Although we are gaming an 1813 Campaign, the Russians I am collecting are from the Battle of Borodino in 1812. The reason for that is the next time Group organise one of our Really Big ******* Games, it may very well be Borodino.

The units I have chosen to collect are from the 2nd Western Army commanded by General Bagration and then the 8th Corps commanded by General Mikhail Borozdin.

 

The Infantry Division is the 2nd Grenadier Division commanded by MG Karl von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

1st Brigade: Colonel Ivan Shatilov

Kiev GR (1st and 3rd battalions): Lt.Col. Dmitri Chashnikov

Moscow Grenadier regiment (1st and 3rd battalions): Colonel Ivan Shatilov

2nd Brigade: Colonel Ivan Buxhöwden

Astrakhan Grenadier regiment (1st and 3rd battalions): Colonel Ivan Buxhöwden

Fanagoria GR (1st and 3rd battalions): Lt.Col. Yegeny Golovin II

3rd Brigade: Colonel Dmitry Levin

Siberia GR (1st and 3rd battalions): Major Ivan Potulov

Little Russia GR (1st and 3rd battalions): Lt.Col. Yegor Agte

2nd Artillery Brigade: Colonel Alexander Boguslavsky

11th Battery Company : Colonel Boguslavsky

31st Battery Company (from Corps reserve): Lt.Col. Peter Apushkin

 

For cavalry I have gone with:

2nd Cuirassier Division: MG Ilya Duka II

1st Brigade: MG Nikolay Kretov

Ekaterinoslav CR (4 squadrons): Colonel Mikhail Volkov

Military Order CR (4 squadrons): Colonel Andrey Gudovich

And then from the 4th Reserve Cavalry Corps:

2nd Brigade: Colonel Yegor Emmanuel

Kiev DR (4 squadrons):  Colonel Emanuel

New Russia DR (4 squadrons): Major Alexey Terenin

3rd Brigade: Colonel Dmitry Vasilchikov II

Akhtyrsk HR (8 squadrons): Colonel Dmitry Vasilchikov II

Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment (8 squadrons): Lt.Col. Otto Shtakelberg of the Novorossiisk DR.

Artillery

8th Horse Company (3rd Reserve Artillery Brigade): Lt.Col. Zakhar Shusherin

If I decide to add more infantry they will be from the 12th Division.

For figures I have used Warlord Games plastic 1812-1815 figures but have added Front Rank reinforcement packs. These are the command packs although have filtered several packs normal Grenadiers in for variation. The figures are quite compatible in size and style. The same cannot be said for the Warlord Games metal command figures which although an improvement on earlier figures, are still not as good as their plastics.

Cavalry/Artillery and the Command figures are all Front Rank. Although I have painted some of the plastics I sent most of the plastics to Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka and am generally happy with the paint job on the Grenadiers. I also sent the Dragoons and Hussars but did the horses myself. The Dragoons required some clean up as someone had flick dried a white brush near them and they had a case of the white measles. The Hussars I have put into an isolation ward until I decide what to do with them.  My Cuirassiers were painted by Paul Goldstone for me. I did encounter some issues with some of the quality of the Front Rank castings with some heavy horses having solid metal between the front legs and far to much flash elsewhere, some Cuirassiers that seemed to have put their heads in vices for some reason, and a sample reinforcement pack of Prussian Fusiliers also had solid metal issues between legs(must have been quite painful for them). Once I alerted Front Rank to this unusual poor casting quality, all were replaced speedily. All one can ask for really.

With the command bases I sent 4 command figures to Fernando Enterprises and I have painted the rest. I still have a number to paint and will swap figures on bases around once I am finished. I am putting 3 command figures on Corps/Army Commander bases and 2 on Division/Brigade Command bases. in order to easily differentiate on the battlefield, my brigade commanders all have a blue tuft on their headwear!

All flags are by GMB.