Monday 13 February 2012

Osprey's Spanish Guerrillas in the Peninsular War

If you've read my previous post you'll know that I am currently painting up a collection of Napoleonic Spanish Guerrillas in 15mm. Well I say 'currently', at the moment the last of them are sat on a tray in the dinning room waiting to be painted.

However, the book I have been using for reference is Spanish Guerrilla in the Peninsular War 1808-14 by Rene Chartrand.

The book is part of the Osprey Elite Series and is in the usual Osprey format. It covers the history of the 'little war' in Spain from 1808; explaining the rise and spread of the Guerrillas and looking at why the Spanish turned so enthusiastically to this form of warfare.

There are also sections looking at the organisation of the Guerrillas; detailing the various regional bands; and providing brief biographies of the leaders such as Don Julian Sanchez.

As might be expected from such a work there are chapters on the cruelty that was the hallmark of the conflict; the relationship between the guerrillas and the British; and an assessment of the overall impact of the Guerrillas on the course of the war. Finally, there is a brief chapter looking at the end of the Guerrillas and the effect they had on the turbulent post war years.

While all of this is of interest to me as background reading the most useful parts of the book, from my point of view, were the sections on weapons, clothing and tactics; and the pictures: the book is replete with numerous black and white illustrations as well as the colour plates by veteran Osprey artist, Richard Hook.

The illustrations were useful as source material for the actual painting. The section on weapons and tactics were of more use as I started thinking about how I was going to base my figures (when I eventually get them finished) as well as giving me some ideas about possible solo scenarios.

I must confess to being a sucker for Osprey books and they are usually my first port of call whenever I start a new area of interest. If I have one minor criticism of the book, and this has been noted by other reviewers,  it is that it doesn't deal in much detail with the French attempts to counter the guerrillas. There are tantalizing references to interesting French contra-guerrilla units, but little detail. Nevertheless, overall an excellent reference book.

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