"Painting guides for USA and Mexican forces" Topic

I got roped into the American Mexican war in 28mm, I've got a couple of books coming, but I would like ideas for painting, I use Vallejo.

Nearly all the American infantry and artillery were in Kersy sky blue coats and trousers. They were accented at the color, shoulder flaps and non-com stripes with narrow white tape. The officers and men normally had dark blue hats. The officers usually wore dark blue frock coats and trousers but often wore the sky blue pants. Sashes were dark red. Artillerists often wore a red band around their hats and down their trouser legs as a stripe. Dragoons often wore the dark blue coat and had yellow tape on the collars and stripes.

Volunteers often began with individualistic uniforms but ended up in the sky blue after a few months. One notable exception were the Mississippi Rifles in
red shirts, white pants and black slouch hats.

The Mexican forces were much more varied so some research is necessary. In general the infantry were in dark blue coats with red collars cuffs and lapels. Pants could be dark or medium blue, gray or white. Cavalry were dressed in yellow, green, dark blue and sky blue coats. Artillery were in dark blue with red trim. All wore shakoes, usually stovepipe or narrowing to the top. Notable exceptions were the 1st Cav in Tarleton helmets and the Jalisco lancers in Czapkas.

Welcome to the period! It can be a lot of fun. The best rules I have used are the "Santa Anna Rules" by Surdu and Panzieri

US

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The Mexican Soldier

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For a more nearly "immersive" set of rules which fully incorporates the respective doctrines of both armies, you may want to look at "Gone To See The Elephant": link

TVAG

For the US if you want to do NCOs remember that in the Mexican American War the chevrons point down

I have a couple of those books if you have a question about a specific unit

Thanks everyone, I'm doing US Marines. We are going to use Rebels and Patriots from Osprey. Since I'm painting US Marines and they operated a lot in California, what kind of Mexican forces were found in California?

I know you stated you used Vallejo paints but my preferred shade for the blue kersey uniforms of the Americans is Citadel Thunder hawk Blue. It has a but of grey/green tone to it that gives it a more denim tone. A dark Prussian blue would work for the dark blues portions of uniforms (officers and dragoon coats and tunics).

The Mexican infantry uniform was "turkish blue" and I used a dark blue and add white to the base for highlights to give it a sunfaded appearance.

Regarding MAW in California, it's been a while since I've read on that campaign and I don't have my books with me at the moment.

I don't believe there was much of a regular army presence in California most likely some Presidiales. At San Pascual, the bulk of the Mexican force were Californio lancers probably looking very irregular in vaquero attire. I imagine that there some hodge podge collections of militia foot as well.

I don't know very much about this war yet, but I watched the Alamo with the Duke the other night, I was wondering how accurate were the Mexican uniforms. There were two units I liked in the movie; One unit wore white with red cuffs and the other looked like an irregular unit it had whiteish grey shirt, grey pants and had Sombreros. Who were they? Were they actual units and did Mexican uniforms change from the Texas war of Independence to the Mexican American war?

The white uniforms with red cuffs were most likely the regular infantry in summer uniforms. The other guys in sombreros were most likely irregular militia. For my San Pascual armies, I have some militia in off white clothing and sombreros.

There was a reorganization of the military between the TWI and MAW. Aside from the organization of units, uniforms were also changed in an attempt at standardization. In the MAW, infantry primarily retained the blue coats but would wear white trousers instead of the turkish blue. The one caveat was the 10th(?) Infantry which had white coats and red trousers. I believe this unit was a favorite of Santa Anna and thus had a distinctive uniform.

As to the accuracy of the movie, I have never seen it but imagine it's not completely accurate. If the tops of the shadows are painted in a red, white and green roundel then that's an error.

I'd parrot much of what PAR has said. California battles (skirmishes really), were rather informal. The Mexicans would be locals rather than regular army. I have actually been painting Mexicans recently for my own project. Uniforms did change a bit after Texas, Mexican infantry went to Dk blue jackets and pants, I think white pants for summer. I am using the convention of white pants on militia and Dk blue on regulars. The 11th Line Infantry had the white jackets and red pants but that was the only real deviation by the MAW.

The TVAG book, The Mexican Soldier is a fantastic resource on the Mexican army with year by year details on uniform changes. He also has some images you can download from his website for American troops

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As stated above, they are for the most part, head to toe sky blue, with some exceptions. I would imagine as the campaigns progressed the likelihood of them being in the regular army uniform probably increased.

Can't resist the idea of a new project – any reviews of this book on California?

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Irish Marine,

Welcome to an awesome period. You can't beat it for colorful uniforms and and very challenging scenarios. I got into the period a couple of years ago with 28mm figures and I painted a fairly good sized collection. I enjoyed painting the period very much. Several uniform guides stood out.

1. THE MEXICAN SOLDIER by Joseph Hefter, edited and expanded by Patrick R. Wilson is a must have and a tremendous resource. Great color plates. Available from The Virtual Armchair General. Highly Recommended.

2. THE WAR IN MEXICO by Anton Adams. Excellent for uniforms and unit organizations. Additional color plates. EXCELLENT.

3. THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR 184-1848 by Philip Katcher. It is Volume 56 of the Men-At-Arms series by Osprey. Typically good color plates and uniform details. VERY GOOD.

4. SANTA ANNA'S MEXICAN ARMY 1821-1848 by Rene Chartrand's. It is Volume 102 of the Elite series by Osprey. Again, typically good color plates and uniform details. EXCELLENT..

5. 1st Corps's UNIFORM PAINTING GUIDE TO THE MEXICAN?AMERICAN WAR 1846-1848. Published by the 1st Corps miniatures company. I was gifted this volume by a good friend and have not seen it available anywhere since. It is a gem that includes color descriptions of almost all uniforms and breakdowns of uniform details. EXCELLENT!!!!

Hope these suggestions have at least one helpful nugget for you. Again, it is a cool period.

@ Irish Marine:

Try to find "The Courier", Vol. IX, No. 3; it includes a pretty good overview of the California campaign, as well as a set of rules for the Mexican War.

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I believe that the wargamevault has all of the Courier magazines dealing with the Mexican American War, which was the focus of Volume 9.

PaulCollins +1