Spanish Aides de Campe

Spanish general surrounded by ADC's

I have been dipping back into my Spanish forces lately after playing my Somosierra game and a replay of my Barossa scenario. We have been playing around with incorporating ADC's into our Over the Hills battlefields, and I wanted to create a few dedicated figures for the Spanish, as I did for my British a while back.

The Spanish first introduced aides de campe into their forces in 1728. The Spanish generals followed the French tradition of dressing their aides de campes (also called Ayudantes Reales, or Royal Aides) up in some fairly fantastic uniforms. I based my conversions on the figures below. 

From left to right they are the ADC’s of General Ballesteros (light green), General La Peña (dark green) and the third in the official ADC uniform.

Spanish ADC's 1. ADC Ballesteros, 2. ADC La Peña and 3. ADC in the official uniform. From Uniformes Españoles de la Guerra de Independencia

The figures I started with were French ADC's from the Italeri French command set. They all involved some conversion, to a greater or lesser degree, and I sculpted sabretaches for all of them, as they are shown wearing these in the above illustration. My sculpting is of the usual mediocre quality, not bearing too close scrutiny. But I do love making these conversions!!

The first mostly involved a head swap and some work on the cuffs and lapels.

This figure had a massive green plume. You can also see the addition of the sabretache here.

La Peña's was a bit more work, doing a head swap with another figure that had the bearskin and then building that up higher and adding the sack. I also added epaulettes, carved off the sash and pistol (only Spanish generals generally wore sashes, as a mark of rank) and did a bit of work on the lapels and waistcoat.

On the back I gave him coattails. I had no reference for the horses but generally matched their colours with their riders, in the French style.

This guy also received a sabretache to carry his important orders in.

This figure, in the traditional uniform, was probably the simplest conversion, with the removal of the sash and a bit of work on the bicorne, lapels and waistcoat, as well as the obligatory sabretache.

And the three of them, ready to take their place on my next Spanish battlefield.