Cossack Army of 1651

After completing the Tatar horde, I have the Cossack Army and the Polish Army to complete for my 1651 Cossack uprising project in 28mm. Over the past few weeks I have made some progress on the cossacks. I have completed all of the mounted figures, about 30% of the infantry and I have painted (but not based) the war wagons.

The cossacks that I have completed so far.

After some changes here is a list of cossack army forces that I plan to complete:

  • 10 war wagons
  • 4 units each of 12 foot figures of Register Moloitsy (these units have flags)
  • 4 units each of 12 foot figures of Moloitsy (these units will not have flags)
  • 2 units of 30 figures of cossack peasants
  • 4 units of 8 mounted figures of mounted cossacks
  • Each of the mounted cossacks will also have a dismounted figure and horse holders
  • 2 units of cossack artillery with captured Polish guns
  • Command bases

The above picture shows the war wagons that I bought from Redoubt Enterprises and the cossack flags that I bought from Adrians Walls. All of the figures are from the Assault Group cossack range. I still have to base the war wagons, but I was quite pleased with how they turned out. I have ten of them at the moment and this should be enough for a defensive Taber (I can alway add more later as they are very reasonably priced). On the basing I plan to chain some of them together and have some small earthworks in front. I used the artillery figures from TAG to man the war wagon small calibre cannons. The flags were assembled and I use some model war ship rigging rope to lash the cross beam onto the main staff. I actually used a needle to thread it around the pole.

Another view of the war wagons.

For the cavalry I have used two bases of four figures for each unit giving a total of eight figures per unit. There are a total of four units. As the cavalry often fought dismounted I will be painting some dismounted figures on skirmish bases to go with them. I also have some horse holder figures to place on the table when they are dismounted. These dismounted figures and the horse holders are the next units on my paint bench.

A view of the cavalry and some miscellaneous transport wagons.

For the infantry I will have three types of units. The best will be 12 man units of register Moloitsy. I will have four of these. I will also have four 12 man units of Moloitsy. The register Moloitsy will be distinguished from the Moloitsy by having a flag, otherwise they will be the same. At the moment I have painted three of each unit.

I also plan to have two 30 man units of peasant cossacks armed with farm implements. I plan to use TAG figures but to equip them with farm implements from Bicorne miniatures. I have ordered the farm implements and I will review them when they arrive.

Three units of register Moloitsy and three units of Moloitsy can be seen.

Below are a few more pictures of the cossack army of 1651. With mainly infantry and dismounted figures left to paint (about another 150 figures in total), I feel that I am about half way through the cossack army. With their Tatar allies, they should be quite a formidable force for the Polish Army to take on.

A close up of the war wagon with the Register Moloitsy behind.
Looking down the war wagon Taber.
An orthodox priest is in the ranks of the Moloitsy