Orinoco Miniatures: South American Wars of Independence - Llaneros and Other New Figure Packs Available

Orinoco Miniatures: I am happy to announce that we now have all our new packs in stock and available for sale on our web store. 

I managed to give all the new figures a quick ink wash, to bring out the detail of these sculpts. We have even managed to get General Jose Antonio Paez into our command pack above, on the right (ordering his Llaneros to turn around and attack the Spanish cavalry that was pursuing them at the battle of Las Queseras del Medio, in 1819 ). Next in line for sculpting will be more Spanish infantry, and mounted command/personalities for both side.

Orinoco Miniatures: Upcoming Orinoco Liberation Wars Peasants and Infantry

Orinoco Miniatures: We're excited to announce that we have several packs of new figures for the South American Liberation wars on the way. 

These include Peasants marching with muskets and also with bamboo pikes. Also there are packs of Colombian infantry in fatigue caps and sandals. The advantage of both these units (the peasant militia, and infantry in fatigue caps), is that they can be used for both sides in both the northern and southern theatres of the Wars of independence, as well as for some units in the Peninsular War. These are now being sent for casting, so we are hoping that these will be available for sale by the end of the month.

Orinoco Miniatures: Bolivian and Paraguayan Officers and SMG Infantry Previewed

Orinoco Miniatures: We'd just like to announce that there are several new 28mm sculpts of figures for our Chaco War range which will be available during the coming weeks. These will include officers as well as SMG teams for both the Bolivian and Paraguayan armies.

Orinoco Miniatures: Painted Chaco War Miniatures

Orinoco Miniatures has released these nice pictures of their new Chaco War miniatures painted up.

Orinoco Miniatures: New Chaco War 28mm Figures‏ Released

Orinoco Miniatures: We are very happy to announce the release of our new range of 28mm figures covering the Chaco War (1932-35). This Interwar conflict was the biggest and bloodiest war seen in South America in modern history, and was certainly one of the biggest conflicts of the 1930's along with the Spanish Civil War and the Japanese invasion of China.

The war witnessed the evolution from trench warfare to more mobile tactics over a 3 year period. Indeed one of the largest battles at Nanawa was called "the South American Verdun" such was the intensity of the fighting. The war between Bolivia and Paraguay was over ownership of the Chaco Boreal, a vast semi arid landscape of partial desert, cactus and dry savannah-like scrub and low jungle, which at the time was thought to contain large oil deposits. The Bolivians with an army four times the size of Paraguay's, and with large arms contracts from Britain, and led by a WW1 veteran German general, were effectively outfought and outmanoeuvred by the smaller Paraguayan forces who benefited from tough and acclimatised soldiers and a small but highly trained and capable officer cadre.

The figures come in four packs (each with 4 individual sculpts) which represent the vast majority of the fighting forces on both sides. In addition to these will next be released LMG, HMG and mortar squads for each side. The packs are listed below:

Bolivian Army

BV01 - Bolivian Infantry Advancing

BV02 - Bolivian Infantry Firing/Loading

Paraguayan Army

PY01 - Paraguayan Infantry Advancing

PY02 - Paraguayan Infantry Firing/Loading

We do hope you like the figures. These are ideal both the collector and wargamer, and there are several excellent sets of Interwar rules with which to game this conflict. There will be more information in the near future about resources for this period in terms of book lists, suggested wargame rules and scenarios as well as uniforms guides. The figures will be available for sale later today at our webstore here.

Orinoco Miniatures: New Spanish Infantry released

Orinoco Miniatures: I would like to announce that the packs of Spanish infantry (4 packs: Command, Flank & Centre Companies, and skirmishers) are now available for sale at the Orinoco Miniatures web store.

Attached are a few images of the Spanish infantry after I managed to give them an ink wash today. I think you can appreciate the level of detail, and the quality of the casts in these pictures. These troops are in the short jacket common amongst the Spanish Royalist Army in Central and South America. They are also suitable for the Peninsular War, especially some newly raised Spanish units from 1809-1812, or regular Spanish or French Infantry fighting just in their waistcoats (many units discarded their tunics in battle due to the heat in Spain). I hope you like them.

Orinoco Miniatures: New 28mm Gran Colombian Infantry

Orinoco Miniatures: We am happy to announce that we have now released our new packs of 28mm Gran Colombian Infantry for the South American Wars of Liberation. These troops were the core of Simon Bolivar's army of Liberation and in this uniform fought in all the major battles against the Spanish from 1818 to 1826 during the South American Wars of Independence.

You can find more details about these figures and the range at our webstore here and also at our blog here. Spanish infantry will be released very shortly and are currently being cast up. We hope that they will be available in the next 14 days.

Orinoco Miniatures: British Legion Now Available!

Just received the news from Mark over at Orinoco Miniatures, that his miniatures are available for purchase and have been added to his webshop. Which miniatures? Well, Orinoco Miniatures makes 28mm miniatures for the South American Wars of Independence (1810-1830). Here are some examples of the ranges which currently counts four packs, each with six sculpts.

Orinoco Miniatures: New British Legion Figures

I had previously mentionned the small but promising South American Wars of Liberation range of Orinoco Miniatures. But never shown you some pictures of this range, so here they are some pictures of the new British Legion miniatures kindly supplied by Mark, the owner of Orinoco Miniatures.

Here is the first step in a range of figures which I hope will be appealing to others as the period and wars of South American Liberation are to me. In summary, perfect small scale and colourful battles from the end of the Napoleonic wars. 

Straight off the boat from Britain and Ireland, this was the first of the British Legions to fight in the wars of Spain (pre-dating the British Legion of the Carlist Wars by nearly 20 years). These 5000 veterans of Wellington’s disbanding army were a mixture of mostly English, Scottish and Irish soldiers, who were to constitute the elite troops of Simon Bolivar’s Patriot army. They fought in all the decisive battles of the wars of Liberation in the North: starting in 1818 in Venezuela, and Colombia, and finally after 6 years of hard fighting to the decisive battles in Peru in 1824.

Simon Bolivar valued these troops highly for their grit and espirit de corps, and their graveyards and memorials are testament to their effort and sacrifice on the battlefields of South America. Needless to say they captured my imagination, and hence I set about getting them sculpted up in 28mm.

This first unit includes a command pack, marching, advancing, and skirmishing/firing line figures, all with covered 1816 issue Prussian style British Shakos. This is more than enough to capture the variety of poses and configurations for representing this unit on the table top. 

These figures will be quickly followed by Spanish and Gran Colombian/ Patriot infantry, then artillery and cavalry. The next two units of Spanish and Gran Colombian Infantry are already at an advanced stage. These will be available for sale in the very near future, and in the following days you can follow the progress of these over at the main site for Orinoco Miniatures (the name for the new range).