Murawski Cavalry General

Well, I finally finished the lot of 20 Murawski Duchy of Warsaw Uhlans this weekend.  The weather was very variable yesterday, clouds, sun snow, off and on in rapid succession, so I wasn't entirely happy with the outdoors pictures I got of the 2 Lancer units. The photos of the Cavalry General stand I did, however, caught the desired overcast lighting just right, so I will offer them up as aperitif to the rest of the figures.



The figures are all from the Murawski Duchy of Warsaw Uhlans regimental pack, wearing the early (pre-1812) uniforms. There are 18 figures in the pack, including 3 Elite company figures. As as each of my cavalry regiments has 8 figures, with one of which would be in the Elite company uniform, that left me with one elite company figure and one other spare figure. The pack comes with many extra arms for both lances and swords, so I used one of the Officer figures and painted it as a general, and used the spare elite company figure as an aide.

The elite company figure is in the uniform of the  12th Uhlans - dark blue lapels piped white, white collar piped dark blue, dark blue cuffs piped white, crimson turnbacks piped white, and crimson piping on the pants and the seams of the lancer jacket. He wears the rather unusual fur covered shako (not really a colpack/busby, despite the "bag" on it. the plume, cords and bag were pretty much scarlet for all regiment's elite companies, and the epaulettes were almost always red for the elite companies as well. 

Cavalry Generals, like our fellow here, wore a czapska with a dark blue box and silver trim and cords, ornamented with a white plume. The dark blue jacket has the turnbacks, lapels, and collar in crimson piped with silver, and the cuffs dark blue with a silver lace embroidery, also found on the crison collars and the band between the cap and the box of his headgear.

Crimson pants with a double band of silver lace down the outside seams completes a pretty snazzy uniform. The shabraque was dark blue piped silver - I see i missed the dark blue on the small part of it that shows there, so I will go back and add that. I have allowed the good General the whimsy of crimson horse furniture as well. 

I see I also missed the straps on the overcoat/portmanteau, and the saddle bags; that has already been corrected. The horses (figures sculpted by Paul Hicks)carry all manner of varied campaign style impedimenta, as seen here. A nice touch, but a bit of a nuisance to paint at times. 

The horses themselves are exceptionally well sculpted, and the entire 18 figures ride very dynamic, galloping horses, some with both front legs in the air. As first their "hell for leather" charging poses, with the riders all leaning well forward struck me as a bit odd when I glued the riders in place (after painting them rather than before), Once I understood what the sculptor was depicting, though, it made good sense. The animals themselves are exceptionally well proportioned and sculpted, and were very rewarding to paint.   Gotowy? Naładuj teraz, w galopie!

("Ready?  Charge now, at the gallop!"). Just a little snippet like that highlights how different Polish is from Romance and even Germanic languages, not that I am an expert in any of that.