Plans for the Russians

PA are planning to do three moulds for the Russian 'line' infantry, so six figures plus a selection of heads and weapons.

When putting together this range, the Greenwood and Ball range of booklets are often used during reference and discussion, although relatively slim at 24 pages these booklets are packed with information. Nigel Billington at 18th Century Press has kindly allowed me to reproduce some of the pictures from the Russian book to describe what is being planned:
http://www.18thcenturypress.com/syw.html

 Summer Uniform

For the Russian infantry, during summer it was normal to leave their heavy coat and knapsack with the baggage, and fight in their waistcoats. Equipment would be light with just their cartridge box on a single shoulder belt, and a sword on their waist belt.


In the Seven Years War the Russians fought all of their major battles in the summer, so the summer uniform seems a good option. It also means that the figures are quite distinct from those of the Prussians and Austrians.





For the summer uniform, as far as I can figure out, the rank and file and NCOs would strip down to their waistcoats. The officers would probably wear their coats, officially drummers should retain their coats, but G&B, Osprey and others show them in waistcoats, so either is fine. So the current plan is:

• Rank and file - waistcoat - two new figures
• NCO - waistcoat - new figure
• Drummer - waistcoat - new figure (if you want the coat use a Prussian)
• Standard bearer - in coat (use the Prussian)
• Officer - in coat (use the Prussian)

Grenadiers

The Russian grenadiers wore a very distinctive helmet, which clearly needs to be covered by a separate head.

Another item which distinguished the grenadiers from the musketeers was the cartridge box worn on the front of their waist belts. At first sight it would seem that a separate figure is needed for his, however due to the pose and semi-flat nature of these figures the box would hardly be visible, and can just be painted or stuck on, so we decided it was not worth a separate figure?

The first two Russian moulds

We have pretty much firmed up on the first two moulds.

Mould 3109

• Musketeer/grenadier (summer uniform) advancing
• Musketeer/grenadier (summer uniform) march attack
• Heads for musketeers and grenadiers

Mould 3110

• NCO (summer uniform) with separate musket
• Drummer  (summer uniform)
• Again heads for musketeers and grenadiers

And the third mould????

There are still spaces for two more figures in a third mould and we have not finalised this yet - current favorites are in bold:

• Observation Corps musketeer in summer uniform advancing?
• Observation Corps musketeer in summer uniform marching?
• Musketeer/grenadier in winter uniform advancing?
• Musketeer/grenadier in winter uniform marching?
• Musketeer/grenadier officer winter uniform with musket?

(The Observation Corps wore their cartridge box on the front and had no shoulder belt, they also wore dragoon boots rather than gaiters. The suggestion is that the figure is in summer uniform, so no coat).

Any thoughts?

Austrian Fusiliers (+ mould listing)

Provisional 'Line Infantry' mould listing

I had a chat with PA's sculptor yesterday and we agreed the following eleven moulds will cover the 'line infantry' of the Prussians, Austrians, Hungarians and Russians.

Prussian (command reused where possible)

3101 – Prussian officer and standard bearer (NCO) - already available
3102 – Prussian drummer (musketeer & grenadier) and NCO - already available
3103 – Prussian infantry advancing (grenadier & musketeer) - already available
3104 – Prussian infantry march-attack (guard & fusilier) and fusilier drummer - due out April/May

Austrian (German)

3105 - Austrian fusiliers, advancing & march-attack - due out April/May
(For command reuse 3101 & 3102 with new heads from 3105; for Austrian grenadiers see below.)

Hungarian

3106 – Hungarian officer and standard bearer (dressed as officer)
3107 – Hungarian drummer and NCO
3108 – Hungarian Infantry (fusiliers & grenadiers) advancing & march-attack

Russian

Line infantry in summer uniform (waist coats):
3109 – Russian line musketeer/grenadier (summer uniform), advancing & march-attack
3110 – Russian line musketeers/grenadier (summer uniform) NCO and drummer
(For officer and standard bearer reuse 3101 with new heads from above, these ranks would probably retain there coats even in summer)

3111 – Possibly Russian Observation Corps - not yet finalised.

A bit more on the Austrians

The troops from in the German (called Austrian from now on) and Hungarian regiments were very different. The Hungarians will have a set of three moulds to cover most options, however Austrian units can be quite well covered using the Prussian moulds.

There are three main differences between the Prussian musketeer and the Austrian fusilier. Firstly the Austrian tricorn is more pointed at the front, secondly the Austrians had a single haversack, whereas the Prussians also carried a bread bag, and thirdly the Austrian fusilier rank and file did not carry a sword.

New heads are certainly needed, we thought about doing a mould with just heads, but decided to reuse the Prussian command moulds 3101 & 3102, but add a new one with the new fusilier and officer heads, plus two rank & file bodies (in the same poses as Prussians so they all match).

3105 - Austrian fusiliers

This new mould will contain:

• Private advancing
• Private marching
• 2 x Fusilier private head – tricorn, with moustache
• Fusilier officer head – tricorn, no moustache

There is a bit of work needed, the pole arm needs converting by cutting off the side bars (there will be a 'halberd' type in with the Hungarians), and the hoops need filing off the 3102 drummers arms (the new drummer in 3104 for the Prussian fusiliers will not have hoops on the arms).

Below is a unit in the advancing pose made up from (pre-production moulds) 3101, 3102 & 3105, painted early war so I could give then coloured turn backs.

Austrian fusiliers, modified NCO pole arm and drummer with no hoops on arm.
(flag is from Maverick Models)

Austrian fusiliers have single haversack and no sword

Austrian grenadiers

We did a bit of head scratching here, in the end we decided that Austrian grenadiers did not really justify a separate mould - I know that sounds a bit harsh!

It is worth remembering that the aim of this range is to cover most of the major types, and allow others to be made up with a little bit of mixing and matching, and perhaps some conversion work - and these are a good example of both.

The grenadiers most distinctive item is the bearskin; however as Austrian grenadiers are mostly shown with their hair in plaits, so it is fine to use the heads from the Hungarian moulds (when they are released).

Also the grenadiers should have a sword scabbard showing, but again not thought worth another mould, so the options are:
 - Convert the fusilier and stick a scabbard on?
 - Use one of the Prussians which have swords, but the extra bread bag?
 - Forget the sword - it is after all a black scabbard on a black gaiter?
I took the first option and added one out of card, which was pretty easy - I hope they stay on!

Below is the unit made up as suggested, it also shows the march attack pose which will make up the second 'fusilier' body in 3105.

Austrian grenadier with  'fusilier' body, Hungarians head and added scabbard 

As usual feedback on the proposed mould range and figure selection would be appreciated.