As I have already mentioned in previous posts, I have been working on re-basing my Russians for the 1808 setting. This has included expanding some of the units, so that all line infantry is in 24 man units, and the jäger units of 16. I have now come as far as rebasing all of the infantry, excluding some skirmishers – of which I plan to do a lot more btw. The basing is now on bases of 45x40mm for the infantry. Marching close order infantry will be six figures per base, jägers four and skirmishers two, all on the same size of base! The cavalry will be three horses on 60x60mm. This is of course the same sizes I have used for the Swedish-Finnish army. The bases have been ordered from Warbases, who provide a huge range of different sizes and shapes of bases, at a decent price. However, if ordering (as I do) from Europe, it will be a good idea to try to make one large single order all at once, as they will suffer import fees because of the Brexit nonsense.
Ideally, I would say that 60x40mm bases with eight figures per base is even better. However, if one is doing a large battle on a small table, narrowly based 24-man units of four bases per unit is pretty good. They can then still be expanded to 36-man units if (or when) I feel up to it. The Finnish war had many smaller actions in which only one brigade was engaged on each side. In such cases, larger units might be nice, as it does look better.
I took some pictures of the finished lot. Ive organized them into brigades, although these are not historical, but rather generic. They just include four infantry units, an artillery piece and one or more commander figures. The idea is that each brigade will fit into one storage box, so it is a practical thing as much as anything else. However, with three brigades this does amount to a division. A neat brigade and division structure was not upheld in practice in the summer of 1808, but this is a good basis for the type of army one would field for such a scenario.
First brigade
These are a good foundation, but a number of additions will hopefully follow soon. As I said, I will paint more skirmish figures soon (Ive already prepared them). One artillery limber is also missing (it sits unfinished in a box…). The plan is also to do two artillery pieces in each brigade rather than just one, although one is probably enough for many games. The artillerymen are already primed and ready for painting. The cavalry is also almost done. For them, the plan is to expand into 9 man units. The cossacks only need rebasing, and the hussars are almost there as well, still lacking a few finishing touches and basing. I also have plans for a command vignette, like the ones Ive already done for the Swedes. Again, the figures are already primed and ready to be painted.
Second brigade
Third brigade
As you can see, the basic infantry figures are all Brigade Games figures (of the old Victrix range). The colonels are also by Brigade. Some commanders are Perry figures and some of them are Warlord figures. The artillery crew pictured here are all Warlord, with Brigade heads; the limbers and artillery pieces are all by Perry.
Pancratist 