19th Jaegers - Completed and Silver Bayonet

We are into February and we finally knocked some new Jaegers out. Also a "Holyman" for multiple game systems, namely Sharp Practice and Silver Bayonet which I am slowly getting into.

I'm hoping to add some firing poses that I've bought from Foundry to this unit at some point but for now we will move on. Either way I've gone for a "campaign" look with the unit, with covered Shakos, Forage Caps and gloves. Very happy with how these came out and particularly the Greatcoat colour, which was Vallejo "US Field Drab". This would work really nice for some darker Confederate butternut also.

I'd seen this painting and you can see Russian Jaegers in the bottom right with a similar Greatcoat colour and campaign look. Its these sorts of paintings I love from the Napoleonic period, units looking like they were actually rushed into these meeting engagements. The armies generally didn't have the luxury like at Borodino where they could strip to full dress and prepare defenses for a whole day ahead of the battle.

In addition some lovely custom "Russian" dice I had made by Counter Attack Bases. May many 6's be rolled in my future.

Next on the painting list is as stated my Russian Silver Bayonet warband. Look forward to seeing some battle reports for this within the next month or so. I am going to start tackling some French also for solo 1812 campaign games soon.

19th Jaegers - Work in Progress

Quick mid month update, something I'm trying to do more this year rather than leaving it weeks between each post.

Started work on a new section of Jaegers with specifically a few goals in mind:

• Find a really suitable Brown/Grey "drab" colour that I'm happy with for Russian Greatcoats.
• Actually get the piping/leather colors correct. I'll elaborate on this later.
• Add some more variety into my units with different sculpts

Initially I'd tried Vallejo GC Khaki for my Skirmishers mixed with Grey Greatcoats, but this colour was too bright to my eyes over time. It lacks the realism I'm looking for in a drab tone. I've stripped the skirmishers and repainted them with Grey coats to tie the first block together. Easily done and only took a few evenings. These are the screening units for my 32nd Jaegers, which is a block of three groups. 

Secondly I'd realized I had made a slight mistake with the piping on my Jaegers, as I had done red piping on top, but the bottom was also piped Red. Again easily sorted, and after a few hours I had tidied these up on my existing Jaegers. I specifically picked the 32nd Jaegers for my main unit because unbeknownst to me Jaeger weapon slings were actually Black or Brown. This includes the backpack roping that holds the canteens to the packs. Not really sure how I missed this detail, but all really minor stuff. After some research it looks like the 32nd was a converted Musketeer unit to Jaegers starting in 1812, one of the many. With that said, some of these units definitely still had left over white crossbelts/slings. I'm using that as my logic anyway, it seems a bit pedantic to repaint all the slings and helps separate the units in small details visually, to me at least. The red shoulder straps are also technically wrong, the 32nd had yellow. Musketeers had Red, so again lets just say lack of proper supply trains means they maintained their old ones. Confusingly I have seen hundreds of pictures of Jaegers in Reenactment clearly with Red shoulder straps! 

I try not to nitpick over small stuff like this, but this project has really become one of vested interest to me.

Next up, 19th Jaegers. Mixture of Foundry sculpts and I went for a more "campaign" look rather than the 32nd who are rather well uniformed. Some shots of the painting desk with them post shading.

Current state of the unit. I've added gloves to some of them to achieve that campaign look along with the covered Shako sculpts. 

I'll likely be adding some firing poses to add some more dynamics to the unit. Usually I start with a block of 2 groups and end up doing a third. I'm very happy either way with how these are turning out.

I'll post these fully when they are done, likely this week!

Next on the radar, I am thinking of adding some Hussars to the force. Foundry lack Cossack sculpts as I wanted to do another unit but it seems Hussars were an incredibly potent part of the partisan war waged by Russia in 1812. I will get to the French at some point...

Recent Games and Pavlov Grenadiers completed

So 2026 is off to a good start with me finally finishing up the Pavlov Grenadiers that sat patiently in various stages on my Hobby Desk.Well worth the effort, these turned out great and add some much needed color to the force. 

In other news managed to get the first games of the new year in today. We tried a slight variation on the Sweep the Field mission from Sharp Practice. It definitely needs some tweaks with the victory conditions and the opposing force absolutely does not need a delay to deploy. With that said it was some fun games, and we are trying to tweak these book scenarios to become more playable.

Luckily I took lots of photos to at least show off everything I've been working on since October. One things for sure I am absolutely not done yet painting Russian Napoleonic's, the enthusiasm is at an all time high. This is definitely a combination between putting painted models on the board and the right history books being read.

Next planned on the painting table is a large block of 4 Line infantry, perhaps the Totobolsk Regiment and a Unicorn Gun.

Some of the highlights of both games was the French Curassiers pulling up to the nearest building and 3 of the troop immediately deciding the food and beer inside was more inviting, very fun random event. With some angry officer shouting later, his men fell back into line. From the Russian side, my Finland Guard Jaegers taking a hell of a detour through the forest, being directed by my Exploring Officer. Eventually they decided to get a move on and crashed into the French right flank winning a melee and delivering a volley to the retreating Voltigeurs. Neither of these determined the outcome of the game, but were narrative nonetheless.

I'll be updating once I make a start on my next units. Hopefully some more games soon also. 

Thanks for reading as always. 

Happy New Year and 2026 Hobby Targets!

Just a quick update to wrap out the year, as I've been a bit quiet this month. With all the Christmas and New Years rush I have not had much time to spend at my hobby desk.

I can at least add the Pavlovsky Grenadiers to the completed list as I am just finishing off their basing, so we will count it for the completed figures this year. 

 

I'll re upload these when fully based and the Flag Bearer is done.

Goals and ideas for next year projects are as follows:

• Try and beat my total number of completed miniatures this year.
• Potentially add some more to my Russians 1812 project. Its completed currently, so this may be later in the year. I'd like to do a large block of Musketeers to get some flags into the army. 
• I'm considering revisiting or restarting my ACW project. Current problem I've got is the project is not magnetized and it will give me an absolute headache re basing it. I've been looking at some Sash and Saber models (which are gorgeous) and may potentially start smaller again with this. We shall see, either way painting ACW is not particularly taxing. The enthusiasm has not gone away for painting more of this at least.
• Idea for starting a Jacobite 1745 project, something I've been considering for a while with a planned visit up to Culloden later next year that may seal the deal.
• Start some Silver Bayonet with a few friends. Got some Russian starter boxes, so just need to get painting. An easy win, to add stuff too.
• Do some French for 1812 project so I can play solo games, I'm less keen to dive straight into this but we shall see. 
• May finally just bite the Bullet and do some War of the Roses in 28mm. I've already got models and will be going to Bosworth festival this year and a trip up to York. 6mm unfortunately isn't for me.
• Get more battle reports up, I'm promising this to myself. 

Also completed some nice Russian log houses for the 1812 project. 

 Anyway Happy new Year all and thanks to anyway who viewed my blog this year.

St Petersburg Opolchenie & Ronin Gameday

Smashing out another update before November ends, home stretch now with the Russian Project.

I've been working on some Pike wielding Opolchenie to go alongside my existing musket wielding ones, which will be easy enough to write up some stats for in Sharp Practice. Likely represented as Wallahs with Hearth and Home and maybe Surly as characteristics. 

Ever since I saw this illustration I knew I must have some of the Foundry Militia, these particular batch representing the St Petersburg Opolchenyie. For some of the scenarios I have planned they will be particularly welcome.

Not only are these incredibly easy to paint up, the sculpts on these Foundry faces are just fantastic. Crisp and full of character. I will definitely be considering getting some of the Militia wearing Kolpak (I believe is what they are called). I've also found time to paint up a Moveable Deployment Point for the Don Cossacks.

 

With those done that leaves me to finish the last unit before I move onto painting the French side next year. The Pavlovsk Grenadiers is definitely a unit that I've been wanting to paint for years now, its taking some time for the base coats but we are about half way. This will add some more color into the force, along with my Cossacks which is predominately in Greatcoats, as I prefer the campaigning look.

For some gaming, I put another Ronin day on for some friends which was thoroughly enjoyable. I'm going to try and get organized for this next year and have a mini tournament. Painting some more small warbands is easy so won't detract from the bigger projects. Another friend has me interested in Silver Bayonet also, so will likely dip into that.

 

Anyway its back to the painting desk for me, to get some Grenadiers done!