The Lord Chancellor's Regiment

John Campbell, eldest son of James Campbell of Lawers, was made Earl of Loudon in 1637. A staunch covenanter like his father, he was rewarded with the title of Lord Chancellor in 1641. The Lord Chancellor's Regiment was raised in Glasgow in 164? and was also known as Loudon's Regiment.

I couldn't find any record of its standards so was left with a lot of room to be creative. The Regimental standard was the Saltire, broken into alternating red/blue eigths, with the usual invocation to the covenant. The colonel's colour incorporates the actual crest of the Scottish Lord Chancellor, so though it may not be correct historically, it offers a link to the real role.

The tartans for the blankets again bring the unit together, whilst a little diversity from the hodden grey gave the unit a weathered appearance. A couple of dead and wounded figures also broke up the firing line, making for a couple of dramatic vignettes.

Three Steps to...Scotland's Taliban

Below are shots of the general approach we have used to painting on this site. Most of the colurs we use are from Foundry's range and as such the general techniques have utilised the 3-step layering process. That doesn't mean we are adverse to using other manufactures wares or applying other techniques (washes, dry-brushing etc.) but you will see nothing that has been dipped!! - This means this project will take years.......

Anyway here are some shots of some covenanter foot musketeers loading - Perry Miniatures. Blankets have been left undone as I like to do the tartans last.

View 1 - Back

View 2 - Front

View 3 - Back detail 1

View 5 - Front detail 1

Auldearn Battlefield

Picture taken 31st July, 2008 from Castle Hill. The hill in the centre is Garlic Hill, the site of most of the fighting. The Government army advanced from the right (west) along the crest of the hill, avoiding the boggy low lying land to the south and north of the hill. The Royalists were based in and around the village of Auldearn visible on the left (East).

Another Royalist flag added....

There haven't been any updates for a while, and thats because I (the Royalist) am in the process of packing up and preparing to move to India with my family, and my fellow blogger (the Government) is off on his world travels; a combination of summer vacation and business trips.

Although all my Royalists are safely packed, I was recently treated to excellent rendering of the Strathbogie Regiment flag in white chocolate. It was my 40th birthday recently and my wife conspired with a talented cake-making friend to surprise me with an extra special, and undoubtedly unique birthday cake....

At first I thought it was just a standard scottish Lion Rampant (me being Scottish and all), but then I noticed the text. It's the flag of Huntly's Strathbogie Regiment, and one of my favorite ECW flags, and it's on my birthday cake in coloured white chocolate!

They had sneaked into my painting room and discretely removed some pictures of the flag and had worked on this over several days. It was a great birthday surprise, and left me quite speechless. An explanation was also required for the gathered guests, which led to me "coming out" as wargamer to several friends from whom I had previously hidden my love of toy soldiers.

Anyway I thought I would share that, and because it cheered me up no end I decided to share the miniature flag that I created to use on my own WECW Strathbogie regiment, with you all for use in your own Scots Royalist armies...

The flag is based on contemporary descriptions temselves based on an order placed for regimental colours of the Strathbogie Regiment. The text and field colour is described, as is the presence of the rampant lion, however the exact layout is speculative.

Flags for the Irish Brigade

The colours used by the Irish are not described at all in any of the contemporary accounts of Montrose's 1644-45 Campaign. There is only a brief mention of MacColla's lifeguard carrying a yellow colour at the Battle of Auldearn.

This has been interpreted by Nigel Tranter in his fictional account of the campaign as being the King's Standard (a red rampant lion on a yellow field), which MacColla carried to attract the attention of the covenanters while Montrose rallied the rest of the Royalist army. Stuart Reid, not unreasonably, supposes that the Irish would have carried colours similar to those described for the Irish Confederacy forces in the Ireland, and that the yellow colour is one of 12 colours described in the contemporary gazette, "The True Informer".

Reid lists the descriptions of all 12 colours in his book "Scots Armies of the C17th. III: The Royalist Armies, 1639-46" (published by Partizan Press). Two of those descriptions form the basis for the colours given to my first Irish Regiment. Most of the colours have overt catholic imagery, and latin religious mottos, both features that would not have endeared them to the presbyterian burghers of Scotlands towns and cities.

All of the colours are thought to have featured a red saltire on a yellow field in the canton, and the Royal Crown and cypher (CR), together with the latin motto "Vivat Carolus Rex", or "long-live King Charles".



The first is a green sheet, with "Christ carrying his cross on his shoulder", and the motto "PATIOR UT VINCAM", which translates as "I suffer so that I may conquer".



The second colour is a red sheet with "the name of Jesus", which I have chosen to interpret as meaning the common Catholic abbreviation "IHS" for "Iesus Hominum Saviour", or "Jesus, Savior of men". The motto on this sheet is "IN NOMINE JESUS OMNE GENU FLECTITUR", which loosely translates as "In the name of Jesus all knees shall bend".

At this time, fear of the Roman church ran so deep, that just having an Irish accent in Scotland could prove fatal. So Montrose's use of Catholic Irish mercenaries to press the King's will in Scotland could not have gone down well with the locals, and no doubt these colours fluttering over his victorious army would not have helped matters.

Both flags were made in photoshop, and printed on paper. They were subsequently entirely painted over, to give them the hand-painted look. They were also cut to give a torn and ragged campaign look. More flags to come. Next: MacColla's Lifeguard.

Alasdair MacColla, "The Devastator"

MacColla was appointed commander of the Irish Brigade by the Earl of Antrim. He landed the brigade in Scotland in July 1644, and in August the force met Montrose in Atholl where the King's standard was raised marking the start of Montrose's campaign in Scotland.

This rather dandy MacColla is produced by Eureka. He is an exceptionally tall figure, reflecting the description of MacColla in Celtic poetry as being 7 feet tall.

James Graham, Marquis of Montrose

James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose and the King's appointed Lieutenant-General in Scotland from 1644 until 1646.

This excellent figure is from the Old Glory Scottish ECW Personalities pack.