Royalist Commanders

Lastly are a couple of command bases modeled roughly on the generals from John Fletcher's Liberators! book...

Here I've used Fantassin British generals with staff from Lancashire Bavarians. You can see the difference in size, most noticeable in the horses.

Royalist Artillery

Finally, got round to doing the artillery. These are Fantassin Spanish Artillery 4 pounders with the bicorne replaced with Mirage militia tophats.

The guns look very bluish in the pic but, in reality, they are more  greyish blue.

Dragoons and the Arequipa Sqn

The next cavalry unit is the Dragoon Sqn, made from odd Fantassin hussars, chasseurs and officers, with cut down  militia top-hats. I tried painting Spanish Pintos, again with mixed results, also tried brindled greys, but they just look dirty :(. Never-mind it's all good practice.

Also,  I have finished the Arequipa cavalry squadron, again using Militia top-hats on Fantassin French Chasseurs.

Arequipa Cavalry - Battle of Huaqui

Tinta Dragoons

Welcome to the Tinta cavalry, my first mounted unit for the Royalists, painted up from Bavarian Light Dragoons from Lancashire games...

Here they are.. Fantassin's finished Cotobamba and Paucartambo Regts. I've darkened the blue considerable to try and make it more correct, using Dark Prussian Blue with black washes.

Royalists Huaqui June 20th 1811

The South American Wars of Liberation saw the Spanish governed regions using units raised from the population stiffened with Spanish troops on colonial service. So here are the  1st Btn. Cuzco Militia, converted from Mirage 15mm Austrians. Note the  missing bayonets caused by rough handling of the sometimes brittle, hard metal figures.

I took substantial liberty  by giving them greatcoats for the cold nights up on the high ground around Lake Titicaca. The second battalion were not so lucky....

With the second battalion I tried cutting down some Mirage Austrians with round hats. Not ideal, so I will look for some Spanish top-hatted militia for  the future.

Again from Mirage -  the Royalist Ferdinand VII Regt..

And with the Abancay Regt. formed in front.

Last of the Mirage figures for the Royalists are the Puno and Royal Lima Btns.

Most of these are usually shown wearing top hats for the early battles but I figure the  bicorne is common enough to have a few of my regiments  wearing it. I've since purchased  a load of top-hatted Spanish Militia from Warmodelling / Fantassin which are primed and ready for painting.

Patriot Artillery

Here's the artillery at last, painted them as natural wood since no one seems to be able to agree what colour they were! Using British RHA crew from Fantassin

Patriot Command

Here is the Command element for the Patriot forces, based on a general  from Fletcher's Libertors! book...

Patria Dragoon - Patriot

I think there were very few mounted Patria Dragoons, perhaps just one sqn...

These are Lancashire French Chasseurs a Cheval, I will add an Argentine guidon later. For the Battle of Huaqui it will also be necessary to field 2 sqns of Patria Dragoons dismounted. For these I have some Prussian Jagers waiting in the wings....

And here they are... although they appear to be carrying a full set of equipment,. I imagine that dismounted dragoons would be a little lighter, with their equipment left with the horses. However, these chaps may have been dismounted due to a lack of mounts. Anyway, I may replace these with less encumbered troops in the future.

Reserve Cavalry- Patriot

Next, the Reserve Cavalry, again without firearms, so using a mixture of Officers,  buglers and guidon bearers. Definitely Lancashire Prussians  painted up to look like Morenos and Pardos troops (Black and Mixed ethnicity). It escaped my mind that the Prussian would come with greatcoats, so again these guys are over dressed for the occasion and better equipped than their compatriots....

Cochabamba Cavalry

Now for some Cavalry...

These are Lancashire Prussian? Dragoons although I needed troops without firearms. I didn't think I could cut away the weapon at the time, but on some later units I have and I think it looks ok.

So here are the Cochabamba Cavalry ( Until such time as I replace them!). This is the first Regiment, there are two more to come. The Cochabamba Cavalry turned up  just as the Patriots were fleeing so  had little impact on the battle. Still, Orbats require 3 regiments of them and I'm having great fun converting the other two regiments from  various heads, bodies and arms. I'll be determined (as Patriot commander) to hold the Royalists up long enough for these chaps to strut their stuff.

Cochabamba Cavalry Regt.

Patriot - Patrios de Buenos Aires Regts

Finally for now, the Cochabamba Infantry and  the Patrios de Buenos Aires Regts...

Cochabamba Infantry Regt.

Chaps with the berettinas  are Lancashire Vendeans rabble, bicornes are Mirage figures.

Command Stand of the Patrios De B.A

Patriot Reserve Infantry Regt.

Next a bit of a hash up,  I needed uniformed troops without firearms so I cobbled together some Officers and standard bearers to make sword and spear armed infantry for the Patriot Reserve Infantry Regt...

I really like the Fantassin / Warmodelling drummer with the floppy hat ( Don't know it's real name) I need lots of heads like this for some future units but no idea where to find them. 

6th Infantry and La Paz Regts - Patriot

From a  Polish manufacturers Mirage -Austrian range, I found some likely candidates for troops wearing a mix of French and British styles. Here is the 6th Infantry Regt. obtained from the Bognor Model Shop I remembered seeing these a few months back  but at the time I had no use for 15mm Nappies. With the adoption of Principles of War for my smaller conflicts,  these  chaps came in very handy, especially since they were half price ( so I didn't choke so hard when I heard how much they were). Came in at  about 35p per figure. 

Patriot 6th Infantry Regt

Now the 2nd Btn. 6th Regt..

And the La Paz Regt...

Both these previous units are from Mirage.

Cochabamba Cavalry

Another two units of Cochabamba Cavalry were converted from Warmodelling / Fantassin french Chasseurs and Hussars. French Shakos were removed and replaced with Spanish Artillery Bicornes ( any bicornes would do, but I had these left over) and the officer had his  arm replaced with one from a top-hatted militia officer.

Again two bases of Fantassin figures, converted as above, with a base of Lancashire Dragoons with the carbines cut away. All the  Fantassin figures were guidon bearers or  officers armed with spears or bugles taken from infantry ensigns or buglers.

First Patriot Units

Picked up a copy of John Fletcher's Liberators some years ago and have been mulling it over slowly. Toyed with the idea of doing it in 20mm but realised that in 15mm more of the  figures would be available (although 15mm is way more expensive than plastic 20mm). Finally decided to  create the forces for the battle of Huaqui 1811 starting with the Patriots....

First two Patriot units are the combined Pardos y Cordoba, Orurenos and Chiquisaca Grenadiers  made from AB figures.

 The first  group below  is the combined Orenoros Fusiliers, Pardos de Cardoba Fusiliers and Chuquisaca Grenadiers. These are the humongously expensive AB Miniatures - rolled in at nearly a quid a figure after postage! They might be the best figures around and there's way more detail on these than I could ever see :)

Orenoros Fusiliers, Pardos de Cardoba Fusiliers

Pardos de Cardoba Fusiliers and Chuquisaca Grenadiers