Dragoons mounted

And here are the mounted versions. Definitely some mustaches that need retouching, otherwise I'm pretty happy with this lot.

Dragoon platoon

Progress on the Gosiewski Challenge is going slower than I'd hoped, but I did manage to finish the foot versions of the dragoons today. About half were ones I'd painted up way back in the day, but I had to pull of their helmets for historical accuracy. Mostly I used the hats that came with the kit, except that I left the officer with his helmet, and greenstuffed a few fur hats to add "local color", since these guys are in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, not the English that they were sculpted as. Here they are grouped in threes, as per By Fire and Sword's army construction system.

the Gosiewski Challenge

So, to celebrate the imminent success of the By Fire & Sword kickstarter campaign, and inspired by this AAR, I've decided to try to complete a BF&S skirmish group in 28mm. Specifically, the Gosiewski Foray (fourth link from the bottom), which is the only way to field Hussars at the skirmish level.

What makes it a challenge for me? Well, my goal is to try to get this force completed before the BF&S rulebook arrives sometime in June. This picture ought to give a pretty good idea of what I have completed and what I still need to do:

 

You might notice I'm not really worrying about base size yet. If a read-through of the rules makes it seem really important, I'll put together some movement trays to approximate the BF&S system. Otherwise I'll just fudge it.

And once I've got the rulebook and the Gosiewski Foray, I'll have them fight some Cossacks. Even if I don't end up having 12 points of Zaporozhians by then, BF&S has mechanisms for evening the odds between disproportionate forces. Gosiewski might end up leading his men against a fortified position, or even into an ambush...

Cossack artillery

Yeah, it's not the biggest gun ever. But don't be fooled.

A well-positioned, expertly-handled piece can be quite effective, and without the logistical hassle of the bigger ones.

Oh, sure, a giant cannon may look imposing, but once the action starts, no amount of size can compensate for the complacent sloppiness or incompetence that such a big gun often inspires. And that's assuming the unwieldy piece has even been brought up in time to participate in the encounter...

In conclusion: it's not the size, it's how you use it.

Streltsy unit

Big TAG order came in a few days ago. Here is the first batch of stuff. I know streltsy are neither Polish nor Cossacks, but the Muscovites fought both of them in this era. Oddly enough, there are no conversions in this unit, so I handpainted a banner to personalize them at least a little bit. Also, you might notice a few familiar faces...

I honestly don't know where I got their uniform scheme from; it's from those first few I painted, but it doesn't match anything I found on google image search these past few days (most have blue lace). The banner design is from a reenactment group that showed up on google image search.

Registered Cossacks

More registered Cossacks (ooh, someone updated the wikipedia article) like this guy. Just Wargames Factory WSS plastics, trimmed and greenstuffed.

Sorry for the boring update. Cooler ones later.

Hussar Unit

And here's the last three, and the unit as a whole. I took some individual pics of the command, but they didn't turn out.

And here's a pic of my favorite bits - the exotic animal skins: