By George Arnold
Last month, I wrote about painting up some Napoleonic figures for the British Peninsular war. I’d finished several stands at the time and promptly ordered some more to finish off the army. Those figures are finished now too, so I’m now the proud owner of enough stands of British/Portuguese/Spanish figures to field an early British Peninsular army or a later one.
Here are the newest figures to join the ranks.
A few notes on these units: As the previous Peninsular British troops were, these are all 15/18mm AB figures, excellent sculpts. They’re mounted for the DBN rules (http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/), with some variations. For the most part, I’ve double-ranked the infantry, which the DBN rules suggest, but don’t require. But I mounted militia units on single-ranked stands. And, assuming I’d rarely use two stands of artillery for this army, I attached the Royal and horse artillerists to their stands, with one unattached artillery piece that can be placed on either stand as the army requires. It saved the cost of another cannon, as well as the painting time that would have been involved. Same with the single-ranked militia.
In the DBN army lists, the Portuguese infantry are rated as militia for the Early Peninsula (1808-1811), and as regulars for the Later Peninsula (1812-1814). So, for the later army, I can just put two of the militia units together to represent the double-ranked regulars. Works for me!
Here are examples of DBN 12-point (standard) armies:
Early Peninsular — 1 stand of Elite Muskets (Highlanders), 4 stands of Muskets (British regulars), 1 stand Jagers (95th Rifles), 4 stands Musket Militia (Portuguese), 2 stands Light Cavalry (British light dragoons and Portuguese militia light cavalry), and 1 stand Horse Artillery (British).
Later Peninsular — 1 stand of Elite Muskets (British light infantry), 4 stands of Muskets (British regulars), 1 stand Jagers (95th Rifles), 2 stands Muskets (Portuguese regulars), 1 stand Musket Militia (Spanish), 2 stands Light Cavalry (British light dragoons and Portuguese militia light cavalry), and 1 stand artillery (British Royal).
There are other ways to configure the troops I have available into 12-point armies, but the above should provide a good game against the French troops that are already spoiling for a fight.