.

Fortunately, the gorgeous Irregular Miniatures produce such a figure, out of the Marlburian range, and now placed between the standards and the officers (Manske Zinnfiguren).

As you can see, I tried to give them a "supra-flag", an outstanding motive for the whole army, which is in difference to the regimental flags. So, I found in russian sources examples of an original zaristic flag of the 18. century:

the original flag

It shows the Russian eagle on orange-yellow background. After this, it was easy to build my own flag with a black eagle in the center on the broad, yellow rectangle. On the backside the emblem of the Russian monarchy with the coat-of-arms of all bigger cities. Having flags twice or more, it gives a better visual effect. So, 2 standard bearers were placed, just for outlining the impressive color.

my own interpretation

Mr. general got one of the marvelous heads of Trident.

 

My little helper at the set. The upset princess Elsa is my daughter..

Russian Dragoons Tverskii

Here I present you my first regiment made of 42mm Irregular Miniatures, done by Ian Kay in UK.
In originla, they are called Austrian Dragoons, but they match very well with their purpose to be Russian Dragoons. Tver, a beautiful and old Russian city in the south of Petersburg, with an old, medieval Kreml fortress, provided 2 Regiments for the warfare in Prussia. So, they were seen at Kunersdorf and Zorndorf.
The officer, standard bearer and drummer are made by Matthias Manske - I think, this combination works well!