College of Kings

This week I managed to finish the Polish Artillery and Tabor. The Artillery consists of three guns. The guns were from SteelFist. The Mantlets were from Old Glory. The crew and Gabions were from the Assault Group.

In addition to the artillery I completed four War Wagons for the Polish Tabor. The War Wagons are from 1st Corps. The idea and recommendations for the Manlets and War Wagons were from a blog I read by Camisado.

I want to get a worn paint look on the front of the mantlets and wagons. I did this by first painting a weathered wood look. I then varnished the pieces and let the varnish dry,

I then painted the parts with the red color that I was looking for with Vallejo acrylic paint and let the parts dry for about three minutes until they were just dry to the touch.

I then applied some scotch tape to the part and lightly pressed down on the part. I then quickly removed the tape to take off some of the red paint, leaving the wood color exposed. This process took some practice to make sure that I removed enough of the red paint without removing the wood color and primer. I reapplied the tape a couple times until I achieved the effect I was looking for.

The above picture shows the finished look. I then added some Polish cross decals and then scratch the decals to weather them.

To finish the mantlets I based them and then added some black powder to the top of the mantlets on the inside and outside to represent the gun smoke residue. I then used some model boat rigging rope to tie to the top of the mantlets. The other end was held by the Polish Wybraniecka (peasant laborer) figures from the Assault Group.

I decided to have two mantlets closed and the third one open. The combination gives a more dynamic look to the group of artillery.

This weekend I finally completed the Polish Cavalry for my 1651 Cossack uprising project. With the Cossacks and Tatars already complete, I just have the Polish infantry and artillery left, as well as some command bases. This process leaves me on schedule to finish the project by the end of the year.

Each unit is made up of eight figures and I have the following Polish cavalry units:

• 1 unit of Reiters
• 1 unit of Winged Hussars
• 3 units of Pancerni
• 4 units of Polish style cossacks
• 5 units of Noble Levy

I have tried to differentiate between the three main groups of Polish cavalry so they are easily recognizable on the table. The Pancerni/Winged Hussar group is very formal with a lot of pennants on the lances. The noble levy are well dressed with a lot of feathers. The cossack style cavalry are much more rough looking.

All of the figures are from the Assault Group except the Winged Hussars. I bought a set of Winged Hussars from Warlord Games that I wanted to use.

Overall I have about 115 Polish cavalry figures. Previously I completed 100 Tatar mounted figures and 50 Cossack mounted figures. So in total I will have about 270 mounted figures as part of this project. This amount is in addition to the Polish and Cossack infantry. Once the entire project is completed in December I should have enough troops for a nice sized game.

This week I am working on the Polish Artillery, defenses and Taber. I hope to have some images next weekend. The Polish artillery will consist of three guns with mantlets and gabions. I was also have four war wagons to form the Taber with the artillery.

This week I completed my units of Polish Cossacks. There are four units each of 8 figures. Along with the three units of Polish Pancerni and five units of Pospolite Ruszenie, I now have the bulk of the Polish cavalry completed (about 100 figures). I just have one unit of Reiters and one unit of the famed Winged Hussars to complete.

For the Polish Cossacks I used figures from The Assault Group. About two thirds of the figures were from their Polish Cossack range. The remaining figures I took from their Polish Pancerni range. However, I did not want to use the horses that normally come with the Pancerni, which have a lot of decorative horse coverings. Instead I wanted to have them on the same horses as the rest of the Polish Cossacks. Pete at the Assault Group assured me that the Polish Pancerni figures would fit on the Polish Cossack horses and was able to swap out the horses when I ordered them.

For the Pancerni type figures I used the lance on some of them, on others I put the musket into their hands instead. Unlike the figures that I used in the Polish Pancerni units, I did not use lance pennants on these figures. I wanted these units to have a less formal appearance.

For the flags I used sheets from Battle Flags and Adrians Wall. One of these sheets had a green Polish Cossack flag. This flag is almost identical to that shown in the Osprey book on the Polish Armies. For the rest of the flags I used more general Polish flags.

I still need to put some grass tufts on the bases but otherwise they are complete.

I am looking forward to moving on to the Reiters and Winged Hussars to complete the Polish Cavalry. The Winged Hussars should be an especially fun unit to paint.

At the 1651 Battle of Berestechko there were around 40,000 Pospolite Ruszenie or Noble Levy. So they represent a sizable part of the Polish army and need to be represented in my army. When deciding on which figures to use it quickly became apparent that no manufacturer has these troops in their Polish range.

In the Osprey series Polish armies 1569-1696 (1) on Page 7 it discusses the dress of Polish Pospolite Ruszenie. It mentions how Hungarian dress was dominant, but how it was also influenced by Turkish and Persian fashion. In general noble dress was extremely expensive.

I therefore decided to use a mixture of figures from the Assault Group range. I used Hungarian Light Horse, Hungarian Hussars, Croats and even a few Ottoman Akinjis to fill out the ranks. I selected figures that looked noble, with an emphasis on those with feathers and ornate trim. The result is units of figures that look as if they fit in with the period but are different from the Polish cossacks and Polish Pancerni. I am very happy how the mixture of figures turned out, it gives a very distinctive force and contrasts well with other units.

I have painted 5 units of 8 figures each with two additional figures for a command group, giving a total of 42 figures. I hope to complete the movement trays for these figures later in the month.

The flags were a combination of a pack from Adrians Wall and a pack from Battle Flags. I selected general polish style flags (with the cross) for all except the one on the command figures, which almost exactly matches a noble levy flag in the Osprey book. The command flag can be seen at the front in the image below.

A few additional pictures of the Noble Levy are shown below. I have also recently painted 33 Polish cossacks and these are just waiting for the flags to be added in the next few days. Once the flags are complete, I will post some pictures of them.

The Cossack Peasant horde was a common part of the the cossack army in the 1650 period. These troops were poorly trained and were generally not equipped with fire-arms. Instead they were equipped with swords and various farm implements.

For my army I have decided to have two cossack peasant hordes, each of about 28-30 figures on a 80mm x 200mm base. I feel that this number looks like a reasonable amount without going crazy. The total infantry for the army will be 96 regular cossacks, 48 mounted infantry and 56 cossack peasants. So roughly 25% of the army will be peasants.

This week I completed the first of the horde units. The figures are all from The Assault Group. I used a combination of their laborer figures and their half-pike figures, with a few figures from other packets. The main criteria for selection was that they did not have fire-arms.

For farm implements, I used a couple of the implements that came with the Assault Group figures, but mainly I used implements from Bicorne Miniatures. A photo of the implements is shown below and includes pitchforks, rakes, scythes, axes and hoes. They were very easy to attach to the TAG figures using a small drill and super glue.

Overall I was happy how the peasant horde turned out. It makes a good contrast with the rest of the fire-arm equipped cossacks. I tried to weather the farm implements by using rust powders on top of the natural steel paint. I am not sure how well this shows up in the photos.

I am also painting some Polish cavalry at the moment and they are getting very near completion. I have 40 Polish noble levy and 32 Polish cossacks on the paint bench. They should be finished within a week or two and I will post some photos when they are complete.

Since my last post about two or three weeks ago, I have been painting some more cossacks to get the army closer to completion. The painting was focused on completing a couple of artillery pieces and doing the cossack dismounted cavalry. I have now painted virtually all of the cossack figures that I have, so I also placed and order with The Assault Group for two cossack peasant hordes and some Gulay Gorods (walking fort sections).

The cossacks will have a number of artillery pieces. Each of the ten war wagons has a small cannon attached. However, I also wanted some larger artillery pieces. The cossack artillery was typically made up of captured Polish ordinance. I therefore decided to use two of the SteelFist artillery pieces that I had recently bought – these come with two barrels, a French barrel and an Imperial barrel. I selected the Imperial barrels.

For the artillery crew I used TAG figures. I still need to decorate the bases a bit more with a selection of grass tufts. I may also add a few wooden barrels and miscellaneous items to the scene.

The cannons were painted with brass barrels and natural steel trim using Vallejo paints. The brass was washed with a Vallejo sepia wash and the natural steel was washed with a black wash. I also used the black wash on the end of the barrel and around the firing port. I then used three different rust colored powders on the steel parts, but only very lightly as I wanted the guns to be weathered but still in good condition.

The cavalry units of the cossacks often fought dismounted as they were no match for the more organized Polish cavalry. My groups of cossack cavalry are each made up of two skirmish bases of four figures each for a total of eight figures. For shot infantry I typically represent small units by eight figures and standard units with twelve figures. I decided to represent the cossack dismounted cavalry unit with a skirmish base of twelve figures. The eight mounted figures and twelve dismounted figures tend to look right on the table – the purist may ask how can you go from eight to twelve figures, but since they are never on the table at the same time, I don’t think that it is a problem.

Behind each unit of cossack dismounted cavalry I have placed a horse-holder base with three horses. I had intended to use one horse-holder base behind each group of twelve infantry to indicate that they are the dismounted cavalry. After seeing how they look, I now plan to have two such bases behind each unit. I have placed an order with TAG to get the extra horses and figures.

I am looking forward to the arrival of my new order from TAG. I plan to paint two peasant horde groups each with about 30 figures. These peasants will be armed with a mixture of farm implements. I hope to have the cossack army completed sometime in September, I will then move on to the Polish army to finish the project.

After completing the Tatar horde, I have the Cossack Army and the Polish Army to complete for my 1651 Cossack uprising project in 28mm. Over the past few weeks I have made some progress on the cossacks. I have completed all of the mounted figures, about 30% of the infantry and I have painted (but not based) the war wagons.

After some changes here is a list of cossack army forces that I plan to complete:

• 10 war wagons
• 4 units each of 12 foot figures of Register Moloitsy (these units have flags)
• 4 units each of 12 foot figures of Moloitsy (these units will not have flags)
• 2 units of 30 figures of cossack peasants
• 4 units of 8 mounted figures of mounted cossacks
• Each of the mounted cossacks will also have a dismounted figure and horse holders
• 2 units of cossack artillery with captured Polish guns
• Command bases

The above picture shows the war wagons that I bought from Redoubt Enterprises and the cossack flags that I bought from Adrians Walls. All of the figures are from the Assault Group cossack range. I still have to base the war wagons, but I was quite pleased with how they turned out. I have ten of them at the moment and this should be enough for a defensive Taber (I can alway add more later as they are very reasonably priced). On the basing I plan to chain some of them together and have some small earthworks in front. I used the artillery figures from TAG to man the war wagon small calibre cannons. The flags were assembled and I use some model war ship rigging rope to lash the cross beam onto the main staff. I actually used a needle to thread it around the pole.

For the cavalry I have used two bases of four figures for each unit giving a total of eight figures per unit. There are a total of four units. As the cavalry often fought dismounted I will be painting some dismounted figures on skirmish bases to go with them. I also have some horse holder figures to place on the table when they are dismounted. These dismounted figures and the horse holders are the next units on my paint bench.

For the infantry I will have three types of units. The best will be 12 man units of register Moloitsy. I will have four of these. I will also have four 12 man units of Moloitsy. The register Moloitsy will be distinguished from the Moloitsy by having a flag, otherwise they will be the same. At the moment I have painted three of each unit.

I also plan to have two 30 man units of peasant cossacks armed with farm implements. I plan to use TAG figures but to equip them with farm implements from Bicorne miniatures. I have ordered the farm implements and I will review them when they arrive.

Below are a few more pictures of the cossack army of 1651. With mainly infantry and dismounted figures left to paint (about another 150 figures in total), I feel that I am about half way through the cossack army. With their Tatar allies, they should be quite a formidable force for the Polish Army to take on.