Spanish Field Gun

Hello everyone!

Today I have a completed gun and crew for your enjoyment. This is a light field gun of the Spanish Real Cuerpo de Artilleria.

(Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

These artillerymen are all wearing the same 1808 uniform that I described in my previous post. Here is the plate I was using as a guide:

 

1808 Spanish Artillery Uniform

Two of them you'll notice, however, are wearing brown trousers instead of the prescribed dark blue breeches; I did this one to add to the irregularity of the stand (the Spanish being woefully ill-equipped during the Napoleonic Wars and often utilizing local brown cloth to make replacement uniform items, especially trousers) and also because I saw someone else paint brown trousers on their Spanish artillerymen and I liked the look. Like on my artillery limber, I painted the gun a light blue, with a brass barrel and black iron fittings.

The figures are a mix, as usual. The officer, rammer and primer guy—sorry, I’m not sure what the real positions titles are—are  all from the AWI lot I got last year (manufacturer unknown), while the loader is a French artilleryman from the big lot of Heritage miniatures I got a couple of years ago. Of all of the assorted French artillerymen I got in that lot, he was the only one wearing the older bicorne instead of the shako, so he became a Spaniard.

This will be one of the two guns that will make up this Spanish battery; I currently have all of the other gun crewmen and their cannon primed and ready to paint. Expect the other gun soon, and some pictures of the complete battery.

Questions, comments and criticism are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Chuck