Spanish Provincial Militia

Over the past couple of weeks I have finally managed to put the finishing touches on the Provincial Militia and Line for my Spanish 15mm army. The figures themselves had actually been completed over a year ago and a few units have seen action on the table, but the line and militia have been awaiting their flags and the labels for their bases, indicating their unit designations.

I put together eight units of Provincial militia, which are essentially the Essex Spanish line figures painted with the red facings and brass buttons of the 1805 militia uniform issue:

This is in contrast to the Urban Militia units which were more mixed in appearance, and for which I used a mixture of browns to represent more hastily acquired clothing as opposed to a regulation uniform.

The militia were present in a number of engagements where it has to be said they performed poorly. At Talavera anywhere up to four battalions were said to have fled at the sound of their own gunfire as the front ranks engaged a few skirmishing French cavalry, much to the bemusement of the British (and annoyance when they were found to have apparently looted the baggage train after their departure). It has to be questioned whether this is really very surprising as they were poorly trained, led and supplied, and it is probably a sign of their fortitude that they were there in the first place.

In the rules our group games with they are classed an 'E' and we have to be extremely careful where we place them, which is normally to the rear where they act as a morale bonus in providing rear support:

The paper strength for Spanish militia units does appear to indicate a number of attached grenadier companies.  Nafziger however appears to dispute this so we have not included them in our order of battle for the Spanish. That said, I threw a few in and painted a couple of figures in blue overcoats, for the sake of variety:

That's the militia completed, and I have finalised nineteen battalions of the line which I also hope to photograph for the sake of posterity over the next few days.

Portuguese 4th Freire Regiment

It feels a little disingenuous to be putting up a post on Napoleonic Portuguese when it is currently the 18th of June here in Australia. I do now wish that I had done something a little more special to mark the 200th anniversary of Waterloo as many others have done, but then I completed these on the weekend and am now knee-deep in this particular project. Besides, I have been thoroughly enjoying reading the lead-up to the battle on people's blogs elsewhere, and especially the spectacular campaign and battle recreations.

To be honest, Waterloo is starting to represent something a little akin to Brigadoon or the end of the rainbow to me, in that I have been to Belgium twice including Brussels itself on one occasion, but simply ran out of time (family commitments and small children etc.), and then went on a driving holiday through France with the express intent of heading up to the battlefield toward the end of the holiday, only to have the car blow a head gasket which meant we had to spend the whole ten days in Paris (no real hardship, it has to be said).

To top it off, I was booked on a battlefield tour for the celebrations this year, but ended up having to cancel due to other commitments. At least I can live my life vicariously through the internet until I can launch a fifth attempt, hopefully at some point in the next couple of years.

Anyway, they may not be French, Prussian, British etc., but at least they are Napoleonic. Another couple of Portuguese battalions completed in the form of the 4th Freire regiment, which is a regiment that formed part of the Centre Division as indicated by the white regimental flag carried by the second battalion, and by their white piping:

This regiment saw action at Albuera as part of Hamilton's Portuguese brigade, but were probably wearing the stovepipe by then. However, since I am aiming toward an earlier Portuguese army, I have again painted them using the Front Rank barretina-wearing figures (which I have to say I prefer anyway as it has always seemed to me to be one of the defining characteristics of the Portuguese uniform):



















As with the previously completed battalions, I have used Front Rank flag finials with the tassels and done these in line with the Divisional colours, in this case white:

I have also painted the bulk of the figures in the regulation or dark blue pantaloons, as opposed to the white issued for the summer campaign season, mainly to give a bit of variety and because I was becoming a little bored with the similarity between the units:

That's three regiments comprised of six battalions now completed, and I have the two battalions of the 3rd/1st Olivenza regiment on the painting table at the moment, which should see me through to the end of the month at least.

Portuguese 2nd Lagos Regiment

Another two battalions completed toward a 28mm Portuguese project, and this time the 2nd Lagos Regiment.

Belonging to the Southern Grand Division, the Lagos regiment's uniforms were therefore piped in red with turnbacks of the same colours, and the second battalion carried a red regimental colour:

The 2nd Lagos were usually brigaded with the 14th Tavira regiment, both having been raised from the Algarve region of Portugal, and was present at Bussaco, Albuera, Vittoria and the push into Southern France in 1814.

Here is the first battalion carrying the King's colour:

And the second with the regimental flag:

Finally, a quick look at the second from the rear, which is a view I don't believe the French ever saw, and one I hope won't occur too often when this regiment eventually takes to the table:

I have just ordered a few more flags from GMB to complete a regiment or two from the Northern Division.

I do have to keep reminding myself to paint in the regimental numbers on these flags which Grahame Black has thoughtfully left blank, the Arabic number generally being the only difference between flags of the same division.


I just wish I could remember to paint them when they are lying flat, rather than after I have attached and curled them around the flag staves...

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.

Portuguese 15mm Army

It is always a nice feeling when an army is completed, especially when it has been sitting in boxes for the best part of twelve years in the case of my Essex Miniatures Portuguese. It is probably self-indulgent but I enjoy taking a few parade-ground style pictures before they are packed away:

It's not that they won't be employed on the field of battle, rather that they are unlikely to be used together as a full army, especially as they will normally be operating alongside the British in any games our group undertakes:

All things considered, this was slightly more satisfying to put together than my Essex Miniatures 15mm Spanish army, mainly because there were a few figure variations in each pack of the infantry (as opposed to a single pose with the Spanish infantry) to break things up a little and relieve some of the monotony of painting several hundred figures:

I decided to go with black chords on the jackets of the Cacadores rather than yellow, on the basis of the Rene Chartrand Osprey where he implies that yellow lacing and chords was a relatively short-lived phenomenon, even before the  Cacadores had swapped their Barretinas for the British-supplied stovepipes. This was apparently due to both expense and lack of supply, but I am still wrestling with whether I have done the right thing here, especially as many other examples I have seen are sporting the yellow:

All up, I have counted 603 foot, cavalry and artillery figures, 41 horses (33 of them cavalry), and six artillery pieces:

Now off to do the same thing with some Front Rank 28mm Portuguese, which I am quite looking forward to getting into as I do feel much more comfortable at that scale. Looking at the above, I should probably also consider having the kitchen repainted...

Portuguese Militia

The last of the units for this 15mm Portuguese project; some recently completed Portuguese militia battalions:

As with the line, the militia belonged to the South, Center or North division, with their piping and turnback colours being red, white and yellow respectively. Unlike the regular line however, they had yellow (as opposed to white) plumes, and the officers and NCOs could often be found in bicornes in contrast to the shakoes of the line.

I personally find the yellow plumes slightly unbecoming, but apparently they were quite popular with some of the dandies of the day who enrolled as officers in the militia battalions upon the outbreak of hostilities with France, and many undoubtedly added their own affectations to the standard pattern:

Here are three from the Southern division in the form of the Lagos, Tavira and Beja battalions:

and the Lisbon and Oliveira dos Azemeis battalions from the Central Division:

The militia were mainly employed in the defence of towns and on garrison duties, so it is unlikely they will see the light of day in any of our games. Unless of course we mount an Iberian campaign at some point, in which case they might come in useful.

Portuguese General Staff

I probably should have put the Portuguese part of the title to this post in quotation marks as they are essentially a mixture of Austrian and Russian Essex figures:

The reason I pursued this line is that most of the other figures, such as AB, do tower over the true 15mm Essex and would therefore possibly have looked even more out of place. I am not however altogether unhappy with the result, especially given that Napoleonic staff uniforms could often be eccentric at the best of times:

Most of these have been based as brigade commanders, on the assumption that they will normally be operating alongside our Peninsular British in the games we have planned going forward:

Just five small battalions of Portuguese militia to finalise over the coming days, and that should then be another army completed.