"Can Napoleonic Spanish be used for AWI?" Topic

I picked up the Uniformology AWI Spanish uniform booklets at Fall In.
Lots of pretty pictures but not a whole lot of text. In fact, none.
There aren't many AWI Dpsnidh ranges out there.
One thing I noticed in the booklets were the strange Grenadier caps worn by Grenadiers.
I've seem those caps on a friend's Napoleonic Spanish Army in 15mm.
As far as I'm concerned, all I want is tricornes, or the same cap to match, turnbacks, maybe the same packs etc.
are they similar?

Note I'm not asking for permission. just advice if they're "close enough on the tabletop".

From what I understand the coats are a different cut, the front of the AWI coats are open and the Nap's are closed to put it simply.

Sounds like a good Kickstarter for Eureka. And some Spanish militia.

No. Napoleonic era Spanish infantry wore bicornes, shakos, or something like Tarleton helmets for some light infantry.

Winston,

A decent paint job will convert SYW French into Spanish line infantry; the grenadier caps are unique though. However, from what I've seen, there were two types of uniform for metropolitan (ie European Spanish) troops, and a third for colonial troops. Get hold of Rene Chartrand's Osprey MAA "Spanish troops in North America 1700-1793" as it has a lot of helpful text.

If you can manage a little Spanish, the "guerreros y battallas" series has a couple of AWI books, one on the siege of Gibraltar (#43) and one on Pensacola (not sure of the number). These are essentially Spanish Ospreys and top notch on the Spanish kit (not so much on the British/Loyalist/German – but I would imagine you already have that covered!!!).

Though the Spanish units were slow to adopt updated uniforms, due to uniforms having to be bought by the units colonel, certain units especially in the colonies were considered years if not decades out of date.
Thie uniform issue was one reason units assigned to Louisiana had a hard time getting volunteers. The Louisiana troops had to have two uniforms rather than one as in Mexico.
All of this is highlighted in my book on the Spanish Army and operations in the American Revolution.
So as SM said, the closest uniforms would be French castings.

I think tricorne/bicorne are not really helpful terms when discussing the evolution of the military cocked hat during this period. It frequently leads to misunderstandings.

@RudyNelson
Is your book still available?

John,

If you are looking for appropriate 28mm Spanish figures for AWI then may I suggest the former London Warroom Spanish that are now owned and cast by Dayton Painting Consortium. dpcltdcom.org/rsm95_010.htm

I have a number of them both painted and unpainted. Some pictures and comparisons can be seen here:

link

link (Please ignore the comment about them being OOP.)

Hope this helps.

Jim

Winston,

I second Col Campbell. The figures were fine, and the fellows at DPC were easy to work with.

Just ask and send an email address. I can send a ecopy which is without photos.

Rudy. I don't have your email address.

I already have some of the Dayton figures. They're sold as SYW Spanish, I think. I originally bought them to use as Swiss at Louisbourg, but that fell through. So, they're drafted.
My plans are now to get some Historifigs, particularly Militia and Grenadiers, and go with Old Glory FIW French.
I believe I have a bag of Fitz James Horse sitting around somewhere. Dragoons!

Scottnelson@bellsouth.com

Would love to see someone produce a new, dedicated range for the Spanish. Doug at Trident Designs has them on his list, but they've been there for years with no movement. Maybe the Perry's will get interested at some point…

I was all set to place an order for French FIW from Old Glory when our expert flea market scrounger gave me a baggie last night with 75 such figures in it. He paid $2 USD for them.

He said he had no idea what they were, but he thought I could use them.