As I gear up for my 1815-1819 War in the North – Steven’s Wargaming Project, I had a look at my collection for the South American Wars of Liberation. I discovered a few units I haven’t shared elsewhere: 1812 Argentine Patriots; 1814 Venezuelan Royalists. These are not complete armies, just isolated units that I collected mainly because the figures looked cool.
1812 Argentine Patriots
I’ve got a few squadrons of Patriot cavalry for the fighting in northern Argentina in 1812. Think the Battle of Tucuman (24-25 Sep 1812).
Dragones de la Patria
I’ve got two squadrons of the Fatherland Dragoons (Dragones de la Patria), but photos of only one. This is the squadron with lances. But other squadron is armed with sabres instead.
Tucuman Gauchos
Gauchos are basically Argentinean cowboys. They sided for the Liberators. The regular Gauchos from Grenadier Productions represent typical men from Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, portions of Alto Peru, etc. Quite a wide area. So I say mine are from Tucuman but they could be from anywhere.
Salta Gauchos
Some Gauchos of Salta wore red. Grenadier Productions has some of the famous Infernales, with their cool floppy hat and red “uniforms”, but I don’t have any. So I got some normal Gauchos wearing red instead.
Tucuman Militia Cavalry in Round Hat
Cavalry in top hats (called round hats by the Spanish) are so cool. They could be fighting for either the Royalists or Patriots. In my case I’ve declared them militia from Tucuman. Any such militia would have been recruited from Gauchos, but I figure some of the cowboys were willing to wear some fancy kit for the safe of the fatherland.
1814 Venezuelan Royalists
My interest is the Battle of Urica (5 Dec 1814). In a private conversation John Fletcher described the armies as “little more than two armies of peasant/llanero uniform troops going at each other”. In his scenario for Urica (Fletcher, 2018), John has only two Royalists battalions: “Cazadores Infantry Battalion” and “3rd del Rey Infantry Battalion”. As it happens I already have two Royalist peasant battalions.
Cazadores Infantry Battalion – Venezuelan Royalists with muskets
I painted the first Venezuelan Battalion and shared it in my post on Big Bases for the Peninsular War. At the time I didn’t realise these guys would be destined for 1814.
3rd Del Rey Battalion – Venezuelan Royalists with muskets and spears/lances
The second battalion of Venezuelan Royalists is ill armed, i.e. using muskets but with a mix of guys with spears/lances. I was wondering what unit I could use them for them found John Fletcher’s (2018) comment: “The Royalist 3rd del Rey Battalion probably carried a mix of muskets and bamboo pikes/lances”. Perfect.
Where else to look
If you like those then have a look at my other armies for the War in the South:
- Royalists:
- Argentine:
- Chilean:
Acknowledgements
Martin Boulter from Silurian Wargames Limited painted the the Argentines of 1812 and the ill armed Royalists of 1814. He uses a style that is similar to the Black Undercoat Method of painting but uses more shades. I painted the Venezuelan Royalists with muskets. I based all of them using Sand, Flat Earth paint, and Dry Brushing on Big Bases.
The figures are the 15mm range from Grenadier Productions.
Generic Spanish Flags are from War Flag.
Uniform guides were the books by John Fletcher of Grenadier Productions (Fletcher, 2005, 2006, 2011) and Terry Hooker (Hooker, 1991).
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.
Fletcher, J. (2011). Adventures of the British & Irish Legions in South America 1817-1824: Gamer’s Guide & Sourcebook. Grenadier Productions.
Fletcher, J. (2018). The Battle of Urica, December 5, 1814 (Draft). Author.
Hooker, T. (1991). The Armies of Bolivar and San Martin [Men-at-Arms 232]. Osprey.