Monday 23 January 2017

Oronegrean Infantry of el ejército segundo

I know I said my next post would be on a hike and you probably thought the next model I would present would be another boat. Well I have recently gone back into figure painting mode and I finished up a group of figures from the Imex Alamo set. Painted up here as Oronegrean infantry of el ejército segundo (Soldiers of el ejército primero can be seen here). El ejército segundo or second army of Oronegro are often termed reservists or even militia. However, on the whole, many units are comparable to the line regiments of other nations at the time. Basically I made the other units too OP so these guys can be normal. These soldiers specifically are from what can be considered an average unit. Some equipment has been sourced from home, while most make do with the standardised equipment they are issued. Anyway onto the pics.

Still trying to find a lighting/background set up that works. I find that the contrast is a bit too much with this set up.

But I should be talking about the figures. All 16 of them, There is a mix of skin tones and hair colour but it's rather hard to see, some also wear pink gloves which matches the uniform in other units.

Other things that are mixed are the colour of blankets, bags and canteens. This makes the unit feel more varied and alive.

16 figures isn't much and it too small for a unit. In the future I plan to acquire an Imex set of US infantry for the US-Mexican war. This would bulk out the numbers and increase the level of variation


I have singled out this figure to be the representative of the uniform. Although the cross belts are hidden.

The colour scheme matches that of the other infantry. With dark blue and white being the primary colours, accompanied with yellow, black and grey, highlighted with golden details and the occasional addition of pink.

This gentlemen is the current officer of the unit, he doesn't wear a uniform rather his own preferred attire (which often was in the military colours popular in Oronegro). He will likely be replaced by a uniformed officer in the future.
So that concludes our little infantry unit. They will no doubt feature more in the future as I try my hand at some games. In addition I am looking to redo and create more law for Oronegro's military. Particularly in this period. Indeed there are plans for a total re-write of Oronegrean history and a major clean up and organisation of the Oronegro blog. Don't be alarmed though, the main aim is to improve consistency as well as quality (But I will change certain things). This will be a long project so it will probably happen further down the line.
 
Finally I'm looking to seriously churn out figures for a bit. This is primarily to break the monotony of ships but I admit I hope that it will increase views and comments. Input from others is what really helps keep me motivated and working. So please leave a comment, no matter what it is, do please come again and maybe bring a friend along too. With that I wish you all a good day/night.

14 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I have enjoyed reading your blogs at after I followed your link from Archduke Piccilos. Great ships too ! Cheers

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    1. Thank you very much. Ion (The Archduke) has a very good blog. In the coming days my little blog will be celebrating the 5th anniversary of Oronegro so hopefully you can look forwards to that too! :-)

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  2. Hi Gowan,

    Yet another nice set of troops! The Imex Alamo defenders is quite a nice set, and I have grabbed some of the figures out some of my sets for use as AWI (American War of Independence) militia, and I know that some other gamers have grabbed other figures out for use as militia for gaming the War of 1812. Painting these figures up as Oronegrean militia is pretty cool, as painted up they remind me of 1813-1815 Prussian Landwehr, and could even work as mid 19th Century regulars!

    That being said, while the soldiers of el ejército primero that you have painted you painted give a nice late 18th Century/early 19th Century vibe, they don't seem to work with these el ejército segundo figures that you have posted here. The two forces seem to represent troops from two different time periods, rather than the first and second line forces of the same nation in the same period.

    Now obviously, that is just my opinion, and you are building a Army for a nation that you are the leading world expert on all aspects of its culture and history:) Such is the fun of an imagination! So if it works for you, then it is utterly and completely correct!

    Cheers,

    Brian

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    1. My original plan was to go with some more normal looking line infantry of the period but I had these figures to hand so I used them instead. I may well get more generic troops later and keep these as a Landwehr style unit (I do indeed have some Airfix Landwehr.)

      Always nice to get input. Also I will be showing off some figures for Oronegro's fifth anniversary.

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  3. Hello Gowan, perhaps you can turn it in to a wargame or so.
    Would be intresting of how it might turns out.

    Cheers,
    Michael

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    1. Certainly! That is the plan, I even have a set of free rules that I will have a look at and adjust (I even found a set for 1/72 ship combat)

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  4. Hey, Gowan!
    I hope everything is going well. The figures look great! I especially like the gentleman officer; I think you should keep him. If you want to add more figures to the unit, you could choose some with a slightly different uniform, such as figures with shakos or bearskins, to use as grenadier and skirmisher squads.

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    1. I have some skirmishers and some grenadiers waiting to be primed and painted. But there are plenty of other figures to get through first (though all Oronegrean units do get fast tracked over some topics)

      Great to hear from you again. :-)

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  5. I have just found this on my reading list. I think what Brian has to say is really a matter of impression. If the peaked caps of the 2nd Unit reminds one of the Prussian Landwehr; the crested helmets of the 1st look like the Austrian - discontinued after 1805, or the similar Bavarian, used, as far as I know, right up until 1815.

    So the two types of headgear are reasonably contemporaneous in Europe, at any rate. Perhaps one was phasing is as the other was phasing out. You could compare the uniforms of the United states and mexico in the 1840s war. The US were still wearing these peaked 'sailor hays', whilst the Mexicans went in for uniforms not very different from Napoleonic styles.

    If the Oronegrean government was of fairly conservative cast, and reasonably well off economically, they might preserve the helmet as a badge of 'elitehood' for that particular unit, possibly calling them by some such label as 'carabiniers au pied' - or the Spanish equivalent.

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    1. In terms of uniform they were very conservative retaining armour (in particular helmets) far longer than anyone else. This is why units in the 1st Army have helmets throughout the 18th century and into the 19th. In essence there was a transition from previous designs to more decorative ones (I don't have the figures to give justice to proper transnational designs.) This does mean that they can be seen as ahead of their time in other areas, because once they have a design they stick with it. As such both units went from being ahead of their time to being very antiquated.

      I would like to get some units with tricorns for these soldiers for the 18th century. But for the most part it's a case of making use of what I have to hand.

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    2. I now realise that for some reason I have been thinking of this army more as early to mid-19th century, rather than the 18th. Come to think of it, there is no reason NOT to extend the Oronegrean sartorial military styles out to 1850, or even later. But I now better understand where both you and Brian are coming from. 'Making do' is in the finest wargames tradition...
      Cheers,
      Ion

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    3. Troops with tricorns can be supplied! Check out the PSR listing for the Airfix George Washington's Army set. If they are suitable I have a number of them that I can send to you. Send me an email at brian(SPAM) at (SPAM)reeducation.(SPAM)co.nz if you are interested.

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    4. remove SPAM to email me.... :)

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    5. I will definitely email you. Even if I can't use them for Oronegrean infantry I can certainly use them for an opposing faction which is quite important.

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