Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Friday 18 January 2013

Spanish Milicias/Voluntarios

More recruits for the Spanish army - three more battalions of provincial troops, very nicely painted by Lee, ready to join with the extant Regimiento del Ribero to make a new brigade for Morillo's Division.


Here are the 1er Voluntarios de Aragon, the Voluntarios de Guadalajara and the provisional Regimiento de Cuenca (a mixture of the Cazadores de Cuenca and the militia of that town).

The castings are some more of what are likely to be very rare Falcatas - they are from my much delayed shipment of pre-production figures, and at present it looks as though full production isn't likely to happen. I quite like these little men, I have to say, whatever their pedigree, but those muskets have to be the thinnest and flimsiest yet seen on my wargames table. I have done some careful building-up of the muskets with superglue, but these guys will definitely be handled by the bases, and no mistake, and the mere fact that I have such impractical figures in use is pretty much a reflection of the fact that most of my gaming these days is solo, and casualties don't get removed. At least I'll know who to blame if they get damaged!

7 comments:

  1. Those are lovely looking figures and Lee has done a cracking paint job on them. Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good to see some new recruits. Always remember, newly raised troops always get beaten up in their first battle. It is something the wargaming gods do to break in these green units. What size stands are they on?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are (biggish) 20mm figures - 1/72 scale near enough - the 6-man bases are 50mm wide x 45mm deep. That was calculated as a frontage of 15mm per figure plus a bit of dressing space, and a depth big enough to allow Les Higgins figures "at the ready" with bayonets. It's largely appearance based, I admit it, but it is the house standard for my Napoleonics.

      Delete
  3. Lovely work by Lee. The Spanish infantry of this period may be sketchy, but by God they have fine hats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you can't fight, wear a big hat. These guys never really get the respect they deserve - even from me. Yes, they used to run away, and their training was suboptimal, but they would come back the next day, and the day after, and they just niggled away at the French until they broke their hearts. In which characteristic they must have been an early role-model for the landwehr forces of Austria and Prussia and elsewhere - make it a people's war and ultimately you can't lose - no-one can afford enough manpower to tie you down.

      They still rate triple-distance retreats in C&CN, though - bless em all! Cheers - Tony

      Delete
  4. Very, very nice! Love the random look, just as the Militia should be!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great to see them ready for action Tony.

    Lee.

    ReplyDelete