Steven’s 1817-18 Argentine Army on Big Bases

I have rebased my Argentine Army of the South American Wars of Liberation on Big Bases. All infantry and cavalry on 80mm x 40mm bases. 12 figures per infantry base; two bases to a battalion. 6 figures per cavalry base/squadron. Guns stayed on 40mm x 40mm bases; one gun per base.

Staff

I have the Argentine element of San Martin’s Army of the Andes. So, not surprisingly, the command element is General San Martin and his staff. I wanted San Martin to have the flag of the Army of the Andes so Roland and I swapped some figures around. San Martin and his aide are from the San Martin pack from Grenadier Productions. But we swapped out the other aide to make room for the Chilean standard bearer from the O’Higgins pack.

1817-92 Argentine San Martin
1817-92 Argentine San Martin
1817-93 Argentine San Martin
1817-93 Argentine San Martin

Cazadores a Caballo de la Escolta del General

San Martin had a guard unit – the Cazadores a Caballo de la Escolta del General (Light Cavalry Escort of the General). As I explained in Patriot Cazadores a Caballo in the 1817-18 Chilean Campaign this unit is sometimes called the “Cazadores a Caballo” (the Argentines had no other Light Cavalry) and “Escolta del General”. I’ve got two squadrons of this unit.

1817-66 Argentine Cazadores a Caballo de la Escolta del General
1817-66 Argentine Cazadores a Caballo de la Escolta del General

The Chilean’s also had a guard squadron and the photo shows them with their Argentine compatriots.

1817-68 Patriot Cazadores a Caballo
1817-68 Patriot Cazadores a Caballo
Chileans on left; Argentines on right

Granaderos a Caballo

San Martin formed the Granaderos a Caballo when he returned to Argentina. It was the best in the army. I’ve got four squadrons.

1817-64 Argentine Granaderos a Caballo
1817-64 Argentine Granaderos a Caballo
1817-65 Argentine Granaderos a Caballo
1817-65 Argentine Granaderos a Caballo

7th Infantry Regiment

The 7th Infantry Regiment was a black unit. The other ranks were freed slaves. Officers were either white or black.

1817-74 Argentine 7th Infantry Regiment
1817-74 Argentine 7th Infantry Regiment

The 7th is one of three line infantry regiments I’ve got.

1817-75 Argentine Line Infantry
1817-75 Argentine Line Infantry

8th Infantry Regiment (8th Battalion of Free Negroes)

The 8th Infantry Regiment is another black unit and looks quite similar to the 7th. The only differences are the drummer’s uniform, cuffs of the Grenadiers jacket, and number on the flag.

1817-77 Argentine 8th Infantry Regiment
1817-77 Argentine 8th Infantry Regiment

11th Infantry Regiment

The 11th Infantry Regiment was manned by white Argentines. The uniform was slightly different to that of the 7th and 8th.

1817-76 Argentine 11th Infantry Regiment
1817-76 Argentine 11th Infantry Regiment

Cazadores de los Andes (Cazadore Infantry Regiment #1)

The Cazadores de los Andes were formally the Cazadore Infantry Regiment #1. They wore a blue uniform in the cut of the British Rifles. I don’t know the distinction of the flank companies so got them all painted as centre/cazadore companies.

1817-73 Argentine Cazadores de los Andes
1817-73 Argentine Cazadores de los Andes

Grenadier Battalion

On occasion both Patriots and Royalists converged their flank companies to create Grenadier and/or Cazadore battalions. When I had little bases I used the Grenadiers from the actual line battalions for the Grenadier battalion, and supplemented them with a specialist command stand. With the move to Big Bases I needed to duplicate the Grenadier figures to form a completely independent unit. Roland had to paint up 21 new Grenadier figures.

1817-72 Argentine Grenadier Battalion
1817-72 Argentine Grenadier Battalion

Cazadore Battalion

Same deal with the converged Cazadore Battalion. Roland had to paint 21 new Cazadore figures to give me a Cazadore Battalion separate from the line battalions that contributed their flank companies.

1817-71 Argentine Cazadore Battalion
1817-71 Argentine Cazadore Battalion

Artillery

I didn’t change the artillery – they stayed on 40mm x 40mm bases. I think I’ve got eight 4lb with two crew, two 8lb with three crew and one howitzer with three crew.

1817-80 Argentine Artillery
1817-80 Argentine Artillery
4lb with 2 crew; two 8lb with 3 crew; howitzer with 3 crew
1817-78 Argentine Artillery 4lb
1817-78 Argentine Artillery 4lb
1817-79 Argentine Artillery 4lb
1817-79 Argentine Artillery 4lb

Acknowledgements

Roland Davis painted all the figures. Roland uses the Black Undercoat Method of painting.

I based most of them using Sand, Flat Earth paint, and Dry Brushing on Big Bases. Roland based San Martin; he has a similar style to mine but used plaster rather than sand.

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

Flags are based on my best guess Flags for 1817-18 Chilean Project. I think I got the Army of the Andes flag from the Yahoo Liberators forum. I made up electronic versions of the other flags but I suspect Roland actually painted them – not sure.

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.

2 thoughts on “Steven’s 1817-18 Argentine Army on Big Bases”

  1. Hi Steve

    Nice work, but the basing material looks coarser than sand. For 15mm I use filler (to level off the bases) and sand, or, to be more exact, a mixture of sand and ballast. For 6mm I just use sand. For future work I mean to add talus – maybe that’s what you’ve used here?

    In general, I share your enthusiasm for big bases across most pre-modern periods, but does this push you beyond using a 6′ x 4′ table?

    Best regards

    Richard

    Reply
    • Richard

      The sand is actual factual official sand – Games Workshop sand. I have since moved away from that because – like you – it is too coarse for my tastes. I based my Sea Peoples more recently and they show the new sand. It is a lot finer but has lumps. The effect is what I’m looking for as most of my armies are from arid zones.

      A few years ago I went through a phase where I used paster to cover the base, but found it too fiddly (I’m messy). Roland painted the Argentines and originally used paster for them. San Martin at the top shows how that looked (all the rest of the army have been rebased). Generally I find the look of plaster too flat. Tastes differ of course.

      So far all my big base games have been on a 4’x4′ table. Big Base DBA, Liberators HOTT and Dux Bellorum. However, I’ve been looking at Volley and Bayonet and the published scenario tables are huge! 10’x6′ is common. So I think table size is more about the rules than about the base size. I’m working on a VnB scenario for Albuera and I’m hoping to fit it on a 6’x4′ table.

      Cheers

      STeven

      Reply

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