From LeeH: Russian Carabineers for the Retreat from Moscow (85 Points)

For my hopefully penultimate entry to Challenge XV I wanted some more infantry. I have done regular line Musketeers, Jágers and even some Grenadiers, but this time I wanted to paint Carabineers. The greatcoat covers most of their uniform, so aside from the black belts of the Jager Battlions the only distinguishing element of their uniform is the tall thin plume of their newly issued Kiwer shako’s. 

Russian Carabineers were the Elite Companies of the Jager regiments, equivalent to Grenadier companies in regular line infantry regiments. These models by Front Rank and unlike most of my other infantry figures these guys have the 1812 Kiwer with the new thinner plume denoting their status. Each Jager battalion had 4 companies, 3 of Jagers and one elite company of Carabiniers who would normally be situated on the right flank when deployed in line. Each company nominally had 141 privates plus assorted other ranks, however, Russian infantry units were notorious for being understrength, especially at the end of this campaign. 

I’m glad I left these towards the end as I have enjoyed painting them, despite already painting a lot of infantry in Greatcoats. I want to end by giving a shout-out to the Blunders on the Danube https://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/ blog with its wealth of useful information, painting guides and history. I’ve found myself returning to it several times during this project and once again it helped me get the markings correct on these Carabineers when I was about to make my own blunder with their headgear and shoulder straps. 

I have just one more group of figures to paint and hopefully I will have then ready before the challenge concludes. 

Scoring: 17x28mm Foot = 85 Points

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Beautiful work Lee. These Carabineers really look the business in their greatcoats and tall-plumed shakos. I remember when I did my Great Retreat project a few years ago being absolutely flumoxed by the bewildering mishmash of Russian troop types and uniform details. Still, the research was great fun all on its own. I very much look forward to your final Challenge entry but moreso your wrap-up at the end of the event. 

- Curt