Yermak and the Conquest of Siberia

[cuprum]

The chain net, which falls on the shoulders of most of the figures, will not allow this.

[Andrei1975]

On the thumbnails of shooters it is quite possible to do conversions.

[marco55]

That's fast. Would be great Christmas present. For me that is .
Mark

[axabrax]

Every time I see this done it almost always ends up looking unnatural.  Neck are  too short, heads are cocked at odd angles, etc. Maybe do a separate pack of heads for conversions,  but please don’t design the figures that way.  Very rarely looks good in my opinion.

My friend, maybe as an option to make removable heads for your miniatures in different headgear? This would allow a variety in the army.

[cuprum]

Fit the head in place, the figure has a separate head, not too difficult. But in this case it is not advisable to make separate heads. Perhaps I'll just make a variant of the figure with another headgear and another version of the armor - in order to reflect the "irregular" appearance of the Cossacks. But this is in case if there is any significant interest in this line of figures.

[Tibson]

Every time I see this done it almost always ends up looking unnatural.  Neck are  too short, heads are cocked at odd angles, etc. Maybe do a separate pack of heads for conversions,  but please don’t design the figures that way.  Very rarely looks good in my opinion.

I'm curious what the break-down of people is on this point.  I personally have no issue with how the figures come out and really appreciate being able to give the army variety.  So to me, separate heads for variety are a huge plus.

[marco55]

I defer to the people who are sculpting and making these figures.I'm sure they have discussed this.
Mark

[M.P.]

Since late July I'm working on a siberian conquest variant for  M&T, If anyone is interested in helping me writing it or playtesting just PM me.

[cuprum]

If you have any questions about the history of the campaign, tactics, weapons - I am at your disposal 

[M.P.]

@Cuprum
Thank you 😊.

Without further ado here are my questions:
With what kind of armament would have been polish and lithuanian prisoners of war equipped? Like cossacks or worse? Was their equipement sponsored by Stroganovs?

Is there an estimate of percentage of Muscovite combatants equipped with blackpowder weapons?

What kind of lock was prevailing - matchlock or Muscovite lock (kind of snaphauce)?

Thank you in advance 😊.

[cuprum]

1. Polish and Lithuanian prisoners of war hardly had any significant differences in armament and equipment from the Cossacks. They were sent to the Urals as workers and settlers, but not soldiers, which means weapons and armor they have not kept.. When they were recruited into the Siberian expedition, they received weapons and equipment from the arsenals of the Stroganovs merchants. Probably there were, among others, European armor and weapons, since we are aware of its use. And it is possible that the former prisoners prefer the familiar weapons - but this is only speculation. They didn’t create any separate units, and probably, simply entered the Cossack class, receiving the status of "Cossack".

2. By the time the fighting began, the detachment of Ermak was about 1,500 people. It is also known that the river fleet of Ermak was about 300 large boats (they were called the Strug). The boat could hold 20 people or up to one and a half tons of cargo. Firearms had about half the squad Ermak. In addition, the boat may be set two to four falconets. How many were there in reality - is not known.
The manner of fighting in the Cossacks such. The best shooters fire out of the muskets, the rest charge and give the shooters loaded guns. This is a fairly intense and long-lasting fire. After bringing the enemy into frustration, the Cossacks attack with cold weapons. Such shooting can be carried out directly from the boats.

3. The Cossacks preferred a wick gun, as allowing a more intense fire at that time. I think most of the castles were Russian-made, although there is evidence that the Spanish arquebus were used in the Ermak detachment.

[Andrei1975]

An interesting fact: the Russians Squeakt the time, being in particular for the armament of the Strelets army, the European eyewitnesses called the arquebus.

[Andrei1975]

Squeak:

[cuprum]

Work on the Strug is coming to an end. It remains to make rowing and control paddle.










Sorry for the quality of the photo - photographer I very mediocre)))

[Byblos]

Excellent