Our new bust is now available at www.unitedempireminiatures.com
It is listed on page 10 of our site. This bust was a pleasure to paint excellent sculpting by Yury.

Oprichnik Light Cavalryman
1533-1584
1/9 scale resin bust
Sculpted by: Yury Serebryakov
Box art painted by: Mike Cramer
Item: YS04

A few words about what the bust represents ...:

It is not "cavalry", ie a military formation, but the "Oprichniki" (Sg. "Oprichnik" / Опричник) were a mounted gang created in 1563 by Tsar Ivan IV. (Ivan the Terrible), whose members were at the same time bodyguards, spies, policemen and executioners - similar as in the 20th century Stalin's NKVD. The "Oprichniki", whose number soon grew to 15,000, spread fear and terror throughout the country - as soldiers, however, they totally failed!

As a sign of their dogged devotion to the Czar, the Oprichniki carried a strapped dog's head on the saddle - and, in addition, a broom that symbolized the "cleansing of Russia" assigned to them:














Sure - there were exceptions, of course, especially for officers, like here ...:



The bust is indeed equipped with a war club, which was also a command staff - and this should have been the template for the boxart ...:




But who wants to have a typical Oprichnik, should paint the clothes black, leaves the bar and gives him a broom in his hand - like the template above carries one!


Cheers

Our information came from Men-at Arms #427 Army’s of Ivan The Terrible . This Oprichnik bust is a Light Cavalryman as stated in the book. The Oprichnik were the most trusted of Ivan the Terrible’s bodyguards and numbered in the 1000’s. They rode horses. Definition of a cavalryman:troops trained to fight on horses.
Martín please do some research before posting so you don’t confuse the the Planet Figure members while of your post is correct, a lot of it is not.
Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike!

You are absolutely right, I always post something confused, which I suck from my fingers. Sorry, thats kidding.



But seriously:

If your only source is a Men-at-Arms booklet, then YOU have researched too little!

There was a Russian army at that time, which consisted of

- Infantry (Pikemen and Streltsi)...:





- Artillery...:





- Cavalry (light and heavy/armored)...:





And there were the Oprichniki!



Ivan IV created the Oprichniki because he did not trust the army!

And these Oprichniki had exactly the tasks and the look that I have described here!

- Mostly dark / black clothes
- Dog's head at the saddle
- broom.



(Or did you think I sucked even the pictures out of my fingers?)

In Russian historiography about the time of Ivan IV, a distinction is made between "Army" and "Oprichniki"!

And if you had really dealt with original sources, you could read there that the Oprichniki were not good as soldiers, because they usually fled the first shot!

They were trained for other "tasks", that of a gang that should suppress any internal resistance! A pure killer gang!

I recommend you as a source the "campaign" of Ivan IV against the city of Velikije Novgorod 1670.

"Cavalry" is a terminus for mounted army members!

Or what do you think your template of an Oprichnik with the broom intends, if it is a soldier ...?


However, what I'm writing here is ONLY at the time when the "Oprichnina" (опричнина, a kind of state in the state which belonged to Ivan IV personally) existed, and it existed from 1565 to 1572.

The "rest" of Russia at that time was called "Zemstzhina", and was governed by a council of the boyars.

Look at this map: Green, yellow and violet: Oprichnina, light red: Zemstzhina...:



So not even the dates that you mentioned above are correct!

The years from 1833 - 1584 (you write) do NOT denote the time of the "Oprichnina" / "Zemstzhina" but only the total reign of Ivan IV., (until 1547 his mother Helena Glinskaya ruled in his name because he was still a minor).

In short: Army is army, cavalry is cavalry - and Oprichniki were Oprichniki! I think YOU are the one of us who did bad research! Unfortunately there helps even no polemic.


Cheers

P.S. Please excuse me for writing this quite "clear", but I do not like it at all when someone quibbles a post by myself as "wrong" and "confused", who apparently has been very superficially occupied with the subject itself.

Martín,
You bother everyone and do nothing but confuse and degrade products from manufacturers, you need to find something to do as you are not a good contributor on PF but just a hack!

Oha - there's someone who can deal badly with legitimate criticism.
I said what is to say - now everyone can form his own opinion ...

Have a nice sunny day

When I saw the bust my first reaction was also “where is his black attire’? I have spent over two decades researching and publishing on Ivan the Terrible as a professional historian and I can say confidently that Martin is absolutely correct. Even Osprey’s Armies of Ivan the Terrible gives a relatively good account of the Oprichiniki and their atrocities on p. 10. There is also a useful list of literature in the book on pp. 42-43 for those who want to learn more about the Oprichniki, for example, that they wore not a severed wolf’s head as the Osprey book wrongly claims (hence the bizarre wolf skin on the bust), but a dog’s head. By the way, the illustration of an Oprichnik in the Osprey correctly shows a dog’s head attached to the horse breast colour and the horseman wearing a black fur coat. It is a pity that all these important elements were lost in the bust, which looks like a missed opportunity to create a really powerful and dramatic image.

Make your own busts your way, I'm done with posting on Planet figure logging out.

**signed!**

I think we do not have to do!
Rather, I am very sure that we will soon see an Oprichnik of "Medieval Forge" or "Tartar" or "Irbis" or "Altores", which is historically correct.

Figures from Russian history are a very complex topic, as you have to invest in research a little more effort than an Osprey image.

Let me say one more thing at last:
I find your reaction extremely childish!

It would be much more adult, to take the criticism and make the funny animal head off the shoulder and paint the bust differently, namely black - and it is good!


Cheers

Totally agreed, Pierre!

Mike, I think you are overreacting. Even if the bust does not work as an oprichnik, it is a solid representation of a Muscovite by one of the best sculptors in the hobby.

Great work, the paint and the sculpt is just fabulous ! Thank for the news