Yermak and the Conquest of Siberia

[WuZhuiQiu]

I have just been reading Anna Reid's book The Shaman's Coat, which juxtaposes the history of initial Russian contact with the post-Perestroika situation of various Siberian peoples, so this thread is rather interesting.

@cuprum, which other manufacturers' Cossacks might be mixed-in with yours? Also, it would seem that sieges of Cossack blockhouses were fairly common - what did the blockhouses look like?

[cuprum]

I do not have figures from other manufacturers for this period of history, so I cannot compare them. I can only say that this is a classic size of 28 mm (from the feet to the eyes of the figure standing calmly - 28 mm).
Russian Ostrog (blockhouse) is a typical Russian log small fortress. They looked like this:







The height of the wall is 4-6 meters.

[Atheling]

Very interesting line drawings. A couple are almost naive in style in terms of the perspective (that's not a criticism; sometimes more information can be gleaned by abstraction). 

[WuZhuiQiu]

I do not have figures from other manufacturers for this period of history, so I cannot compare them. I can only say that this is a classic size of 28 mm (from the feet to the eyes of the figure standing calmly - 28 mm).
Russian Ostrog (blockhouse) is a typical Russian log small fortress. They looked like this:

The height of the wall is 4-6 meters.

Thank you, cuprum! In the middle picture, what would that pylon have been for? I don't see any wells or woodpiles, either, although I suppose that they could have melted snow in the winter.

[cuprum]

I find it difficult to say what it is. Something not rational. There is a mention that a trade fair took place here. Perhaps this building is related to entertainment.

[Yuber Okami]

Ok, I jumped into this boat (curiously enough, i bought all the references except the cannon and... the boat). I feel this piece of history is worth playing it, and hope my small contribution would help comrade cuprum a bit to recover his investment in the rank.

BTW, I have read a khan managed to get his hand into what was supposed to be Yermak's armour long after his death. Did it survive into modern times or did it fade into history?

[Totleben]

Ok, I jumped into this boat (curiously enough, i bought all the references except the cannon and... the boat). I feel this piece of history is worth playing it, and hope my small contribution would help cuprum a bit to recover his investment in the rank.

Same here. I just had to get them. 
Next time together with the novelties boat and cannon. ;-)

[cuprum]

Thanks for your orders guys. Now interest in this line of figurines has grown, so I'm thinking about continuing this series ...
The history of Yermak's chain mail is very interesting. It was made for the Russian military leader, Prince Pyotr Shuisky. The prince died in battle in 1564, and his armor was deposited in the Moscow tsarist arsenal. After the successful conquests of Ermak, he sent a Cossack embassy to Moscow, offering these lands to the Russian tsar. Ivan the Terrible awarded Ermak and the Cossacks. Among the gifts was chain mail, which previously belonged to Shuisky. Ermak used this chain mail and, according to available information, it was she who caused his death. After a sudden night attack by the Siberians on Yermak's detachment, who had spent the night on a river island, Yermak tried to escape by sailing to the boat, but drowned under the weight of his armor.
The chain mail was removed by the Siberians from the corpse of Ermak and for a long time passed from hand to hand of various local tribal leaders.
It was later acquired by the Russian authorities and is now exhibited as an exhibit in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin (Museum in the Kremlin).

[Yuber Okami]

Now that's weird. At that time plate armour was commonly used throughout Europe and chainmail had been discarded (I guess it's because it's almost useless against shots, but also because of the melee weapons' evolution). The only ones using chainmail at the time were Spanish conquistadores in America (I guess chainmail was "on sale" in Europe so the empoverished would-be conquistadores bought them massively). Did plate never become popular in Russia or did the cossacks use it for the same reasons conquistadores did?

[cuprum]

In Russia, solid metal armor has never been popular. Russian warriors had to fight against very different adversaries - with European armies in the west and with Asian nomads to Orient. Large masses of light steppe cavalry are a very mobile enemy, using mainly a distant weapon in battle - a bow, and avoiding contact combat until they reach their complete superiority. Accordingly, in Russia, relatively light armor was widespread, which made it possible to fight on an equal footing with nomadic horsemen and well protected from arrows. Russian chain mail was of high quality and was very popular among the same nomadic peoples. In addition, if necessary, the chain mail could be reinforced with additional overhead armor. Also widely used was "bakhterets" - armor with steel metal plates woven into chain mail. Often, two chain mail could be worn in battle, one on top of the other.
By the end of the 16th century, chain mail in the European theater of war began to be used much less often due to the widespread use of firearms, but when conducting a battle against Asian archers, such protection was not neglected. In the case of Yermak's Siberian campaign, when the Cossacks at any moment could be bombarded from the shore or fall into the water, chain mail was the optimal defense.







Look - at any time you can change the "weight" of your armor if necessary, depending on which enemy you need to fight with.

[huevans]

https://twitter.com/CarlZha/status/934997047710597120



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Albazin

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2016/11/09/the-sieges-of-albazin-1685-1689/

The Siege of Albazin.

[cuprum]

These events took place about a hundred years later than Ermak's campaign. The history of the conquest of Siberia lasted a long time and is full of many little-known battles between Russians and various peoples. Including China and the Dzungars, whose armies were quite advanced at that time.

[huevans]

These events took place about a hundred years later than Ermak's campaign. The history of the conquest of Siberia lasted a long time and is full of many little-known battles between Russians and various peoples. Including China and the Dzungars, whose armies were quite advanced at that time.

Yes, I realize that it was far later. But would the Russians have worn the same type of clothes?

This was before Peter the Great's reforms. I am wondering if the same figures and rules could be used for the Battles on the Amur.

[cuprum]

This is an interesting question. Later, the Russians in Siberia had a very motley mixture of Russians and local garments and armor. To a significant extent, what was convenient in local conditions was adopted from local peoples.
This is how Russian servicemen looked in Eastern Siberia in the 17th century.

[huevans]

Well, certainly the same weapons.

Are there illustrations of summer clothing?