A Napoleonic Spanish infantry jigsaw for you.

[olicana]

As I get closer to finishing my French and Anglo-Portuguese armies for the Peninsular, my mind is turning to the composition of a Spanish army. My problem is that my detailed knowledge of Spanish OOB and army uniforms is limited, so I'm unsure what figures I should look at buying.

Although my numbers are not set in stone, I want an army of similar size (perhaps a little smaller) to the other two. So, I'm thinking along the lines of 24 battalions of 'regular' infantry (each 24 figs), most in of which could be fielded as two battalion regiments. There will be cavalry and such but, at the moment I'm only thinking of the infantry.

I want my Spanish army to be very generic so that it can be used for the period 1808 - 1813, perhaps with most actually for 1809 - 1812, and not look too out of place fighting anywhere in Spain. I would like the army to be both colourful and flavoursome. The only fixed criteria is that the units must have fought in theatre and been at a good battalion strength, at some point. With that in mind, if you were making this jigsaw, what units would you pick to make the 'picture'?

Here are the 24 jigsaw pieces to make the whole picture.

8 x 2 battalion regiments.
8 x 1 battalion (including grenadiers).

If possible, uniform style (e.g. British supplied) and hat type, for easy reference, would be helpful. I have several uniform guides, so uniform colours are not required.

If a whole jigsaw is too much, throw some individual pieces at me.

I can see this will be very difficult because the Spanish went through several changes of uniform during that time frame, and that is why I can't decide which units would be most versatile, or which uniforms to do them in. I really need some suggestions to look at more closely, so looking at the jigsaws of others would be very helpful for me (as a Spanish army noob).

Thanks for looking.

James

[Harry Faversham]

Sorry James, can't help you, but I've got to say I like your style when it comes to thinking big.
You contemplate tackling 24 Battalions like a normal person tackles a six man base!

[AlyMorrison]

Hi James...

Have you seen the Spanish units the Alan Perry has been posting on the Perry Miniatures Facebook page...?
He has posted a couple of interesting units which are pretty much painting conversions on French uniforms and another unit wearing all black...

It may give you some inspiration...

https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures/photos/pcb.2823583861097035/2823580181097403/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures/photos/pcb.2823583861097035/2823578051097616/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures/photos/pcb.2823583861097035/2823579301097491/?type=3&theater

I have to admit I am quite tempted to creat some of these types for my own games...

All the best.  Aly

[emosbur]

Not easy, because the new regulations came in 1811, the so called 1812 uniform. Before, the uniforms were what was available: the old 1805 uniforms (white with bicorne), uniforms made with civilian brown fabric, civilian dress in many militia regiments, uniforms captured to the french, etc. UK send uniforms too, sometimes red and sometimes blue, similar pattern to british ones but less elaborated.
If you are going to use before 1812, I would go for a core of white uniformed regiments, with militia regiments in brown civillian dress and round hats, and would add a handfull of regiments in british or french style. Some troopers could carry bonnet de police in lieu of bicornes for added variety. And don't forget the grenadier battalions in fur caps.
If you can name several units that you want to model, I can try to find some info about them.
Bytheway, I think that you can find a good mix in the Perry's range.

[emosbur]

This is from a set of postal cards I got many years ago:



Milo

[tom_aargau]

I would build the list around known units like the Army of Galicia, or a known order of battle like Albua.

These two site have great information:
https://balagan.info/spanish-units-at-the-battle-of-albuera
https://rodwargaming.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/spanish-army-1811/

[SteveBurt]

I went for white coats and bicornes and did regiments Guadalajara, princesa  and Irlanda

[olicana]

Thanks, guys, and V.good links.

As I know so little about Spanish OOBs it might be best to choose a historical army and use that to  base the bulk of my army on, then add some interestingly uniformed units from elsewhere to make it 'generic'.

At the moment I'm ploughing through the French at a rate of knots. I have just 7 units plus odds and sods left to do for an army totalling 34 units plus artillery and command.

Then I'll tackle the last dozen British units for an army of similar size to go up against it.

It's all taken far too long, but I'm getting there. I must say that, when it comes to the Spanish, I'm looking forward to only having one army to do, rather than doing two in tandem. It was the same with third army (Russian) for my SYW collection, which I completed in no time at all compared to the Prussians and Austrians which I had to paint up at the same time. You would think that all would take a similar amount of time, funny that it doesn't work that way for me.