Spanish Artillery Limber and Gun

I was lured into the 52nd Black Watch miniature site a couple of months ago by someone who had seen this beautiful mule teamed Spanish limber on offer there. Created by the sculptor Massimo Costa, it had all the hallmarks of his beautiful work and for me was love at first sight.

A couple of years ago I had put together three oxen-pulled limbers, utilizing the ancient Airfix French limbers I had on hand and those can be viewed here. In reality they should have been pulling the Gribeauval limber utilized by the French rather than this diminutive Airfix version, and one day I may replace them.

This Black Watch model did not disappoint and was a real pleasure to paint, especially the mules, which, with their soft grey hides and white chests and bellies were a nice break from painting horses. Here are my results - I hope you enjoy!

A bit of history

Like most European powers in the late 1700’s, Spain did not have a permanent artillery train, but rather relied on contractors who would provide drivers and animals for the army, a system Spain retained throughout the Peninsular War. The civilian drivers, not part of the army, would regularly desert with their animals, which was in stark contrast to the high level of professionalism in the Spanish artillery. 
However finding draft animals was exceedingly difficult in Spain and as a result the Spanish were often hard-pressed to provide more than one gun per 1000 men, well below the three to four required. As a result many of the draft animals were mules, or oxen for the heavier ordnance. Mules especially were well-suited to the arid Spanish climate, combining the patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey with the strength and size of a horse.
In 1812 reforms to the Spanish Royal Corps of Artillery introduced a professional artillery train, who wore a grey uniform with the Tarleton helmet, pictured here.
More information about Spanish ordnance and artillery trains can be found here: https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/OrdnanceJournal/Issue4/SOJ_4-5-Spanish_Gribeauval.pdf