Mustering the British Army: Part Four

The First Cacadores

These are Revell 95th Riflemen, given a lick of paint by Mark Bevis and transformed into "the fighting cocks of the army." The command figures are like my 60th Royal Americans, Italeri figures.

Another view of the Cacadores

Very sharp eyed readers will note that one unit is painted as Tiradors. These chaps have done good service, but I've failed to finish the basing on the last unit as well as losing a few to straggling. Definitely a rainy day project to fix that.

One of my numerous Spanish/Portuguese militia units

These boys are HAT Spanish guerrillas given a particularly generic uniform so that they could stand in for Spanish or Portuguese line infantry. I'm less satisfied with the fix than I was. The uniform isn't completely correct for any unit in particular. I'm scratching my head to remember when I got it from originally, I think one of the Ospreys on the Portuguese Army. I painted these myself, but I think I'll be doing some further research once I've added a few more units as the one size fits all solution is sitting less well with me.

My Luso-Hispanic Brigade

As I said above, the chaps in the front rank do duty as Spanish or Portuguese, but the lads in the rear are definitely part of my Spanish army. Led by the gallant General Romana, they will be taking the field in a series of purely Spanish battles once I get some Grenadiers.

The Regiment Del Rey

These are SHQ/Kennington figures painted by a cousin of Mrs Kinch. The First Regiment Del Rey is apparently the oldest military unit in the world. To qoute no less a source than wikipedia.

"There is certain proof of this and according to what the chronicles mention, King Ferdinand III, "The Saint," in 1248, during the conquest of Seville, with some of his men-at-arms, assaulted and took a tower. Seemingly, with such boldness and bravery they gained the admiration of the King. The campaign finished and with the consequent disbandment of troops, King Ferdinand decided to permanently keep with him said force, giving origin to the permanence of the Armies, that is to say, the origin of itself."

Suffice to say, I could not bring myself to gainsay such a claim and have cheered on the gallant Dons whenever they take the field. 

 

The Regiment Irlanda

These boys are close to my heart, painted by Mr E, a frequent visitor to the Kinch household and a much beloved fellow cigar smoker. These are Falcata figures and only recently rereleased. I recommend getting ones paws on them. I have prattled on at length about these boys here.

An overview of the artillery part

You'll notice that this shot is mainly dominated by HAT caissons. I haven't come across anyone that makes British caissons, so I decided that my British forces would have to make do with ones captured from the French. They look well don't they?

I'm not entirely sure where my obsession with collecting tail units and logistical support came from - pseudo-psychological explanations in the comments section please.

My only RHA limber

I love the RHA, I think the uniform is especially smart and I find the idea of hurtling around the countryside dragging a crazed beast of a gun behind you to be a thrilling one. The gun pictured is a Hinton Hunt nine pounder I think. I don't deploy guns with a full team anymore, but even so it makes me happy just to look at it. The joy of the thing is the thing itself. I have some RHA crew, the kind gift of an American friend, which will be joining this lot very shortly.

RHA in the field

These chaps are Newline Designs RHA crew and gun with a suitably converted Light Dragoon as a mounted officer. I was finding it difficult to fit entire gun teams into a five inch hex, so in a rare concession to practicality, I decided that I would represent Horse Artillery by the addition of a mounted officer rather than a mounted team.

The Old Corps

My oldest British artillery, which I made up and painted myself, from the now defunct Revell British Foot Artillery set. These fellows have seen some service with the more modern Newlines, most notably during a brief campaign played using the Games Workshop Legend of the Old West Alamo rules. They were part of the garrison of Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland. They blew a mounted charge of French dragoons all to blazes during the French attempt to stirr revolution in the country in 1796 by making off with the Holy Stone of Clonrichert. It must be remembered that at the time, the stone was but a lowly class three relic, rather than the glorious class two it is today.

Another shot of the Artillery park

A Strelets officer pausing to have a conversation, 

I suspect about fishing, with the chaplain.

Beyond knowing that there were few chaplains with Wellington's army I know very little about spiritual affairs in the Pensinsula. I know Gleig of "The Subaltern" fame (of which I hold a much treasured 1854 edition) became a clergyman in later life as did William Hamilton Maxwell, whose "Wild Sports of the West" is a brilliant description of pre-Famine Ireland as well as being screamingly funny.

And as the catalogue staggers on, it appears there will be a part five.