Camp Followers

More than just people fled the advancing Soviet hordes at the end of World War Two. People abandoned their farms and homes and fled west to try and escape the Red Army.

I used the Imex Pioneer set to get pigs and cows and a little girl and I use them as part of my Cossack unit. The little girl figure originally had a hoop and is playing a game of rolling the hoop with a stick. I cut the hoop off of her base and she now is running with a stick to herd the cows.

There are five pigs and ten cows. I painted the bases in the same green that I am using for my Cossack figures.

The cows were brown plastic that I primed in Testors Flat Gray Primer. Then I used Testors Flat White paint to paint the blotches on the cows. I had to use three coats of paint for best coverage. Then I used Tamiya Flat Black as the flat black. The green is Testors Flat Beret Green. Cows were then sprayed with Testors Dullcote.

Pigs were like the cows, originally brown plastic, primed gray. I then painted them Tamiya Flat Red Brown with a very heavy dry brush. Same base green.

My Cossack unit has camp followers with them. They are civilians, male, female, young and old. They are not only fleeing the Soviets, but they are also providing services to their military unit. They include dependants who cook, clean, sew and otherwise support the fighting troops. By WWII few military organizations had camp followers, but units operating in their home region, or fleeing the enemy from their home area did sometime still have them. Military units with them on the wargame table are very rare.