Steven’s Peninsular Spanish Army

A few snaps of my Spanish army for the Peninsular War. Nominally they are for my Albuera Project and specifically the Spanish Units at Albuera.

The figures were painted by me following my Spanish Infantry Painting guide, the examples on the War Modelling (UK) site, and the Vallejo Colour Guide. Flocking was Sand, Flat Earth and Dry Brushing and Basing for Shako. Most flags are from War Flag although some are from my Carlist Wars Wargaming Flags.


Infantry Battalion in Brown with Red facings

This unit is typical of early to mid war formations. It could be militia, a newly raised formation, or an established regular re-equipped when their white uniforms wore out.

Figures are from War Modelling (UK): EN-22b Command Top Hat; EN-18 Militia Top Hat & Sourtout. War Modelling (UK) provide the same figures as their Spanish colleagues but are cheaper for UK customers.

PEN-202 Spanish Infantry - Brown uniform with Red trim
PEN-202 Spanish Infantry – Brown uniform with Red trim

Infantry Battalion in Brown with Yellow facings

As with the chaps in red facings these guys are fairly typical of mid war Spanish.

Figures are from War Modelling (UK): EN-22b Command Top Hat; EN-19 Militia Top Hat & French style coat.

PEN-203 Spanish Infantry - Brown uniform with Yellow trim
PEN-203 Spanish Infantry – Brown uniform with Yellow trim

Peasant Battalion

Luis Santigosa from War Modelling (Spain) suggested:

For the guerrilla fighters and peasants, you should use brown and black
shades, in every nuance, for example: Base: burnt umber 148.
Light: flat earth 143 or flat brown 140, or either english uniform 141
or tan-earth 134, along red sashes, and some green and blue jackets and
trousers.

So I did.

PEN-205 Spanish Peasant
PEN-205 Spanish Peasant

This unit is a battalion in peasant clothing. Like the guys in top hats uniform could be for militia, a newly raised formation, or an established regular re-equipped when their white uniforms wore out.
The flag is the only thing that identifies this as a new formation. It has a skull and crossbones motif which a regular unit would not use. I made the flag as part of my Carlist Wars Wargaming Flags.

PEN-204 Spanish Peasant - Angled
PEN-204 Spanish Peasant – Angled

The other ranks are EN-26 Paysanos (Peasants) from War Modelling (UK). I think the command stand is from EN-22 Command in Bicornes.


Skirmishers in Brown

Next were some skirmisher stands.

PEN-206 Spanish Skirmishers
PEN-206 Spanish Skirmishers

The three figures on the stand at the front are from the Guerilla pack (EN-27 Guerilleros) of War Modelling (UK).

The figures on the two skirmisher stands at that back are a mix Essex Miniatures (NSS21 Portuguese/Spanish armed civilians/guerillas) and QRF Frei Korps (ACW51 Home Guard Militia). I must say after painting 18mm figures for a while it is a bit odd going back to 15mm. I’m using them largely because I already had the figures but also because the 18mm skirmisher options are fairly limited. The pros are the Essex and QRF figures are easy to clean up compared to War Modelling. The con is that they now look like gnomes to me. Having said that on the table you can’t really notice the difference. (I also had some Falcon Figures Guerilla figures but they were so horrible they went in the bin.)

You might notice that one figure on each stand has a blunderbuss not a musket. Accurate for Guerillas but not for skirmishers of infantry battalions. I used them because the options for skirmishing figures were fairly limited.


Infantry Battalion in Blue Jacket with Red Facings

This is actually the Chloe Battalion for the 1817-18 Chilean Campaign. None-the-less the uniform is typical of mid to late war Spanish uniforms.

The figures are EN-17 Spanish Infantry with French Style Shako and EN-22a Spanish Infantry Command (shako) from War Modelling (UK),

PEN-207 Royalist Chiloe Regiment
PEN-207 Royalist Chiloe Regiment

Infantry Battalion in Blue Jacket with Buff and Green Facings

This is actually the Talavera Battalion which wasn’t raised until 1813 (I think) and saw service in the 1817-18 Chilean Campaign. As with the Chiloe battalion the uniform is suitable for mid to late Peninsular war.

The figures are EN-17 Spanish Infantry with French Style Shako and EN-22a Spanish Infantry Command (shako) from War Modelling (UK),

PEN-208 Royalist Talavera Regiment
PEN-208 Royalist Talavera Regiment

4 thoughts on “Steven’s Peninsular Spanish Army”

  1. hi Steven

    Did Portuguese line infantry ever wear Brown uniforms in the Peninsula war ? I know that the light infantry did, I read some where that brown cloth was more readily available at that time.
    Thanks

    Jim

    Reply
    • All infantry, of all nations, would have worn brown cloth as it was easy to acquire. But only as their normal uniform wore out.

      Portuguese regulation uniform reserved brown for the light infantry and the line wore blue and white.

      Reply

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