I’ve been quietly painting 1819 Patriots since I posted on my 1815-1819 War in the North – Steven’s Wargaming Project back in May 2024. Roughly a year later, it is time to unveil my 1815-19 Patriots (Phase 1 of the project). These are of course on Big Bases for South American Wars of Liberation using Bolivar’s Very Bad Day (a variant of Tilly’s Very Bad Day). The men are either from New Granada or Venezuela and I chose the units because they fought at Battle of Vargas Swamp (25 July 1819).
History
1815-19 featured the Spanish reconquest of New Granada (1815–1816) with an expeditionary force of 10,500 Peninsular veterans under Pablo Morillo. Initially successful Morillo’s veterans were eventually spread out through Venezuela, New Granada, Quito, and Peru. Simón Bolívar saw his chance launched a new independence campaign. Bolivar’s the “Liberation Campaign” (1819) resulted in the creation of the Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia or Greater Colombia) on 17 December 1819. His new republic included present-day Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, parts of northern Peru, and parts of northwestern Brazil. Bolívar’s army was a mix of New Granadan exiles, Venezualan recruits including Llanero guerrillas, and British mercenaries. Initially the Patriots were a rag tag bunch with few uniforms and poor equipment. Key battles: Vargas Swamp and Boyacá.
Generals
Simón Bolívar was the Patriot commander-in-chief in the North. At Vargas Swamp he was accompanied by Generals Anzoátegui and Santander. Colonel Juan José Rondón, subsequently known as “the Saviour of the Republic”, was also at the battle and I assume he was the commander of the cavalry brigade. General José Antonio Páez wasn’t at the battle but I’ve included him because he was the main Patriot commander in Venezuela after Bolívar left and led the Llaneros.
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco
I’ve given Simón Bolívar stand a stand with four figures:
- Simón Bolívar: I used the Canterac with sombrero head swap. I had to reconstruct the sword from a pin and green stuff.
- Tinjaca (Simon Bolivar’s Amerindian companion): I used a Llanero/Peasant Infantry w/lance. John Fletcher added the green stuff poncho.
- Nevado (Simon Bolivar’s dog): He was a Mucuchies breed, but I used an Irish Wolf Hound that I stole from my Scots Irish army. The figure is from Splintered Light Miniatures
- Standard bearer from Bolivar’s Honour Guard: I used a French Elite Hussar from Essex Miniatures
I quite like the result. It shows Bolívar in impetuous mode with his followers rushing to keep up. Bolívar was keen on the phrase Libertad o Muerte (Liberty or Death) so that is the flag I gave him.
Brigadier General José Antonio Anzoátegui
Anzoátegui’s stand has two figures. Both are from the Canterac pack but with head swaps and gained straw hats. Bolívar had defined uniform regulations and Anzoátegui is wearing the official Brigadier General’s uniform.
Brigadier General Francisco de Paula Santander
Santander’s stand got two figures. Santander himself is a repurposed San Martin figure. His aide is from the Guemes pack. Both got head swaps to gain straw hats. I’ve taken Santander’s uniform (red jacket with yellow facings, white trousers) from a painting the Battle of Boyacá where Santander is leading the charge on the bridge. The uniform certainly isn’t the Brigadier General uniform and is a higher rank. If he wore that at Boyacá then he was definitely defying Bolívar. The painting shows Santander charging bravely, but rather than a charging figure I’ve used the more thoughtful San Martin, because Santander was already planning to betray the Liberator.
Colonel Juan José Rondón – Saviour of the Republic
Rondón’s stand has two figures, both standard Llaneros cavalry. At this stage of the war, many of Bolívar’s subordinate commanders were black.
General José Antonio Páez
Since I painting Llaneros I had to paint General José Antonio Páez. He wasn’t present at Vargas Swamp but was a key figure during the wider Phase 1. Páez’s stand has three figures, all Llaneros. Páez himself is the guy in red and holding a lance over his head. I tweaked the horse so it looks like it is rearing. Because I’m not very original I gave him the same Libertad o Muerte (Liberty or Death) as Bolívar.
Cavalry
Whatever the name of the unit (Regiment of Lancers ‘Llano-Arriba’; 1st and 2nd Squadron Guides of Apure; 3rd Squadron Dragoons ‘Carabineros’; Dragoons Squadron and Infante Squadron from the Infante Regiment), the Patriot cavalry were all Llaneros, basically lance armed cowboys, and mostly Venezuelan. I’ve got 12 Big Bases of six mounted Llaneros, plus extra commanders. I painted over 100 Llaneros. They look quite impressive on-masse. Most were black although indigenous Amerindians were a significant minority.
Infantry
The Patriot infantry at Battle of Vargas Swamp (25 July 1819) were mostly from Venezuela, but Santander recruited some in New Granada.
New Granadan Infantry
My two battalions of regulars from New Granada (modern Colombia) are:
- Vanguard Cazadore Battalion
- 1st Line Battalion
The Vanguard Cazadore Battalion definitely had straw top hats, and I assume the same was true of the 1st Line Battalion since they were recruited at the same time, in the same place. To get the Top Hats I used figures from Blue Moon Miniatures Spanish 1809-1811:
- 15NST-200: Spanish Tailless Jacket with Top Hat Command
- 15NST-201: Spanish Tailless Jacket Infantry with Top Hat
I like these figures for Colombians because I could paint them with bare legs. The ethnic mix in Colombia at this time was predominately (70%) white. Blacks and native Amerindians made up the rest.
Venezuelan Infantry
I’ve got four battalions of Venezuelan Regulars, although one is British is another is British officered:
- 1st Venezuelan Rifles Battalion
- Barcelona Battalion
- Bravos de Paez Battalion
- British Legion
The figures are Llanero/Peasant Infantry w/musket and associated command figures.
At this time more than half the population of Venezuela was black. The remainder were evenly split between whites and native Amerindians.
The British Legion Battalion was actually British although in local uniform.
The 1st Venezuelan Rifles Battalion had British officers but the men, at this time, were native Amerindian.
Artillery
The Patriots had no artillery at Vargas Swamp, so I didn’t paint any.
Some Royalists
While I was about it I painted up stands for the Royalist General José Tomás Boves. Like the Patriot Páez, Boves was a much loved commander of Llaneros. But unlike the Patriot general, he seemed to pride himself on his Spanish superiority over his followers. On that basis I used Royalist uniforms for the Royalist officers. The Llaneros in the background are the same ones I used for the Patriot photos, after all they literally just changed sides when Boves died and joined Páez.
I used the Canterac figure (with reconstructed sword) for Boves. His Spanish aide is the aide / caudillo from the Guemes pack with a sombrero added.
Apparently Boves had a “Pennant of Death”. I have no information about this flag so I had to make something up. I’ve gone with the motto Muerte a los Blancos (Death to the Whites). This rather unpleasant slogan was used by Boves. I picked it because of the inherent irony; Boves and his officers were themselves “white” and led a campaign of atrocities against their own kind.
Conversions
I wanted all of the Patriot command figures to have broad brimmed straw hats. The Llaneros figures come with such a hat, but men in European uniform don’t So the needed head swaps. For the new heads I used two packs from Peter Pig Range 6 Heads:
- 32. Broad brimmed hat (confederate)
- 81. Mexican sombreros
The Anzoátegui stand is a good example. Anzoátegui himself has the confederate head. His aide has the Sombrero.
Speaking of generals, John Fletcher kindly send me a bunch of aides / caudillo from the Guemes pack. Six in total. To make each of them distinctive I started head swapping.
John Fletcher also did some conversions for me. Specifically he added green stuff ponchos to some of the peasant infantry. These really make the figures look the part in South American.
The thing I did most was bend arms. The Llanero cavalry come in four poses.
One of those is a guy with his lance held awkwardly overhead. This is fine for a one off dramatic pose (like Páez) but I realised I could turn the figure into more useful poses.
Acknowledgements
I painted all of the figures using the Black Undercoat Method=. John Fletcher added the ponchos and I did the other conversions. I based them using Sand, Flat Earth paint, and Dry Brushing on Big Bases.
Most figures are the 15mm range from Grenadier Productions. Exceptions are noted above.
I made the flags.
Check out the 1815-1819 War in the North – Steven’s Wargaming Project for the painting guide.