Carlists and Cowboys!

Having almost finished my First Carlist War Isabellino army, I've recently switched over to the Carlists. Since Vidal has been painting his Carlists as part of the Northern Army under Don Carlos (from whence the movement's name comes), I thought I'd try something a little different. Vidal's northern infantry units wear the standard grey greatcoat with white or red trousers and blue beret. Most of the infantry in this northern force followed this pattern (as you can see in this photo of some of Vidal's figures). The Army of the Center (or the Army of Maestrazgo) was a completely separate force from Don Carlos' Northern Army, based in Aragon and commanded by Ramon Cabrera. The most interesting thing about this army for me is the greater variety of uniforms. The first unit I've decided to model is one of the Tortosa battalions. I've chosen to use figures in frock coat, to further differentiate them from Vidal's troops. This unit (and its sister battalions) were clad in blue coats with (strikingly) white berets. They are also one of the few units for which evidence survives of company distinctions. I've thus made six of the figures from the grenaderos company, with red tassels. The flags for this unit are also rather unusual; skull and cross bones on a black field.

Tortosa infantry, fusileros. Apparently these were some of the best and most highly disciplined troops in the army.
Perry Miniatures with Adolfo Ramos flag.

Tortosa infantry, grenaderos. Perry Miniatures.

Tortosa infantry. In Sharp Practice terms, this gives me one 12-figure group, one 6-figure group, a standard and one Big Man.

And for something completely different, I spent an enjoyable evening painting some figures for Daniel's ever-growing western gunfight project (see here for some of that project). I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and paint a gang for myself. As you can see below, they are more colourful than your standard John Wayne-esque cowpokes!

The Christmas Gang!
So-called because Bart "Papa" Magus and his cronies robbed their first bank on Christmas Day 1883 (that's him on the far right). Everyone knows when the fancy-pants gang has arrived.