Project Waterloo: Hanoverians... and (free) flags from Mal's Small World.

This project required 3 units of Hanoverian infantry. Perry makes a nice range of these troops, but I didn't really want to incur the expense of buying them (and the necessary time to paint them!). 

Roughly 25 years ago I bought roughly 100 very neatly painted Minifigs British from Jamie, who had brough them to Historicon in the hopes that I might want to purchase them. 

I had no British Napoleonics at the time, nor had I any plans to start a British Napoleonic army at the time, either. 

If I recall, he offered them at $1 per figure. At that price and with the very fine paint jobs, I couldn't resist... could I? Of course not. 

The troops were more than enough to make up 3 units of infantry in my scheme, but not enough for 4. The regulation Hanoverian Line infantry uniform was all but indistinguishable form that of standard British troop.  I realized that I could use the spare figures (and a few spare Old Glory command figures) to just add Hanoverian Command stands (just the flags, really). Then the three units could be used as either British or Haoverian just by changing one stand per unit. 

Jamie's original troops formed one unit of 30 in light yellow facings, and one in medium green facings. While I was at it, I changed the facing colors of the requisite figures  so that there is now a black faced unit, that once again can be used as British or Hanoverian. These wonderful flags are from Mal's Small World blog: https://mal4955.blogspot.com/p/mals-small-world-guide-to-flags-and.html

Among the gems there are numerous flags for the British Yeomanry units of the Napoleonic Wars, Foreign units in British service, ALL of the British Infantry units of the Napoleonic Wars (one of the pedants on TMP sniffed that devices are too large; he's correct, but really for our purposes the flags look much better and are more easily recognizable with  the exaggerated devices. In any event, if you don't like them, I'm sure your money will be cheerfully refunded (my standard answer to those who complain about aspects of thigs they didn't pay anything for!). 

Anyway, there are  flags for all three battalions of the Hanoverian regiments of 1815; it's likely the regimental (not the sovereign's) flags had fields in the facing color (and perhaps white for black faced regiments). Anyway, the flags I used, left to right, were for the Luneburg, Calenberg, and Verden regiments. 

But wait, there's still more vexillogic goodness on Mal's blog: Flags for all the Danish Napoleonic infantry regiments, eight sheets for flags for the Swedish Napoleonic infantry and cavalry regiments, flags for the Russian Cossacks and Opolochenie, far more than 100 flags for the Austrian Landwehr of 1809, the Erzherzog Karl Legion, and the infantry and cavalry of the Hungarian Insurrectio. Not satisfied? There a few dozen flags for the Tyrolean uprising, too! 

Still not impressed? How about flags for the Napoleonic Army of Mysore, the Sikhs, Rajput, Mehwari, Muhgals. There are flags as described by Kipling for  Jaipur, Lahore, Bikanir, Udaipur, and others. Still more sheets of flags are on the site for the Mahratta, an illustration of the flags of the French Corps of Hyderbad, flags of the Honorable East India Company,  the Bombay Native Infantry, Bengal infantry and cavalry in British service, and the same for Madras. There arter probably well over 1,00 flags on this site, and all are free!  Check it out; yopu will be blown away!

 

More Pete's Flags (and new commanders) for the Wars of the Roses

 I got a second order from Pete's flags a few months back, with a bevy of WotR banners not included in my first order. I've deliberately posted the images in low resolution. the actual flags are a wonder of detail, and perfectly sharp.

Lord Zouche of Harringworth, a staunch Yorkist and  supporter of Richard II, he was captured at Bosworth Field, but his life was spared. Livery Sable and Murrey.

Here's one of the Zouche flags in use. 

Jasper Tudor; Lancastrian Uncle of Henry VII.   Livery colors Argent and Vert. 

Here's Jasper with some of his flags. I had more flags to use than I had figures to carry them, so on my latest set of command bases, I've drilled a hole in the base to take the wire flagpole, and added some rocks (talus) to suggest the flag was stuck in the ground an its stability bolstered by the surrounding rocks. 

Tudor livery colors were Argent and Vert.

Sir Edward Poynings, Lancastrian/Tudor, best known for his actions in Ireland. 

Sir Edward with his banner. 

Livery color is uncertain, possible Gules. 

Forward!

Sir Thomas Stanley, Yorkist. He fought at Northampton, 2nd St Albans, Towton and Bosworth.  Livery Tawney and Vert.

Here's Sir Thomas. 

The ? Chicken or Eagle leg motif is unusual!

Northampton (Y). Second St Albans (Y). Towton (Y). Bosworth (T).

Northampton (Y). Second St Albans (Y). Towton (Y). Bosworth (T).

Sir William Stanley, Yorkist, fought at Blore Heath, Mortimer's Cross, Towton, Hedgeley Moor, Hexham, Barnet, Tewkesbury, and Bosworth. Livery - Gules.

Here's Sir William with two of his flags.

The Stag's head is prominent. 

For the King (but which one)?

Sir John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Yorkist, fought at Northampton, 2nd St Albans, Towton, Barnet, Tewkesbury, and Bosworth. 

Here's one of Sir John's flags in use with some longbowmen. 

Spanish Napoleonic Cavalry Charge to Completion!

When I raised these three units (Line cavalry regiments del Rey and Algarve, plus the Garrochistas), they only had six figures each, instead of the usual 8 for my Cavalry units. 

This because Brigade games had not yet released the command packs for the Line cavalry or the Garrochistas, and I was hoping they would be coming out shortly.

Some correspondence with Lon made it clear that while they might be out before Historicon, it would be very unlikely that would happen with enough time to paint them. Thus I fell back on plan B - use the command pack for the Spanish Dragoons, there being little difference between they and the Line cavalry, and use the other variant pack for the Garrochista command.  

Thus ordered in April, I just finished the extra stand for each of the three units (the 3 figures left over were also painted,  will serve as sub-commanders, aides, etc). The flags are by Adolfo Ramos once again, although none of them are strictly speaking exactly right for their units. The flag carried by Del Rey (on the left of the picture) was actually a Hussar standard. I painted over the central; device on that, and replaced it with the proper "serpent-swallowing-a-man" device of Milan. This is a nod to tjhe origins of the regiment, the antecedents of which were raised in Lombardy circa 1536. The trumpet banners of the bear the same device. 

The Garrochistas were given the generic "Cavalry Guidon", and the Algarve regiment the standard of the Calatrava regiment. Happily, this flag has a silver border matching the white lace/white netal buttons of the regiment. I painted the emblem of the Calatrava regiment (an ornate red cross on a white background) on the trumpet banners for consistency.  

The trumpeters of the Line Cavalry wore "reversed colors", but as with the Dragoons, the most likely interpretation of that is red jackets, this time with dark blue turnbacks and pocket edging, with the facing colors otherwise as per the rest of the regiment. As the del Rey regiment had red facings, the trumpeter's collar, cuffs, and lapels remained red, with yellow/gold piping. 

Militia Honrados de Coruna - Eagle figures

After the French evacuated Galicia in 1809, this unit was among many such troops raised for maintaining local order and self defense. 

Properly, the facings should be piped in white and the belt work black. I did my unit a bit differently. 

There is a detailed article on The Napoleon series about this unit. Flag is a generic one printed from Warflag/Napflag. 

These are Eagle figures, a new manufacturer for me. Their service was excellent. 

Dark brown coat and pants, Medium green facings piped white. Pewter buttons.

A little mood music, Maestro!

This 1947 film about the inquisition and the conquest of Mexico by Cortez is still well worth watching; it was shot on location in Mexico, and the smoking volcano in the background on many shots was completely real. The score by Alfred Newman is outstanding. The USC band uses the "Conquest March" from the end of the movie as one of their signature pieces. At UConn , we had our own fantastic arrangement of "Captain" based more upon the first part of the opening Title theme. I will have to see is I can digitize my old mid 1970's  vinyl recording of it some day, as it is an extremely stirring piece of music... especially when played by 160 musicians! 

ADD: Marco from Chile was kind enough to send me a photo of some Spanish standards from the museum in La Coruna. Now I will have to do a replacement flag for this unit to match! Marco assures me my unit will fight much better with the proper flag to inspire them!  :-)

Marco says that the flag on the left of the picture is that of the Militia of Santiago; he notes that flag has the complete Royal arms in its center. The middle, dark blue flag is an artillery flag of the 4th regiment (see the flag carried by my 12 pounder battery). The flag on the right is that of the Militia of La Coruna. Surprisingly, it appears to have a red field (although not as red, at least 200 years of ageing later, as that in the lining of the crown). Marco comments that he has seen originals of the white flags of the Spanish units, and none of them have aged to a color anything like this. 

The central device of the Coruna flag is the "reduced' (simplified) Royal arms, with the red Lion of Leon quartered with the Tower of Castile, and the fleur-de-lis of the Bourbons superimposed upon them, as seen above (image also supplied by Marco). This is surrounded by a "trophy" of flags, etc. 

In the typical style of Spanish standards of the era, the four corners of the Coruna flag bear the arms of the city - a heraldic "Pillar of Hercules". Image once again supplied by Marco. 

Adolfo Ramos Flags - Spanish Napoleonic Standards

As my Spanish Napoleonic Army includes figures actually manufactured in Spain (Miniaturas Dos de Mayo), I figured that actual Spanish Flags would be a good match as well. Adolfo Ramos also, perhaps not surprisingly, has the most extensive range of Spanish Napoleonic flags that I have found, reasonable postage charges, and excellent prices (1.5 euros for the basic version of the flags in 25mm, as seen below), all of which clinched the decision. So I ordered about 2 dozen!  The flags arrived in less than 2 weeks.

Each battalion carried 2 flags, one Coronela, equivalent to the King's Color, and one Ordenanza, equivalent to the Regimental Color.  Both had white fields. The Coronela flags had the Royal arms in the center, depicted quite quite large, and the provincial or other regimental emblems in the corners. The above flags are all Coronelas. 

The second flag, or Ordenanza, bore a large red "cross raguly" of Burgundy upon it, with once again provincial or other regimental badges in the corners, as seen above. The "branches" are noted to sometimes be shown as opposite and others alternating. Other minor variations were common as seen above. 

The Royal artillery followed a similar pattern, but on a blue field as seen above, whilst the Swiss regiments had very different patterns, reminiscent of the patterns used by the Swiss regiments in Royal service under the Ancien Regime in France. Don't ask me how the Hungarian flag crept in there, though!  :-)

Cavalry flags, one per squadron, mostly had a red field (the Osprey by Wise/Rossignoli says white), with the royal arms on one side and the provincial arms on the others, without the corner shields. 

The flags of the Royal Guards had (mostly) Purple fields for the Coronelas, and (mostly) white fields for the Ordenanzas. Details of the variants are found in the same Osprey (Flags of the Napoleonic Wars, volume 3). The line cavalry regiment "del Principe" also had a purple field for its flags, in commemoration of their saving the Walloon Guards at the battle of Zaragosa in 1710. 

It appears likely that the Light Infantry Battalions were issued flags as well, as their cadre included flag bearers. I used generic Warflag Ordenanzas for their standards (see preceding post), as little or nothing is know as to their designs, assuming they did in fact exist. 

My first four Spanish units, now handsomely equipped with Coronelas by Adolfo Ramos. 

Much better than the bare flagstaffs!

Lost and Found (flags), and British Dragoon/DG facing tables

    The lost GMB flags for my British cavalry have surfaced, and those appropriate to the three Dragoon/Dragoon Guard regiments have been bestowed upon them with all due pomp and ceremony... As well as some white glue! There was probably some karma at work here. The post on the Canaanite army that Ken gifted me with has been in the "must do" queue for quite some time, and I finally got around to it. When I opened the Really Useful Box that I had them stored in, it had some "in process" figures within, and in my pre Historicon preparations, I found that I had swept the flags into the box as well, as I knew the cavalry was at the top of the list to do after the convention. Lost flags -  found!

Here they are in their splendor! The flags of the Dragoon Guards are square, like those of the Life Guards and the Horse Guards, because the Dragoon Guards descended from the regiments of Horse, which were heavy cavalry, while the Dragoon regiments have the swallow tail guidons associated with their arm of service. as noted previously, few if any British cavalry regiments carried any of their flags in the filed after 1812, but not so for my lads!

The 3rd (Prince of Wakes) Dragoon Guards standard  has a white field and gold fringe, in keeping with the regiment's white facing and yellow lace. The three feathered cap of the regiment's namesake is prominent, if less easily distinguished due to the white feathers on a white field.

The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons have the usual guidon shaped flag. In British cavalry regiments, the first squadron caries the Kings standard, and each of the other squadrons has a regimental flag. Ordinarily, the King's standard has a crimson field, whereas the regimental flags have their fields in the facing color. Since I like the aesthetics of the flags matching the facings, most of my regiments carry their Regimental colors. I will use some of the left over King's colors for units that GMB doesn't list flags for. 

The guidon of the 3rd (Queen's Own) Dragoons is a very bluish green, almost a turquoise hue. The Hamilton-Smith diagrams show the green if this regiment as being a rather dull shade more towards the yellow than the blue end of the spectrum, which is how I painted them. In keeping with the unit's white lace, the fringe is silver.

British Dragoons and Dragoon Guards, 1803 - 1812

Unit	Title	Facings	Lace
1st Dragoon Guards	King’s	Dark Blue	Gold
2nd Dragoon Guards	Queen’s	Black	Silver
3rd Dragoon Guards	Prince of Wales’s	White	Gold
4th Dragoon Guards	Royal Irish	Dark Blue	Silver
5th Dragoon Guards	Princess Charlotte f Wales	Green	Gold
6th Dragoon Guards	Carabiniers	White	Silver
7th Dragoon Guards	Prince Royal’s	Black	Gold
1st Dragoons	Royal	Dark Blue	Gold
2nd Dragoons	Royal North British	Dark Blue	Gold*
3rd Dragoons	King’s Own	Dark Blue	Gold
4th Dragoons	Queen’s Own	Green	Silver
5th Dragoons	vacant	--	--
6th Dragoons	Inniskilling	Yellow	Silver

* white lace for men

British Dragoons and Dragoon Guards, 1812

Unit	Title	Facings	Lace $
1st Dragoon Guards	King’s	Dark Blue	Yellow
2nd Dragoon Guards	Queen’s	Black	White
3rd Dragoon Guards	Prince of Wales’s	White @	Yellow
4th Dragoon Guards	Royal Irish	Dark Blue	White
5th Dragoon Guards	Prncs Charlotte of Wales's	Green	Yellow
6th Dragoon Guards	Carabiniers	White	White
7th Dragoon Guards	Prince Royal’s	Black	Yellow
1st Dragoons	Royal	Dark Blue	Yellow
2nd Dragoons	Royal North British	Dark Blue	White*
3rd Dragoons	King’s Own	Dark Blue	Yellow
4th Dragoons	Queen’s Own	Green #	White
5th Dragoons	vacant	--	--
6th Dragoons	Inniskilling	Yellow	White

$ Officer’s lace was gold or silver

@ 3rd D.G. changed facings to blue in 1815, then yellow in 1819

* Officer’s lace gold; men’s lace white until 1813, then yellow

#  sometimes described as blue-green