28mm Peninsular War - British Divisional and Brigade Commanders

 

Like many wargamers, I invest a lot of time in painting up units for the table and take great satisfaction from ticking off another essential battalion as completed. These battalions do after all, take us another step closer to being able to play a game.

This does leave commanders as an after thought, or simply something that doesn't quite get done until you really have to do it.  That's my experience anyway.  Commanders also always need that little bit of extra work, big feathers and plenty of gold trim often ensures that, but there is also that need to add some character detail too.

So, after completing enough Allied units for a small game, I thought it was time I really got on with the commanders for both sides.  I have done the French too, but as Blogger seems to be back to posting pictures in reverse order, something that it has never been able to sort out, I decided to make life easier for myself and split the posts up.

This is the British Divisional Commander and is built up from figures from three different sets from the Perry Miniatures range.  The Major General is from the set for Pack, Kempt and Halkett.  This set (BH-03) is probably meant for the Hundred Days campaign and is with the initial catalogue listings which appear to be for that campaign.   The other two packs were BH106 - Colonels in Bicorne and BH151 - Mounted ADCs.

I decided not to use use the figures as named personalities as such, which eased trying to find portraits to get hair colour and detail correct (such as I did with Waller from my ECW post of some years back).  I did encounter another issue though and that was the change in how General ranks were worn, with the change in regulations.

So, aiguillettes had to be carefully trimmed off and smoothed, new epaulettes had to be created from plastic putty and while I was at it, I decided to create riding boots and breeches to replace their overalls, just to give it that earlier Peninsular campaign look!

I liked the addition of the campaign coats but felt that I needed to adjust shades of colour when two personalities wore them.  This seemed to work well, and I was pleased with the result.

I mixed and matched officers and ADCs to try to create a story with them, and to try to get them to interact with each other, whether to a greater or lesser degree.  The ADC below is being given clear instructions by the brigade commander.

I decided to keep the cavalry overalls on this particular ADC as overalls were worn in theatre, but just not as the generic item seen in the hundred wars campaign.  The general also has his overall trousers on too.  It helps to make a difference between command stands.

I really enjoyed creating and painting these almost as command vignettes.  Deciding on what seemed to work with composition and modifying figures to adjust uniforms for the Peninsular was the trickiest part. After that the painting was very enjoyable.   French Commanders to follow.

Ps....Hmmmmm the post has been up for nearly 20 hours and there have been no views on it recorded. I wonder if Blogger got up upset with my criticism of the photo synching!  Weird!  Hopefully its just some kind of glitch!

28mm - Perry Miniatures - Napoleonic Spanish Infantry - Irlanda Regiment

 

I couldn't resist buying some boxes of the Perry's plastic Spanish Infantry which were released recently.  I thought it would make a nice change to the Redcoats and Portuguese in my Allied Peninsular War armies.

I chose to paint these up as the Irlanda Regiment.  This regiment was at the Battle of Albuera, a battle burned into my interest since walking the battlefield in 2024.  

Green plumed Cacadores

The Irlanda Regiment were part of the Spanish 1st Brigade in the 4th Division of General Zayas. The whole Division fought valiantly, surprising many of the British troops, and played an essential role in keeping the French in check as the Allied army redeployed to face Soult's outflanking attack.

The Irlanda Regiment was formed in 1638 from emigres from Ireland originally and then manned by their sons and descendants after that.   Interestingly Adjutant General Antonio Burriel's list of recommended soldiers from the Regiment lists only troops with Spanish forenames and last names, possibly indicating that recruitment had become more open in Spain and not just from the Irish.

The list of names comes from an excellent book called 'Albuera Eyewitness' by Guy Dempsey, published by Frontline Books.  This book contains eyewitness accounts from Anglo Portuguese, Spanish and French sources and often comes from letters from those who were there at that terrible bloody battle. This book is an absolute goldmine to anyone interested in the battle with a lot of witting and unwitting evidence in the text that answers a lot of questions.

There seems to be a question in some wargames rules and journals as to whether the Irlanda Regiment had two separate battalions at Albuera. The eyewitnesses in Dempsey's book do not appear to state the fact either way, but where other regiments had more than one battalion, then they are described as such by eyewitnesses pretty consistently. The Irlanda Regiment is only ever described as a 'Regiment' in all accounts including the account written by their Divisional Commander; General Zayas (who ought to know!).  Interestingly their Cacadores Company is described in detail skirmishing with the French and led by a named Lt Colonel, a high rank to be leading a company, unless the Regimental Colonel was leading the Regiment, making it highly likely that it was deployed in greater strength than one battalion.

It is highly likely that the Regiment at Albuera was formed of the combined 2nd and 3rd Battalions, both known to be much reduced below strength.

The First Battalion would have carried the other flag (which why my painted combined unit carries only one flag).  The First Battalion also contained the grenadier companies and it is known that the First Battalion was deployed elsewhere in Spain

The uniform was in a transitional phase and I decided to show the Regiment with a mixture of headdress.  The old bicorne has been given to a good number of troops while the newer shako is also mixed in along with forage caps.

The flag is actually from the wonderful painting sheet that the Perry's include in the box. I cut it out, and glued it on the pole, a bit of paint around the edges and a final varnish and it fits in really well.

I had to make an informed guess with the Sapper's uniform but I think it is possible that this was how it would have looked.   I nearly gave the drummer reversed colours also, but sources all seemed to agree that the drummer's uniform followed the pattern of the usual infantry uniform but with multicoloured lace.

I started building these figures 6 weeks ago and finished the basing at the weekend. I was so keen to see how this Regiment would look that I decided to paint all of the figures in one go rather than break them into company sizes (in this case a stand of 8 figures) to paint one company at a time.

This decision driven by sheer enthusiasm did at times seem like utter madness.  White lace on yellow cuffs and collars is made extra challenging by the need to line between the two or the colours blur together.  I did the final detail work and touching up, one company at a time so that I could more easily focus with getting it right.

Despite all of the work, I loved assembling and painting them. They are just so interesting and yet again, the Perrys have made such beautiful sculpts with so many options.

I will do some skirmishing cacadores for this regiment in due course. But not yet.   A break to do other things beckons!

28mm - Perry Miniatures - Napoleonic French Infantry - 34th Regiment of Line

I have made some more progress with my Napoleonic collection.  This time it is the 1st Battalion of the 34th Regiment of Line, a unit which was part of Girards's 1st Division at Albuera.

The figures are from the Perry Miniatures 1807-14 plastic boxed set.  The flag is from GMB miniatures.

I have started to make additional Voltigeur stands in skirmish order.  My intention is use General d'Armee rules and I really like the use of battalion and brigade skirmish screens in it.  

As so often, I had to make a few guesses with small detail.  I will research as far as possible and where something isn't stated - such as whether the Grenadier Company wore bearskins or shakos, I make my own decision.   Where something is known for a Regiment detail I will use the historical dress.  

I have yet to find the habit-veste turnback detail for this Regiment so have left the symbol off until I can find the correct detail.  The detail being so small it will be very laborious to paint one on, to find out later that I have to re-do it!

Campaigning in Spain was hard - and clothing and uniform would have been constantly being worn out.  I try to reflect this by giving some of the troops breeches made of the local Spanish brown wool.

I really like the campaign details, such as shako covers too, though I still try to keep the troops looking soldierly.

It's always a joy to complete a Battalion.  This has taken a good while