My new project is the campaign of Russia made by Napoleon in 1812, it will be a very big diorama for wargames, representing the march to Moscow in Summer and the long retreat in the snow of Winter. All the event that took place during this period (Borodino, Beresina and all the others battle)
I already started this project in 2011 by cutting mold line and painting primer on 1200 figures (it took nearly 1 year of work only for that), until I stopped to start my aircraft carrier project and pacific war, during all this time I collected more and more figures for this project. Now I have around 2000 figures and surely a few hundred more to come before it will be finished. At this point none of the figures are painted, only half of them are primed in white, at this moment I'm cutting mold line of the others.
Nearly all the figures are made of plastic, I tried to avoid Hat manufacturer as often as possible because of the rubber like plastic and the nightmare to remove flash and mold line but it's still a great addition because they produce some subject not covered by others manufacturers. The bulk of those figures are from Zvezda (art of tactic and the conventional 1/72 range) the best to my opinion, Strelets for winter uniforms are much appreciated, many from "Esci/Italeri/Revell", some from "Waterloo 1815" and a few metal figures from "Franznap" and "fine scale factory" for some wagons.
It's still unclear today why Napoleon invaded Russia because the Russian army wasn't an immediate threat to his empire. The Tsar Alexander didn't respected the embargo signed with France against Great Britain but it was hardly a reason to risk his empire for such question which could be probably solved by diplomacy.
Napoleon was probably misinformed of the situation, he also underestimated many parameters, the distance between 2 villages is much bigger in Russia than the rest of Europe, which mean more difficult to find some supply on farms for troops and horses, the Russian army had many depot to stockpile supply (they were burnt when he came) because they couldn't live on the country like Napoleon did during all his previous campaigns in Europe. The Russian agriculture wasn't as productive as its counterpart because the earth was frozen more longer in winter and serfdom still in use, unlike the rest of Europe using more modern and efficient methods of production.
Napoleon probably felt emboldened by his 600 000 troops but the early losses of nearly all his horses dedicated to wagons carrying supply doomed his expedition. When he reached Moscow Napoleon was at the highest point of his empire, but it was also the beginning of the end, the winter and cossack were already waiting for him on his way back and Waterloo was the final point. Napoleon never recovered from his invasion of Russia, he lost his best battle hardened troops (from the french revolution) in the snow.
This is an epic part of history and big adventure who deserve my attention for the coming months/years needed to finish it, according to my freetime.