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Author Topic: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama  (Read 7171 times)

Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« on: July 25, 2019, 10:20:30 PM »
I am working on a project to build out 28mm troops for Henry Morgan’s attacks in Panama.

I am having a hard time finding a good source that talks about the Spanish uniforms, or lack there of, for the opposition to Morgan’s force.

Anyone have any ideas here?  If the 1672 line from North Star had some irregular types that would be my preference but they seem a bit uniform for militia.

I am using Foundry Pirates for Morgan’s forces and the odd 1672 musketeer.

Thanks

Offline FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4607
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2019, 12:14:47 AM »
I'll check later but I think there is an Osprey that includes this - don't recollect how much uniform information was there.  Let you know.

Offline FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4607
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2019, 01:14:12 PM »
I found at least one illustration, by Angus McBride, of Morgan's Panama raid.  It is in an Osprey 'triptych' of three Osprey pirate books, entitled Pirates: Terror on the High Seas, looks like from 2001.  The text, by Angus Konstam, describing the plate makes one brief statement about the militia, "The Spanish city militia were issued with white uniforms, although their appearance was not as regular as that of European troops of the same period."  The illustration shows various colors of pants, varying hats, including metal helmets.  There are also some cattle in view.  The description also mentions that Morgan's forces used military discipline and thinner ranks (three versus 6 deep) despite their unmilitary appearance.  Though they do look much better than your typical pirate gaming figure.  Using ECW/30YW figures for both sides would match to the image.  Hope that helps.

Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2019, 07:30:19 PM »
Thanks that is great I looked and found the exact osprey pdf after reading your post  :)

Offline marco55

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1387
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2019, 07:12:17 PM »
Maybe this can help you. https://www.firelockgames.com/
Mark

Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2019, 08:49:47 PM »
Thanks the osprey book on buccaneers did the trick.  I know it is all terribly obscure but the uniform of the Spanish militia was what I was after. 

Offline El Frantico

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 148
    • Firelock Games
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2019, 03:15:17 AM »
Spanish militia in the new world did not receive any uniforms until the early 18th century. Even regular units seemed to often be un-uniformed in the colonies. I recall William Dampier mentioning a retreating unit of Spaniards looking like a rainbow :)
Mike Tuñez
Firelock Games
www.FirelockGames.com

Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2019, 08:50:19 PM »
Well that is good news as I am painting them right now.  A lot of white coats!  I will add some more variation to them.

Thanks


Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2019, 09:19:32 AM »
I am in for about 80 figures and counting now.  I had the chance to try out the GW contrast paints along with my usual approach.  Happy with the results thus far. 

Most of the figures I am painting  are  from the Bircorne ECW and the North Star 1672 line...waiting on the new Spanish to add to the mix as well.

I have not based the Spanish yet as I am trying to find a reference that talks to the formations the Spanish adopted. I am thinking that a 3 2 1 approach like that for Pikeman’s Lament might be suitable.

Anyone have any thoughts or have suggestions based on a similar project?

Offline Baron von Wreckedoften

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 860
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2019, 02:44:24 PM »
Did Morgan have any other hat foetishes, or was it just Panamas?
No plan survives first contact with the dice.

Offline doctorphalanx

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 71
    • doctorphalanx
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #10 on: September 12, 2019, 07:27:47 AM »
I’ve also got a 28mm Panama project https://doctorphalanx.blogspot.com/2019/01/buccaneers-vs-spanish-for-pikemans.html#comment-form

Since that blog post I went to Salute and, somewhat unexpectedly, bought loads of ‘Blood and Plunder’ figures while the opportunity was there. I may have a few more figures to get, especially the new North Star Spanish, but I have now collected most of what I need. Many other projects have since sprung up and taken the lead, but I will definitely be doing some work on it this year.

I also decided to follow the Osprey book with regard to painting the Spanish militia in white coats but with a high degree of non-matching clothing. Nobody knows for sure what they looked like. It’s all conjecture.

Offline DintheDin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 6214
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #11 on: September 12, 2019, 11:17:31 AM »
I'm extremely interested in this discussion!
Trying to keep pace, I read these:

Captain Morgan and the Sack of Panama
https://www.thoughtco.com/captain-morgan-and-sack-of-panama-2136368

King’s Pirate, Henry Morgan’s attack on Panama part 4: San Lorenzo.
https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/2014/05/16/kings-pirate-henry-morgans-attack-on-panama-part-4-san-lorenzo/

A stock photo of a contemporary engraving
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-pirates-sack-panama-1671-raid-by-captain-henry-morgan-on-the-spanish-15978373.html

And a painting of Angus Mc Bride found at Pinterest:
Henry Morgan in Panama 1671
 
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 doctorphalanx

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 71
    • doctorphalanx
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #12 on: September 12, 2019, 06:23:15 PM »
I’ve dug up my project plan to see what I was/am planning. I won't go into too much detail but this is an outline of the figures I'm using.

All the Buccaneers are firelocks and all the Spanish are matchlocks. The Buccaneers are shot only. The Spanish will have a unit with half-pikes, Marines, and a cannon. The rest will be Militia shot.

BUCCANEERS

North Star:
Officers, Sargeants, Drummers
GS32
GS33

Blood & Plunder:
English Militia
Freebooters
Henry Morgan

Bicorne:
ECW026
ECW028
ECW029

Renegade:
ECWM9

Frontrank:
Monmouth LSGP3 flintlocks

SPANISH

Blood & Plunder:
Spanish Commander
European Soldiers (for Spanish Marines)
Milicianos

North Star:
Officers, Sargeants, Drummers
Spanish Musketeers
Spanish Pike
GS01
GS02
GS15
GS16
GUN003
GS35 Artillery Crew

Offline Mpanko

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 61
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #13 on: September 12, 2019, 08:14:35 PM »
Sounds great... that illustration from Osprey is what I started off with as a reference.

I have quite a few painted up as I said in an earlier post.  A lot of Bicorne ECW for my buccaneers were painted as I waited 6 weeks for Foundry to ship my pirates.  I

I like the Blood and Plunder models but they are best in their own units based on what I have on hand.

I am also using some of the ECW green and red flags on the buccaneer side per Osprey.

I am working both the assault on Panama City and the attack on San Lorenzo as well.  The attack on San Lorenzo is really interesting even though I have only found a couple of pages worth of details on the attack.  There you need the Blood and Plunder models to represent the Spanish bow armed native auxiliaries that were part of the reinforcements to the garrison.


Offline Dolmot

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1499
Re: 1671 Morgan attack in Panama
« Reply #14 on: September 14, 2019, 09:16:18 PM »
Hm...I visited Panamá Viejo last winter. One can still walk among the burnt ruins, which are kind of eerie right next to the modern mega-city. There's a museum with a fairly large diorama of the city in 1671 (partially speculative, of course). You can see it on the Wikipedia page. I have some extra photos of that if you're interested. There were also a few archeological items such as cannons and swords and a rough timeline of the battle, but nothing that would really help with uniforms IIRC. :?