Toy army of Peter the Great

The toy army of Peter I (Russian: Потешные войска, Poteshnye voiska, literally amusement forces or fun forces) was initially called Petrovskiy polk, Peter's regiment (Russian: Петровский полк) and was a collection of young Peter's playmates, noblemen's sons and attendants of his father Aleksei's court.

[1] In 1682, when Peter with his mother, Natalia Naryshkina, relocated to the royal lodge in Preobrazhenskoye, he gradually formed a miniature army, ostensibly to school himself in the modern art of war.

Besides fellow children, the servants and retainers were also enlisted, with 25-year-old Sergei Bukhvostov recorded in 1683 as the 'first Russian soldier'[2].

With further drafts of Streltsy volunteers, the Poteshnyi were organized into the Preobrazhensky and the Semenovsky companies in 1687.

[3]: 10–11 During the 1689 coup attempt by regent Sophia Alekseyevna, the Poteshnyi had been part of the units supporting young Peter, along with most of the Streltsy, and leading members of Russian nobility.