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!
