Spanish Light Cavalry

Four more units finalised, again all Essex Miniatures with Maverick Models flags. Firstly, two regiments of Spanish Hussars, the Espanoles and Maria Luisa regiments:

This is one of my favourite Napoleonic cavalry uniforms, and the colour seems to work well on 15mm figures. I would be surprised if the Spanish lights actually did carry a standard in battle, but the command set came with a standard bearer and I always think they add a little bit to a unit if you can use them:

I also managed to finalise two units of Chasseurs or Cazadores in the Olivenza and Voluntarios de Espana regiments:

Essex miniatures are not to everyone's liking, but I have to say that I do have a very soft spot for them. I have found the castings to be generally very clean and, while they are a "true" 15mm, and as such stand shorter than other figures such as AB, there is enough detail on them to provide a decent result.

Spanish Dragoons

It has been a little while since I finished painting these, but managed to get the standards attached over the past weekend which means that all five regiments are now complete. The figures are Essex 15mm miniatures, part of a large stash I built up when I lived in the UK for two years back in the early 2000's, and the standards are from Maverick Models. Yellow is never the easiest colour on 28mm figures in my experience, but seemed almost enjoyable in 15mm:

The five units are the Rey, Reina, Pavia, Almansa and Numancia regiments with 16 figures per unit which, at the 1:40 figure ratio we use, represents a paper strength of 640 men per regiment.

Not that we will ever probably use them at full strength, and it will be an unusual battle where we would use all five regiments, but they are available nevertheless should we need them for a future campaign.

I also managed to complete four Spanish light and heavy cavalry regiments, and will post them separately over the coming week or so.

Spanish 28mm Army

I couldn't resist putting the whole army together as a group before they get stored away whilst they await the advent of their French protagonists:

This was a fun project, although I am not sorry that it is over especially as it was on the back of around seventy or eighty 15mm Essex Spanish units which I am also in the process of finalising. I have probably now painted enough Spanish to last me a life-time:

I like this picture as I believe it conveys some of the diversity of colour that can be found in a Spanish Napoleonic army, in this case the Irlanda, Ultonia, and Swiss regiments, a light battalion and an artillery battery.

All up, the army includes the following:

• 19 line battalions (including the 1st and 2nd Irlanda and 1st Ultonia battalions)
• 2 composite grenadier battalions
• 3 Swiss battalions
• 1 Guard battalion
• 2 light battalions
• 4 militia battalions
• 7 cavalry regiments
• 2 artillery batteries
• 1 guerrilla unit

Which is around 709 infantry and cavalry figures, with 98 horses and 6 cannon.

My next project is to put the finishing touches on some 15mm Spanish, and then move on to Portuguese in both 15mm and 28mm.

Spanish Generals

I managed to complete the last of my 28mm Spanish figures over the Easter weekend, in the form of half a dozen Spanish generals and aides-de-camp:

I decided to put them on circular bases, mainly for stability but am quite pleased with the contrast between these and the rectangular bases which I have used for the rest of the army.

I particularly like the way the figure on the right turned out. He just seemed to "emerge" and ended up looking like a Guard or Swiss officer, which wasn't actually planned when work commenced on him:

I am probably a little less happy with the way figure on the left (below) turned out however, in that I accidentally used some very Christmassy-looking colours. I started to give him gold lace, but it began to feel too much like adding tinsel to a Christmas tree so I ended up giving him plain white piping:

That said, I found it rather amusing to position him in such a way as to appear that he is trying to ignore the orders being handed to him by the ADC. Unfortunately, Front Rank don't have a Spanish officer figure which is looking toward their left, so it was inevitable I suppose...

That's my Spanish 28mm project completed. I'll probably try to put together one final post on these as a fully assembled army (before I move on to some 15mm Portuguese) - mainly for my own amusement but also, hopefully, that of others who may be interested.

Spanish Artillery

I am a big fan of Front Rank, and these are the first of their artillery models that I have managed to complete. They were a lot of fun,not only due to the detail but also the lack of flash in areas such as wheel spokes which has annoyed me with some other manufacturers in the past, so preparation was particularly easy.

I tried hard to find a colour for the artillery pieces themselves that I was happy with. Some sources suggested that Spanish artillery should be grey, and I have read others that indicate that the paint they used was cobalt-based (thank you Stephen Summerfield), and should therefore have been more of a blueish tinge which may ultimately fade to grey with continued exposure to sunlight.

In the end I settled for the Foundry British blue-grey triad, which probably suggests Spanish artillery that has recently rolled off the production line, but I am reasonably happy with the result.

The main thing I did have some doubt over was the base size. I am aware that if a crew was to try to fire a gun in these positions, most of them would end up concussed or permanently maimed, and was tempted to put them on 60mm x 80mm bases to provide a bit more scope for positioning and to create more of a mini-diorama appearence. That said, I decided to stick with my 60mm x 40mm convention to keep them consistent with my old Minifigs and Hinchcliffe armies, but it really served to underline to me how much figures have "grown" over the years.

My particular basing issues aside, if anyone else is looking to put together Napoleonic Spanish artillery, I can thoroughly recommend the Front Rank models for consideration.

Spanish Guerrillas

I managed to complete a battalion pack's worth of the Front Rank Spanish guerrillas over the past couple of weeks, comprising twenty-four figures in all. I am not quite sure when I will get to use them alongside my Spanish regulars, but they form such an iconic part of the Spanish resistance against the French that I felt the army would be incomplete without them.

The majority have been based singly anyway, with the vague notion that I might want to use them for skirmish gaming at some stage as well. I have a copy of Sharp Practice from Too Fat Lardies, and will probably base some 95th Rifles and French Voltigeurs the same way, to round things out.

There is a fair bit of variety in the pack, including a few that probably wouldn't look out of place as pirates.

:

I made a conscious effort to try not to go too overboard with colour, and stuck mainly to rustic-looking browns for the majority in an effort to make them look more like peasant clothing. I did allow myself a bit more license with some of the blankets they were carrying however, in order to lighten things up a little:

All things considered, with the combination of poses and variety of clothing and equipment, these were fun to paint.

Spanish Militia

It felt a bit strange going back to Front Rank after a few battalions of Eagle miniatures, as the figures are arguably at opposite ends of the 28mm spectrum and these Front Rank definitely feel quite hefty in comparison.

I was also a bit wary about brown as a theme as well, but half-way through I was really starting to enjoy the experience and reminded myself how much I love the Front Rank style.

The first of these is my interpretation of a couple of the tercios of the Catalonia militia:

While these figures were most likely initially intended for use as regulars for the Spanish army of 1811 and thereafter, I think they work quite well as urban militia:

I have relied upon the dependable Rene Chartrand and his second Osprey to try and interpret the uniform for these:

The second couple of units are based upon Chartrand's description of the Galicia militia, and I think the yellow facings work quite well with the brown uniforms:

The top hats and brown uniforms remind me a little of Victorian chimney sweeps, but they make a nice contrast to the rest of the Spanish:

The flags are GMB, and in this case I have used some from the Voluntarios de Barcelona. Not strictly a militia unit, and the flags could more probably have been home-grown rather than standard issue, but I decided to use these in case I wish to double them up as brown-uniformed regulars at some stage.