Difference between Empress Foreign Legionaries and Falangistas?

[arget8]

What are the differences between the Empress Spanish Foreign Legion minis and their Falangists besides the tassle on the Falangists' caps?

Thanks,

Gunnar

[scrivs]

Having painted loads of both, I would say apart from the different caps there is not that much difference.

[arget8]

Having painted loads of both, I would say apart from the different caps there is not that much difference.

That's what it looks like. It appears that the big difference between most of the Nationalist unit types is just their headgear. Makes varying them a lot easier if you have the stomach for the head swaps.

Thanks!

[Phil Robinson]

The leather equipment on the Legionaires is different, but as concluded in another thread they would have worn the Army style equipment as time went on anyway. Just varnished three Falange figures painted as FL actually.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=99029.0

[Arlequín]

I'm a bit confused about the 'tassles issue' - both units and indeed the regular army, had tassles on the gorro. I can imagine that they were easily lost or deliberately removed on service (they are irritating to the wearer) though.

As far as I know, only the Republican militia copies and 'look-alikes' tended to lack them. 

Differences between the Legion and everyone else are minor. Mills '1908' leather and webbing personal equipment has been mentioned, but was steadily being replaced as it wore out; you can see photos from Mid-1936 with legionarios in normal Spanish army equipment in the same squad. Other details are minor and would probably disappear on active service.

The separation and elevation of La Legion is a post-civil war phenomenon, they were 'special' back then, but still very much part of the infantry arm.

The Empress Falangistas are pretty universal and can be used without modification for regular army (of both sides) and legionarios without any modification at all.

[arget8]

This is great, thanks guys. I'm considering getting into the period and I want to make sure I do my research on the available minis to make sure I'm doing it the best way.

[Durutti]

Ok
As I originally commissioned Paul Hicks to sculpt these figures, I guess I had better explain.
The Legion were based on the original Army of Africa, sent over at the start of the conflict, so they have the correct uniform,and the Mills pattern kit, most of them have the granadero trousers, tight at the bottom, flared at the top of the legs, that should all have the tasselled Gorillo cap. As already stated, as the war went on, the Legion kit was replaced with regular army gear, about the only consistent item, would be the shirt, and the cap.
the Falangist troops, were sculpted so that gamers could get a multitude of usage from the models, they represent the earlier Falangist troops, before the 38 merger with the requettes. They are in shirt sleeves, so you can paint their blue shirts, and they also have tasseled Gorillo caps. There is absolutely no reason why they cannot be used as Legion, it's essentially just a different paint job, and no reason why you can't use them as Nationalist army either, one again, a simple change of paint job. They will serve purpose as early war peninsula army troops as well, the Republican element had a tendency to remove the tassels.

The idea behind the range, was to provide lots of basic troop types, and sets of heads, so gamers could chop and change to their hearts content. I was going to revisit the earlier packs, and get Paul to sculpt done more variations, but sadly real life meant I had to part company with the range, and Empress kindly purchased it from me.

Hope that helps to explain things 

[arget8]

Fantastic. That makes my life so much easier then. Time to get creative when I eventually get around to the period. One thing at a time...

[Goliad]

I had a similar question - but headed the other way in that what figures would be best to supplement Falange. It seems from comments that while Falange can be legionaries, the reverse would not be true. Would I just use Nationalist army figures? I assume as time went on the Falange would have adopted bits of army kit but would they have been indistinguishable from the army, or would the Falange been a hodge podge of blue shirts, bits of nationalist army uniform, beret from Requetes? The whole amalgamation of Falange and Carlists throws me off too - was the integration more in theory than practice?

Sorry to pile on this thread - saw an opportunity!

[Durutti]

Right
Possibly about the only consistent item, would be the Camisa Azul, the blue shirt, this was the main identifying feature of the Falange. To start with, the Falange were little more than armed militia, think civvies with guns, used behind the Nationalist lines, to mop up resistance, and. Bully the local population, Franco saw a better use for them, and they became a resource pool, to fill the army ranks. To stop them gaining too much power, he merged them with the Requettes, and subverted both organisations, so he had better control. The merged uniform was the Falange blue shirt, and the Requettes red beret. How effective this was, I honestly don't know, but it was disliked by both the Falange and the Requettes.
So I reckon a mix of army kit, and civvies for the behind the lines work, and rather more of a uniform approach for Falange units in the army.
There was an adapted shirt, this was the light khaki army issue, with a blue collar. Falange members with front line experience, would sport a white chevron on their uniform, usually on the side of the blue Gorillo hat.
Does that help?

[commissarmoody]

I am learning alot from this post. And it seems like most civil wars there is a very confuseing mix of uniforms, unit identifiers and overlaps in kit.

[traveller]

Great info! Thanks for sharing

[Goliad]

Yes thank you very much. Great information.

[Leigh Metford]

For Falangists in  the early phase you could use any militia figures wearing the tasseled gorillo cap, including those in mono (painted dark blue) - which was popular with both sides. For this reason, when I amassed my 20mm Hotspur/Bandera Falangists I incorporated many 5th Regiment figures.

The white chevron was also worn on the upper arm.

[Durutti]

The blue was chosen for the shirt colour, to match the blue overalls worn by the Spanish Workers. the Falange was a little bit different to the standard Fascist movements of the time. It's well worth reading up on background material, the diversity of the political groups involved in the conflict, is an interesting read.