Liberators on Big Bases

A recent conversation with John Fletcher resparked my interest in the South American Wars of Liberation. I have shared photos of all six of my South American armies and you might have noticed they are now all on Big Bases. So I thought I’d explain what I’m doing and how my scheme is changing.

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Steven’s Liberators Armies

I’ve now got quite a host for the War in the South. Three Royalist armies and three Patriot Armies. They are all on Big Bases.

• Royalists: 1815, 1817, and 1818
• Patriots: 1815 Argentine, 1817-18 Argentine, and 1817-18 Chilean

And if needed I can call upon the Spanish from my Peninsular War Figures on Big Bases

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Liberators Big Base Scheme

My basing scheme covers commanders, infantry, cavalry and artillery.

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Commanders

I put one, two or three figures on a round base for commanders. One figure for an aide-de-camp (i.e. courier) on a 25mm diameter base, two for a commanders of subordinate brigades (brigadier general) on a 40mm diameter base, and three figures for the commander in chief (who was often also a brigadier general), also on a 40mm diameter stand. The actual general tends to be a mounted figure. The staff officers / escorts can be mounted or dismounted. Where possible the figures suggest the character of the general.

Brigadier General Joaquin de la Pezuela was the Spanish commander of the Royalist army of 1815. An elderly but able commander. His command stand has the man himself plus two staff officers. Having three figures is what suggests this is a commander in chief.

Same deal with my stand for Brigadier General Mariano Osorio / Field Marshal Marco del Pont from 1817, i.e. three figures on a round base. Both Osorio and Del Pont were rather cowardly by comparison to Pezuela.

In contrast the Chilean General Bernardo O’Higgins was brave and impetuous.

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Infantry

I’m using basically the scheme as I used to Arrange Peninsular Infantry on Big Bases. You can see some of them in this post: Big Bases for the Peninsular War

Infantry are in battalions of 24 figures. Three command figures (officer, standard bearer, musician) and 21 other ranks (including any NCO figures). Each battalion has two Big Bases, each 80x40mm with 12 figures.

Infantry Battalion – Elites

Some battalions have flank companies – the elite grenadiers and cazadores that traditionally formed the right flank and left flank of the battalion.

I’m fond of the 7th Infantry Regiment from my 1815 Argentine Army. They were a black unit and wore a unique uniform. The uniform itself was red but they combined this with interesting hats. It is the head gear that makes this unit suitable for illustrating a battalion with elites. The fusiliers and cazadores had a shako with colpack like the grenadiers in other units. The fusiliers have a white and blue plume, wehreas the caazdores have the traditional green for a light company. The grenadiers wore a big Spanish grenadier bearskin.

Notice the command figures in the left hand stand as you look at the unit. Officer and standard bearer in the front rank. Drummer behind.

Notice the cazadores, with their green plume, on the rear stand of the column, to the left of the fusiliers with their white and blue plumes.

Notice the Grenadiers, with bearskins, to the right of the command figures.

Infantry Battalion – No Elites

Many battalions didn’t have flank companies. I’m using a Royalist battalion for the War in the North, i.e. Venezuela and/or Columbia, as an example of battalion without elites. It has the command figures (officer, standard bearer, drummer) but everybody else is a fusilier. (The photos are from Big Bases for the Peninsular War as the unit could do service in the Peninsular)

Some battalion only contain elites. I base these the same way. The example is the Grenadier battalion of the Royalist General’s Battalion from Royalist army of 1815. The Royalist General’s Battalion actually contained two battalions – I know, confusing – one of fusiliers and the other entirely of grenadiers. In the photo you’ll notice all the pompoms are red; that is what makes them grenadiers.

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Cavalry

In my scheme cavalry form regiments and nominal “squadrons”. Historically there were four squadrons to a regiment, but in my scheme there are only two, hence nominal “squadrons” rather than just squadrons. In practice cavalry regiments often fielded a single squadron at a particular battle; these squadrons might have anywhere from 50 to 200 men. For my purposes I want to ignore whether a particular regiment contributed 50 men or 200 more. I, like the historical generals, want to focus on the tactical groupings that will make a difference to the battle. I call these tatical grouping nominal “squadrons” because they are smaller than regiments.

A nominal “squadron” is one base with 6 figures. Each has either a command configuration (1 officer, 1 musician/bugler and 4 troopers) or a trooper configuration (6 troopers). Regiments have two nominal “squadrons”, one with a command configuration and the other a trooper configuration.

This is a change from when I did the War in the South. For those armies I didn’t have regiments as such and every nominal “squadron” was the command configuration. The older scheme is shown in the photo of the Argentine Granaderos a Caballo from my 1817-18 Argentine. Now I’d do those was two regiments with less command figures.

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Artillery

My artillery are on 40mm x 40mm bases. The number of crew suggest the weight of shot: 1 crew 2 lb gun, 2 for 4 lb, 3 for 6-9 lb or howitzer, and 4 crew for 12 lb and larger.

My 1815 Argentine Army has my only 2 lb gun.

I have a lot of 4 lb, 6 lb, 8 lb guns and howitzers. The 1817-18 Argentine Army has two of those options: 4lb with two crew, two 8lb with three crew and one howitzer with three crew.

In some cases I have a lot of guns for an army. The 1817-18 Chilean Army has 11 4lb guns, each with 2 crew.

The howitzer from the 1817-18 Chilean Army has 3 crew.

I have some naval guns but haven’t painted up the crews yet.