Sunday 25 July 2021

On the Workbench: Napoleonic Spanish for Talavera

The next game due on my tabletop will be Talavera. Having thought I had painted all the figures required I discovered I was missing one battery of Baden artillery and now awaiting a delivery from Baccus. In the meantime I am reverting to my "On the Workbench" updates to provide a flavour of what I have been painting over recent months.

One of the larger painting projects was the completion of the Spanish contingent for the battle:

The row of units on the left together with some Guerrillas at the top middle row of the left box had previously been completed. All other units are new and all are Baccus. 

Continued -

A closer view of the left hand box.

More of those previously painted figures. Originally these were planned as direct replacements of my 15mm versions and were set for post 1812 (with a couple of exceptions). Therefore most are not ideal for Talavera but I decided that life is simply too short to paint whole new Spanish armies representing their evolution of uniform changes through the Peninsular War. I calculated that I could get away with it in 6mm although less so in the larger scales!

All the new units painted over recent weeks and months are as close as I can get them to the actual units present at the battle. This and the following photos highlights some of those units.




I will include details of the these units when reporting on the battle and hopefully they will acquit themselves a little better than they did historically!

7 comments:

  1. Looking forward to Talavera, the Spanish usually just get left out all together. I think they're terribly under-rated, a classic case of good troops badly led and/or newly-raised and poorly equipped/trained thrown up against the best army of the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really wanted to include the Spanish in this game and its a shame they get left out. As you say Rob very poorly led but some did get stuck in. The Rey cav regt in particular. They are also very colourful and paint up nicely!

      Delete
  2. That is a splendid array and very colourful...should look stunning on the table!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those look absolutely superb Jon! As others have said, it's nice to see the Spanish get an outing for once.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks Steve. Yes good to get the Spanish out from time to time.

      Delete
  4. Wow! Some impressive painting Jon, especially as you have been playing a WW2 game and it has been rather warm! I especially like the vibrant red and yellow you have achieved! Did you paint them over a white?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are undercoated black which does mean a second coat is required for colours such and yellow and red. The second coat though is fairly quick to apply and worth it.

      Delete