More Caçadores - 1st and 2nd

The 1st Caçadores in line

I've been working away at creating Crauford's entire Light Division, and up until now had finished the Rifles and the 43rd. Recently I decided it was time to complete the 1st and 2nd Caçadores. 

About a year and a half ago I posted some simple conversions of HaT British infantry into Portuguese Caçadores, that I had painted up as the 6th. You can see that post here.  Since then I have added a couple more battalions, spurred on by receiving a number of Peninsular war figures from a friend that he had come to the sad conclusion he was never going to paint. In this grab bag of new recruits were the Revell Rifles, and as to date none of my Caçadores were armed with rifles, I decided they would convert nicely to Portuguese light infantry.

I painted up about 100 new figures, all of the Revell Rifles and some more converted HaT figures. I decided to head swap the Revell figures into the high-fronted barretina shako, just to make them stand out a little more as the elite, rifle-armed atiradores (sharpshooters) of these units. 

The results gave me enough new stands to create three large battalions of eight stands each, the newly minted 1st and 2nd along with the previously existing 6th. Now all of my Caçador battalions have more or less the requisite number of rifle-armed troops (historically about 150-200 per battalion) who as I mentioned, I made the atiradores with their black shako plumes.

So now with just the 52nd to complete, I am coming close to completing my Light Division. However, as you will have seen from my previous post, a few hundred British horse have landed in my lap and they are also demanding attention! So many projects, so little time...

A Bit of History

Michael Chappell's wonderfully executed illustration of Portuguese Caçadores from Uniforms of the Peninsular Wars 1807-1814. The officer still wears the older style Barretina shako.

Wellington referred to his Caçadores as the "fighting cocks" of his Anglo-Portuguese army. The 1st and 2nd were fully integrated into Crauford's Light Division and fought with distinction throughout the Peninsular War. A decree of October 1808 set the Caçador battalions at a complement of a headstaff corps and five companies of 123 men each. One of those companies was composed of atiradores (sharpshooters), and it was these that were given the Baker Rifles when they finally arrived in 1810. The other companies continued with the smoothbore muskets. 

By 1810 the uniform was becoming more similar to that of the British Rifles. This was largely due to supply issues, and although my own atiradores continue to wear the barretina, in reality all would probably have been in stovepipe shakos by this time.

And some pics...

The 1st Cacadores with rifle-armed atiradores skirmishing out front.

Close up of rifle-armed stand. As these were converted Rifles they already had the pointed cuff, and only required the shoulder tufts to be added (along with a few moustaches!) I also head-swapped them into barretina shakos to make them a bit more distinctive.

Rear view. Again, I went with the green canteens, for reasons explained in my previous Caçador post.

My three Caçador battalions, 1st and 6th behind and 2nd in front.

HaT British Light Dragoons - a Review

About a month ago I finally received my long-awaited British Dragoons from HaT, both heavy and light. I had joined the crowd-funded project to produce these, entering in late when they were indicated as 90% completed on the HaT site. The delays in production of this set have been well-discussed on various forums, but for whatever the reasons it was still more than a two year wait from the time I joined the campaign,when test sculpts were already circulating, to when they arrived. So to say these were much-anticipated would be a serious understatement.

That's a lot of cavalry! My ten sets of light and heavy British Dragooons (plus a bonus box of mixed cavalry) arrived loose with boxes flattened - okay with me as I'm sure it reduced postage.

The British dragoon sets fill a big void in figures for those of us who are gaming the Peninsular War, as the only 1/72 plastic figures for British cavalry previously available were for 1812 and later (with the possible exception of the hard-to-find Strelets cavalry, marketed for the Egyptian campaign but which would be suitable for pre-1812). So for the past few years I have been spinning my wheels, anxious to get my teeth into historical scenarios that require British cavalry, but with only a single regiment of KGL Hussars to take the field.

Review

When they arrived, at first glance I saw much that I liked about this set. There were a lot of poses, with extra arm choices to increase the options, including a trumpeter. All the gear seemed appropriate to the time, with the braided jackets and heavy curved cavalry sword, and there was a real campaign look to these figures, with overalls, canteen, bread bag and cartridge box as well as enough carbines in the box to equip every figure with one. One curious decision on the part of HaT was to not give the Tarleton helmet a plume, whereas most illustrations of these dragoons show them with one. I can only think that perhaps the plume was not generally employed on campaign, but I think most collectors would have liked to see it included.

Unfortunately there are only two horse poses, but both are quite good and well-sculpted, and all are with the sheepskin saddle cover edged with wolf's teeth. The tails are not bobbed, as they generally were for the Peninsular campaign (causing a great deal of discomfort to the horses in that hot climate!) but I was happy to leave them long.

However on closer inspection I noticed the detail was a bit blobby, the faces, hands, cuffs and other detail not well-defined. There was also a disturbing amount of flash along the mold lines that required a fair amount of trimming with a sharp scalpel. (Fortunately the plastic is not the spongey untrimmable plastic that some infamous HaT sets are made from!) On the face of one figure a disturbing mold line runs right across it, and after trimming required a bit of reconstructive surgery to give it some shape.

Probably most frustrating, as this is entirely unnecessary, was the fact that the optional arms had holes that did not connect well at all with the pins, making them virtually impossible to attach properly! And the carbines, also separate pieces, were tricky to attach as well. Finally (and I promise my complaints will end here) the figures themselves did not grip the horses well and required pinning across the board.

Trimmed, patched together , pinned and ready to be primed.

Close up of the six figures per box that required arm assembly, showing the variations available along with the extra reinforcing on the arms that was required to get them to fit.

After having waited so long for these sets, needless to say I was crushed. I had even doubled my order to six boxes of the light dragoons and four of the heavy, and I started to wonder it it would be simpler to try to part with them through E-Bay (although I would have felt guilty passing them along!) After bulling ahead with the first set, and discovering all of the above-mentioned failings en route, I buckled down on my second box and simply did all the prep work properly from the start. Flash was hunted down and carved off, arms were pinned manually and then reinforced with putty, carbines carefully glued on and then reinforced with a coat of white glue and all of the figures faithfully pinned to their horses. It made the second box much more enjoyable to paint and I would recommend anyone tackling this less than perfect set to do the same.

A Bit of History

"I considered our (British) cavalry so inferior to the French from the want of order, that although I considered one squadron a match for two French, I didn't like to see four British opposed to four French: and as the numbers increased and order, of course, became more necessary I was the more unwilling to risk our men without having a superiority in numbers." -Lord Wellington

A corporal of the 13th along with a trooper of the 14th. This illustration indicates the trooper's dress dated from 1808, notably without the Tarleton helmet but rather a tall cap. Note the bird image on the canteen - the HaT figures also have some sort of motif on them, but I was unable to find more information about this.
Postscript: A TMP poster provided me with the probable answer. He tells me that the UK War department would often mark its property with an arrowhead design. That would jive with this illustration if not with the HaT figures emblem. He went on to say that there has been much debate over the years about what emblems the water bottle did carry and how much the entire idea is owed to the Crimean war in practice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow

Wellington’s cavalry in the Peninsular War were not well loved or trusted by their general. The British cavalry were considered to be better than their French counterparts individually and up to squadron level but when operating in larger formations rapidly gained a reputation for being impetuous and undisciplined. In reality they generally performed quite well and had a number of marked successes, at Talavera, Fuentes d'Orno as well as many other Peninsular battles and engagements.

Although rarely fielded in as large numbers as their French counterparts, they played an important role in Wellington’s eventual success in driving the enemy from Portugal and Spain.

14th Regiment Light Dragoons

The 14th was first raised in 1715 and fought in the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Although light dragoon troops had been introduced to regiments in the second half of the 18th C., in 1759 whole regiments were raised. The 14th was converted to light dragoons in 1776, the second of the dragoon regiments to be converted. 

They fought with distinction throughout the Peninsular War, from the battle of Porto in 1809 through to the end, and were involved in their last engagement at Bayonne in 1814.

The 14th regiment, the first of many to come, all painted up. I used two boxes of light dragoons to create this.

Troopers, one built with the optional arm holding a carbine.

Rear view. Note the mystery motif on the canteen.

More troopers.

Rear view of same.

Trumpeter stand, with a figure with optional arm holding a pistol. I was unable to determine if the light dragoon trumpeter would wear reverse colours, but given that an Army Order of 1812 banned reverse colours one can only assume they existed previously! 

Rear view of same.

A second trumpeter.

Rear view of same.