Russian high command loved parades, and so did Tsars Paul I and Alexander I, so the Russian soldier had to endure many of them, particularly if there was a victory to be marked. Accounts of the Russians in Paris in 1814 mention numerous parades, and in September of the following year, 150,000 Russians passed in review as part of the victory parade to mark the final defeat of Napoleon by the allies. Of course, marching was not just about parades; any Napoleonic army usually had to march on foot if it wanted to go anywhere, and to manoeuvre when on the battlefield. In 1803 the Russian army set ordinary marching rate at 75 paces per minute, and quick time at 120. Later on, two more rates were introduced – triple time at between 200 and 250 paces per minute, and a much more relaxed one for when on campaign and marching at ease. Whether a soldier might one day face battle or not, he was certain to do a great deal of marching during his career as an infantryman.

This set is of marching figures, all of which are basically the same pose but with variations in the positioning of the arms. More general sets tend to have just one such pose, so when we have a whole set dedicated to just this one activity, it is hard to say how many poses is ‘enough’ (given that for some people, one is plenty). The more there are, the more realistic the general scene, avoiding the unnatural perfection gained from a single figure multiplied many times. Six poses does a fair job of showing a mixed group, although on a formal parade you would expect all the men to have their arms in the same position, so then only two of the poses would be used. The similar set from Strelets has more poses, but more variety of uniform and arm position, whereas in this HaT set all the men are clothed and equipped identically. When arranged together in random positions, the mix is pretty good with these six poses, so this is a fair number of variations, and the pose itself is perfectly fine.

As is common with Napoleonic Russian infantry sets, these figures wear the uniform introduced from 1812. This is most obvious with the shako, which has the curved concave top and all the usual fittings such as the cords and raquettes. There are no plumes, but exactly what shako decorations such troops wore when in the field remains a controversial subject to this day, so we have no problem with what is presented here. The rest of the uniform consists of the short-tailed coat and gaiter-trousers, both of which look correct. Collars, which had been open prior to 1812, were closed that year by regulation, but naturally this took time to become reality, and we see examples of both in this set.

The other element of clothing is the greatcoat, rolled and worn over the left shoulder by all here. Around this is arranged their equipment, which is a rectangular knapsack with flask attached, cartridge pouch and bayonet scabbard. The pouch is unmarked, so has no badge, which would need to be added by painting, but the badge on the shako (a single grenade) tells us that these men are musketeers rather than grenadiers, which is unusual in such sets despite musketeers being much the most common of troops. By virtue of its position relative to the mould, there is very little detail on the muskets, making identification impossible, but like the kit, they all look reasonable.

The lack of detail on the muskets is understandable, but the level of detail overall is fair but quite vague and indistinct. The badge on the shako can be made out, but other elements are difficult to see such as the lack of definition on the hands, and even folds in the clothing are not clear. For those wanting to deploy hundreds of these men on a large tabletop, this does not matter, but close up, these are not great figures to look at. Each figure comes in two pieces – the second piece is the knapsack/pouch/bayonet combination, which fits onto a peg on each man’s back. The slot for this in the pack is just that – a slot – allowing some variation of positioning up and down, but meaning the peg has no grip, so all will need to be glued to stay put. This does aid with avoiding unwanted extra plastic, but some find this level of assembly annoying. There is a slight ridge where the moulds meet, but no real flash as such, so many will find them ready to paint straight out of the box.

For many people, these sets that focus on one aspect of a soldier’s activities are great news, particularly if they just want to wargame, and are happy to have markers made up purely of marching figures. HaT are past masters of the art, and this is simply another in the range. It does not offer anything particularly new, and the sculpting is not the best, but it is accurately done and serves the purpose for which it is intended well enough.