Loyal Lusitanian Legion

The Loyal Lusitanian Legion was first formed in England in 1808, initially raised from Portuguese who had fled the country as a result for the French occupation in late 1807 and early 1808. 

The Legion was to consist of 3 battalions of 1,000 men, a battery of 6 guns, and some cavalry; it does not appear that the later were ever raised. There was initial talk of red uniforms, but that choice was unpopular with the Portuguese, so dark green uniforms reminiscent of the British rifles were ordered. 

When the core of the Legion arrived in Oporto in August 1808, it recruited additional men in Portugal. Most but not all of the officers were British. The Legion was paid by the United Kingdom, and fought at Alcantara, Talavera, and Busaco. It was commanded by Colonel Robert Wilson, who was given the rank of Brigadier General in the Portuguese army as well. Much of its service was  spent in independent actions behind the French lines or supporting the Portuguese and Spanish militias. 

The LLL was disbanded in May 18111, and used to form the new 7th, 8th, and part of the 9th Cacadores. 

The flag was taken from the internet; I cannot vouch for its accuracy, but it looks good at least!

The figures themselves are Old Glory 2nd edition British line, painted as the Legion. There is an excellent account of the Legion's history and actions on The Napoleon Series, here.  

5th Portuguese Cacadores

I have had a small Portuguese contingent of Minifigs for 3 decades... long before I had British to go with them. Having finished by British army, I have found that I don't have nearly enough Portuguese  on several occasions - my two Talavera 1809 Snappy Nappy Campaign in a Day events, and again when I ran Fuentes de Onoro at the Fall "Historicon" in 2022. 

Both times I used my Minifigs Brunswickers to stand in for the extra needed Portuguese. Not the worst expedient, but I decided that I needed to augment my Portuguese force, and started acquiring the needed figures

I didn't want the figures to dwarf either my existing Minifgs Portuguese or my Old Glory British figures. A few years back, Brigade games in the Us acquired a range of Portuguese figures that looks like they would match my existing figures reasonably well in size.  It turns out these are Paul Hicks sculpts, but very different in style from the Spanish that he sculpted expressly for Brigade games. or his other Brigade games figures for that matter. 

This unit is painted wearing the earlier Cacadore uniform, anachronistically wearing the later "Stovepipe" style shako. Considering the difficulties of supplying units in the field, plausible least!

The earlier uniform for this unit had red collar and cuffs piped green, brown turnbacks piped green, and yellow braid on the chest. There will be quite a few more new units of Portuguese marching off the  in the coming months. This is in part spurred for the fact that it looks like Kevin and Mike will be  designing the 2025 Snappy Nappy Campaign ins Day event, and it will be set in the Penisnsula.  

 

Marques Argyll's Regiment of Foote

Archibald Campbell was the 8th Earl of Argyll, later Marquess of Argyll, and the Chief of Clan Campbell (March 1607 – 27 May 1661).

 

He was the de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 1650s, aka the Wars of the Three kingdoms.

As such, he was the main leader of the Covenanter movement that fought for the establishment of Presbyterianism in opposition to the preference of King Charles I.

He is often remembered as the principal antagonist to the the Royalist general, James Graham, more commonly known as the 1st Marques of Montrose, during the English Civil War.

A  flag of this general description is known to have been carried by his regiment at one point. 

The coats were painted with Deco Art Americana "Mississippi Mud"... pretty well approximating the color of dried mud!