31e légère in Spain - Blackwatch Miniatures

[Patrick71]

Hello,
Hereby some pictures of the 31st infantry army in Spain that I painted at the end of last year. The figures come from Blackwatch Miniatures and are beautifully sculpted by Massimo Costa.
The uniforms are based on the mysterious manuscript of El Guil. Except for a certain Ernest Fort, apparently no one has ever seen that manuscript and most of the information comes from sketches and aquarelles of Fort and copies of it by Bucquoy, Boisselier, Bueno,…
You can find some examples below.








Due to supply problems, French troops in Spain are known to have used fabrics they found in local depots. These were mostly white and brown fabrics, but based on the drawings above, the 31st Légère apparently seem to have acquired green fabrics of which they made trousers and shako covers.

The 31st Légère originally emerged from the Chasseurs Piemontais and were incorporated into the French Army as the 1st Demi-Brigade Légère Piemontais in 1801. Soon after they became the 31st Demi-Brigade Légère (August 1801) wearing the French cockade. It seems that mainly Piedmontese were recruited during its entire existence and had a French officers cadre. More about the 31st légère can be found in http://frederic.berjaud.free.fr/Articles_de_Didier_Davin/31eLeger/31e_Leger.html(sorry only in French).

And now some pictures of the painted figures. I hope you like them.

[Michael Robert]

Hello Patrick71
Interesting subject with good finds
Massimo ´s excellent figures and good painting
The peninsular campaign shows how civilian support for a cause may tip the scale… and its cost
Many greetings
Michael

[Gen. Freire Andrade]

Thank you very much for this post!!
The figures are looking great and the research will be very helpful in order to paint the 31st Legérè in 1810!!
Cheers!
Miguel

[Bill Slavin]

Too funny, Patrick! These guys are on my painting table right now, so I’m familiar with every crevice in their sculpts. You have done a great job on these - I agree, they are a lovely set.
The site you refer to is a great resource as well - the only resource, actually, for the 31eme, as far as I can tell. Thanks for sharing these - the only ones I have seen painted to date, and you have done these great sculpts credit with your talented brush.

[Bluefalchion]

Careful attention paid to every last detail. I love it!!!!

[k.b.]

Very very nice Patrick. Absolutely loved the story about the regiment and those old illustrations are exquisite. As a reference for painting they are priceless…. this hunt for uniform references is almost as much fun as buying and painting and basing our toy soldiers. I said ALMOST…. The thrill of painting a figure from start to finish has no equal. (Inside our universe of miniature war games figures, at least!)

I love the figures. And your painting is definitely doing them full justice. Your white is very good indeed - although I am curious to know the effect the Spanish sun would have had on the white after some months campaigning!?! I also question if 1 or two dark shadows in the deepest of creases might just ‘pop’ them to life even more.

Looking at the officer figure I am able to see the little bubbles you said that were caused by the Vallejo varnish. Could it be that you are not spreading the varnish as much as you need to which is why little pools of varnish dry into these little yellow bubbles? I really don’t know….. I’m just asking. Did you use an airbrush or a brush?

However, this is all just a minor point when compared with the beautiful sight of the unit painted up and based. Congratulations and keep them coming!

Ps/ I really gotta get my hands on some of Massimo’s figures the next time I’m back in Europe.

[Bill Slavin]

My favourite bit of the reference is the open sleeved waist coat with the hairy belly showing through. Now that would be something scary to encounter on the battlefield!!
The weirdest part about these guys is that none of the reference matches. The epaulettes on the drawing on which they were based (El Guil) appear to be green with silver, and not a spot of yellow or red to be seen. Yet the yellow over green pom pom on the original would seem to indicate a voltigeur. It's not helped by the fact he has shed his jacket, so no cuffs or collars. And the red piping on the officer's jacket in the reference is confusing as the light infantry almost always had white piping!
And finally, I'm suspicious of the green shako covers and pants. Often a single reference like El Guil's can get repeated, as it has been here, and I have even seen these rendered wearing bright lime green! Maybe being a Piedmont regiment accounts for it and they really did stray from the French Legere norms but although reference is nice, it can often be more confusing than helpful. finally, much of the contemporary stuff is line drawings colourized afterwards.
Yikes, I'm starting to sound like one of those Napoleonics geeks! Apologies, but I have been spending days trying to sort these guys out.

[Gen. Freire Andrade]

My favourite bit of the reference is the open sleeved waist coat with the hairy belly showing through. Now that would be something scary to encounter on the battlefield!!
The weirdest part about these guys is that none of the reference matches. The epaulettes on the drawing on which they were based (El Guil) appear to be green with silver, and not a spot of yellow or red to be seen. Yet the yellow over green pom pom on the original would seem to indicate a voltigeur. It's not helped by the fact he has shed his jacket, so no cuffs or collars. And the red piping on the officer's jacket in the reference is confusing as the light infantry almost always had white piping!
And finally, I'm suspicious of the green shako covers and pants. Often a single reference like El Guil's can get repeated, as it has been here, and I have even seen these rendered wearing bright lime green! Maybe being a Piedmont regiment accounts for it and they really did stray from the French Legere norms but although reference is nice, it can often be more confusing than helpful. finally, much of the contemporary stuff is line drawings colourized afterwards.
Yikes, I'm starting to sound like one of those Napoleonics geeks! Apologies, but I have been spending days trying to sort these guys out.

So would you say that for 1810 this soldiers would have a more uniform look? I will be painting this regiment for the 3rd invasion of Portugal (Part of Arnaud Brigade II Corps). I find the lack of blue weird but I do like the variety it offers in the brigade.
Also your battle at Porto is really impressive Bill!

[Bill Slavin]

So would you say that for 1810 this soldiers would have a more uniform look? I will be painting this regiment for the 3rd invasion of Portugal (Part of Arnaud Brigade II Corps). I find the lack of blue weird but I do like the variety it offers in the brigade.

Hi Freire Andrade,
I love these sculpts and think they would be fine for the third invasion of Portugal. It’s well-documented that in warmer climates the French would often leave their jackets behind and fight in their sleeved waistcoats, as these guys are doing.
Personally I would have liked to have seen more variety with some in jackets, if for no other reason than they integrate better with my other light infantry (although in all honesty my other Legere are HaT which are smaller proportioned and in parade ground best!) and also the blue jacket makes them look more like Legere. I’m painting mine as 16th Legere, with a few modifications because I can’t help myself! In retrospect I like the white waistcoats a lot and wish I had left them alone.
Bill

[Patrick71]

thank you all for your kind words

@k.b.:
I doubted whether I would make the uniforms appear dirtier as they probably would have been as you said. I think the armpits would have been a bit yellowish.
I used Vallejo white gray 993 for the waistcoats and I have to say that I was actually quite happy with it. I hadn't painted white uniforms before. Then I applied a very diluted dark tone wash (which actually became a gray wash) over it and then highlighted it with white gray again. I probably wiped out too much of the wash there. So that's a point of attention for me. The straps are done with Vallejo Off White 820
The officer's hand holding the sword is indeed an example of the problems I sometimes have with the Vallejo polyurethane varnish. I just use a paint brush. I'm not going to venture into airbrushing yet, but I think I should indeed be a little more careful with the application of the varnish and make sure that it wont pool in the deeper folds. Anyway I've solved it in the meantime by just reapplying a lick of paint over it, but I didn't take a picture of it again.

@Bill
You are undoubtedly right in being suspicious about the green pants and shako covers. It is indeed true that one reference (El Guil) that has apparently only been seen by Fort (and maybe Bucquoy?) was later copied by several artists, sometimes making theit own adjustments. Beige and brown tones would have been more likely. I've given some of the figures white and brown pants or beige shako covers to make them a little less uniform. Perhaps these guys are closer to reality.
I'm curious how you will paint them and I hope you 'll share them. looking forward to it.

P.S.: some info about the "El Guil Manuscript" can be found in http://nsfarchives.altervista.org/napoleon/forum/archive2010_config.pl@md=read%3Bid=112248.html

kind regards,
Patrick

[Bill Slavin]

I love the story that the El Guil manuscript has disappeared! Thanks for that link. I think you did a great job, Patrick, of making these guys look varied enough to be believable.

[Peter]

Great painted figures patrick! And also thank you for the background information! Really interesting!