Thursday, July 26, 2012

28mm Kingdom of Spain Infantryman, 1808 - 3rd Regiment of Volunteers ('Seville')


Okay, I know I'm not exactly lighting the world on fire with this post but hey, it is what it is. 

Earlier this summer I visited Phil's great blog Diary of an Infrequent Wargamer and found that Capitan Miniatures has this great painting competition where they will send out a sample figure you paint it and email back a picture of the finished product.  'Cool, I'm in!' says I, and about a week later an envelope duly arrives from Spain containing a 28mm infantryman awaiting some paint. 



Being the typical uniform nerd I wanted to do something a little off the beaten path and so I decided to paint the figure as an infantryman from the army of that ill-starred 'King of Spain', Joseph ('My Little Brother is a Bit of a Pr*ck') Bonaparte. 


So what we have here is a poor dogface from the 3e Regiment d'Infantrie de Ligne (volunteers from Seville), circa 1808.


From what I understand, the available information on uniforms from this period of Spanish history is notoriously sketchy and difficult to verify. I came across the above Knotel watercolour in John R. Elting's exhaustive 'Napoleonic Uniforms, Vol. III'. In it Elting states that two sources describe this regiment as having black facings, but the inclusion of brown trousers is up for debate. The only thing that is reasonably certain is that Joseph adopted Spain's traditional red cockade (Okay, sure, big help guys). Nevertheless, I decided to go with the brown trousers with the yellow piping as I thought it looked quite spiffy. (Note: After I published this post Rafa ('Archiduquerpc'), an excellent hobbyist from Spain, kindly provided me with more information about this unit and it's uniform. Thanks Rafa - much appreciated!)


As Joseph apparently insisted on topping-up the ranks of his army with deserters and prisoners from his opponents one can only imagine the reliability of the forces supporting his regime. Well, at least they looked sharp!

So, there you go. I found the Capitan figure to be very finely sculpted though a bit slight in stature. I'm not sold on how they'd mix within a unit of 'standard' well-fed 28mm figures (i.e. Perry, Warlord, Foundry, etc.) but I'd have no problem with complete units of these guys rousting about with the rest of my Napoleonic collection. 


36 comments:

  1. Very nice, I missed that painting chalenge.

    Ian

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  2. Nicely done and what a great idea for a challenge. I break into a sweat at the thought of painting massed ranks of Napoleonics, but could just about cope doing them one at a time! ;)

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    1. It would take you forever, Michael, but knowing your work they would look the shizzle.

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  3. Nice figure Curt, Capitan is coming out with some nice things, I was planning to order their Oels Jagers. So they are the same height as the main line manufacturers, but slighter if I get you right? So do you think I can include them in a Brunswick Division made up of Perrys?

    Alos do you photograph against a black back drop or are you doing a background fill with photoshop?

    John

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    1. Thanks John. You may want to get a sample figure or two from Capitan to judge for yourself. Their height is not too bad but they are definitely more slim. Personally I wouldn't hesitate using them within my collection but as distinct homogeneous units. Here is a page from their site which provides a comparison photo of one of their figures next to a similar pose from Perry Miniatures:

      http://www.capitanminiatures.com/miniatures/

      I found the march attack pose above to be somewhat smaller but that could be just my perception.

      In regards to my recent photos, I use a light box with a black velvet backdrop. I'm enjoying the high-contrast effect it gives (especially with the B&W stuff I've been doing recently) and it doesn't seem as glaring as the pure white I was using before.

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    2. Thanks Curt, wow they are smaller, but I may just get away with it as they will be based as skirmishers (maybe little guys anyway)

      John

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  4. Replies
    1. Cheers Senyor (or Mr. Verd)! Much appreciated.

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  5. He looks great and should put you into the running Curt!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher. I dunno about being in contention but he was certainly good fun to paint.

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  6. Excellent work Curt!!!!

    A few notes:
    -That uniform is of 1808,in 1809 the facings are red.
    -The stripes of the pants officers only.
    -Not is 3rd of line,is 3rd Volunteers of Seville.

    I have nothing more!!!:-))



    Rafa

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    1. Thanks for the information Rafa! This is a perfect example of the wonders of blogging. Obviously Knotel was working from earlier information (as was I!).
      - Date is noted and changed
      - He only wears the pants when officers are not around ;)
      - Volunteers instead of Line? Done!

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  7. Looks great dude, except for all the colours - what about the gray scale? :)

    Just kidding - awesome as usual, and that painting competition sounds great.

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    1. I know, I should've stuck to my new MO! Nonetheless, it was nice to break out the colour paints.

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  8. He's really great, love the trousers and cockade.

    Mine is sitting sadly unloved, overtaken by other projects. But perhaps I can finish him in three days...

    Phil

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    1. Thanks Phil. Yes, I'm not sure they did you any favours by giving you a standard bearer. Well, look on the bright side, it could have been a musician with all the braid, piping, lace and reverse colours - fun to do but crazy-making all the same.

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    2. Ah, I feel embarrassed to have taken a free mini and not painted him. Challenge on! Not sure what I'll do about the banner though...

      Now, to pick a regiment for my second unit of Spaniards...

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    3. Quick banner fix for you, Phil: Depict it furled in its leather casing. As you know battalions usually never unfurled their colours unless they were on parade or going into combat and even then some kept them furled.

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    4. Ah, good idea, the other option is that Capitan have free downloadable flags on their site. They won't match my Flag Dude ones, but will serve.

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    5. That works too! Also, I now understand that they've extended the deadline so you should have some more breathing room to get him done.

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  9. A very nice model, Curt. The painting work is very fine.

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    1. Thanks Juan. Rafa has proved to be a great resource as my source material on the Spanish army under Joseph is both limited and dated.

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    3. The cuestion of the Spanish uniforms in this War is very complex, and there were two Spanish Armies!, the "true" one and that of Jose I whose Infantry had brown coats in the French style and, sometimes, without lapels.

      And there is not a really good source of information!

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  10. Nice job Curt, must look out for some of those

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  11. A lovely looking figure Curt, very well painted!

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  12. Nice work Curt and some interesting background info.

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  13. Curt you will regret of having me in your blog!!!hahahaha!!

    Rafa

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    Replies
    1. Not at all! It's great having another los espanoles in the mix!

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  14. When or did the Spanish Bonapartists troops adopt shakos if any?
    Oh and when is Food for powder going to be ready? Curt you said June and it is now the end of July good sir!

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    1. The sources I have suggest they did wear the shako at least from 1809.

      'Food for Powder' is currently going through some edits in anticipation of an upcoming game but I admit its a slow process. Thankfully I'm not getting paid to do this or I'd get fired...

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)