Great Northern War Workbench and Project update

The addition of a large Great Northern War game to our gaming calandar has spurred me to get some work done on this recently neglected project.

Key units to add are Polish Cavalry and Generals although its an excuse to paint more than just that.

I thought I might also take the opportunity to share where I am at so far with the project too and what is outstanding.

The Swedes are amongst the most advanced. My original plan had been to have 12 battalions of foot and 10 of horse with three guns. I finished that number some time ago but with plenty of figures left over I decided that 14 foot and 12 horse might be a better number so two of each to do.

The three figures below are for the Savolax regiment, I already had 6 of these done and a couple more on the workbench so this unit is pretty much half done now. The standing musketeer is a foundry figure whilst the drummer is Ebor. I will add 2 or three Warfare figures too for a little variety. Not sure I will get these finished in time for the game but will plug away at them.

The horse is a second unit of Schlippenbachs dragoons. These are all Warfare miniatures. These are the first two completed but I have 5 more horses finished and the riders well underway, as they are nine figure units I am confident this unit will be finished for the game. Not sure I will get the full 12 units finished though. The last unit will be Sodra Skanska horse regiment in their distinctive pale blue uniform.

I am painting whilst I post here so both Schlippenbachs and Savolax have got more reinforcements as I write this post and edging ever nearer to completion.

 

I do need a couple more Generals so here is the first one, a Polish Hetman, Foundry figure on a Gripping Beast Horse. A nice simple paint job. I also hope to finish a commander in chief figure for my Swedes too, this is well on the way so should be completed for the game.

The Polish cavalry started out as a little eye candy to add to my games and I planned just one brigade of three regiments. However the more I read the more I realised how many thousands of troops (nearly all cavalry) the Poles had in this war which quickly turned into a civil war in Poland. Currently I have 7 units finished and hope to have 2 more horse and one dragoons, I will be doing head swaps on WSS figures mainly from Ebor for the Dragoons.

These guys are a mixture of Pancerni and unarmoured musicians. For some reason I ended up with three kettle drummers so I have converted one of the figures below, trimming away the drum sticks and adding a sword. I will do the same with one of the others. I just need to decide if I have one armoured and one un-armoured unit or if I mix the whole lot up to add to their irregular look.

The figures are a real mix, the standard bearer is Redoubt, the drummer is Foundry and the other two are TAG. The horses being Warlord, TAG and Redoubt.

These Pancerni I think look great (although they had a pretty poor record in the Great Northern War) The officer is TAG and the rest are all from Redoubt again with a mixture of horses from Redoubt, TAG and Gripping Beast. Some of the best figures I have seen from Redoubt.

The Russians are my smallest range, 2 units of horse both complete, 4 of mounted cossacks and 2 of dismounted Cossacks again all complete. One painted and one un-painted battalion of foot and the option to paint a unit of dis-mounted dragoons at some point. As chum Dave has a large Russian collection the Russians will be the last thing to get finished but will eventually have a Brigade of foot a brigade of cossack light horse and a small brigade of Dragoons.

The Saxons probably have the most still to do. I have 2 units of Currassier and one of dragoons complete along with three guns and 6 battalions of foot. I intend to do at least 4 or 6 more foot. I am however for most of these looking to use Warfares seventeenth century figures in floppy hats. This is historically correct forthe Saxons for the first half of the war (unlike the majority I have already painted in tricorne) but more importantly I want to make them multi use. The two bases of musketeers will form the basis of both Saxons and Jacobites for Ireland, only the command base will change, the Jacobites with their specific flags and some pike, the Saxons with theirs and musketeers filling out the base.

I really like the idea of getting the msot out of these. The first four are painted but still a long way to go so I dont really expect any of these done for the game.

So from a target point of view I hope to have One Swedish Foot and one Swedish horse along with a Polish horse complete but will be hoping for a little more than that if I can.

Stop the press, just before posting I managed to finish the last of Schlippenbachs second wing of Dragoons along with another Savolax Musketeer and the first Polish Dragoon. So 6 Savolax to finish the battalion off then I need to decide if I can fit anything else in and whether to focus on a unit of Saxons, another unit of Poles or something else (Sodra Skanska Horse?). Wish me luck.