In Which Rabbitman Finds a Unicorn

When I first played Napoleonics way back in the 70s and 80s, the Russian gun-howitzers were called licornes, which is the French translation of the Russian name Единорог, Yedinorog. They were called unicorns as a nod to General Shuvalov who overhauled the Russian artillery Corps in the mid-18th century and the new gun-howitzers that he championed had handles on the barrels in the shape of unicorns, because unicorns were on the Shuvalov family coat of arms.

But I always saw them called licornes, perhaps because it sounded posher? Or we were all just taking ourselves far too seriously and felt that referring to the heavy howitzers as unicorns seemed a bit silly?

Either way, when I was ordering some bits and pieces to round out my Russians I just knew I had to have a unicorn! They are uniquely Russian, kind of nifty and my Russian force is big enough that I needed at least one more gun.

So during Monday's day off I painted the Perry Miniatures 10 pound unicorn and the limber. The limber came with an extra figure standing, so he made the fifth member of the gun crew.

I like having limbers and since I can afford it, I've determined to have one limber for every 2 or 3 gun models. I might even get some caissons from Warbases this fall too. The limber was a bit of a bugger to assemble, and I ended up with parts glued to fingers. Patience really is the key and taking your time with each step instead of trying to assemble the model all at once.

Ready to move!

The full battery. 12 pdr n the right.  New10 pdr unicorn on the left.