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Author Topic: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:13/09/23 Ark Royal miniatures 1/1200 Spanish ships  (Read 39193 times)

Offline Metternich

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Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:04/08/22 30 Years War "Sniper" for skirmish games
« Reply #270 on: August 21, 2022, 05:13:14 PM »
That musket is so massive it looks like a wall gun (aka rampart gun)!   Your painting is magnificent, and the Capt. Alatriste is a true portrait figure.

Offline chema1986

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Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:04/08/22 30 Years War "Sniper" for skirmish games
« Reply #271 on: August 29, 2022, 09:51:08 AM »
That musket is so massive it looks like a wall gun (aka rampart gun)!   Your painting is magnificent, and the Capt. Alatriste is a true portrait figure.

Many thanks !! haahaha yeah, it is... you know it is a fantasy miniature set in 17th c.

Cheers

Offline chema1986

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Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #272 on: December 07, 2022, 10:39:02 AM »
Hello guys !!

Here I am again with a little update of my fav XVII c project, the Siege of Girona:

https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2022/12/28mm-french-command-base-marshall.html

This time I come back to my beloved Girona 1684 project. As you may notice, I really like painting small scenes and command bases, and it just so happens that my French forces needed a leader, and his leader was Bernardin Gigault, Marquis de Bellefonds (1630–1694), or just Marshall Bellefonds as will call him.







The miniature of him is a nice Reiver Castings miniature on horse, from his 1672 Franco Dutch range I think, he is labelled as Marshall Turenne. I painted him to resemble a little bit to the painting of the true Bellefonds portrait, with a light blue band and a red fabric in the background.




By the way, the full account of the battle of Girona 1684 is here on the blog :

https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-campaign-project-siege-of-gerona.html

Coming back to our Marshall, he commanded the French army in Catalonia in the campaingn of 1684,

he went on campaing that spring, with the objective of the town of Gerona, Girona in Catalan. some important actions were the crossing of the river  Ter, where he attacked several times before capturing it after the orderly withdrawal of the Spanish defenders to Girona Bellefonds finally seized Pont-Major at night at the cost of some 1,000 casualties against 150 Spanish, and he fortified it, and formally initiating the siege of Gerona.

With the arrival of artillery and reinforcements, Bellefonds' forces numbered between 16,000 and 17,000 troops.

the full siege is in the link above...

After the siege, possibly the French marshal had lost since the beginning of the campaign about a third of his men, about 5,000. Many Germans from the French army deserted and Bellefonds had to confine all his people in Santa Eugenia to avoid escapes between May 26 and 30, hanging two German captains as an example to the others.

Bellefonds needed several days to bury their dead and take all their wounded to Figueras and Bàscara, where they had their hospitals, while the Spanish peasants and the troops dedicated themselves to the dispossession of the corpses. The marshal even commented that “if the King of Spain had this type of vassals in Flanders, so many towns would not be lost…”.

Bellefonds remained in the Ampurdán with 11,000 men and the possibility of an attack by the French navy on Barcelona caused panic in the city. On the other hand, after a short siege, Cadaqués, in the coast and with an insufficient garrison surrendered on June 26.  Spanish general Bournonville followed the French army at a prudential distance, and limited Spanish reinforcements arrived to Catalonia, from Valencia, Mallorca, Italian possessions and Andalucia.

Finally at this point, the truce came, and soon peace was signed, although war would start again in 1688 between the Grand Alliance and France...





The second miniature is a recent discovery! I just found out about this man a couple of weeks ago! and I just NEEDED a miniature of him!

lieutenant-général François de Calvo, this is an interesting character whose brief biography will be exposed in the following paragraphs. I used a miniature by Wargames Illustrated, Giants in Miniature range:  John Churchill 1st Duke of Marlborough. but... again I changed his identity and "converted" him into a Spanish/Catalan/French general! treason, yes...




Just painted a "French" moustache and added shoulder ribbons.

François de Calvo, Count of Calvo, baptized in Barcelona on July 28, 1625 and died in Deinze on May 29, 1690, was a French gentleman and soldier of Catalan origin in the 17th century.

                                                   




Coming from a good Catalan family, he made the choice to enlist in the French army while the Reaper War was raging. After having spent time in the infantry, he joined the cavalry and became a captain in the cavalry regiment of Aguilar in 1647. He managed to raise a regiment and became mestre de camp in 1654.

A remarkable soldier, Calvo took part in all the campaigns of the reign of Louis XIV and distinguished himself particularly in Catalonia and Holland. He obtained the rank of brigadier of the king's armies in 1674. General esteemed by the king for his efficiency, he was finally made lieutenant-general of the armies in 1676 following his intrepid defense of Maastricht. He became a knight of the king's orders shortly before his death in 1688.

In 1684, the king's service led him to return to Catalonia. Having swum across the Ter, he harshly charged the Spanish lines beyond the Pont-Major and almost captured the Duke of Bournonville, their general; but the night forces him to be cautious and he prefers to withdraw. He besieged Girona alongside Marshal de Bellefonds but failed to take the city and retreated with heavy casualities.

League of Augsburg War

The war having started again in 1688, against the Spaniards and their allies, he served in the army of Flanders, under the orders of Marshal Humières. On December 31, 1688, the king made him a knight of his orders and sent him, on May 24, 1689, at the head of a corps of five thousand men, to defend the northern border of the kingdom which twenty thousand Spanish and Dutch soldiers threatened. He died the following year.

So this man was Spanish/Catalan who joined the French and reached the greatests honours in Louis XIV armies, a traitor for some a hero for others, but he deserves a place in our little game.



The last miniature is a standard bearer of "La Reine" regiment, present in the battle,  I used a fantastic Warfare Miniatures pikeman of the Maison du Roi range, painted using the colours of La Reine regiment and added a flag with Front Rank's French finials on top. The flag is free from the internet, I downloaded from a blog called https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ and it is quite good, it is the colonel flag of La Reine regiment as previously said.

The gabions are 3d print and the base is just mdf with Spanish beach sand (it is always a pleasure to go to the beach and steal some sand ).



I also painted a command tent, from Baueda, bought several years ago and painted now for this occasion. I made a quick and dirty flag using Bellefonds' family coat of arms and attached to the top of the temp, but not glued, in order to remove when I want :)















I hope you like this little painting and history post !

Offline Bloggard

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3458
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #273 on: December 07, 2022, 10:54:16 AM »
superb  :-*

Offline OSHIROmodels

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    • Oshiro modelterrain
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #274 on: December 07, 2022, 11:22:48 AM »
Lovely work  8)
cheers

James

https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/

Twitter account -     @OSHIROmodels
Instagram account - oshiromodels

http://redplanetminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/
http://jimbibblyblog.blogspot.com/

Offline Hu Rhu

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Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #275 on: December 07, 2022, 03:55:12 PM »
Wonderful work on the Marshall and his entourage.  :-* :-*

Offline Paul Richardson

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 934
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #276 on: December 07, 2022, 04:44:08 PM »
Beautiful painting.

Offline LoxIslay

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 201
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #277 on: December 07, 2022, 08:42:11 PM »
Amazing work  :-*

Offline DintheDin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 6214
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #278 on: December 08, 2022, 03:49:38 PM »
Top notch paintjob and François de Calvo is stunning!!!
Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. – Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi

Offline chema1986

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:07/12/22 French Marshall Bellefonds, Girona 1684
« Reply #279 on: December 08, 2022, 04:06:10 PM »
Many thanks guys !

Offline chema1986

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Chema1986 XVIIc.Gallery:13/09/23 Ark Royal miniatures 1/1200 Spanish ships
« Reply #280 on: September 13, 2023, 08:40:00 AM »
Hello there!

I have just updated my blog:
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2023/09/mad-for-war-ark-royal-miniatures-11200.html

and also this thread

After a loooong summer break, I have come back into painting minis again.

I have been reading a book about a naval battle right off the coast of my town, the battle of Cartagena-Cabo de Gata in 1643.

During a relief operation during the Barbary/Algerian siege of Oran, then in Spanish hands, a French fleet appeared off Cartagena,  French tried to sent fireships to the narrow bay of the port, but were beaten after some hours of fire from the port's  batteries. Then the French headed south and found the Spanish unprepared for battle.

The French fleet, superior in number and with better quality ships, (41 vs 25) made the Spanish fleet take refuge in the port of Cartagena. The casualties are not exctaly known, but the Spanish probably lost 2 sunk ships and 2 captured. The French lost 1 sunk ship and 4 fireships. The galleys closed the port to the French, who could not enter it.

So I have been in the mood of XVIIc. sailing ships lately. I have just finished my small model ships, and also I am working on a list of actions and scenerarios to play with, all of them historical.

The models are, obviously from Ark Royal miniatures, by Warfare Miniatures/The League of Augsburg brand. In a previous post about ships and scales, I was thinking about painting and wargaming naval warfare in 1/600 or in 1/1200 scale and I was not sure which of the two scales to choose for the project... I finally opted for 1/1200, I think it fits better my needs of squadrons of 6-12 ships per side.

The models are a 26 gun frigate or "fragata", a war galley and an advice jacht.











I use plastic bases, painted in blue, and most important,  with AK interactive water gel over it.

paper flags re scaled by Lluis from Minairons. In this scale sometimes it is better to paint the flags on the metal flags casts in the ships. For instance for Dutch or French, as their flags are super easy to paint. But other navies with more difficult patterns are more complicated, so I will mix paper and metal painted flags.

The modelling and painting stages were very simple, but the tricky part was adding the simple rigging to the ship, and the photo etch ratlines (from the same brand! ).

There were a huge number of actions and battles of 80 Years War/ Thirty Years War and Franco Spanish War,  involving Spanish fleet, all three were interconected and often simultaneously. I recently read that no other navy in the world up to that time (and maybe ever!) had fought for so long , against so many powerful enemies at once.

In the decade of 1660 the Spanish navy declined for 30 years because of the lack of funds, This coincided in time with the admirable rise of the English, Dutch and French navies. It would not be until the beginning of the 18th century when Spanish naval power grew again until it was in the "top 3" in the world until Trafalgar.

My main interest nowadays is wargaming mostly early to mid XVII actions in this scale. I placed an order last week to get more little ships!

I hope you like them!

 

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