Battle of Bussaco 1/72

[Gen. Freire Andrade]

Hi,
I am new to the forum and finally decided to unveil my long time coming project. That is recreating the Battle of Bussaco. I will be working on this project when I have time. Hopefully a monthly update but for the time being I am not sure if that is possible (or affordable).

About the Battle:
The Battle of Bussaco was fought on the 27th of September 1810. It was the biggest battle ever fought on Portuguese soil with over 110 000 soldiers present. The Anglo-Portuguese army was led by Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) and the French forces were led by Marechal André Massena.
The battle ended up being a decisive British Victory which raised the moral of the troops and managed to delay the french invasion.

The ratio of men and figures will be 10-1 (1 figure represents 10 real life men). The figures will be mostly from Emhar, Italeri, Revell, Zvezda and Hat.

I do not own any particular books of uniforms so I will try to get my information via "googling". If anyone knows sites with free uniforms templates of the penisular war I would appreciate.

I was heavily inspired on this vlog style by ADM's 1812 Campaign of russia.
http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=18950&hilit=1+72+french+invasion+of+russia
And I would also like to Remark João's Peixoto excellent job at recreating the same battle. http://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/search/label/Bu%C3%A7aco%201810

And now for what is the first chapter of this journey. Figures!! Since I already started the project a while ago I managed to acumulate a good amount of miniatures.

For the time being I currently own:

British:
6 x Emhar Peninsular War British Infantry
2 x Italeri British Infatry 1815 (Yes I am aware of the wrong uniforms)
1 x Italeri British Highlanders
2 x Revell British Rifles
1 x Revell Prussian Dragoons (Painting Conversions)
1 x Revell British Artillery
1 x Call to Arms British Artillery
1 x Airfix British Artillery
1 x Airfix British Hussars
1 x Airfix British Infantry Waterloo
1 x Odemars British Command Staff

Portuguese:
1 x Emhar Peninsular War Portuguese Infantry
5 x Revell British Infantry (Painting Conversions)
1 x Revell British Horse Guards (Painting Conversions)

French:
1 x Emhar Peninsular War French Infantry
2 x Revell French Grenadiers
1 x Revell French Guard Chasseurs
2 x Revell French Artillery Limber
1 x Italeri French Artillery Limber (same set as Revell)
2 x Italeri French Dragoons
1 x Italeri Dutch Polish Lancers
1 x Italeri French Imperial Staff
1 x Italeri French Hussars
1 x Italeri French Line Infantry
1 x Italeri French Infantry
1 x Hat French Artillery
1 x Zvezda French Grenadiers
1 x Zvezda French Cuirassiers
1 x Strelets French Cuirassiers

There were no cuirassiers present in the french forces... ups


There is quite an amount of figures there, unfortunately not nearly enough the amount that I need (expect french Reinforcements soon). In the next update I will show you what I have been working on (just a hint: a unit of the II Corps). For now some photos of my pile of shame.

[Kekso]

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to see progress.

[MABO]

Seems to be a project for quiet a long time. I will follow this with great interest. And I think the community here as well. So welcome and have fun here at Benno's.

[Peter]

Welcome to the forum! And you can place updates of new things or progress as much as you want! The more the better with such lovely projects!

[Santi Pérez]

I also welcome you to the forum, Gen. Freire Andrade.

And looking at the huge piles of boxes, I imagine that yours is a very, very big project.

Go on with it.

Santi.

[OwenChpw]

That's an impressive pile! Looks like it'll be a similarly impressive project.

[Gen. Freire Andrade]

Thanks everyone for the kind words!! I will try to give an update as often as I am able!!

I planned this update do be on the french 70th regiment from II Corps led by Reynier but due to work (and partially me waiting for some boxes) I decided to move on with the British.

I decided to start the project by removing all the figures that are officers, marching and charging from all the 6 Emhar boxes.
After that in order to add some variation to the troops I bent the arms and legs of some figures as also twisting some of the heads.








The officers, Sergeants and drummers:








This figures are going to be painted for the 88th foot (charging) and the marching probably 45th foot (at least half).

The first Figures to fell under the brush are part of 1st Division Major General Brent Spencer. 1st Division Colonel Hon Edward Stopford the 1/Coldstream Guards.





The figures are from Italeri.

[C M Dodson]

Excellent start!

The Emhar plastic is a tremendous modelling medium which I wish others would use.

You probably know this but boiling water on the model, watch your fingers, will allow you to twist arms etc with ease.

A quick dip into cold water will keep the pose.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Peter]

I like the painted figures very much , but why do they have different colored trousers?

[PaulRPetri]

WOW!!!! Excellent painting. You are off!! Looking forward to the updates.

[CPN]

I like the painted figures very much , but why do they have different colored trousers?

Hi Peter,
In the Peninsular campaign all the armies were affected with supplies issues.
So many uniforms were adapted to the situation on the field.
Many good paintings on the internet are showing this state of affairs and IMO it gives these armies a great look and great fun to paint as well.
Kind regards
CPN

[Peter]

Thanks for clearing out CPN. I thought they had to buy their own trousers.

[tullo]