Tenth Legion Crimean War (and some WW1)

Years ago, I embarked on a Crimean War project that would focus on Russian and Turkish armies. The awesome 6mm armies (mostly comprised of ingenious proxy figures) and battle reports over at the Pushing Tin blog were a significant inspiration to my desire and I always thought it odd that most of the Crimean War projects neglected the Ottoman contribution. 

I chose to purchase Magister Militum figures (although the Pendraken range is incredibly nice as well) and I made considerable progress. It was around this time that Magister Militum sadly announced they would be closing the doors of their business. In a panic I made several large, last-minute orders before they closed for good. I'm not sure why, but my Crimean War momentum dissipated soon thereafter. 

Since then, Baccus Miniatures, known for their beautiful 6mm offerings, purchased the rights to Magister Militum's 10mm ranges and rechristened them Tenth Legion. The new website is quite nice but I noticed they didn't have any photos of the figures posted on their gallery section. Combing though my painted Crimean War figures, I also realized I hadn't photographed all that many of them. Which brings us to here:

First off we have some Russian cavalry (above), Uhlans to be precise. I can't recall which regiments I painted these fellas up in but they are quite nice sculpts regardless.

And here are some Russian Hussars. The Hussars (and I believe the dragoons as well) are sculpted wearing their greatcoats. I like the look.

Next up, a Russian infantry battalion wearing predominantly helmets.

And now some Ottomans. Here we have some Ottoman infantry...I painted these guys likely looking much prettier than their actual appearance in the field.

Here are some Turkish irregular cavalry which appear to be a common fixture in the Ottoman armies even if they weren't particularly effective on the actual battlefield. I believe these figures were sourced from the Magister Militum Napoleonic range and are mounted Mamelukes. 

In a twist, here are some sculpts from the Crimean War range that were repurposed as Turcos for my 1914 WW1 project (which is also almost exclusively Magister Militum/Tenth Legion.

The Hotchkiss HMG teams are converted French 1914 gun crews while the command bases are a mix of Crimean War figures and also WW1 officers.

French Crimean War generals now seeing service as WW1 French generals.

Lastly, I included a picture of a 3D print armored car I got off eBay but it is manned by a Magister Militum artillery crewman.

Ottoman Blues and a lack of time...

I was talking to my good friend and fellow gamer about how our hobby time is very limited these days and the frustrations that come from it. This year has really been difficult as far as time and schedules are concerned. Wargaming conventions have been missed, painting time is curtailed and gaming opportunities nearly impossible. Even when I do have time, often I am lacking the motivation or energy to take advantage of the opportunity. Until these realities change, I will try to take advantage of the moments I have and progress with painting miniatures so that they are ready to make war on the tabletop when the opportunity arrives. 

I recently completed a 6mm 17th century Muscovite army and a 10mm Macedonian army. With time limited, I am delaying the start of a new project. I am just painting figures that were partially painted and lingering on my hobby desk. The current task were a bunch of Crimean War Ottomans that I primed blue nearly 2 years ago! 

The figures are 10mm Magister Militum and were acquired right before MM went out of business. Luckily Peter Berry's Tenth Legion endeavor has acquired the 10mm offerings from MM. 

I think I primed them with GW Macragge Blue, applied a very diluted blue/black ink wash, dry brushed with more Macragge Blue. That was the plan at least, I'm thinking these may have just been primed only. Anyway, the figures are fairly straight forward to paint if a bit tedious with the white straps. 

References indicate the Ottoman uniforms and equipment were pretty rag-tag. I've thought about mixing in some random brown or grey pants and giving a few brown leather accoutrements or a varied blanket rolls. That may be too much effort. 

I should also point out something....I often go to great lengths to determine what a soldier's uniform looked like. Despite the efforts at historical authenticity, I will snib my nose at it and paint it differently for aesthetic purposes. With the Ottoman fellas above, the fez tassel should be a dark blue like the uniform. I intentionally went a light blue for the purposes of color contrast and diversity. I also added a yellow tassel button (I had seen some color plates showing a gold button, I went yellow instead) just to give the figures a little extra pop of color. 

I think I have 3 battalions worth of Ottoman infantry to finish (about 70+ figures). I'm not sure what is next after these guys are done. I think there are some Ottoman cavalry, 10mm Greek mercenary hoplites (earmarked for service in my Persian army), 6mm Scottish infantry for my Killiecrankie project and perhaps some other stuff too. While time is limited and schedules are wonky, it doesn't really matter which project I'm working on, what matters is that I make progress. Paint now (when I can) and game later. 

Ottoman Update

I have a whole heap of Crimean War Ottomans primed but I've been diverted with other projects. I did manage to paint up an Ottoman dragoon unit. According to the Flaherty book, the Ottoman dragoons had some interesting colored tunics (light brown, purple, light blue, etc). I went with purple because you don't often get to paint purple uniforms. I think the color helps break up the blue masses of infantry. 

The Magister Militum Ottoman sculpts aren't their best work. They aren't bad but a bit undersized. 

They probably won't have much success on the tabletop but they will look very smart prancing around. 

The command stand with a very large Ottoman banner. I have another dragoon unit on the painting table, the regular cavalry will be supplemented by some irregular bashi bazouks. 

And some Ottoman higher command. The base will be the senior commander and the single bases will be brigade commanders. 

 

10mm Crimean

In the midst of working on the 15mm Krapistan project and the 10mm Risorgimento project, I decided to veer way off course and start a 10mm Crimean War project! I had already accumulated a good bulk of the figures years before so I was able to start on a whim. For the Crimean War endeavor, I decided I was going to skip some of the details and try new painting methods to speed up the process. A few months in (with lots of pauses due to real life taskings), I have 5 infantry battalions, 2 cavalry regiments, 3 artillery batteries and some mounted generals. 

Here are two of the infantry regiments in attack column.  The figures are Magister Militum and these particular units are wearing the forage cap.

Close-up of an infantry battalion in attack column. Magister Militum gives options of great coats worn long or hitched as well as forage cap or spiked helmet. Since there is only one pose per option, its appreciated to break things up a bit. 

Some of the mounted commanders. I painted what should probably be sword knots as sashes showing the generals as members of Orders of St. Anne and St. Andrew.

Close-up of a battalion wearing spiked helmets. As mentioned, I cut some corners to paint quicker. I primed the figures in either Vallejo English Uniform or GW Zandari Dust, from there I drybrushed them with the base color mixed with Vallejo Bone White. No additional highlights were done to the infantry. After base-painting, I inked to show some depth.

Two of the artillery batteries, one in forage cap and one in spiked helmets. I have 3 batteries and may need to order some more. I used GW Contrast paints to paint the green of the artillery pieces.

Some Don Cossacks up close. Another way to speed up painting was the use of Contrast paints for the horses. I did give the riders, blankets and such some quick highlights. The flag is from Maverick Models (as are all of the rest shown in the photos).

Some Russian Hussars (Mariupol I think) in greatcoat, I really like the look of these guys. The blue and yellow contrasts nicely with the muted khaki of the coats. I thought they would be fairly easy to paint with the overcoats but that didn't seem to be the case. 

I should add that they are based for Field of Battle on 30mm square bases. I'm hoping to get around 9-10 infantry battalions and about 4 cavalry regiments with a healthy dose of artillery. The plan is to paint up a Turkish army to face off against them and ultimately paint up a British army. The photos weren't the best as lighting conditions weren't ideal, hopefully I can take some better ones in the near future.