New Mexican Regiments or the Camerone Relief Force.
Ater three weeks of painting and being diverted by assembling and painting my Dark Eldar Ravager I finished two Imperial regiments. They have been overcoated with PVA but still need theri final spray sealer overcoat.
My reference was an Osprey book on the Mexican Adventure.
Imperial forces can be called that from the arrival of Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. Before that they were the Conservative forces. The liberal Republican forces had divested the church of its huge power; it had more wealth than the government, obtained from church taxes. The church, landed interests and conservative peasants, were among the resistance to this change.
The blue coated regiments were based on a cover picture in the Osprey book. In the picture they have tapering shakoes like those worn by the French and British in this period. The shakoes could be covered with a havelock or have the havelock wrapped around the base of the shako. Kepis were also worn, although I did not have clear information on their colour. My figures were already undercoated and I did not want to change the heads. All dark blue would be a safe bet but each regiment had its own coloured facings and uniform variations and a red band just looks good! It is plausible but not proven. You could also cover the cap with a havelock. Brimmed hats were also worn. Grey uniform frock coats were another vaiation.
The Second Infantry received the red coats in 1866, later than Camerone in 1863 but I'm using them anyway! Other regiments also received the red coats but they were very unpopular as it was the colour of shirts worn by the Republican guard. The green shoulder bands are optional. They also wore white trousers in Summer. The jacket had two top pockets with buttons, although these might not be visible under cross belts.
About twenty years ago I bought about two hundred undercoated firing and charging based and undercoated Accurate figures from Bob Bolton. Most were painted as ACW. But some remained unpainted - until now. The green coated figures were made from Timpo Action Pack Union. The sculpting is not as good as Accurate but the poses are very effective. I added metal backpacks and putty or tissue paper havelocks.
My reference was an Osprey book on the Mexican Adventure.
Imperial forces can be called that from the arrival of Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. Before that they were the Conservative forces. The liberal Republican forces had divested the church of its huge power; it had more wealth than the government, obtained from church taxes. The church, landed interests and conservative peasants, were among the resistance to this change.
The blue coated regiments were based on a cover picture in the Osprey book. In the picture they have tapering shakoes like those worn by the French and British in this period. The shakoes could be covered with a havelock or have the havelock wrapped around the base of the shako. Kepis were also worn, although I did not have clear information on their colour. My figures were already undercoated and I did not want to change the heads. All dark blue would be a safe bet but each regiment had its own coloured facings and uniform variations and a red band just looks good! It is plausible but not proven. You could also cover the cap with a havelock. Brimmed hats were also worn. Grey uniform frock coats were another vaiation.
The Second Infantry received the red coats in 1866, later than Camerone in 1863 but I'm using them anyway! Other regiments also received the red coats but they were very unpopular as it was the colour of shirts worn by the Republican guard. The green shoulder bands are optional. They also wore white trousers in Summer. The jacket had two top pockets with buttons, although these might not be visible under cross belts.
About twenty years ago I bought about two hundred undercoated firing and charging based and undercoated Accurate figures from Bob Bolton. Most were painted as ACW. But some remained unpainted - until now. The green coated figures were made from Timpo Action Pack Union. The sculpting is not as good as Accurate but the poses are very effective. I added metal backpacks and putty or tissue paper havelocks.
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