Russo-Swedish War of 1808-1809 or "Finnish War"

[Calvin59]

I'm interested in this conflict and would like a little more information on the Swedish uniforms and units that participated in this conflict. Did any manufacturer make flags for the Swedes? 

[the commissar]

Don't know much about the Russo-Swedish War and there does not seem to be a huge amount of info in English but I was just looking at Maverick Models just this morning and they do Swedish Napoleonic flags - http://www.maverick-models.com/NAP%20FLAGS/NAP%20Sweden.html

[commissarmoody]

dalauppror blogspot is a good source for hobby information about the Finnish war. The link below is too his LADFs post about the subject.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=52145.0

[traveller]

The best source in English is Rawkins book, even if it has some limitations:

https://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/c_rawkins1.html

The Swedish uniforms of the Napoleonic wars is a bit of a nightmare with regulations changing more or less every year. The lack of funds also delayed the implementation of new regulations so it is a bit of a minefield. the same goes forbtje flags. The good thing is that battles were fairly small with a limited number of units. I am Swedish and have studied the subject for several years will be happy to help with any questions.

[Calvin59]

Thank you for all the information you provided. I'll be able to read all of this and get started on the project.
I imagine "The Army of Sweden 1802-1814" is not available for sale? 

[armchairgeneral]

These two books are really good if you can get hold of them, as long out of print. They have every battle of the war with maps and orders of battle. They also have details of the tactics of the war. Similar to the covers they also have really atmospheric illustrations throughout.

I don’t know what scale you would consider doing it in but the Perrys do a really nice range of Swedes with painted examples covering infantry, cavalry and artillery.

https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product-category/metal-ranges/napoleonic/swedish/

Wargames Foundry/Casting Room do Russians for the period.

https://castingroomminiatures.com/collections/napoleonic-russians

Many of the battles were relatively small to what we think of for Napoleonic battles over quite densely wooded terrain where the line infantry on both sides adapted to fighting as lights. So rules like Sharp Practice and Rebels and Patriots would work okay.

I recall years ago a website set up by a group of Swedish wargamers which had pictures from some of the original battle sites where they had managed to find some of the trenches dug by the Swedish troops still surviving!

[traveller]

Thank you for all the information you provided. I'll be able to read all of this and get started on the project.
I imagine "The Army of Sweden 1802-1814" is not available for sale? 

Rawkins original book had lots of errors and was sold in printed format. The later update was much better but only distributed as a pdf on CD-ROM I believe. I guess you might find it on the second-hand market. All hope is not lost though for the English speaking people. For images the Swedish Army Museum published three books on Swedish uniforms in Swedish/English. These are, remarkably, available online for free:

https://sfhm.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SFHM_skriftserie_Svenska_armens_uniformer_del_1_kavalleriet.pdf

https://sfhm.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SFHM_skriftserie_Svenska_armens_uniformer_del_2_infanteriet.pdf

https://sfhm.se/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Svenska-armens-uniformer-Del-3-ovriga-SFHM-skrift-nr-18C.pdf

The Army Museum also publish yearbooks of which one is dedicated the the Napoleonic wars. This one sold on Swedish ebay for 7 GBP;
https://www.tradera.com/item/292215/673701892/between-the-imperial-eagles-swedens-armed-forces-during-the-revolitionary-and-

To avoid major mistakes on Swedish Napoleonic uniforms there are three different styles. A brutal summary

1798/1802: Jacket with lapels
1806/1807: Jacket with single row of buttons
1810; Double breasted jacket

To this you could add the use of earlier uniforms from the 1788-1790 war, undress jackets, civilian militia dress. greatcoats for cold weather etc.

Another good online source is:

https://www.hhogman.se/uniforms-army-sweden-1800s-infantry1.htm

[Calvin59]

Once again, a big thank you to Armchairgeneral and Traveller for all the information you've provided.
My plan with a friend is already to use the Sharp Practice rulebook, which I think will be good for this campaign, and of course, I've decided on Perry Miniatures.

My only drawback is that I'm not very fluent in the language of Shakespeare and I often use a translator. But hey, I'm managing.

I also thought it would be a change from the big battles with many battalions and squadrons, as well as always encountering the Austrians, the English, and the Prussians, to name a few.

I have a new question: why do some have blue uniforms and others completely gray? 

[traveller]

As mentioned, the uniform regulations were a real mess 

As a general guideline, Finnish regiments wore a light grey uniform and Swedish regiments mostly a blue coat. I have a stalled project of writing a book about the Swedish Napoleonic uniforms and I actually wrote a few lines about this. However, depending on the regiment there are many exceptions. If you know which regiment you want to do, I can hopefully give you a more precise description. If you will do a skirmish project I guess you will only have miniatures from one or two regiments? There is also scope for irregulars, since there was a guerilla war being fought beside the regular army.

Model m/1806
Livmundering – Field uniform for Line infantry
•   Black felt hat, 8 inch high, with a brass band around the base, the left side turned up and decorated with a yellow plume
•   Neck scarf, mostly black or red
•   White shirt
•   Grey vest with arms
•   Blue short frock coat with a high collar and single row of buttons. Collar, cuffs and turnbacks were different between regiments. In the autumn of 1806, the coat color was changed to grey. Finnish regiments to have a lighter grey tone
•   Black belt around the waist and across the chest on which the bayonet scabbard was fastened. The short sword (huggare) was abolisd in 1806 but kept in Jäger regiments
•   A girdle with three yellow and two blue stripes was worn around the waist
•   Long grey trousers and short black gaiters with brass buttons reaching over the calf
•   The Kapott (greatcoat) was introduced, with arms and a long collar reaching over the shoulders
•   Black shoes

Model m/1807
Livmundering – Field uniform for Line infantry
•   Black felt hat with a brass band around the base, the left side turned up and decorated with a yellow plume
•   Neck scarf, mostly black or red
•   White shirt
•   Grey vest with arms
•   Grey short frock coat with a high collar and single row of buttons and turnbacks. Collar, cuffs and turnbacks in dark blue.
•   Black belt around the waist and across the chest on which the bayonet scabbard was fastened. The short sword (huggare) was abolisd in 1806 but kept in Jäger regiments
•   A girdle with three yellow and two blue stripes was worn around the waist
•   Long grey trousers and short black gaiters with brass buttons reaching over the calf
•   A greatcoat with arms and a long collar reaching over the shoulders
•   Black shoes

Model m/1809
Livmundering – Field uniform for Line infantry
More or less same as m/1807 but the color of the coat was blue. With Gustav IV Adolf deposed, the white band on the left arm of officers was removed.

Here is an example of the differencies between Finnish regiments:

[Calvin59]

Thank you again. Yes, I would like to do at least some representations of Swedish regiments, but for now I haven't focused on names, as I wanted to have some material before starting the project. 

Perhaps you could suggest some names of Swedish regiments that participated in this campaign?

I became interested in this campaign while reading a bibliography by Marshal Bernadotte, and that's how I learned that there had been fighting between the Danes, as well as the Russians, and of course, the French.

That's why I chose to do this campaign, and since the Perry brothers sculpted Swedish figurines and I like this brand, I went for it. 

[traveller]

In order to fit your project into a historical context I would look for regiments that took part in as many battles as possible. You can then play scenarios in the form of skirmishes that were part of that battle. Wikipedia provide a list of all battles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Battles_of_the_Finnish_War

Perry currently only have miniatures in uniform for the summer season so you can exclude any battle during November-March. To make a long story short, I would go for any of the regiments that participated in the battle of Oravais. There you will find both Swedish and Finnish regiments including Jägers:



Swedish Army
5 500 man
Fältmarskalk Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor (befälhavare över de svenska styrkorna i Finland, men lämnade över befälet till general Carl Johan Adlercreutz vid Oravais).

Infantry

Upplands regemente (2 bataljoner)
Västmanlands regemente (1 bataljon)
Hälsinge regemente (3 bataljoner)
Västerbottens regemente (1 bataljon)
Uppland, Hälsinge och Västmanland jägare (6 kompanier)
Österbottens regemente (1 bataljon)
Savolax infanteriregemente (4:e brigaden) (2 bataljoner)
Savolax jägarregemente (4:e brigaden) (2 bataljoner)
Karelska jägarkåren (4:e brigaden)

Cavalry

Livgardet till häst (2 skvadroner)
Karelska dragonkåren (1 skvadron)

Artillery

Svea artilleriregemente (6 sexpundskanoner)
1 fyrapundshaubits


Russian army

6 000–7 000 man
General Nikolaj Kamenskij (rysk befälhavare över huvudarmén)

Advance guard under J. P. Kulnev

Sevsk muskötregemente (2 bataljoner)
3:e Jägarregementet (2 bataljoner)
Grodnos husarregemente (2 skvadroner)
Donkosacker (100 man)

Forces under N. I. Demidov

Petrovsks muskötregemente (2 bataljoner)
Perms muskötregemente (2 bataljoner)

Reserves under Usjakov

Mogilovs muskötregemente (2 bataljoner)
Litaueiska muskötregementet (2 bataljoner)
25:e Jägarregementet (1 bataljon)
Grodnos husarregemente (1? skvadron)
Polska lansiärregementet (1 skvadron)

Artillery

Överste Arguns artillerikompani (från 17:e artilleribrigaden)
Överstelöjtnant Ziminskys artillerikompani (från 21:a artilleribrigaden)

From the Perry ranges I would go for the Savolax Jägers and some Line infantry. You can paint the latter in the colours of any of the Swedish/Finnish Line regiments participating. You should also convert an officer figure to represent Georg Carl von Döbeln, the most iconic Swedish commander:

[Cat]

The best available book in a language I can read is
La guèrre russo-suédoise de 1808, Nicolas Denis REMŸ, ordered direct from the author.

https://silex-et-baionnette.fr/guerre-russo-suedoise.html

The Napoleonic Source Book by Haythornthwaite is the most-used reference book in my library, includes a section on the Swedish army.

[Calvin59]

Thank you, Chat, for the information you shared with me. I have contacted the author. 

[Calvin59]

Thank you again for your suggestions. After looking at the various battles on Wikipedia, I settled on two regiments: Uppland and Västmaland. What do you think?

The only problem with the Perry brothers is that they didn't have any mounted commands, so I'll wait or I'll find a commander from another nation who can do the job.

Besides, I don't have much choice in terms of cavalry. What do you recommend I take? 

[Cat]

Thank you, Chat, for the information you shared with me. I have contacted the author. 

IIRC, when I got mine communications may have been a little slow with sorting out shipping to the US, but the book came through and he was quite happy for the sale.