Lace Wars Project Part IV; Spanish Regulars

The Spanish forces in the New World were a mixture of Regular, locally-recruited full time Colonial troops and militia. I figured that since I had painted French line troops, British regulars and a militia unit it was time to bring some Spanish Regular, or Metropolitan, troops into the list. They were more closely regulated, and more fashionable, than the colonial troops so I built figures all wearing the crisply formed tri-cornered hat that had become the latest fashion item for a well-dressed soldier of the 1690's. Their uniforms are a much brighter white (actually a lighter shade of gray). Next some Morenos, locally raised black militia troops, and then some more Birts and French with a careful eye to picking uniforms that can switch sides with a flag-swap.

these troops could easily switch to French pay with a flag-swap , I started them in true white but the look was too clean, they got repainted in very pale gray and them washed in a very thin black wash

Rhodesian Diversions

    The bane of my wargaming existence has always been my lack of focus. I have literally dozens of projects in hand at any given time. I confess to being easily distracted and often disheartened by a long or arduous task. Just such a thing happened to my Lace Wars Project, too many button loops and turnbacks left me craving an entirely different task. I cast my eye toward the looming pile of half-completed undertakings and found just the tonic that I sought. R.U.P. had asked me to paint some Rhodesian aircraft for him a little while ago, a project that I undertook and promptly put on a back burner (too my shame). This little project popped out and rescued me from the sea of tricornered hats that I was drowning in.A few happy hours later I had finished them and was ready once again to advance toward my mountain of plastic soldiers. I think they turned out pretty well.

Lace Wars Project Part IIIa The British Are Here!!!!

I finally got the wash on th figures and touched up the bases and white. Then I added the white buttons which REALLY made a difference in the look of the minis. Next I am working on a Spanish Metropolitan Regiment and a militia  battalion of "Brown" troops; soldiers of mixed race that the caste-conscious Spanish kept segregated from the troops born in Spain.

 

I like the red jackets, too bad they are English troops

 

there has to be some troops in red from other armies, Irish or Swiss, 

I must check my references more carefully

 

the white buttons were tedious to paint 

but I think they really add to the look of the unit

     I am going to dig through my pile of reference books, I would like to paint a unit in green jackets and another in brown, Just to get away from the red/blue/gray-white that was so common during the period. I try to paint actual units rather than just something that appeals to me at the moment. The big plus is that in the era of 1680-1710 the uniform regulations were fairly vague which gives me a bit of latitude.

Lace Wars Project Part III The British Are Coming!!!

Perhaps the English is more accurate. Despite a horrible week at work I have gotten pretty close to completing the first batch of red-coats. They need a wash and flat coat, but otherwise they are complete. I do like the way that they are turning out, I have to flip over to warflag.com and print up some flags pretty soon to give them the real impact. Flags of this period were large and very colorful and I think that they will add a lot to the character of the units.

rather brighter than the previous two units

the officer in the middle pointing is one of my runaway posing projects,

he took longer to build than six regular figures