New WIP - Spanish Infanteria Ligera, French Command and dragoon

I missed out on the last game of our long-delayed Iberian Campaign played last Saturday due to sick kids and working wife, but after sending General Hill and a force made up of mainly KGL infantry and cavalry around the southern flank, across the Tagus and into the French rear, while my main force that had received the spanking in the first battle maintained its position, my deputies (Quinny and Andrew B) apparently put in a sterling performance and drove Tim and Robin away from Toledo. Huzzah! 

I'll be getting an AAR with photos, so stay tuned! I'll have to work out what to do next depending on the severity of Tim's defeat, but I know that the other French players are advancing from the north and south, so I may have to scoot to avoid encirclement.

Anyway, I put my enforced inactivity to good use over the last week. I've made headway on my command stand using the ADC figure from the last posting, as well as an eagle-bearer dragoon figure and a couple of units of Spanish light infantry. 

The HaT Spanish Guerrilla kit includes figures that can conceivably be painted as any line unit, but one set of figures is clad in a unique uniform that can only be the one regiment; the Infantería Ligera de los Voluntarios del Reino de Valencia (volunteer light infantry of the kingdom of Valencia). Probably unique in that it was a non-Scottish Highland regiment which wore kilts! Above the waist, they wore fairly standard early 19th c uniform of shako with plume and cords, blue tunic with collar and cuffs in the facing colour of red (with the exception of a unique cross-hatched shoulder decoration in lieu of epaulets)and the usual Spanish paraphernalia like backpack, and belly cartridge belt/box. Below the waist, they wore the white kilt and leggings with espadrilles, in the local style. As to where they were deployed and which army the belonged to and their campaign history, I have no idea! If anyone out there can shed some light on this I'd be grateful. The ever helpful Rafa Pardo has kindly given me some images of Spanish uniforms, one of which you can see below, but the text is in Spanish and seems to be limited to only describing the uniform. Anyway, they're the perfect unit to add little colour to my weekend games!

I've also launched a mass head swap using tarleton heads from the HaT British rocket troop set to replace the topper wearing heads of the Spanish line troops from the same set to create another unit of Spanish light troops. There's a great book in the collection at work,  Armies of the Napoleonic Wars: An illustrated history by Chris McNab , which has a great chapter on Spanish uniforms including the tarleton wearing chaps I'm trying to replicate, but do you think I can find it? No! Bloody students; shouldn't be allowed to use books on my pet topic! I'll have to wait until it surfaces to find a picture to base this lot on.

Also included below are the command stand I've been working on including the ADC from the previous posting and a general and light infantryman as horse-holder. I held the last figure under hot water and manipulated his arm so that stayed bent once it cooled to look like he's holding the reins. I also chopped up a spare artillery wheel to add a little atmosphere to the diorama.

The last is the eagle bearing dragoon figure that I converted using a length of wire, a spare eagle from the Italeri infantry set and a tiny blob of Miliput to construct a thumb to make it look like he's actually gripping the staff. The original figure was holding a musket, which I chopped away, but after gluing the staff, I didn't like the way the staff looked stuck to his hand, so with the tiniest amount of Miliput and a lot of patience, I sculpted his thumb and palm. I'm quite proud of the result!

The first 4 Valencian light infantrymen

Illustration from 'Uniformes Españoles de la Guerra de Independencia' by José Maria Bueno Carrera, Aldaba Militaria (1989) as provided by Rafael Pardo.

Advancing figure

Firing figure. Note the espadrilles!

Tarleton wearing Infanteria Ligera conversion

Command figures and decoration added to prepared base

Flocked and varnished

Eagle bearer dragoon conversion with added thumb!