Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Portuguese 1st Castello de Vide Cacadores

The first and possibly most highly regarded of the Cacadore regiments alongside the 3rd, the 1st Cacadores were present at most significant Peninsular War battles aside from Albuera. This included being part of the Light Division under Craufurd at Bussaco and Fuentes de Onoro, under the command of Alten at Salamanca and Vittoria, and present at most of the conflicts in the crossing of the Pyrenees and into France including the battle of the Nivelle and the series of encounters which formed the battle of the Nive:


















I had a slight conceptual struggle with this unit before I began, in that most Portuguese Cacadores around the 1808 to 1809 period are represented with the barretina and with yellow lace, but Chartrand states that this was only a very short-lived phenomenon and that most very quickly adopted black, due to cost and availability, and possibly because it was quite conspicuous. This implied that Cacadores wore black lace with the barretina, even before the later adoption of the stovepipe shako:




































In the end though I went with the yellow lace, with gold for the officers, on the basis that this is what is typically represented on the early Cacadores and therefore probably more recognisable:


















I have figures for all six of the earlier cacadore regiments, and hope to have the remaining five completed this side of Christmas, in addition to some spares that might be enough to make up a seventh:


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12 comments:

  1. Woolshedwargamer19 October 2016 at 23:23

    Nice - like them. I have the stovepipe shako ones in a box - I ordered the wrong ones from Front Rank.

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    1. Lawrence H20 October 2016 at 04:15

      Cheers Brian. There is a bit of me that wishes I had gone with the stovepipe for the lot now, including the line, as it may have given a bit more scope to use them in later battles, but it's really not going to stop me using them for any battle of the Peninsular War.

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    2. Woolshedwargamer20 October 2016 at 14:06

      I am going to paint the ones I have anyway. Waste not want not and all that. Only we tragics will note the differences anyway :)

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    3. Lawrence H21 October 2016 at 04:44

      Exactly right Brian, and whose to say there weren't a few early adopters of the stovepipe wandering around amongst the barretina-attired regiments. I'd say that it is almost certain that they were, and that the Cacadores would have been amongst the first to get them. I hope you get a chance to do yours before too long.

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  2. Phil20 October 2016 at 01:11

    Fantastic details, they look great !

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    1. Lawrence H20 October 2016 at 04:18

      Thanks Phil. A lot of brown, but I was reasonably pleased with the way they turned out.

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  3. Tony Miles20 October 2016 at 02:53

    Still got to do mine. Later period stovepipes from Casting room.
    Yours look great as usual.

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    1. Lawrence H20 October 2016 at 04:17

      Thanks Anthony. If they turn out anywhere near as well as your line they should look a treat. As long as they don't get hit in the flank on their first outing.

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  4. Phil C20 October 2016 at 08:55

    Awesome! at first sight I thought all bayonets were snapped off, but, after viewing the photos closely, these guys are armed with British Baker rifles? :o)

    Great painting Lawrence, well done Sir

    cheers,

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    1. Lawrence H20 October 2016 at 22:49

      Thanks Phil. The early Cacadore regiments had one company of Atiradores, with the black plumes, who were equipped with the Baker rifle, and the rest were armed with muskets. This increase dover time, but the majority were still carrying smoothbore muskets.

      Not that there is really much difference on the Front Rank figures and they all seem to be carrying the same weapon. I'd love to be able to field a fully rifle-armed regiment of Cacadores, but hopefully they will be lethal enough.

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  5. Gonsalvo20 October 2016 at 14:49

    Lovely troops as always, Lawrence. Cacadores are classy regardless of what color lace they have on their uniforms!

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    1. Lawrence H20 October 2016 at 22:50

      Thanks Peter. I didn't mind the yellow in the end, as at least it made the lacing stand out a bit more than the black would have done!

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