Steven’s 1818 Royalist Army on Big Bases

I have rebased my 1818 Royalists on big bases, so I took the opportunity to do a photo shoot including some units I’d not featured before. This is the army that won at the Battle of Cancha Rayada (19 March 1818) and lost to San Martin at the Battle of Maipo (5 April 1818). For those interest in the earlier armies I’ve also got the Royalist army for 1817.


Cavalry

1818 featured another pretty range of Royalist cavalry uniforms. Shame the quality of the troops wasn’t so hot.

Arequipa Dragoons

1 Squadron.

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo.

John Fletcher (2005) has the Arequipa Dragoons in a conventional Blue Spanish uniform. However, Rolf Grein proposes an alternative uniform. White jacket with red collars and cuffs. Blue trousers. Blue forage cap with white band and red piping. Unfortunately, Rolf had forgotten his sources but in the interests of having an interesting looking unit I followed his lead.

Although I painted the other units Martin Boulter from Silurian Wargames Limited painted these guys.

1818-17 Arequipa Dragoons
1818-17 Arequipa Dragoons
1818-18 Arequipa Dragoons - Back
1818-18 Arequipa Dragoons – Back

Chillan Dragoons

1 Squadron

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo.

1818-19 Chillan Dragoons
1818-19 Chillan Dragoons
1818-20 Chillan Dragoons - Back
1818-20 Chillan Dragoons – Back

Lanceros del Rey

1 Squadron

Another interesting unit, being armed with lances. They look more impressive than they performed.

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo.

1818-21 Lanceros del Rey
1818-21 Lanceros del Rey
1818-22 Lanceros del Rey - Back
1818-22 Lanceros del Rey – Back

Frontier Dragoons

The figures are PRNS-004 and PRNS-005 Cavalry in Short Coats w/sabers. The figures lack lapels so I just painted them on regardless.

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo. In order of battle for Alternative Chacabuco – which is why they feature in my Royalist army for 1817.

1817-99 Frontier Dragoons - Line
1817-99 Frontier Dragoons – Line
1817-01 Frontier Dragoons - Back
1817-01 Frontier Dragoons – Back
1817-02 Frontier Dragoons - Waves
1817-02 Frontier Dragoons – Waves

Infantry

Generally the infantry of the latter army wore white single breasted jackets.

Arequipa Regiment

White uniform. A significant proportion of the rank and file were black.

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo.

1818-23 Arequipa Regiment - Column
1818-23 Arequipa Regiment – Column
1818-24 Arequipa Regiment - Line
1818-24 Arequipa Regiment – Line
1818-25 Arequipa Regiment - Back
1818-25 Arequipa Regiment – Back

Burgos Regiment

White uniform.

According to Fletcher (2005) the 2nd Battalion of the Burgos Regiment fought at Cancha Rayada and 1st Burgos fought at Maipo.

1818-26 Burgos Regiment - Column
1818-26 Burgos Regiment – Column
1818-27 Burgos Regiment - Line
1818-27 Burgos Regiment – Line

Infante Don Carlos Regiment

White uniform.

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo.

1818-28 Infante Don Carlos Regiment - Column
1818-28 Infante Don Carlos Regiment – Column
1818-29 Infante Don Carlos Regiment - Line
1818-29 Infante Don Carlos Regiment – Line
1818-30 Infante Don Carlos Regiment - Back
1818-30 Infante Don Carlos Regiment – Back

Conception Regiment

Unusually for my 1818 infantry these guys are in a blue jacket and white trousers (Fletcher, 2005, p. 30). Aside from the black straps the unit looks like Chiloe. I highlighted the black straps with a dark grey to make them stand out from the surrounding “black” shadow of the Black Undercoat method. Another unit using figures from Fantassin / War Modelling EN-17 Spanish Infantry with French Style Shako and Fantassin / War Modelling EN-22a Spanish Infantry Command (shako).

Fought at Cancha Rayada and Maipo. Were likely to have been the garrison at Talcahuano – which is why they feature in my Royalist army for 1817.

1817-08 Conception Regiment - Column
1817-08 Conception Regiment – Column
1817-09 Conception Regiment - Line
1817-09 Conception Regiment – Line
1817-10 Conception Regiment - Back
1817-10 Conception Regiment – Back

Grenadier Battalion

The Royalist Granadero and Cazadore battalions were composites built from the flank companies of the 4 battalions in the army: Burgos, Arequipa, Infante and Concepcion.

1818-31 Royalist Grenadier Battalion - Column
1818-31 Royalist Grenadier Battalion – Column
1818-32 Royalist Grenadier Battalion - Line
1818-32 Royalist Grenadier Battalion – Line

Cazadore Battalion

The Royalist Granadero and Cazadore battalions were composites built from the flank companies of the 4 battalions in the army: Burgos, Arequipa, Infante and Concepcion.

1818-33 Royalist Cazadore Battalion - Column
1818-33 Royalist Cazadore Battalion – Column
1818-34 Royalist Cazadore Battalion - Line
1818-34 Royalist Cazadore Battalion – Line

Zapadores

Shako and blue uniform. 1 company.

Given the small size of this unit I put it on a half size stand.

1818-35 Zapadores
1818-35 Zapadores
1818-36 Zapadores - Back
1818-36 Zapadores – Back

Artillery

I’ve painted the eight stands necessary for Chacabuco. All of them have a 4 pounder guns and two crew. The figures are RNS-009 Royalist Artillery Crew and PRNS-012 4lbr Field Gun (Long Barrel) (2 guns). I’ve also painted two 8 pounder guns and two howitzers, all with 3 crew each.

Royalist 4lb guns
Royalist 4lb guns
Royalist 8lb guns
Royalist 8lb guns
Royalist Howitzers
Royalist Howitzers

Generals

Brigadier General Mariano Osorio

Mariano Osorio commanded at the Battle of Rancagua (1 Oct 1814) when a Colonel and at the Battle of Maipo (5 Apr 1818) as a Brigadier General. The figures are from the specialist pack RS-006 Royalist General Osorio. John Fletcher characterises Osorio as “poor; coward, low initiative” hence the pose with the backward glance. I wasn’t too accurate with Osorio’s uniform – I gave him the red trousers of a Field Marshal (Mariscal de Campo) only because, well, they look better but also because the Alternative Battle of Chacabuco features Field Marshal Marco del Pont.

1817-26 Royalist Osorio
1817-26 Royalist Osorio
Cowardly Osorio and his confused staff

Acknowledgements

I painted the majority of the figures using the Black Undercoat Method of painting and based them using Sand, Flat Earth paint, and Dry Brushing on Big Bases. The one exception is that Martin Boulter from Silurian Wargames Limited painted the Arequipa Dragoons.

Most figures are the 15mm range from Grenadier Productions. The exception are the Cazadore de los Andes; they are from Fantassin/War Modelling.

Generic Spanish Flags are from War Flag however the flags of specific units were by Miguel Landeros and are available on the Yahoo Group: Liberators 1810-1830.

Uniform guides were the books by John Fletcher of Grenadier Productions (Fletcher, 2005, 2006) in particular the illustrations by Prof. Julio Luqui Lagleyze and Cesar Puliafito that appear in Fletcher (2005, p. 28 – 36).

References

Fletcher, J. (2005). Liberators! Volume 1: The War in the South. Grenadier Productions.

Fletcher, J. (2006). Liberators! Supplement 1: The War in the South. Grenadier Productions.

Liberators 1810-1830 Yahoo Discussion Forum

Luqui Lagleyze, J. M., and Manzano Lahoz, A. (1998). «Los Realistas» (1810-1826): Virreinatos del Perú y del Rio de la Plata, y Capitanía General de Chile [Hombres en Uniforme No 5]. Quiron Ediciones. [Spanish]

Pueyrredon, M. (1947). Memorias inéditas del coronel Manuel Pueyrredon. Buenos Aires: Editoril kraft.

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