Painting Tartan the Royalist Way

The Royalist Army at Auldearn included large numbers of highlanders and one of the most striking ways to show highland origins for a unit is to cover it in tartan. It is also the quickest route to insanity (or a new hobby) for the wargamer painting multiple large units. Reproducing tartan on a 28mm model is not that easy, and if we are honest the model is probably too small to see the details of any but the most bold tartan anyway.

In this period most tartans were created from a rather muted colour palette of dyes and if we add the muck and grime of hard campaigning (a belted plaid was clothing, bedroll and rain shelter all in one garment), the best way to paint tartan is probably as various grubby shades of dark grey and brown with only the most subtle hints of a tartan weave.

But that's not much fun and doesn't give scottish highlanders the look we want so we need some simple techniques for painting tartan on inch-high models in such a way that they look good on the tabletop.

There are several ways to paint tartan on 28mm models, all of them quite similar in many respects. After painting tartan on almost 170 models for this project alone, I have landed on my own favorite method. Roy also paints his plaids in a similar way, but prefers a slightly different approach to me. Both will be covered in this 'how-to'.

Basic principles of tartan and the terminology

Before starting its worth saying a few words about tartans, how they are made and the basic jargon associated with tartan weaving that is used later in this article.

Firstly the term tartan is used in UK english to describe this peculiarly scottish checked weave. In the US the word plaid is typically used for tartan. In the UK, the word plaid is used to describe a blanket or sheet of cloth, typically of woven tartan. The most from of kilt worn in seventeenth century Scotland was the belted plaid, simply a sheet of woven cloth belted at the waist, with the lower part below the waist hanging as a kilt, and the upper part above the belt gathered to the back and slung forward over the left shoulder.


The three methods I will cover are:

   A. Simple tartan with overstripe only

   B. Simple tartan with block check only

   C. Tartan with block check and overstripe

Before I cover the three methods for tartan a few words on the base garment colour upon which the tartan will be applied.

Base Colour

The base colour is the typically the dominant colour on a plaid. This can be a wide variety of colours, but for simplicity and efficiency I focus on 4 or 5 base colours which I now a use almost exclusively. I use very dark colours as this helps to highlight the lighter overstripe. If the base is too bright, it becomes difficult to see the overstrike. And trust me the overstrike lightens the model enormously so please resist the temptation to give you base colour bright highlights.

• Dark Red
• Dark Brown
• Dark Grey
• Dark Green

Dark Red Base

Base colour = Coat d'arms Negro, with a dash of Foundry Terracotta 37B.  A similar effect is achieved starting with GW Scorched Brown/GW Rhinox Hide with a tiny dash of black.  This is the same base colour I use for Brown tartans so I base the brown plaids at the same time.

Mid layer = Foundry Terracotta 37A

Highlight = Foundry Terracotta 37B

Dark Brown Base

Base colour = Coat d'arms Negro, with a tiny dash of Foundry Terracotta 37B.  A similar effect is achieved starting with GW Scorched Brown/GW Rhinox Hide with a tiny dash of black.  This is the same base colour I use for red tartans so I base the red plaids at the same time.

Mid layer = 50/50 Base Colour & GW Snakebite Leather/GW Balor Brown/Foundry Buff Leather 7A

Highlight = GW Snakebite Leather/GW Balor Brown/Foundry Buff Leather 7A

Dark Grey Base

This is the same colour I use for hodden grey uniforms. Essentially Foundry Granite 37, but I actually prefer GW Charadon Granite as the base colour for this triad.

Base colour = GW Charadon Granite/Foundry Granite 31A (with a tiny dash of black)

Mid layer = Foundry Granite 31B

Highlight = Foundry Granite 31C

Dark Green Base

Base colour = Foundry Bright Bottle Green 41A (with a dash of black). Any very dark green, almost black in appearance.

Mid layer = Foundry French Dragoon Green 70A with a dash of the above Base Colour

Highlight = Foundry French Dragoon Green 70B with a dash of the above Mid Layer

Other Base Colours

When I began painting plaids I would include some lighter base colours, with dark overstrike, but after painting a few models this way I dropped light colour tartans because I much preferred the look of darker tartans. If you like the lighter tartans the method is essentially the same. Here is an example of light tartan with dark overstrike. 

The grey is a lighter grey based around GW Fortress Grey, but the black overstripe darkens it up a lot. The light brown plaid is GW Bestial Brown/GW Vermin Brown with a black overstrike. Now onto the tricky bits...

A. Simple tartan with overstripe only

This is my favorite way to paint tartan. A simple overstripe gives a great tabletop approximation of an intricate tartan, the absence of the underlying block check is not a problem as the block check is often so subtle that it is difficult to spot on the tabletop anyway..

Step One - Paint the Base Tartan Colour

Select your base colour and follow instructions above

Step Two - Add the Overstripe(s)

Overstripe colour
I use two main overstripe colours for all my dark-based tartans; white and yellow. I occasionally use a red overstripe on a green base, but red does not stand out as much as the yellow or white. For my light-base tartans I use exclusively black overstriping and as I mentioned earlier, I rarely use a light-base tartan as it is just not as striking as the dark-base.

Painting the overstripe
Once you have determined your colour, choose whether you want a single or double overstrike. I prefer double overstripe as it gives the tartan a more intricate look, and is not much extra work.

Mix you chosen overs trip colour 50/50 with the Tartan Base colour (Mid Layer) and water it down until it is almost translucent. Use a fine brush (0 or finer) and form you brush tip into a very fine point, and if this is not possible, flatten the tip into a narrow flat edge (I use a flat edge rather than a point).

Make sure the brush is not overloaded with paint by unloading on a tissue or scrap of paper (I do this as I form the tip of the brush into a flat edge rather than a point).

Now the really tricky part - where to paint the stripes. It is obviously easiest to paint tartan overstripes on flat hanging cloth, so I always start there if I can. Locate an edge of the cloth, for example the hem of the kilt, or the base of a shoulder-draped belted plaid.

Move a mm or two in from the edge and using the narrow edge of your flattened brush paint two narrow parallel lines about 1mm apart. Try and do this in slow careful single stokes which end at folds. Pick up on the opposite side of the fold and continue parallel to the cloth edge until you meet the beginning of your overstripe or the overstripe would disappear under a fold or some other overlying item, such as a belt strap, bag or other equipment.

Move 4-5mm in from this first pair of overstrikes and paint a second parallel set in the same way. Trying as far as possible to maintain a steady 4-5 mm separation by eyeballing (there is no need to stop and measure).

The really hard part of painting plaid


Step Three - Add the Overstripe Intersections

B. Tartan with block check only

Step One - Base Tartan Colour

Step Two - Block Check (broad stripes)

Step Three - Block Check Intersections

C. Tartan with block check and overstripe

Step One - Base Tartan Colour

Step Two - Block Check (broad stripes)

Step Three - Block Check Intersections

Step Four - Overstripe

Step Five - Overstripe Intersections

Last of the Free

Even though the summer has been dominated with lots of adventures I have managed to finish these.

All I have to do now is paint the horses, so even though there are quite a few, for me, Project Auldearn is almost over.

No more hodden grey!

That being said, its been a great journey but I doubt I would be here if it wasn't for the encouragement of all the guys who follow this blog.  Thanks for your support.

All the best

Roy

First sighting of the Royalist Horse - WIP

It's been a long time coming but finally made a start on the Royalist cavalry. I have been buying the cavalry (mainly Perry Miniatures) in dribs and drabs over the last few years, so after one last Perry top-up order arrived from thewarstore.com I finally sat down to prep the models last week. 

Several nights were spent clipping, carving, scraping, filing and gluing to get over 70 cavalry models ready for priming, and by the time this lot were done my fingers felt like they had been in a mincer. This is the least favorite part of the hobby for me, and I have decided that I most definitely prefer building plastic models to prepping metals.

The tray on the left above is all the Gordon Horse required for Auldearn. At 1:10 figure scale I need 2 units of 20 to represent the 400 Gordons that fought at Auldearn on the tabletop. The right hand tray is a large unit of Scots lancers, which will allow me to field one of the Gordon units with lance, and have lancers as an option for our other games. The remaining models are mounted commanders and hangers on for command bases.

This is a pretty daunting painting prospect, but I have taken some advice from Roy who has finished the Covenanter Horse and gave me the benefit of his experience. So these models will be painted in batches of ten to a dozen at a time. Each batch will be a single horse colour and I will work through the following colours (using the relevant Foundry paint triads)...

• Black
• Grey-white
• Dark Bay
• Light Bay
• Chestnut

The remaining 10 will be a mix of more exotic horse colours including...

• Couple of Palominos
• A grey dapple or two
• Roans of various hues
• Maybe a patchy piebald or two for fun

Once the horses are painted I will take care of the riders, with plenty of buff coats and hodden grey. And the best part - only a couple of plaids!

More updates to follow...

Gordon of Monymore's Regiment

Last week I put the finishing touches on Monymore's Regiment. The figures are mostly Eureka Highland Musketeers and Pikemen from the 17th Century Scots range. The unit includes a handful of Perry ECW scots in lowland clothing and a couple of Old Glory figures, most notably Col. Wm Gordon himself in full belted plaid with claymore.

I requested the Eureka range through the Eureka "100 Club" back in 2006, with Montrose's highland troops in mind. They were sculpted by Alan Marsh to be compatible with Perry ECW Scots and were finally produced in Jan 2008. Primary reference provided was the 17th century Stettin print. 

Col. William Gordon in full highland attire comes from the Old Glory ECW Highland Command bag. The figure comes modelled with an anachronistic philabeg (or small kilt), a late 18th century fashion development. I added the full belted plaid, as worn in the 17th century, using greenstuff. The unpainted conversion can be seen in an earlier WIP blog post.

To give the unit a strong highland flavour I have painted almost every model with some tartan. The highlanders have belted plaids, and tartan long coats, and those in lowland clothing typically have tartan breeks (breeches).  Several folks have asked how I paint the plaids, so I have prepared a short step-by-step which I will publish here shortly. It's quite straightforward though, the main ingredient being a steady hand.

This regiment was raised in the Gordon controlled territory of Strathavan in the Speyside area of Scotland. This area is famous for its ubiquitous whiskey distilleries, and the small town of Monymore (also written as Minimore) from where the regiment gets it's name, was very close to the modern distillery town of Glen Livet. I used to pass through this area every year on our annual family pilgrimage to Aviemore and the Cairngorm mountains, and as well as the great malts, the scenery is really beautiful. 

The men were initially raised by William Gordon to form part of Donald Farquarson of Monaltrie's regiment, together with troops raised on Deeside in support of Gordon Chieftan and overlord, the Marquis of Huntly's 1639 Royalist resistance in the Northeast. Monaltrie's regiment, in which William Gordon was an officer, is thought to have been at the battle of Megray Hill (near Stonheaven) in 1640 where the Royalists were roundly defeated and the regiment subsequently disbanded. 

The regiment was raised again in early 1644, once again in support of an uprising sponsored by the Marquis of Huntly. The unit fought at Fyvie, and Inverary in 1644, but in March 1645 Monaltrie was killed at Aberdeen during a surprise attack by Hurry (now with the Covenanters). At around this time the Strathavan men were formed into a regiment of their own led by Col. William Gordon.

During the remainder of 1645, Monymore's regiment were present at the battles of Auldearn, Alford and Kilsyth, and at Auldearn were instrumental in helping to drive back the covenanter attack, pouring continuous volleys of musketry into the advancing government troops. The were not at Montrose's defeat at Philiphaugh, and the regiment fought on after Montrose's campaigning was over, taking part in Huntly's infamous storming of Aberdeen in 1646. 

                

The regiment was disbanded later in 1646 after the Royalists were defeated in Scotland, however William Gordon, a staunch Catholic, never ceased to resist the Covenanter government and never abandoned the Royalist cause. He was an active and unwavering supporter of the Stuarts his whole life and unlike many of his Royalist contemporaries, he was fortunate enough to die peacefully of old age in 1674. 

When the regiment was raised in 1639 they were described as being equipped with bow and firelock. This means they were probably as poorly equipped as any highland levy of the times. At Megray Hill in 1640 they are described as a 'standing regiment' and are thought to have been conventionally armed with pike and shot. They were not however very disciplined at this point, as their less than impressive performance during this defeat suggests.

The regiment is considered to have been conventionally armed and drilled for the entire duration of the 1644-1646 campaign, and their performance under Montrose, especially at Auldearn and Alford, suggests much improved discipline and training. 

In keeping with all other foot regiments in this project I have given Monymore's Regt two colours. The white sheet is a Colonel's colour with the Gordon coat of arms in the centre. This is based on the colour carried by Gordons of Strathavan in the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. 

The yellow sheet is a speculative company colour based on a description of a set of colours ordered by Huntly in early 1644. The text and device is described by Spalding but the field colour is speculative (yellow seems likely for a rampant lion).

"Upon Monday the 15th of April he [Huntley] returned about six hours at even to Aberdeen he caused make some ensigns where upon ilk side was drawn a red rampant lion having a crown of gold above his head a 'CR' for Charles Rex having the motto 'For God the king and against all traitors' and beneath 'God save the king'. There were diverse others made for the barons. The marquis and his followers wore a black taffeta about their craig whilk was a sign to fight to the death but it proved otherwise"

An excerpt from "THE HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES AND MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS IN SCOTLAND DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES I" By JOHN SPALDING, COMMISSARY CLERK ABERDEEN

         

There is one curious line in this quote; "There were diverse other made for the barons". Spalding could be saying here that a range of different flags were made for "the barons" (which I assume refers to all the nobles that fought under Huntly) . However I have interpreted this to mean that a number of similar sheets were provided to all Gordon regiments of 1644. This would include the Strathbogie Regt and Monaltrie's Regt, which later split into Inverey's Regt and Monymore's Regt in early 1645.

The yellow sheet has already been shared in earlier blog post, but I will post both flags together on the blog soon. I have already made good progress with the Marquis of Huntly's Strathbogie regiment and that will be the next new Royalist unit to appear on the blog. I will try and get a WIP post up soon.

An excellent resource for further information on this regiment is the website of "Colonel William Gordon's Company of Foot", a group of (mainly british) re-enactors dedicated to bringing this regiment back to life. The photos of re-enactors on this site are terrific painting resource. I have added another set of links to the side bar which will take you to this and other great re-enactment websites for the period.

Flags for the Irish Brigade III

Below are the flags I used for my latest Irish unit, MacColla's Lifeguard. They are another pair of flags from the 12 listed in the contemporary "True Informer" news sheet (1644). There are no contemporary illustrations of the flags, so layout and imagery are based entirely on the True Informer descriptions. 

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". There is often debate about the use of a red saltire on a yellow field in the canton of the Irish flags. This is based upon a suggestion by Hayes McCoy in his book on Irish flags that the cross was actually an Irish cross. This is often accompanied by an assertion that the saltire was not used as an Irish national flag in the mid-17th century. However Young, in Emblematic Tradition (3), reckons Father Wadding, whose description Hayes McCoy cites, may be describing earlier flags or prototypes, whereas the eye-witness reporting in the True Informer saw the actual colours. There is also plenty of evidence for contemporary or earlier use of the red saltire (and note this is not a burgundy cross mis-described) in Ireland by 1640,s and 50's. Click on this link for more info – yes its wiki, but there are good citations. 

It is most unfortunate that none of the contemporary Scottish chroniclers bothered to describe the flags they saw the Irish carrying at Auldearn, or Aberdeen (Spalding, where are you when we need you!), and so like Stuart Reid, I have chosen to favor the True Informer descriptions.

 The first colour is a white sheet with "a blood red cucifix". There is no illustration of the flag, so the cross with the gold light flare is my own interpretation. The motto on this sheet is "AEQUUM EST PRO CHRISTO MORI", which translates as "It is just to die for Christ". When I made this flag I made a spelling mistake so AEQUUM is AQUUM. doh!

The second is a yellow sheet, with "the resurrection of christ". No illustration of the original flag design exists but I have based the picture on the famous illustration by Graham Turner in the Osprey "Scots Armies of the English Civil Wars", written by Stuart Reid (Men-at-Arms 331). The motto on this sheet is "EXURGAT DEUS DISSIPENTUR INIMICI", which translates as "Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered". The motto is incorrect in Reid's book, but I had made the flags before I discovered about the error, so my flag reads "EXURGAT DEUS DISSIPEXTUR". Easily fixed with a dab of paint or pixels.

I chose to include this iconic flag with Lifeguard as one of the contemporary chroniclers describes MacColla as being accompanied with a yellow flag at Auldearn. This may have also have been the King's Standard, which Wishart reports that MacColla carried to distract the Covenanter attack at Auldearn while Montrose was busy getting the rest of the foot in order.

As previously, both flags were made in photoshop, and printed on good quality paper. They were subsequently entirely re-painted, to give them the hand-painted look. They were cut out, folded and glued to a 6 cm steel pin using superglue. At the same time the paper was glued together using a glue stick. The flag was then folded by rolling gently around a paint brush handle while the glue is still wet, and once dry was cut using scissors to give a more ragged campaign look.

I have some alternate Flags for MacColla's Lifeguard which are of a more Highland/Ulster flavour. I will use these on a MacColla command base for Pike and Shotte. I have also put taken a few WIP shots of these flags and will share all this once the command base is complete (I am just waiting on the bases from Litko). 

The flags for my first Irish Regiment can be found here.

The flags for my second Irish Regiment can be found here.

Descriptions of all 12 of the Irish colours, including the latin motto with translation can be found in "The English Emblematic Tradition (3): Emblematic Flag Devices of the English Civil Wars, 1642-1660" by Alan R. Young (Ed.). This excellent tome can also be previewed online at Google Books. The flags are also described by Stuart Reid in "Scots Armies of the C17th. III: The Royalist Armies, 1639-46" (published by Partizan Press). 

MacColla's Lifeguard WIP 2

Finished a grey plaid this evening and pretty happy with the result. Base is Foundry Granite 31 ABC. Stripes are watered-down Foundry Slate Grey 32A. GW Chaos Black on the cross points of the stripes to complete. Just started working on a reddish tartan on the chap to the left.

Again figure is by Eureka from the ECW Highlanders. This model is a regular highland musketeer loading matchlock. He is wearing the sleeveless highland long coat as seen in the "Stettin Print" of 1631 (see article posted above), which shows highland mercenaries in Germany during the Thirty Years War.

MacColla's Lifeguard WIP

Been spending Sunday afternoon trying out some different color schemes and practicing painting tartan for MacColla's Lifeguard. This excellent Hebridean chap is from the Eureka ECW Higlanders range that I commissioned via the 100 Club a few years back. He is wearing the highland long coat (as opposed to the belted plaid).

Shirt is painted a drab yellow ochre using a mix of GW Tausept Ochre and Coat d'Arms Negro for the Base. GW Tausept Ochre (and a pinch of CdA Negro) for mid and GW Tausept Ochre plus GW Bleached Bone to highlight.

The plaid coat is painted using GW Charadon Granite (mixed with a little black) for the base. The stripes are GW Gnarloc Green. Where the stripes cross is a square of GW Gnarloc Green mixed with GW Bleached Bone. The final thin red stripe is watered down GW Scab Red with. Dot of GW Blood Red plus GW Macharius Solar Orange where the lines cross.

All my Scots Bonnets are painted as follows; (Base) GW Necron Abyss (Blue) mixed mixed with a little Black, (Mid) GW Shadow Grey mixed with a little of the Base, and (Highlight) GW Shadow Grey mixed with Foundry Sky Blue 21C.

This is also my first attempt to blog from my iPhone so fingers crossed.

Flags for the Irish Brigade II

Below are the flags I created in Photoshop for my latest Irish Regt. They are another 2 of the 12 flags listed by Reid in "Scots Armies of the C17th. III: The Royalist Armies, 1639-46" (Partizan Press). Descriptions of all 12 of the Irish colours, including the latin motto with translation are also included in "The English Emblematic Tradition (3): Emblematic Flag Devices of the English Civil Wars, 1642-1660" by Alan R. Young (Ed.). This excellent tome can also be previewed online at Google Books. I was lucky enough to pick up a good copy of this book a few years back and if you can get it for a decent price, it is a must for all civil war flag-o-philes.

Most of the 12 colours described, including these two, have overt catholic imagery, and latin religious mottos, both features that would have horrified the zealous presbyterian Scottish citizenry of the time. 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 colour is a blue sheet with "the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus in her arms, and with her heels trampling on a serpent's head". The motto on this sheet is "CUNCTAS HARESES INTEREMIST", which translates as "Thou hast overcome all heresies".

The second is a white sheet, with "an armed man setting fire to John Calvin's book Institutes". The book is inscribed "Calv:Instit". The motto on this sheet is "SIC PEREUNT HARESES", which translates as "Thus Heresies Perish". The motto is incorrect in Reid's book, but I had made the flags before I discovered about the error, so my flag reads "SIO PEREUNT HARESES". Easily fixed with a dab of white paint or pixels.

I did not intentionally select the two flags containing latin tirades against heresies, but it's safe to say, this unit does not like heretics.

Both flags were made in photoshop, and printed on good quality paper. They were subsequently entirely re-painted, to give them the hand-painted look. They were cut out, folded and glued to a 6 cm steel pin using superglue. The paper fold was then glued together using a glue stick. The flag was then cut to give a torn and ragged campaign look, and folded by rolling gently around a paint brush handle while the glue is still wet.

I have more Irish Flags ready for MacColla's Lifegaurd and will share these once the unit is ready. The two flags for my first Irish unit can be found here.

Wild Irish

It has been a lot longer between Irish regiments than I originally planned, almost 4 years in fact! In the meantime I have been living and working in India with my family. Apart from a little work on this unit the Royalist half of Project Auldearn has essentially been in mothballs while I was in India. I returned to Texas about 6 months ago, and finding a house, moving and unpacking took me through to January. I then spent some time setting up a gaming room, built a couple of gaming tables (but that's for another post) and eventually got around to setting up my painting table. After working on some terrain and a War of the Ring Army for my son, I finally sat down earlier this year, and finished up this second regiment of Fightin' Irish.

Shot Sleeve led by (Perry) Seargent

Looking along the line

There were three Irish regiments in Montrose's Irish Brigade; (1) Lt. General Alexander McDonnell's Regt, commanded by Major Thomas Laghtman as McDonnell had pulled a sickie and stayed at home, (2) Colonel Manus O'Cahan's Regt, and (3) Colonel James MacDonnell's Regt. The brigade was led by Major General Alisdair MacColla "The Devastator". As a result of severe attrition (desertion, sickness and battle casualties) the Irish Brigade is thought to have mustered only around 800 men at Auldearn. Of this a detachment of 140 was under direct command of MacColla, serving as his lifeguard (more on this unit soon).

Montrose leads his Irish to victory again

Both regiments together with Montrose

My latest regiment represents MacDonnell's Regiment. At 1:10 figure to man ration, it is over-strength for Auldearn, but I have painted larger units than I need to facilitate gaming the other earlier battles, as well as fictional scenarios.

Unfortunate covenanter infantryman is run down by the Irish

Left Shot Sleeve

Pike and Command

Right Shot Sleeve

The figures are mostly Eureka Irish, for the most part selected from various 'charging' poses. As with the first Irish regiment, I have added the occasional scots bunnit using greenstuff, and the highland targes (shields) are from the Old Glory ECW range. Casualty figures and Sergant are from Perry. Selecting good command models was difficult for this unit as Eureka do not make 'charging' Irish Command figures, only 'standing' command. Fortunately I was able to use Perry ECW command models from their English Command Advancing pack.

The colours

More on the flags soon

Pikes are 8cm steel pins from Foundry. I was tempted to equip this unit with 'half-pikes' as suggested by Reid in his various books on the subject, however they just didn't look right so i reverted to the full length pikes. I may still equip the third and final Irish regt with half-pikes.

CHARGE!

Another close up of the colours

The unit is based on Litko 3mm plywood bases with self-adhesive flexible steel bottoms. The bases are textured with wood-filler, sand & gravel, primed black and then painted GW Scorched Brown. They are then dry-brushed 3 times; (1) GW Graveyard Earth, (2) GW Kommando Khaki, (3) GW Bleached Bone. The painted bases are finally decorated with Static Grass, adhesive tufts, and finally clump foliage (occasionally topped with purple flock to look like heather).

Hold the line!

The Eureka 'charging' pike models are superb

Flags are prepared in photoshop by hand and printed on good quality paper. The are then hand-painted over, cut and glued onto a 6cm steel pin (Foundry) using super glue and a Pritt Stick. The flag is folded when the paper glue is still wet and when dry, final highlights are applied. The flags were then attached to the ensign models, and the flag staff was painted. Careful placement of the ensign and pike models was required on the bases to avoid the flags and pikes from interfering with each other.

The Irish were painted using mostly Foundry paints, with some Games Workshop and Coat d'Arms colours. Colours used were mostly drabs, greys, browns and other muted colours. I can provide the exact palettes used on request.

NEXT UP for the Royalists - MacColla's Lifeguard.