Thursday 4 July 2019

A return to the 18th Century

One of the, er, joys of having a major expedition into the cavernous unknown under the wargames table is when one finds long forgotten figures. Painted figures that is. So when the Linthorpe Cave Rescue Team (the wife) was last down for me it was with great pleasure (for me that is) that she came across a box containing six battalions of 28mm Spanish infantry for the War of the Austrian Succession or Seven Years War. Spanish? Yep. All nicely painted from my pre-spinal surgery days, which puts them at about six but more probably eight years old. With one exception the figures are all Black Hussar French, the exception being a battalion of Cran Tara Gardes Francais painted as Gardias EspaƱolas or Valonas  (apart from the cockaded much the same uniforms).
From front to rear we have the infantry regiments Calabria, Ultona (Irish) and Napoli (Italian).





As the keen eyed reader will have spotted  I have  made a change from the basing convention I've used in the past for my SYW collection for these troops. The unit frontage remains the same but I've increased the base depth to accommodate drummers, file closers and spare officers/NCOs. This is an idea pinched off Jim Purkey and it looks good imho.

To follow very soon are the regiments Reina, Dunnant (Swiss), and the aforementioned Guardias. There are also two regiments of Spanish horse in need of standards before they can be added to the force. Then all I will need are some artillery and a few command stands.

Now, the Spanish didn’t do much in the Seven Years War apart from an attempted invasion of Portugal, so these troops are destined to fight in the Wars of the Polish and/or Austrian Succession, alongside my small Duchy of Modena army. As it happens my embryonic French army is also being mobilised to campaign in the War of the Polish Succession even though they will no doubt see action in the WAS and SYW as well. 

8 comments:

  1. What a find! They look wonderful too.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  2. That's a great find. I should ask my wife if she would look under my table too to find such treasures!

    I think, that these are enough of Spaniards for a small refight of Piacenza, if you have enough of French for Maillebois' wing too then.

    Cheers,

    Damnitz

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  3. A nice looking army. The "Gallo-Span" army fought extensively in Italy during the WAS versus Austrian-Piedmont armies.

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  4. A grand rediscovery! I look forward to more finds in the days ahead!

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  5. 18th century? May be the best one, wonderful uniforms and units!

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  6. Plenty of fun to be had in 1740's Italy Colin. At least half a dozen different armies and flags in every colour and shade of uniform.

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  7. once was forgotten is now found!
    Another army oh the joy it must be...painted no less.
    Well done.

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  8. A splendid discovery...
    I now imagine that beneath your wargames table is a bit like Tutankhamun’s Tomb...
    Mine just looks like the local tip...

    All the best. Aly

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