I had a bunch of left over Elite Miniatures figures and decided to make an ad-hoc battalion of Spanish infantry. This unit represents a battalion cobbled together from recruits, stragglers from beaten units and so forth. I added two standards – because I like flags. These were images of the internet, resized and duplicated horizontally to have a front and back.
I took part in a Black Powder mini-competition a month or so back at Call to Arms, the annual convention of the venerable Wellington Warlords club. We had five games over two days using a point system devised by a couple of the competition organisers. I decided to take a Spanish Army but had to settle for Spanish with a brigade of British supports because I did not have enough Spaniards painted. I didn’t get too badly whomped (2 losing draws, one winning draw, one hiding and one win).
What I decided though was that I needed more good Spanish infantry. So this last week I painted and based a battalion of Walloon Guards. These are my usual Elite Miniatures from Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia. Getting these from Nathan is a no-brainer for me. He is a great guy to deal with and the AUD and NZD almost have parity.
I am pretty happy these guys turned out seeing as they are my second unit in three years. I mean, close up they are alright but they look cracker from Wargames Distance. I also painted most of these guys while away last week for work and when I am away I am now staying in my camper trailer. Internal lighting is OK as I have three 24v LED strip lights that provide good overall illumination but not great for fiddly work like miniature painting – but I am working on that. A 2400 lumen work lamp (solar or usb charged) is on it’s way so should not be a problem much longer.
The flags I just used images off the internet of Spanish flags and resized. After I did this I found an envelope of flags, including some I was sent many years ago by Lawrence from This Life in Lead blog. Among those were two Ramos fabric flags for the Walloon Guards. Oh well – that is life’s way of telling me to paint another battalion of Walloons. I am still missing finials and cords – will order some soon as I have about six battalions in need of them. I had heaps but ran out – well – about four years ago.
EDIT – I forgot to add that the standard bearers are Front Rank figures. I am pretty sure that Lawrence gave me them as well. Thanks Lawrence.
And yes, the chickens came up to see what I was doing and one tried to peck my miniatures. Vicious little bastards are chickens.
My first completed unit in nearly three years!
These are Elite Miniatures that I got earlier this year from Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia.
Elite only make two poses for the Spanish light infantry in bicornes. A kneeling firing and a standing loading pose. So I added a regular Spanish officer and a couple of drummers (one of which is in a shako).
This is a unit of uniformed Spanish Militia. I am sort of building units in my Spanish for the Battle of Medina del Rio Seco. I say sort of because in reality I tend to paint what I feel like painting and fit them into some order of battle at a later stage. So saying that, this is a ‘generic’ Spanish militia battalion. it could be the Salamanca, Mondenendo or de Tuy militias. I have given them Spanish brown coats. Some members of the this battalion have not received full uniforms so have gone to battle in fatigue caps and jackets. Once again I have given them two flags because they look prettier with two flags.
Figures are all Elite Miniatures from Elite Miniatures Australia.
In my last order of Elite Miniatures from Elite Miniatures Australia I got two packs of “Skirmish Pack – loading and firing”. No picture on the website and I was not sure what the miniatures were but decided to get them anyway. Turned out to be two standing and two kneeling firing poses. I was wondering what to do with these and decided to paint them as Light Infantry. I also based them on 25mm rounds – had thoughts of using these for Sharpe Practice. In the pics below you will see I have also tried them out in some of my Zulu Wars sabot bases – and they don’t look too bad either. They can double up as a small unit of infantry for Black Powder games. To the eight figures I added a colonel and a couple of march attack fusiliers I had left over. That particular base can be used as a brigade commander or as part of a ‘unit” of light infantry depending on the game requirements.
When I was taking the pics I had some interested onlookers.
I thought I might get out what I have painted so far. I am quite pleased at how this army is coming together. Not so pleased with how long it is taking me. Mind you, I have done a British Peninsular army, some pirates, fantasy figures and Anglo-Zulu War armies in the middle of it so perhaps I shouldn’t be beating myself up too much.
The bulk of the figures are Elite Miniatures. I get mine from Nathan Vinson at Elite Miniatures Australia. Having a supplier so close and who is such a great guy to deal with is a god-send. I have been getting good use out of the standard Spanish March Attack figures – they are being used as line infantry, guard units and marine infantry. On the workbench at the moment is one being painted as brown coated militia.
The rest of the figures are Front Rank and some Perry. I have used Perry Carlist War figures for some of my Spanish Militia Battalions. Almost forgot – there is a single battalion of Brigade games Spanish Militia as well. Also a single Eureka figure and some East Ridign Miniatures Monks.
I really like the Spanish Army of the ‘early period’ up to about 1811. The myriad of uniforms and strange little units will keep me busy for some time to come I suspect.
If you counted the actual time I spent painting then this unit was knocked out relatively quickly. If you add procrastination time, about three months. These are Elite Miniatures Spanish 1808 infantry (from Elite Miniatures Australia). I have used them for just about all my Spanish Line Infantry and they will be also used for my Spanish ‘foreign’ regiments when I get around to doing them.
At least in the initial stages of the Peninsular War the marine infantry were one of the better formations in the Spanish army. For Black Powder I am going to rate them better than normal Spanish Line – by dropping the Wavering and Unreliable special rules.
They wore the same basic infantry uniform except in blue with red turnback, cuffs and collars. Technically the red plumes shouldn’t be there. Likewise this battalion is carrying two colours, when they should probably only have one. But you all know how much I adhere to a strict historical interpretation when it comes to my miniature armies. I have completely run out of finials for the flagpoles and I keep forgetting to order any whenever I do an order from overseas. One day I will get a stock in and finish the half dozen battalions I have that lack them – in the meantime they will serve without finials.
Next unit is an early war militia battalion in a mix of brown coats and stable jackets.
The Marines will see action in a game this weekend.
Got these yellow coated Dragoons finished. A lovely cold but clear early winter day at the Woolshed meant I could take some pics outside where there was some light. The Woolshed lighting leaves a lot to be desired at the moment.
These are all Elite Miniatures. Only one pose of trooper is available, along with a single officer, standard bearer and trumpeter. I think that they still look quite dynamic despite that. With the horses available they don’t all sit the same way on their mounts so that even without repositioning sword arms they look like a regiment at the canter/gallop. Which direction I will leave up to your imagination.
Look, for the life of me I do not know why WordPress re-orients pictures that were taken in portrait and that I have modified to be landscape. I cannot get the them right way up so either tilt your head or your monitor.  Figured it out!!
The flag is a fabric Maverick Models “white” Spanish cavalry flag kindly donated to me by Lawrence at This Life in Lead.
And some pictures of the Spanish Cavalry Brigade I have finished over the last month or so.
Well first off, the astute among you will notice that these are not in fact Elite Miniatures Spanish Hussars because they don’t make any. They are in fact Elite Miniatures 1806 Prussian Hussars.
When I decided to include a light cavalry unit the only company I saw who made Spanish Hussars was Eagle Miniatures. Because I was already ordering a bunch of British and Spanish heavy cavalry from Elite Miniatures Australia I decided that their Prussian Hussars were a close enough fit for me despite the incorrect trousers, boots, mirliton caps and saddle cloths – but seriously – who notices that sort of thing? I will one day get some of the Eagle Spanish La Mancha Lancers after seeing them in the flesh, so to speak, on This Life in Lead blog so perhaps I may get a unit of their Hussars and do the Espagne Hussars at that time.
Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia included another officer in my order so I have based him separately as a general or commander. Despite my hate of painting cavalry these were not so bad to be honest. Maybe I am just getting used to them. I did all the horses, then saddles, then the base uniform colours, and then finished two figures at time until I had done them all. It was the only way I could get through them. Reasonably happy with how they turned out.
UPDATE: Well spotted Alejandro Quiles from TMP.
Sorry but you painted them wrong… they should be: blue pelisses, red dolman…
Yep – had painted six before I realised my mistake. I just couldn’t be stuffed fixing the error. Given I have the Loamshire Volunteers and the Real Compania Irlandesa in my Anglo-Spanish Army, a unit of incorrectly uniformed Spanish Hussars should fit right in.
Next up – Spanish Dragoons.
This week I have painted up the first of the three Spanish cavalry regiments I had in bare metal (a Line, a Dragoon and a Hussar regiment).
I was looking at the Black Powder statistics for these guys. Makes pretty impressive reading.
Type: Regular Cavalry
Armament: Sabre
Hand to Hand: 7 (good so far)
Morale: 4 (average)
Stamina: 3 (typical)
Special: Heavy Cavalry/D1 (OK, not as hard hitting as they could be), Wavering (Oh dear – take any casualty and they could turn tail), Unreliable (Only move on a command roll one less than the commander’s rating).
Why didn’t I just get some KGL Dragoons? Still, at least my Frenchy opponents will have something to chase across the board.
These are all Elite Miniatures from Elite Miniatures Australia. Nicely cast by Nathan for me some time ago and have been sitting at the regimental depot (a box in the Woolshed) since that time. The carbine is a separately caste piece that you need to glue on. I am not quite sure what these guys are actually doing with their sword arms but it does look awkward.
The flag is a Maverick Models linen flag – a generic Spanish ‘red flag’ for Line cavalry or dragoons. This flag (along with some other bits and pieces) was kindly sent to me a while back by Lawrence at This Life in Lead blog. Thanks again Lawrence! I thought the trumpeter’s tunic should be reversed with the facing colours but apparently consensus is that they wore a red tunic. Honestly at this stage I couldn’t be fagged redoing it so he remains in a non-regulation tunic.
I have yet to attach a finial and tassels to the flag pole as I don’t have any in stock at the moment – getting a number from Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia when he gets back from his latest sojourn in PNG.
Photos taken on one of those rare cold wet days here in Mangamahu so the light was pretty crappy outside. Actually it has been raining all week and although you can’t see it, there was rain pouring down outside when I was taking these shots. Almost this time last year we had floods and land slips that cut us off for best part of a week so here is hoping that it stops – wouldn’t want a repeat so soon.
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