Regimiento de Infanteria de Linea "Rey Immemorial"

For the sake of variety, I painted this regiment, the King's Own, in the earlier 1802 uniform. It is the oldest unit in the Spanish Army, originating before Spain was even a Kingdom. 

This uniform was a radical departure from the traditional white coats of Spanish infantry, and their individual facing colors. 

Instead all units were to wear an identical uniform featuring a dark sky blue coat with black collar, cuffs, and lapels. The shoulder straps and turnbacks were scarlet. 

The lapels and collars were piped scarlet; sources vary about the cuffs being piped scarlet as well, but Spanish sources seem to indicate they were left plain. 

All units had brass buttons and collar emblems.

The usual red plume and red cockade of Spanish troops were worn with this uniform as well. Many of the troops in the Romana Division sent to the Baltic for service with the French were still wearing this uniform in 1807, despite the regulation changing back to white with varied facings in 1805.

I also painted the last of the Front Rank Spanish Grenadiers that In bought way back in 2009. 

One company is in the same 1802 uniform, and the other is in the 1805 white uniform. If I remember correctly, the light blue facings are those of the Valencia regiment. 

Once again, those magnificent bearskins!

The flag is that of the Valencia regiment., once again by Adolfo Ramos.

The figure on the far right is a sapper, wearing a modified and shorter version of the Grenadier bearskin. 

Spanish Generals, Grenadiers and Guerilla

A few odds and ends to share today...

Grenadier companies for the Irish (Irlandia) and Swiss (Redding) regiments posted earlier.

Gotta love the long bags or flammes on these enormous bearskins!

These are Three Armies figures - the owner kindly sent me a freebie pack of 6 grenadiers with my order for 72+ Line troops.

Not being one to let free lead go to waste, they have joined the ranks of my Spanish army.

Very nice sculpts indeed!

Another shot of the rear of the bearskins.

A trio of as yet un-based figures.

The front two are Brigade games, and the rear one is a spare Three Armies officer painted as a Brigadier. 

The female partisan wears a cast off jacket from an Irish regiment, and carries weapon worthy of "The Gun" (aka The Pride and the Passion")

The portly fellow is painted as a Major General. I haven't yet decide how to base these with some other command and Guerilla figures in the pipeline. 

"Perdóname cuando recorto mi bigote!"

Spanish "Reding" Line Infantry regiment (Swiss)

By the time of the Peninsular War, there were six "Swiss" regiments in Spanish service. The oldest of these traced its history back to 1734. All of the Swiss units in Spanish service traditionally worse dark blue coats, hence their nickname "Suizas Azules".

These regiments were raised by contract with the Colonel, and their names changed with the changes in commanding officer. 

From 1767 on, the Swiss regiments were given royal permission to add a white edging to their red Spanish cockades. These figures are  28mm Three Armies Spanish Line infantry, painted as Swiss. 

The Swiss regiments all wore the virtually same uniform in 1808, scarlet collar, cuffs, lapels, shoulder straps and turnbacks, which most but not all sources indicate were piped in white, as I have shown here.

 One regiment had dark blue collars piped white, and sat least one had blue instead of red cuff flaps, again piped white. All units had white metal buttons.

The flags carried by the Swiss regiments were reminiscent of those carried by the Swiss units in the service of the Bourbon kings of France, but with the red cross raguly superimposed upon the wavy designs, as opposed to the white cross borne on the flags of the Swiss serving the French king.

From what I have been able to find, the drummers in the Swiss regiments wore essentially the same uniform as the rest of the regiment. The epaulets and buttons, etc of the officers were silver in Swiss units. Flag is by Adolfo Ramos. 

Swiss Regiments, 1805

Regiment	Cuffs/Turnbacks	Lapels	Collar	Buttons
Wimpfen	Scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet	Pewter
Reding Senior	Scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet	Pewter
Reding Junior	Scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet	Pewter
Betschart	Scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet	Pewter
Traxler	Scarlet	Scarlet	Scarlet	Pewter
Preux	Scarlet	Scarlet	Dark Blue	Pewter

Add: For more information on the flags of the Swiss regiments in Spanish service during the Napoleonic was:  Banderas Militares - Regimientos Suizos. 

Spanish Infantry Regiment "Irlanda", 1805

There were three "Irish" regiments serving in the Spanish Army, the oldest of which was Irlanda ("Ireland"), raised in 1698. They were part of the "Wild Geese" departing Ireland to serve in the armies of Catholic powers in the aftermath of the treaty of Limerick in 1691, and continuing for the next 100 years or more. 

The Irish regiments in Spanish service had worn red coats until 1791, when they changed to white coats like the rest of the army. In 1805, the dress of the Irish regiments changed again, to Sky Blue coats with various light yellow (some sources call it buff) facings.

As best I can tell from illustrations of their uniforms, the yellow facings and cuff flaps were piped in white; if an item was left sky blue, it was piped yellow instead. 

Note the  Irish harp badge on the flag; this is the  Corunella flag of the Hibernia (the Latin name for Ireland) regiment, raised in 1709, as made by Adolfo Ramos, but it seems that the flags of all three Irish regiments were nearly identical anyway.

These fine 28mm figures are by Three Armies.

Although most of the soldiers in these regiments would be at best part Irish by this time, I chose to give mine red hair, because I could!

Irish/Foreign Regiments, 1805: Regimental distinctions

#	Regiment	Cuffs/turnbacks	Lapels	Collar	Buttons
36	Irlanda	Light Yellow	Light Yellow	Light Yellow	Brass
37	Hibernia	Light Yellow	Light Yellow	Sky Blue	Pewter
38	Ultona	Light Yellow	Sky Blue	Light Yellow	Brass
39	Napoles	Light Yellow	Light Yellow	Light Yellow	Pewter

Ultona = Ulster,  raised in 1709, Napoles = Naples, an Italian "Foreign" regiment. 

All regiments had light yelow shoulder straps piped white as well. 

Voluntarios de Castilla - Spanish Line Infantry, 1805 uniform

Regimiento de Infanteria de Linea de Voluntarios de Castilla (Line Infantry Regiment "Volunteers of Castile"), seen here in their 1805 uniform. 

Crimson lapels, cuffs, and shoulder tabs, piped white (which piping I have left off, except on the shoulder tab as inconspicuous abutting the white uniform), collars and turn-backs white piped crimson.

The drummer is once again in the "Royal Livery", dark blue jacket with red facings, piped white. 

Flag is once again by Adolfo Ramos. He doesn't do a flag for this particular regiment, so I have co-opted the Ordenanza of the Aragon regiment (sharp eyes will note the badge of Aragon in the corners, "Or, four palletts of gules", as opposed to that of Castile, "Gules, a Tower argent").

This unit is the first of several using Three Armies figures. They are very nice sculpts, if a bit heftier than the Brigade games figures, more of which will also be seen soon. 

Three Armies 25/28mm Spanish Napoleonic Infantry figures - price increase October 14

Three Armies figures, gorgeously painted by an expert painter (Francesco), from the Three Armies Facebook page and website. I have no delusions the ones I paint are going to come out looking anywhere near this good, but one can dream!

Three Armies is a relatively new entry into the ranks of 25/28mm manufacturers. I have had my eye on their Spanish infantry since plans for them were first announced last year. They have special discounts for 24 figure (25 in the case of the Spanish Line) Battalion packs. There will be a price increase and an end to introductory free shipping in a few days:

It is with regret that we have to announce the introductory offer on our packs will end and our prices will rise on 14th October 2017. Basic 6 figure. packs will go from £6 to £7. Command Packs from £4 to £5 and Battalion packs will rise from £20 to £25. Our free postage offer will also end on this date. You still have plenty of time. Better still you can come and see the ranges at Derby Wargames show We will be with Emperor Toad stand.

That announcement prompted me to finally place an order on October 1st; it was dispatched from the UK on 10/3, and arrived here in the Eastern US on 10/6. Wow!

Each of the Spanish "2nd Battalion" Battalion Packs contains 25 figures; 2 standard bearers, 1 one officer, 1 drummer, and 22 fusiliers, in about 5 different pose variations. Since I use 18 figure units, I ordered 3 Battalion packs plus one set of three command figures, enough to form 4 units with some figures left over. . All told that came to 64 pounds, which is a mere $89 in the post Brexit era. As the order was over 50 pounds, the shipping was free. Hooray! That comes to less than $1.15 per figure - a great price for these very handsome figures by a veteran sculptor.

Drummer, Standard bearer (wire poles supplied), and Officer. These are very, very nicely sculpted figures, seen as they came out of the bag - no flash removed, no bayonets straightened etc. 

Some Fusiliers. One very minor criticism I would have is that the bases are very small and thin; they will need a bit of special attention when gluing them to my painting sticks and bases in order to stay upright while the white glue dries. 

Some different poses for the Fusiliers

Some free samples of the Spanish Grenadiers in their magnificent bearskins were also included. 

The clamshell packaging was easy to open... may be too easy!  Two of the packs had opened in transit across the Atlantic, and spilled into the padded mailer bag, which also had a good sized hole in it from rough handling. I was afraid that some of the figures might have gone AWOL, but they were all present and accounted for.. Sir! I'd suggest maybe some tape reinforcement of the packaging and maybe an internal layer of bubble wrap or even plain plastic wrap to prevent deserters!

Conclusion: Highly recommended; if you are thinking of ordering some Three Armies Figures, why not do it in the next 2 days and save?!