Cossacks advice/info sought

[Ockius]

Anyone know a bit about Cossacks?
I have become very tempted by the Foundry cossacks models, but before I buy anything I wanted to have an idea of how I could build them into an army. Perhaps someone knows a bit about them?

My questions are:
1. Do the Foundry Cossacks look like they could fit a range of time periods, say 16th Century to Napoleonic period? They are billed as Seven Years War (1756-1763), but I was wondering if they would look out of place in say a 16th century Russian army, 17th century Polish army or even Napoleonic Russian force. I don't know anything about whether their clothes or gear changed much over that timespan or not.
2. What sort of armies would they be good with? Is a Cossack only army a viable option, or were they usually fighting alongside Poles/Russians etc?
3. Do you know if units of Cossack infantry were much of a thing? I like the infantry models, but I know they were much better known for their light cavalry. I wasn't sure if the foot models depict dismounted horsemen, or if they could plausibly be formed up into foot units.

Any help appreciated!

[clibinarium]

I looked into this in the context of the 17th century, so won't speak for later other periods, but yes, cossack infantry definitely were a thing. In fact I think the GNW compendium has an article on Cossack foot regiments which stated there were more foot troops fielded than mounted (but I may be misremembering that).

They fought against and with the Russians,  the Tatars, and the Poles  (depending on which Cossacks we are talking about), and against the Ottomans  There were rebellions against whichever power became too domineering. The Polish crown for instance had great difficulty with the Khmelnytsky Uprising in the 1640/50s.  Certainly you can field a Cossack-only force.

[Ockius]

Thanks for all that, that’s really useful! I think the C17th might be the period I focus on as well.

[FierceKitty]

The typical Zaporozhian Cossack in this era was a musketeer with a great big axe to back it up. If you're talking Don Cossacks, the light cavalry host of popular imagining becomes much more the reality. Also remember that though Poland sponsored the Ukrainian lot and exercised a very shaky authority over them, many troops loosely called "Cossacks" in Commonwealth service (including Pancerni Cossacks, armoured Cossacks) could be from virtually anywhere and might be poor models for a genuinely Cossack army. I used to have a Polish opponent who regularly referred to Tatar auxiliaries as Cossacks, and he was far from ignorant of his own country's history.

I have a 10mm Zaporozhian army, and they give a pretty good fight, though without battery artillery or a heavy cavalry force to speak of they're not the easiest to win with.

[Ockius]

Thanks for that. Great pic there too!
 

[FierceKitty]

A confession - those chaps aren't my 10mm Cossacks.

[Ockius]

A confession - those chaps aren't my 10mm Cossacks.

 

[Rogerc]

I think the other guys have answered you pretty thoroughly, however the period you are lookign at Ukranian Cossacks were heavily involved in fighting both for and against the Poles, Their foot far outnumbered the horse being pike and shot armed. I have been building my own force initally for Great Northern War and then to be expanded to the earlier Deluge period.

The Foundry Cossacks fit the cavalry and foot quite well but you will probably want to flesh the foot out with TAG figures for variety.

I have done quite a few units so far, lots of image setc on my blog example below https://gapagnw.blogspot.com/2020/11/another-regiment-of-foot-cossacks-for.html
IMG_1475 by Roger Castle, on Flickr

[Ockius]

Thanks, Roger.

I think the Great Northern War is the one that interests me a lot too. So many sides involved and switching alliances, from what I can see.

I enjoyed your blog - ending up looking at some Elizabethan Irish which tempted me towards that for a project too!

[Rogerc]

Ah yes the Irish, I must finish those off and actually play with the,m.

[M.P.]

Anyone know a bit about Cossacks?
I have become very tempted by the Foundry cossacks models, but before I buy anything I wanted to have an idea of how I could build them into an army. Perhaps someone knows a bit about them?

My questions are:
1. Do the Foundry Cossacks look like they could fit a range of time periods, say 16th Century to Napoleonic period? They are billed as Seven Years War (1756-1763), but I was wondering if they would look out of place in say a 16th century Russian army, 17th century Polish army or even Napoleonic Russian force. I don't know anything about whether their clothes or gear changed much over that timespan or not.
2. What sort of armies would they be good with? Is a Cossack only army a viable option, or were they usually fighting alongside Poles/Russians etc?
3. Do you know if units of Cossack infantry were much of a thing? I like the infantry models, but I know they were much better known for their light cavalry. I wasn't sure if the foot models depict dismounted horsemen, or if they could plausibly be formed up into foot units.

Any help appreciated!

1. TBH they do not look very accurate. They've got elements taken from different periods.
2. It depends which period are we talking about. For example during the XVIIth century they could be an independent force or allied with Muscovites, Polish, Transylvanian etc.
3. During the XVIth and XVIIth century zaporozhian cossacks were primarily infantry. Don cossacks were mostly cavalry.

[Ockius]

Thanks MP for answering each of the questions.

If the Foundry ones aren’t very era specific then that sort of frees me up in a way! I like to try to theme things quite closely to history as it gives me something to research and try to represent in model form, but it would also be cool if I had an army that could be used for various time periods.

Think I’ll do a 16th-17th century Zaporozhian host then and will start reading up on them.

[Rogerc]

That should allow you troops to fight in the Deluge and the later Cossack rebellion against the Poles as well as fighting alongside the Rusians and to a lesser extent the Swedes in the Great Northern War. Enjoy and share with us your progress please.

[Ockius]

That should allow you troops to fight in the Deluge and the later Cossack rebellion against the Poles as well as fighting alongside the Rusians and to a lesser extent the Swedes in the Great Northern War. Enjoy and share with us your progress please.

Sounds good 👍

[Paul Richardson]

If I remember rightly, Friends of General Haig posted photos here a few months ago of a very nice early seventeenth century mounted Cossack unit in Polish service. I seem to think that it was mainly TAG figures but mixed in with a few Foundry.