Aragon Volunteers

This is my first Isabelino infantry unit for over 10 years! Where does the time go...These figures were in the large box of Perry stuff that my family gave me for my 50th birthday and painting up some light infantry was the obvious thing to do as I didn't have any in my Carlist War collection.  This is the first of two such regiments, although the second won't be finished for a good while yet (as always when you don't buy figures yourself, you end up with either too many figures or too few). I don't think there was much difference between the line and light infantry. Cairns says that when the war began there were 6 light infantry regiments, each of two battalions. He also notes that the Voluntarios de Aragon was originally raised in 1762. I might do the second battalion at some stage, but I'd need to buy more figures and another flag.

I went for 20 figures - 3 centre companies and then one each of "carabineros" (in red) and "tiradores" (in yellow). I probably ought to do some skirmishers at some stage. I love the uniform of the light infantry, although my colour choices may be a bit too "emerald". I painted these figures in two batches, and I think I used slightly different paint recipes for the green uniforms. I used paints from the Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic range, the slight difference being the first layer. I think initially I used "Angel Green", then "Guardian Green" and a final highlight of "Greenskin". For the second batch, I started off with "Blighted Green" and then continued with the aforementioned paints. These paints are in the "Deep Green" set, although I think "Blighted Green" was one of those additional colours that come in the John Blanche "Grimdark" Masterclass sets.

20 figures. Painted December 2025 and October 2026. Flag by Alberto Ramos. 

Carlist commanders

As a coda to my trio of Carlist personalities, here are the remaining mounted officers and a couple of priests. I thought these two priests would look good standing in front of Carlist units.  I have a further 3 priests left - one will go on the Don Carlos command stand (in addition to his special mounted, carbine-armed escort) and I'm not sure what to do with the others; I might insert them into a unit of irregulars. I painted all these figures over Christmas 2025/26, as part of an attempt to erase my First Carlist War lead-pile. Of course that meant painting the few remaining infantry figures, which in turn led to an order to Perry Miniatures earlier this year to buy the figures I needed to finish the units - you know how it goes...What's left includes another Carlist infantry battalion and a unit of Isabelino light infantry. I might see if I can get those finished off over the next week or so, to keep the FCW posts coming. And Don Carlos himself, of course. There's also a regiment of cavalry I did back in 2020 but I never got around to making up the lances.

Because I've been so remiss with this blog over the past few years, I now have quite a historical backlog as well as a sci-fi/fantasy one. I have several Napoleonic Wars units, for both the Waterloo and Egyptian campaigns, lots of Great Paraguayan War stuff and even a trio of AWI battalions. I am determined this time to get up to date, so please bear with me and many thanks for all the comments and encouragement.

4 figures. Painted December 2025. Background cliff face by Bill Nevins (more on that in due course).

Don Sebastião Gabriel of Bourbon and Braganza

This is the third of my Carlist general vignettes. I have Don Carlos himself still to do, but unfortunately one of his arms snapped off during undercoating, so he's going to have to wait a bit. In the meantime, we have this chap, who I'm just going to call "Don Sebastian" for short (as per the Perries' website). He was born in 1811, the only child of Maria Teresa of Portugal, the daughter of King John VI. His father, Don Pedro Carlos, was a the grandson of King Charles III of Spain and Queen Maria I of Portugal. His mother was a fervent believer in the Carlist cause, as Don Carlos himself was her uncle. The young Don Sebastian no doubt saw an opportunity for adventure and, presumably as a result of his grand-uncle's patronage, took command of the Carlist Army of the North in December 1836. 

He won a famous victory over combined Isabelino and British Auxiliary Legion forces at Oriamendi on 16 March 1837. However, he consequently led his army on an expedition down to Madrid, which was not a success. He appears to have been removed from command in 1837 and it's difficult to find out what he got up to subsequently. Having been stripped of all his titles as a result of joining Don Carlos, he was reinstated as a Spanish prince in 1859. He died in 1875.

In this vignettes, Don Sebastian is accompanied by an ensign in the uniform of what Conrad Cairns' book describes as a "volunteer lancer" and a priest (all Perry figures). I think the Don Sebastian figure looks a bit old for the 25 year old who won the Battle of Oriamendi; or maybe that's just the result of my painting! The pack of priests is a good source of figures to add to vignettes; I've saved a couple to add to Don Carlos' stand when I get around to it.      

Three figures. Painted December 2025. Flag from Adolfo Ramos.

General Tomás de Zumalacárregui

Tomas de Zumalacarregui (1788-1835) was born in the Basque region of Spain. When the French invaded in 1808 he joined the guerillas and fought in the sieges of Saragossa. He decided that the guerilla life was not for him and he joined the regular army for the duration of the war. The military life clearly appealed as he remained in the army after Spain was liberated. What he didn't like, however, were the liberal ideals of the Spanish government and it seems that his political views prevented him advancing from the rank of captain that he had achieved during the Napoleonic Wars. However, these issues were ironed out and by 1825 he was a lieutenant-colonel in the early 1830s became military governor of the port city of Ferrol in Galicia.

When the Carlist War broke out, Zumalacarregui was a natural supporter of Don Carlos and accepted command of the forces in Navarre. Those "forces" consisted of a few units of guerillas and irregulars, but by 1835 Zumalacarregui had raised and trained up a decent army of some 30,000. He won several victories but was ordered to secure Bilbao went he wanted to march on Madrid. It was during the siege of Bilbao that Zumalacarregui was hit in the leg by a musket ball and this led to his death in June 1835.  

Zumalacarregui appears here with two soldiers from the Navarre Lancers as his bodyguard, in their rather fetching dark green and ren uniforms. Unlike General Cabrera, he doesn't have his own flag and I've given him a generic Carlist one.  I'm going to finish catching up on my First Carlist War pieces and will then probably try to get to grips with my Frostgrave stuff. Also recently finished are more French Napoleonics for 1815. 

Three figures. Painted December 2025. Flag from Adolfo Ramos.   

General Ramón Cabrera

Ramón Cabrera y Griñó (1806-1877) was one of the best generals on the Carlist side of the First Carlist War.  Originally a leader of a small band of Carlists, in late 1834 Don Carlos appointed him commander of all Carlist forces in Aragon. His forces won several fine victories, notably the battle of Maella in October 1838, and his Army of the Centre carried on fighting after the Army of the North had collapsed.  Cabrera seems to have held an almost fanatical belief in the Carlist cause, and he achieved some notoriety for executing prisoners. In 1837 Carlos granted him the title 1st Duke of Maestrazgo in recognition of his services.

Cabrera was finally forced to flee to France in July 1840. After a short period in captivity, he was allowed to go to England. Save for a brief reappearance in what is sometimes called the "Second Carlist War" of 1846-1848, he remained there until his death in 1877. By that time, he had essentially renounced his belief in the Carlist cause and urged Carlos to submit to the authority of King Alfonso XII and end the civil wars. Cabrera, together with his English wife, is buried in a church at Virginia Water in Surrey (which isn't that far from the place where King John signed Magna Carta in 1215).  

Cabrera is presented here with two cavalrymen from the Tortosa Lancers. One of them carries a standard that is known to have been used by the Army of the Centre and has been identified with Cabrera. I don't know whether it was personal to Cabrera or was carried by army units themselves. This post was written somewhat in haste as I fly off to Oz today. There's much more to Cabrera's biography than the above. 

3 figures, painted December 2025. Flag from Adolfo Ramos.

Standing outside some 3D printed stables, which I'll blog about separately:

 

Alava infantry - 2nd battalion

This is the companion unit to my first battalion of Alava infantry - see here. The figures are the same, but with the other half of the standing command pack. This is the first Carlist unit I have done with the infamous "black flag", which was carried to notify the other side that no prisoners would be taken. I'm not sure it looks right for a unit of troops who look half asleep, but I didn't want to have two units in the same post both carrying the specific Alava flag. As noted before, Alava is a province in the north-west Spain, and contributed about 6 regiments to the Carlist cause. I made even more of an effort than usual on the faces - I really wanted these soldiers to look bored and/or tired. As others have noticed, the "standing at ease" figures in the various Perry ranges are some of the Perries' best sculpts and always have a lot of character.    

There's not much else to say about these, really. My Christmas project last year was painting what was left of my First Carlist War lead pile. So the next few posts will be of Carlist high command and a couple of other things. Other stuff I've painted recently for myself includes more French infantry for the Egyptian Campaign and 1815.  So once I finished with the Carlist War I might get up to date with my Napoleon in Egypt units.

I was intending to do a 4th July post with AWI stuff, but that didn't happen for various reasons. Next Friday I head off to Australia and NZ for 4 weeks so I'll try to get up to date with the First Carlist War at least before I go, possibly Napoleon in Egypt as well. Very short notice - but if you're a wargamer in Perth, Cairns, Melbourne or Auckland and want to meet up, leave me a message and I'll see if we can make it work!  

18 figures. Painted December 2025. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.

Sir George de Lacy Evans

George de Lacy Evans (1787-1870) was born in Ireland and was educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (i.e. the training school for the Royal Artillery, the Royal Engineers and other technical corps) before heading off to India to join the army of the East India Company.  In 1806 he transferred to the British Army and secured a position in the 3rd Light Dragoons which enables him to serve in the Peninsular War.  Like a lot of British Auxiliary Legion officers, he was then transferred to America, where he served as quartermaster-general to General Robert Ross, who commanded the British troops in the US until his death in September 1814.  He appears to have been a staff officer at Waterloo, supposedly being the person who relayed to order to the Union Brigade to charge.

He then entered politics, and was a sitting MP for Rye when he was given command of the BAL.  His political career was resumed after the war ended, but he seems to have lost and regained his seat on numerous occasions.  In 1846 he was promoted to Major-General and then Lieutenant-General in 1854.  In that latter rank he participated in the Crimean War as the initial commander of the 2nd Division; however, he fell sick and had to relinquish command.  His political career continued - he was MP for Westminster from 1846-65 (Evans was a Radical) and consistently argued for reform of the Army, in particular the abolition of the purchase system.

His political career, especially as a Radical, no doubt contributed to the hostile treatment he and the BAL received in certain sections of the British press.  As I've noted elsewhere, the BAL fought under difficult conditions, often badly supplied and ignored by the British government. Evans seems to have been a thoughtful, competent officer, always fighting the authorities on behalf of his men; one sense the BAL could have done a lot worse in their commander.     

These figures are from two Perry packs - the Evans personality figure is from ISA2 and the foot figures are the rest of ISA37 (the mounted elements of which are here).  This command stand finishes off my most recent Carlist War stuff, save for a regiment of Isabelino cavalry, for which I need to get the correct lance pennants.     

3 figures. Painted August 2021.

British Auxiliary Legion / Isabelino mounted officers

These are mounted officer figures from two Perry First Carlist War packs - two are from pack ISA37 (British Auxiliary Legion staff) and the third, on the grey, is a Spanish colonel from ISA2.  These aren't supposed to represent any particular people; they are just generic figures to use as brigade commanders.  The Duke of Wellington and the army command in general were opposed to officers on half-pay heading off, in effect, to act as mercenaries in a Spanish war.  So the commander of the British Legion, George de Lacy Evans, had to look to his army friends and soldiers in India to fill his senior appointments.  

Two of de Lacy Evans' friends who were given brigadier-general rank were Charles Chichester and William Reid, who otherwise had very little to do.  Chichester went on to command the 81st Foot in 1839 and died in 1847, apparently with a reputation as the best regimental commanding officer in the British army.  Reid became governor of Bermuda 1839 and of Malta in 1851.  Another brigadier was Duncan MacDougall, who had fought in most of the major battles of the Peninsular War and then in the War of 1812, in which he served as an ADC to Major-General Robert Ross and then Sir Edward Packenham after Ross was killed (Packenham was himself killed trying to rally his troops at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815).  He was colonel of the 79th Highlanders when he resigned in March 1835 to join the BAL as its quarter-master general.  However, disagreements with de Lacy Evans over strategy led to MacDougall leaving the BAL a year later and resigning from the British army at the same time.  When the UK's national militia was revived in 1852, MacDougall formed the Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery, which eventually became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery.  I thought these thumbnail biographies are useful in showing that despite the original reservations of the likes of Wellington, service in the BAL does not seem to have had a particularly negative effect on the careers of its officers. 

3 figures. Painted August 2021.

Alava infantry - 1st battalion

Time flew away from me during December and January, so apologies for the lack of posts. It's also been very dark and taking photos has been quite difficult. But I have a flurry of First Carlist War and Napoleonic posts with which to start the new year. It's been a while since I last painted up some Carlist infantry, so here is a battalion from Alava. As you'd expect with an area sympathetic to the Carlist cause, Alava is a province in the Basque country in north-west Spain. It is also one of the provinces that makes Rioja wine. Carlos seems to have recruited at least 6 battalions from Alava, all of which served in the Army of the North.

These are rewarding figures to paint - very quick and easy to do.  This brings my Carlist forces to a total of 5 battalions - a pretty poor effort for a project that I started in 2009.  But I suppose that's what happens when you're not under the pressure of painting things for particular and/or regular games.  I think my camera may now be on its last legs - I find getting things in focus is becoming harder, although that may of course be me rather than the camera!

18 figures.  Painted November 2024.  Flag by Adolfo Ramos.