Borodino 1812 (part 7): 1st Russian Grenadier infantry division and Cuirassiers for AOE in 20mm

The 1st Grenadier division is famous among modellers due to the famous mitre caps of the Pavlov regiment. In fact I have all three regiments (each regiment representing one brigade in AoE terms) with mitre caps which is only good only up to 1805, the grenadiers transitioning to the Kiwer with large plume then. The only exception is the obvious Pavlov regiment which was allowed to keep their treasured mitres up to the end of the Napoleonic wars due to their bravery at Austerlitz. Well, then two of the regiments - Tauride and Saint Petersburg - are not much "Borodino" like but this is due to my eagerness and usual exaggeration in having bought three boxes of the Italeri grenadiers, simply because they were on the shelves, when apparently only one was necessary. Even so, I'm really thinking about using my Borodino Russians for all Napoleonic campaigns as I doubt that I will start a Russian army all over again just because of a different shako before 1812.  Besides, there would be a few more dozen of figures placed somewhere and without destiny, something that at 55 yo I´m trying to avoid, as its my wish/dream to finish the stash one day. That is, if the mailman lets! 

The Jägers are the usual Esci with a few Revell and StreletsR in the middle. 

This is the only true Borodino type regiment of this Grenadier lot. The Pavlov regiment is made of Italeri Grenadiers and a Zvezda officer with Kiwer. 

The cloth of the back part of the mitres are slightly different from regiment to regiment with white, blue and red color in the horizontal part. 

The officers were converted to bicorne hats using bicorne heads enlarged with GreenStuff. The standard bearers were also converted from some marching and standing Italeri figures. 

The Czar Cuirassier Regiment, representing Borosdin Brigade, is made of Hat figures with a converted standard bearer. The flag was hand painted as I could not find a printed one. 

As usual I painted one more farm from Mário Laranja's gifts. My main idea continues to be the Austrian farms and houses for the Wagram campaign but I kept it on the generic side so they can be used in many scenarios and ages. 

This farm is made of two different parts with the right part detachable and capable of being positioned against any other wall of another farm. 

The trick is leaving a bit a bit of wall out of the base, which gives plenty of possible variations to this annex. 

Next: more Borodino Russians, or eventually Gallipoli,  but only in September due to holidays. 

The Alamo 1836 and its opposing armies in 20mm

This is one of the most famous episodes of the history of North America portrayed many times in cinema, comics and novels. I made all this around the release of the 2004 movie with the help of the Imex series of the period made a few years before. The Alamo was built using mostly hard styrofoam with details in card, plastics and whatever was suitable. The derelict state of the former Spanish mission was a big help as you don't need too much measurements and planning. The armies, both Texans and Mexicans were made with the already mentioned Imex but also with scores of Napoleonic and cowboy figures of all available brands of those days, like Airfix, Esci, Revell and Italeri.

RFR/Able Archer - The Israeli army for the Lebanon campaign of 1982 in 1...

First of all a big thank you to Neil Patterson for reminding me of CMSC and its history, as I forgot the name of this lovely brand in my Syrian army video. Also the "Fabbri" and other nonsense I said in this and the previous video about mystery resin and metal "collectibles" were in fact 1/87th scale Salvat models, as I checked in old posts from my blog. Fortunately I keep on finding them in flea markets and 2nd hand shops. Again you can see plenty of Roco Miniatures (1/87th scale) together with Peter Pig and QRF (1/100th). Some of the M60 MBT are Chinese toy models, and after covering them in ERA they play the part very well and are almost as good as the Roco or Salvat models. The infantry are whether Atlantic plastics or Peter Pig. The Aircraft are all 1/100th scale from Tamiya, Fabbri diecast and Revell.

Borodino 1812 (part 6): Russian Guards infantry division for AOE in 20mm

Lavrov´s division advances stands firm on the Borodino field next to an irrigation ditch. The Guard division is probably the most famous of the Russian army. The first line (brigade in AOE) is made of Jägers, here represented by Finnish Jägers; the second is Udom´s Brigade with the Lithuanian Regiment representing it and the third line has the Semionovski Regiment representing Rosen´s Brigade. 

The Finnish Jägers are the usual Esci figures with a StreletsR officer. 

The two Guard regiments of the line are mostly Zvezda and the two flag bearers have the trick of the extended pole with the top part cut and added later when the paper flag is inserted. 

The three boxes I had of Grenadiers already flew with just a few units as this thing of placing 6 figures in each stand is eating lots of miniatures! The flag bearer to the right was an improvised Italeri Prussian with added paper flag and plume. 

I also got tricked by the rear view of the Zvezda Grenadier box as it shows 18 marching figures which convinced me that, plus the command stand, three boxes would be enough to portray a full regiment of 60 marching figures. In fact one of the attacking poses is missing on the rear view of the box and somehow a marching figure shows up instead. This forced me to use other figures in the rear rank, namely more Prussians from Italeri. All of them got the usual plumes (inserted broom stick in the shako covered in GreenStuff) and painted cords. As they are big figures they make good looking Guards that were taller than most regular infantryman (minimum 1,71m for the Guards to 1,55m in the regulars).

The Divisional command stand has two Italeri Prussians from two different boxes (infantry and staff). The foot officer got a plume and entered easily to the Guard while the mounted officer started his life as an ADC. The horse came from the Revell Heavy Dragoons with its tail enlarged with GreenStuff. 

The General's coat tail was also enlarged and the shabraque was changed to the intended form, again with the help of GreenStuff, that marvellous invention ... let me google it... from Kneadatite (... never heard this before!). 

Next: A video on the Israelis in Lebanon 1982

RFR/Able Archer - The Syrian army for the Lebanon campaign of 1982 in 15...

This another old army that still gets some new models from time to time. It includes three famous units of the Syrian army: the 1st armoured division (of Sultan Yacoub fame); the 3rd armoured division (with the first T-72s to see combat) and the 85th infantry brigade (which defended Beyrouth during the campaign). This post also includes the Syrian air force and the AA army assets that were the target of the Israeli Mole Cricket 19 operation.

The American army at Brandywine 1777 in 20mm

This is the second part of the Brandywine series, after the British army video. It's still a bit incomplete but you can see the way an American independence army can be made using 20mm plastics. The usual Airfix, Revell, Italeri, Accurate and PSC gaming pieces makes the bulk of this one with the also usual conversions, specially in the making of round hats which are rare in 20mm plastics.