Cossack, Platov’s Regiment, 1812

del Prado 1:30 Scale Figure Review

del Prado Miniature: Cossack, Platov’s Regiment, 1812.

Hetman or Ataman Matvei Iwanowitsch Platow served as General of Cavalry in the Russian 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General Fedor Petrovich Uvarov. Platow was Ataman of the Don Cossacks and Colonel in Chief of the Ataman regiment which fought at the Battle of Borodino on 07 September 1812. Cossack scouts had located a ford over the Kolochka near the village of Nowie. Around 11:00 o’clock, Uvarov’s cavalry corps crossed the Kolochka with approximately 8,000 men and a horse artillery battery to threaten the flank of Eugene’s VI. Corps. As a result, the French attack against the centre of the Russian line was stalled for approximately two hours, until the Russian cavalry had withdrawn and the flank was secure again. The del Prado cavalry figure portrays a cossack of the Ataman regiment wearing the dark blue uniform with light blue facings.

Evaluation

Horse and rider are anatomically correct.

The steel wire lance is cast directly into the hand of the figure, and it has a nicely detailed lance head.

The figure may by painted as Don Cossack of the Life-Guard Squadron of the Russian Guard. The red uniform of the Life-Guard Cossacks is shown on page 5 of the Osprey manual sold with the figure.

The 16-page booklet by Osprey Publishing contains several colourful illustrations of Cossacks serving in the Russian army of the Napoleonic Wars.

Compatible with 1:30 scale King & Country military and civilian miniatures.

The figure we reviewed was apparently damaged in transit. The rider had been separated from the horse, and the paint was scraped off in several places, showing the metal beneath it. We’ve seen damage like this on other del Prado miniatures of this series.

The del Prado figure of the Don Cossack may be repainted to represent another Cossack regiment of Uvarov’s cavalry corps, or of the Russian guard cavalry.

del Prado miniatures

Russian Cossacks of the Napoleonic Wars