Portuguese 1st Lippe Regiment

It is nice to start a new project, even when it is just a larger version of the previous one. I am quite happy to get back to 28mm, but it took me the best part of a week to adjust to picking up the 28mm Front Rank figures which look and feel massive compared to the 15mm Essex Portuguese I have spent the best part of the last eight months painting.

I intend to follow roughly the same track with these, especially as the uniform details are still somewhat fresh in my mind. To this end, I managed to complete the two battalions of the 1st Lippe Regiment over the previous weekend.

Portuguese line regiments typically consisted of two battalions which were deployed alongside each other in the same brigade, with the brigade usually comprised of four battalions from two regiments (occasionally with a Cacadore battalion included to make five battalions in all, such as Spry's brigade at Fuentes de Onoro), or one regiment and a Cacadore battalion. Here is the first battalion of 1st Lippe carrying the King's Colour:

And the second with the Regimental Colour, which is white in this case in line with the regiment's white piping and turnbacks, indicating a unit of the Center Division:

Portuguese flags typically had a brass finial with a cravat or ribbon, but I have used the Front Rank flag staff finial with a tassel and painted it in line with the unit's division. I have seen a few conflicting images, with some suggesting the cravat should be red, white and blue and others that it should be white and blue, but I went with the divisional colour as any other combination would to my mind have looked a bit odd with the rope and tassels. I managed to find a couple of images to substantiate this, so that is good enough for me:

I have done the majority of the figures in the white summer trousers on the basis that this was when most of the campaigning was done but threw in a few, such as the grenadiers below, with the regulation blue issue:

These battalions are possibly overly large given the returns I have read in Oman and the rough 1:30/1:40 ratio I am ostensibly working to, but possibly it is better to paint too many figures and take a few away in any potential future games, rather than not having enough.

Now on to the 2nd Lagos, with the red piping and turnbacks of the Southern Division which I suspect I will have to again go over twice with two different shades to obtain a visible contrast against the blue jackets.

I find piping the most tedious but at the same time most satisfying aspect of Napoleonic figures, but am definitely not looking forward to the yellow of the Northern Division.