Following my project on the siege of Gerona in 1684, I came up with the idea of making a unit, which consists of an old cannon or saker operated by civilians and militia, led by a popular hero from the ranks of the common people or maybe, an hidalgo (lesser nobility).
In order to do this I am going to use a spare gun that I had stored somewhere, a couple of gabions, a palisade and other defenses, and behind all this, the defenders.
I am using miniatures from various brands, especially Front Rank, but also Bicorne, North Star 1672 and Tercio Creativo.
I did not want to paint these guys very uniformed, in order to give them a more civilian appearance, and I have tried to use different shades of brown, gray and green. But also some regular troops like the musketeer with the plug bayonet, I have painted the complete uniform in green, just like the Tercio from Granada city, present in the battle.
And I will paint one of the artillerymen inspired by the fantastic illustration of Bruno Mugnai in his book about the Spanish army
This is just a teaser since the whole unit won't be finished until early May, but the idea is that it counts as a cannon-supported by militia.
If the hero who inspires the defenders dies, the unit loses leadership and if they are unlucky with the dice, it could be melted away... But if the hero remains, the countrymen will fight for Spain, for the king and for San Narcissus, patron saint of the city. The cannon fires shrapnel at close range, making it deadly against French infantry storming the breaches of walls that have already been demolished.
For this I painted a few months ago French assault troops with armor, grenadiers and a petard assault team...
Now, some context:
in the first post of the Siege of Gerona 1684 project :
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-campaign-project-siege-of-gerona.html
you have the complete text with the details of the fighting, but I want to share here with you some notes for this unit:
"after the French bombardment, two breaches were made in the walls, one 20 feet (6 m) wide and an even larger one easily climbed by fallen rubble. To prevent the assault, the besieged raised a fortified barricade from the Santa Clara bastion to the Governor's crescent, pulling people from both crescents to place them in defense of the barricades. This was protected by the 2,000 best musketeers in the garrison.
In the 2 breaches of the walls, the aformentioned barricades were built, with fascines and gabions, and the Spanish put 8 guns aiming to the wide breaches, the Germans of Von Bek, did a great job in those works. The Bishop of Gerona sent the troops good food and wine, because they did a good job during the bombardment days, building defensive works."
Also
"The Germans in French service who took Santa Clara's bastion, were inmediately counterattacked by a student company from the walls, and regular troops, using a bronze cannon loaded with musket balls, inflicting the Germans great damage. That bastion was near a fountain with a statue of Saint Narcissus, the protector of Gerona, so the Spanish, according to contemporary documents, started to shout "fight the heretics!, Viva España, Viva San Narciso! Victoriaaaa!" and charged the confused Germans, who finally lost their position and run away without their weapons."
