MacColla's Lifeguard WIP 4

Lifeguard all painted and ready for basing. Basing scheme shown. Working of the flags for this unit just now. Will give the Lifeguard another pair of Irish flags, most likely with yellow and white fields. I also have a couple of 'personal' flags for MacColla, which I will use on a "Pike and Shotte" Command Base. You may notice the small pieces of Foundry blister card I use to jack up the bases. Despite the fact that real folks have different heights, aesthetically I just like less big height differences in my units.

The remaining photos are some other odds and ends I have also recently completed and ready to base. I have a couple of MacColla's from Eureka. The original figure (just below) I will base in such away that he can be placed amongst his Lifeguard. 

My other MacColla (below) is a conversion based on Angus McBride's Auldearn plate in the Osprey "Highland Clansmen". Added bunnet, beard, sporran, targe (on back) and shoulder belt. He will go on a command base with the two highland ensigns carrying his personal standards.

Below are a couple of spare highland pikemen/axemen. They are destined for Monymore's Regt...

Next is some spare Perry Irish Command, a sergeant (left) and officer (right), who are ready for the third and final Irish Regiment and a Eureka Irish priest (centre) who will probably end up as a covenanting minister (although the crucifix may have to be carefully removed for that).

A Foundry officer, painted as a Royalist and who will end up on an Irish command base. Love the pipe and the flamboyant hat.

Finally, my first attempt at a couple of Warlord figures. On the left is a metal piper for the Scottish Infantry box set, and on the right a plastic musketeer with firelock. Nice figures. They are taller than Perry and Eureka, but very similar to Bicorne is size. You probably wouldn't want to mix them in the same unit but the difference is not so noticeable with paint on, so they look fine on the table with the Perry sized stuff. They paint up nice, even the plastic chap with the face only a mother could love.

Played our first game using "Pike & Shotte"

Last Friday afternoon will go down in our blog history as the first game played with our Project Auldearn units. Anyone who has followed our blog from the start may remember that we orignally intended to refight Auldearn using WECW. Earlier this year Warlord Games published the "Pike and Shotte" rule book - a modified version of "Black Powder" to cover the 16th and 17th centuries. We had both played a couple of games of Pike and Shotte and a game of Black Powder at Historicon back in July, and had enjoyed the rules, so we were keen to try them out with our own toys.

(Above left) Dispositions at the start of the game.  (Above right) Covenanter Battle Line. 

The Set-up
True to the spirit of Black Powder we fielded what we had on the day. So the royalists had a single brigade (battallia) of Irish foot comprising two standard size regiments (both pike and shot). Each regiment comprising two shot sleeves and a pike block. The covenanters fielded two brigades; a foot brigade comprising two standard sized regiments of scots infantry, and a mixed brigade comprising a standard sized regiment of scots foot and a standard sized troop of scots horse. The Irish were slightly better led, having a brigade command rating of 9. The Scots were well led (by the mediocre home-guard standards of the time), with both Scots brigade commanders rated 8.

(Above) Irish get the Covenanter wake up call once again

The scenario was simple. The Irish brigade has once again been caught napping by the covenanters, who are rapidly advancing on two fronts. We did not specify objectives, but in restrospect it could have been the usual 1644-45 caper with the Royalists attempting to escape to the saftey of  the highlands after being caught unawares by the latest covenenter general.

(Above) Northern Levies - on the move before they had their porridge - explained the slow start

(Above) Drummond's Horse, keen to get stuck into the Irish, are held back behind the infantry most of the day

Table Size & Movement

We played the game on a 6'x4' table. One of the common criticisms of Black Powder, and it's offspring, is that you need a large table and huge armies. We fixed this very simply. Black Powder is designed for a 6' deep table. If you use a 4' deep table reduce all distances accordingly, so we modified distances and ranges, reducing them by 2/3 as follows...

• Infantry Move - 6" (modified to 4")
• Cavalry Move - 9" (modified to 6")
• Musket Range - 18" (modified to 12")

All other movement distances and missile ranges are divisible by 3, so can easily be modified in the same way. This seemed to work very well, and the occasional sweeping triple move worked well on the 4' deep table. We have access to a larger table so we will report back if the game plays differently with more space and longer movements and range. We did not modify frontages and with relatively small forces we had a great afternoon.

(Above) Lord Chancellors rally round the colours as the Irish drum the advance

(Above) End of the Lord Chancellor's firing line - wee Shugie MacPherson down with a lucky shot

The Battle

The initial few turns saw the Irish Brigade advanced rapidly on the Covenanter Foot Brigade facing them, while the remaining Government Brigade attempted an out-flanking maneuver but with some reluctance (a few mediochre command roles slowed progress to a snail's pace). This gave the Irish time to rush up into range for a fire fight with covenanters.

(Above) The cornered Irish decide offense is the best defense and advance rapidly on the Scots

(Above) The second Scots brigade head out on their long "out-flanking" journey

(Above) Meanwhile the Irish continue the rush forward with the odds now locally in their favour

First blood is spilled in withering exchange of volleys (wounds were adding up and the dis-orders came thick and fast with the Covenanters getting the worst of it), combat was joined. O'Cahan on the Irish right charged into Chancellor's on the Scots left, while Lawer's brave lads took the fight to Laghtnan's Irish as they reformed after crossing the dyke.

(Above) Lawer's Regiment begin to feel the heat  as Laghtnan's foot jump the wall and close for a scrap

(Above) Lord Chancellor's lads in a deadly firefight with O'Cahan's Irish.

With the Irish wearing down the Scots foot, it became a race against time for the second Scots brigade to come to the aid of their comrades. Some good command roles allowed the Scots reinforcements to advance on the Irish rear.

(Above) Meanwhile back on the flank, the scots close the gap with a double move.

Back at the melee, the Irish are getting the better of the Scots. Chancellor's regiment on the Scots left has lost both shot sleeves, but the pike are holding as the Irish, although severly beaten up, close in for the kill.  Lawer's on the right have lost a single shot sleeve, and the pike have been pushed back, but a volley of Scots musketry dis-orders the Irish and keeps them in hedgehog, all buying a little more time for the relief force to reach them.

(Above) Scot's badly beaten up, but holding the Irish at bay as relief appears in the distance

(Above) View from Lawer's as the Irish press the advantage.

(Above) View down the lines as the fighting continues

(Above) Overview of the battle lines as the Irish rush to try and break the Scots before Drummond's Horse arrives.

The next few rounds of combat were the bloodiest and most spectacular. O'Cahan's Irish deliver a thundering volley into the Lord Chancellor's Pike. This is followed by a charge, but unbeleivably the Scots win the melee, but the Irish hang on in the push of pike continues for another turn. 

At this point the relief infantry regiment rush up behind the Irish (with another Black Powder Triple move just when it was needed) to deliver an enfilading volley into the left shot sleeve (ouch). The cavalry are close behind and eager for charge but don't manage to close before the Pike are destroyed.  As the charge comes in from the rear the Irish about face to receive cavalry. Even though the Irish have been well bloodied at this point, it's still a recklessly brave charge against all the odds. Unbelievably the Scots cavalry win the melee, break the Irish and destroy O'Cahan's pike.

With other melee against Laghtnan's Irish going badly for Lawer's, we agreed to call it there, with the Irish severely bloodied but having fought there way to back to the glen's harried all the way by Drummond's horse. 

What's the verdict?
We both thoroughly enjoyed the game, all the more so to be playing with out own painted units at last. We had some familiarity with the rules from Historicon, so the game rattled along at a quick pace. We worked slowly through some of the more complicated melees to make sure we understood how the rules work, and it's fair to say that the basic mechanics are very straightforward.

The 6'x4' table is very small by Black Powder standards, and even with relatively small forces the game was great fun. Surprisingly this ability to have a fun small game on a small table is not something that is widely advertised, which is a shame as the rules are getting a reputation for being big-table rules only.

We used the lists provided in the book for Scots Covenanters and Scots Royalist forces and the seemed balanced. Stacked in favour of the Irish, but allowing for numbers and gutsy, lucky play to pull a victory of sorts for the underdog. The table was big enough for this game, but double the number of units and the table will get crowded - not a Black Powder problem, more a 28mm problem.

One of the more disconcerting aspects of Pike and Shotte (and Black Powder) is the relatively free and open movement and maneuver. WAB (and WECW), with which we are more familiar, are games where movement must be precise and large games often end up congested as units try and strictly maneuver around obstacles and other units. Pike and Shotte takes a less rigid approach to movement which makes for games that zip along quickly and don't get bogged down.

We did not find that the relative independence of the pike and shot sleeves within each regiment resulted in a-historical formations, as you can see from the photos. Shot sleeves are fragile so it makes sense using the rules to keep them close to pike, but there is enough flexibility negotiating obstacles, manning defenses and passing through tight spaces.

You do need markers or tokens to play Pike and Shotte. Wounds must be tracked, as must unit states of "shaken" or "disordered". The tokens used in this game are wooden Black Powder tokens from Laser Dream Works ($20 for a large bag of laser cut tokens). They are decorated for Black Powder Napoleonics, but the same tokens are used in Pike and shotte and they work great.

It looks likely that we will use Pike and Shotte from this point onwards, although we may still try WECW to see what type of outcome we get for comparison. As we get more experience with the rules we will tweak the army lists for Auldearn to reflect the characteristics and performance of the historical units and we will publish them here too.

Findlatter's WIP

Getting back in the saddle with the next unit of covenanters.  Still a long way to go but the next "6" should see me over the hump on this one. Tend to paint 6 at a time but have been adding a few non-ecw figures as I go along - Perry's paint up nice but been doing a couple of Crusader figures too - paint goes on them so much easier...

MacColla's Lifeguard WIP 3

The Stettin Print of 1631

As I am busy painting my first Highlanders for the Royalist Army, I thought I would add a short post on the Stettin Print of 1631. The print, made from a woodcut, is important because it is one of the few contemporary illustrations of highland soldiers dressed in highland fashion of the time. It is also one of the earliest depictions of recognizable highland attire in Scotland, such as kilts and tartan. 

The print shows four scottish mercenaries in the service of the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years War. The fortified town in the distance is thought to be the Baltic town of Stettin (Szczecin) mentioned in the header, and from where the print gets it's name. Stettin is located in Northern Poland near the modern German border.  

The Stettin Print, 1631 (Public Domain)

The heading above the print reads in German "Irish Soldiers In solchem Habit Gehen die 800 In Stettin angekommen Irrlander oder Irren" which translates "The 800 Irish, or fools, that have arrived in Stettin are marching in this habit (clothing style)". Although the author called these soldiers Irish, they appear to be scottish highlanders. It may be that the highlanders use of the gaelic (Irish) language led many germans to believe they were Irish. Their clearly different appearance to contemporary lowland scots, also serving in Germany in lage numbers, may have added to the confusion. Note the pun in the headline, where the word "irren", meaning fools or those who are in error, is used as an alternate word for the Irish. "Irrlander oder Irren" = Irish or numpties. Thanks to Anonymous for pointing this out in the comments section below.

From left to right a description of each figure:

1. A bearded highlander clad in what appears to be a sleeveless tartan long coat which closes at the front. This is worn over shirt and possibly trews, although the figure may also be bare-legged. Scots bonnet (presumably blue). Armed with long bow and quiver. The long coat is quite controversial and many believe that this is a badly drawn belted plaid (the more traditional highland attire). However the right-most two figures (3 and 4) are clearly wearing belted plaids so it seems like the artist knows what a belted plaid looks like and is drawing what he saw. 
2. Clean-shaven highlander wearing knee-length tartan breeches and tartan hose. Sleeveless round-necked doublet (must fasten to rear or shoulders?) over a shirt. Scots bonnet. This is the only figure armed with a musket, and he also wears a short sword, which is most likely a scots dirk.
3. Bearded highlander wearing a belted plaid. The plaid is pulled over both shoulders like a blanket or cloak against the weather. Again, a scots bonnet is worn on the head. This figure is armed with a longbow and quiver, and dirk. Interestingly, this figure is barefoot.
4. The final bearded figure on the right is wearing a belted plaid wrapped in a more familiar fashion, and worn over a shirt. The ubiquitous scots bonnet on the head. He is armed with a dirk or sword and a deadly walking stick!

In the near distance is a regiment of highland soldiers wearing plaid. This is also contentious as it is believed most scots mercenaries would have been (re-) clothed and (re-) equipped in a more conventional manner for the german wars, although there are references to units of "red-shanks" (bare-legged) highlanders in Germany. Regardless of how they dressed once established on the continent, or how quickly highland attire was abandoned, these prints give a rare insight into the highland dress of the time.

The original print can had some accompanying written description.

The original Stettin Print with German text, 1631 (Public Domain)

The german text immediately below the illustration reads:  “They are a strong, hardy race, contenting themselves with little food, if they have no bread they eat roots and carrots; in case of necessity they are able to walk twenty German miles in a day; they have besides muskets, their bows and quivers and long knives. 1631” 

The same woodcut also features on a contemporary broadside (a one-sided, single sheet newspaper).

Stettin Print featured in German broadside, 1631 (Public Domain)

In addition to its value to the historian, the text on this broadside contains a few nuggets for both the war-gamer and the modeller/painter, on the fighting prowess and hardiness of the highlanders, as well as their appearance. But reading it, you can't help but feel a little sorry for the poor burghers of Stettin, who on top of the hardship of war, are descended upon by a horde of bare-arsed, whisky swilling cheuchters...

"In these latter wicked days among other calamities - God has inflicted this upon us - that foreign nations interfere with us, increase from day to day, desolate our fields, lay waste our land, and commit great and shameful sins. More especially they impose this retribution upon our a-la-modish people, many a-la-modish folk, quite unknown before, now invade our country to avenge our a-a-modish sins. Great numbers arrive from distant Ireland, called Hibernians from that Island. This people are hardy and strong, dark-coloured like Gipsies, short in stature, eager to fight, furnished with muskets and quivers, skilful in the use of bows and arrows ready, to cut their way with long knives, they run fast so that they can make sixteen miles a day. Their clothes and caps have a barbarous appearance almost all black, all their sheep being as is well known, of a dark colour; their shoes are chiefly made of and tied on with bark of trees. They make shift with little food; if they have no bread and are hungry they dig roots out of the earth, with which they are easily appeased. Because, then, God has sent such people into our land on account of our great sin and shame, let us cease from sin, that he may again take pleasure in us, and restore peace to the land, and every one may follow his honest calling."

There is another surviving German broadside, also from 1631, with a very interesting woodcut which shows "Der Irlander" (an Irishman - but most probably a highlander), "der lappe" (a Laplander), and "der Finlander" (a Finn). This is basically a small sample of the terrifying, strangely clad northmen that descended on Germany for the wars.

German broadside featuring highland soldier, 1631 (Public Domain)

However, what is most interesting about this woodcut, is the way the highlander is clothed. A close-up of the scot shows he is wearing a sleeveless tartan long coat. A garment that is clearly not a belted plaid. Now it is always possible that the artist copied figure (1) in the Stettin Print and propagated what could be an error, but with the detail in this print, and the seemingly large numbers of highlanders that were around, I reckon the artist was drawing exactly what he saw.

The sleeveless tartan long coat is closed to the front, belted with a cloth or scarf, and worn over a shirt. Unfortunately it is difficult to tell if he is bare-legged or wearing trews under the coat. I suspect that trews were worn with this garment for warmth as there is not near as much cloth in this coat as there is in a full belted plaid. This well armed chap is carrying a musket, longbow and quiver, and a dirk or short-sword. And of course the outfit is completed with an unfeasibly large Scots (blue) bonnet.

These prints were the principle reference I used to request the range of 28mm English Civil War Highlanders that were produced through the Eureka 100 Club back in May of 2007. The figures can be seen on the photos of articles on highlanders (see labels) on the blog. They have also inspired a couple of Osprey artists including Angus McBride (Highland Clansmen, Warrior 21) and Graham Turner (Scots Armies of the English Civil Wars, MAA 331), both of whom include a highlander wearing sleeveless long coat in their illustrated plates.

I would love to see a photograph of a re-enactor wearing one of these sleeveless tartan coats. If you come across one, please let me know via the comments below.

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.

"The Flag" - a short film about Irish Confederates

Stumbled across this film (link at bottom of post) by accident on the Facebook page of an Irish historical re-enactment group called Claíomh (Irish for sword) Living History. The group, based in Ireland, re-create many different periods from the Middle Ages through to Early Modern. Photographs of this group portraying troops of the Irish Catholic Confederacy were featured in the excellent Osprey book, "Ireland 1649-52: Cromwell's Protestant Crusade" (Campaign 213).

Irish Confederate Ensign with colours, as portrayed by Claiomh

This short film is set in the aftermath of Cromwell's sack of Drogheda, shows 3 surviving Irish Confederacy soldiers, including an Ensign with his Confederacy colours, considering the course of action. The flag is based on the same descriptions for those of the Marquis of Antrim's Irish Brigade sent to the Scottish mainland to intervene in the war on behalf of the King. Antrim (see side bar) was himself on the council of the Irish Catholic Confederacy during 1644, and was Lt General of all confederate forces (although he resigned this commission before sending the Irish Brigade to Scotland).

"The Flag"

Anyway, I love the look these guys have achieved for the Confederates, it is very close to how I imagined them to look, so I reckon this is a great little short for all fans of the Irish soldier during the ECW! They have also added a second film on the Irish galloglas. And have a look at their Facebook page for more great photos like the one above.

Click here to watch film "The Flag" on You Tube

Click here to visit Claíomh on Facebook

Click here to visit the Claíomh blog