The Dark Daughter's Body Guard - The Nine Years War in Ireland

 

Above, the Crawfords under the O'Donnell flag. They constituted the body guard of Iníon Dubh (The Dark Daughter).  She was the mother of Red Hugh O'Donnell and was a Scots Lady of no mean political skills. These she surely inherited from her mother who also married an Irish dynast.

The body guard was part of her dowry. The lads were chosen individually for their size and strength. It turned out that the Crawfords specialised in biguns. The Flag is one of Ray's of Don't Throw a 1.

Annoyingly I think I have made a mistake with my figure selection. Consider this:

 "This was accordingly done for her (Iníon Dubh) for they rushed to the place where Hugh was, and proceeded to shoot at him with darts and bullets, until they left him lifeless; and there were also slain along with him the dearest to him of his faithful people."

The "they" in question are the Body Guards. Note the use the Irish Dart and some of them are using guns, probably Calivers. This is the first mention of Highlanders using darts that I have come across. The guns are less of a surprise. They were about and becoming more so. My choice was the typical West Highland bow and great sword/axe. Ah well, time to think again.

More properly the Dark Daughter was Fíonnghuala Ní Dhomhnaill. Her father MacDonald of Dunyveg and the Glens. Her mother Lady Agnes Campbell wife to Turlough of the Wine, The O'Neill. 

I thought you might be interested to read  her reviews:

The Annals of the Four Masters noted  she was "like the mother of Maccabees who joined a man's heart to a woman's thought."

The historian and biographer O'Cleirigh stated "for she was the head of the advice and counsel of the Cenel Conaill." 

Myler Magrath, the cleric and multiple turncoat, said she was "A cruel, bloody woman who has committed sundry murders".

Well yes, politics was always a deadly business. The point was, and still is, to win. Mother and daughter were adepts.

Above Scots Gaels. They could be a mercenary company or mobilised Clansmen.

The Irish branch of Clan Donald above. The McDonnells of the Route in Antrim. They had displaced the McQuillans some time past. The equally Gaelic McQuillans were the descendants of adventurers of Norman origin. Some of Clan McQuillan were still about. As indeed, they are still.

For the McDonnells things were looking up. They could field a force of 500 men without any real effort. If more were needed they arrived from the West Highlands in swift galleys.

My second unit of English Border Horse. The troopers are from Essex Miniatures and the officer and trumpeter from Khurasan.

Two Khurasan mail clad Irish cavalry and a QRF/Khurasan mix of targeteers. The estimable Clib' tells me Khurasan are to produce  a pack of Irish targeteers. Excellent news.

QRF Kern with a Khurasan Piper. Old fashioned Kern were on the way out but could on occasion be found in both English and Irish forces. They still had their moments. A brave English Captain was rallying his Company at the Ford of Biscuits. A Kern threw a dart through the Captain's neck, killing him. End of rally. 

Two common types of Irish attack tactics. Above caliver men supported by cavalry. Below, the same supported by Targeteers.

I mentioned previously that I was writing rules for the Nine Years War in Ireland. The job is now done. When I have further news I'll report it here.

The Nine Years War in Ireland -Reading The Cards

 

I like card powered games. Mostly the cards represent individuals, units, actions or events. Turn a card and an individual or a unit does something or an event happens. What sort of events happened on Nine Years War battlefields in Ireland?

Weather certainly happened.

On one occasion the rival Armies simply marched past each other because the rain made fighting impossible.

At the Moyry Pass the fog was so dense that the English shot their own men returning from reconnaissance. Twelve men out of thirty were lost.

What about the volatility of Black Powder? Yes, notoriously so. At the Battle of the Yellow Ford. Scores were wounded or killed when a powder cart went up. The card, above right, shows an English officer's drawing of that event. 

Lucky shots? Yes, Sir Henry Bagenal and Hugh Maguire of Fermanagh both fell to lucky shots. Many more too, not all of them fatal. Call it disrupted command in either case.

Military Madness has its place too. Situations where inherent military probability was simply ignored in pursuit of glory. Consider Sir Henry Cosby going over the trench at the Battle of the Yellow Ford. Or perhaps the charge of the Irish cavalry at Kinsale.

Running out of ammunition was also a problem in Ireland. Not so much the bullets but the powder. English accounts are replete with officers complaints that units had “burned off” all of their gunpowder. 

At Clontibret O’Neill’s shot burnt off all theirs too. How happy then when re-supply appeared.

Looting stopping play? Yes, we can add that. It is how the English Army escaped at the Ford of the Biscuits.

Ambush? Most certainly, we can add ambushes to our list. The Pass of Plumes comes to mind.  Below, you can see my latest completed units. 

Exceptional Training? It can be observed with the naked eye  and it pays off too. As the English Officer noted “Rory Og O’ More’s soldiers were the best men of war in the kingdom.”

I’m making some cards for my Nine Years War in Ireland game. You can see some of them on this page. 

The officer cards are starred to indicate varying command abilities. I imagine I'll be doing quite a few of these as I paint the figures. On that, Khurasan do a very nice 15mm Mountjoy. He will be a 3 Star Commander of course.

These cards are very rough and ready. I needed something quick for play testing. Once the full card deck is done I'll post it here.

I'm minded when I first started playing Piquet, and its siblings, of the plethora of custom cards available. Some of them quite lovely in terms of artwork. The bulk of which were produced by individual enthusiasts.

Next on this one we will see a play test.

The Nine Years War in Ireland-Cavalry

Above, Fiach McHugh O'Byrne under his banner courtesy of David at Not By Appointment.  No doubt that's The Children of the Gael with him. Off to Carlow likely, as the song has it.

As far as I can deduce there were 5 types of cavalry in the Nine Years war in Ireland. Kick the time line back a bit and we might argue 7. Albeit, two of them were remarkably similar. Let’s do them first.

The Gentry of Gaelic Ireland and those of the English Border Riding Families came from a similar Clan Culture and fought in a similar fashion. 

They fought mounted, they skirmished and on opportunity charged home. Essentially, they were the archetypal raiders. Note the St. George's crosses, required to distinguish the English from the Irish. They must have looked pretty similar.

Stepping up a bit the Irish nobility fought in a similar fashion but with more armour. Mostly mail, but steel plate was about now and then. 

Never the complete set though apart from the Great Lords.  When Maguire of Fermanagh and O’Neill of Tyrone clashed, lances shattered on steel plate.

Likewise O’Neill’s armour saved him at Clontibret. His equally well protected opponent wasn’t so lucky, despatched with a dagger to the groin. In an effort to cope with the better armoured English Demi Lancers pistols were issued. To a favoured minority only.

All the same something was changing. There is evidence of Irish cavalry meeting English cavalry head on without hesitation. Hugh Dubh and his compatriots met Sir Henry Docwra and his at the charge. An Irish victory with Sir Henry Docwra laid up for over a month. Henry got off lucky, Hugh Dubh was over 60 when he struck the blow. A younger Hugh and Henry's rest would have been permanent.

When Maguire’s and St. Leger’s troop's fought both sides charged. That one was a draw. Both leaders dying subsequently of their wounds. Maguire of Petronel double shot and St. Leger of a spear head lodged in his forehead.

At Kinsale the Irish cavalry charged and got beat by an English counter charge. A decisive English victory.

To sum up it appears that the Irish “Mail Clads” were expected to engage closely when needed. The mounted gentry stuck to traditional methods.

The English too were rethinking their cavalry. Demi-Lancers were gradually being replaced by Petronels. I have read that the Demi-Lancers were deemed too slow compared to the Irish cavalry. 

I had thought there was only one occasion when English Demi-Lancers refused to charge, that being under Cosby at the Curlews. Dr Jim O'Neill identifies another, under Moses Hill at Aldfreck.  More resolute was Sir Griffin Markham who charged "Where no cavalry previously ever thought to " across badly broken ground. Griffin's charge failed but it saved the English Army at the Curlews.

The eponymous Petronels were lighter armoured than the Demi-Lancers The rider abandoned the lance relying on his sword for close work. With his steel back and breast and helmet he was still better armoured than the Irish Mail Clads. Presumably he could move faster than the Demi-Lancers too. If pelted with javelins he could shoot back.

A closer look at Fiach Mc Hugh above. Note his armour, good quality. Figures from Khurasan.

For our Nine Years War game to work we must capture all of the forgoing for our rules.  No small challenge.

The Nine Years War in Ireland- Basing

 

Back in January I reviewed my Outstanding Projects and resolved to complete them. 

This is the formal start of my Nine Years War Project. A long term interest. Basing may seem like an odd place to start. Especially as I’m writing a game for the period that is basing agnostic.

Why so then? Well, it is about how each side fought. The basing being a visual clue to English solidity and Irish mobility.  Of course the dichotomy is not that stark. Some troops on either side shared the same spatial imprint. Today I want to look at pike and shot.

The Irish overwhelmingly used the caliver, a light piece. The English used a mixture of calivers and muskets. The musket was heavy. In the English sliding scale of role allocation the strongest men carried the pike, the next strongest were musketeers. The smallest/weakest took a caliver. The caliver was light albeit with a shorter range than the musket.

Caliver qualification for the Irish had a different criteria. Could the aspirant hit the target? If so he was in. This perhaps partially lies  behind General Mountjoy’s observation that “If it came to hand strokes the Irish usually prevailed”. The Irish caliver men came in a range of strength and sizes.  The other factor being that a sizeable minority of the Irish Shot had formerly been skilled close fighters.

The Irish Army in the Nine years War was oriented to missilery rather than close fighting. Caliver men could constitute up to 80% of an Irish Force. The trick was to protect the calivers. More on that in a subsequent post.

Currently, I’m envisaging the Caliver men of both sides as occupying the same spatial imprint. Musketeers will be more solidly grouped. They were not as mobile. mobility, an essential of war in Ireland led to the English eventually abandoning the musket there.

Now, to the Pike. The English pike man was trained to fight in a slow moving solid formation. He was heavily armoured. Normally he and his comrades could simply roll over their Irish equivalents.

Why so? The Irish Pike Man was modelled on the Spanish (Pica Seca) light pike men. His purpose was to move quickly to interdict the English cavalry should they threaten the Irish caliver men.  That he could do. He was not intended for push of pike. If it came to that he fought at great disadvantage.

This project will conclude with the publication of a new set of rules for the Nine Years War. Omerta prevents me from saying more. I find myself working within a set framework.  This is both helpful and restrictive. Helpful because it focuses the mind. Restrictive because some options are no longer appropriate.

The challenge is to produce something both soundly historical and fun.

Here follows the result of the helpful element of the process.

For the English a Battalia (Composite Regiment) might consist of 18 pikemen and 8 musketeers accompanied by a 6 man detachment of caliver men.  The pike and musket aren’t very mobile  and will stick together. The calivers are mobile, hence their contemporary appellation “Loose Shot”. Thirty figures in all. Looking something like this.

CCC CCC

MMMM PPPPPPPPP MMMM

PPPPPPPPPP

Now the Irish Battalia. 18 calivers in 3 groups of 6 and 8 light pike men accompanied by 4 Horse. There is a lot of mobile firepower here and some swift moving protection. Once again we have 30 figures in all. Looking something like this.

CCCCCC CCCCCC CCCCCC

PPPPPPPPPP

HHHH

Immediately we can see the English Battalia wants to fight a close combat action while the Irish Battalia wants to fight a mobile fire power action. Both intend to play to their strengths.

Can we say more? Indeed we can. If our English Battalia is  “Brittainy Company" based we might call it “Seasoned”.  If it is formed of Conscript Companies we might call it “Raw”.

And the Irish Battalia? We should deem the 18 caliver men “Veteran” and their supporting Horsemen and Pike “Seasoned”.

Our Project takes shape. It reflects the Period. Next time we will look at other troop types and how they fought.

I'm aiming to have this one done and dusted by July. I hope you enjoy our various stopping points along the way.

The Nine Years War 1593-1603- A Review

Dr James O'Neill gives us the first part of his series on the Nine Years War in Ireland. Published by Helion it runs to 151 pages excluding covers. It is well written and hugely informative. As it should be, Dr O'Neill is the foremost authority on the War.

Let’s walk through what we get.

It begins with War in Fermanagh and the West where we are introduced to Hugh O’Neill, Baron of Dungannon. He, a contender for the title of the O’Neill, was intended as an English Agent in efforts to extend London’s control of the Northern Gaels. He, subsequently Earl of Tyrone and the O’Neill, thought otherwise as history records.

In this phase the nominal Irish Leader was Hugh Maguire Lord of Fermanagh. He was Father in Law to Hugh O’Neill. In fact the Irish were already confederated.  Maguire was working to a wider plan.  The forces of the Irish and English are described and the nature of the fighting. The Irish were involved in a military transition. Gallowglass and Scots Mercenaries once the mainstay of Irish Armies sacrificed were sacrificed to preserve the emergent Irish modern army.

When the English met that army it proved a shock. They had not seen the like. Its recruitment, training and equipment are fully described. We are given detailed accounts of the actions at Tulsk, Erne Ford, Enniskillen, Carrickfergus and the Ford of Biscuits. 

If you want to know why the English musketeers did so well at Erne Ford and Enniskillen its here. How the Irish caliver men at Tulsk checked the feared English cavalry that’s here too.

We meet the commanders of both sides and are treated to an extensive quotes and illustrations from contemporary documents. Dr O’Neill is a master of his subject and though I have studied this period well there was, for me, new learning here.

The second part of the book deals with Tyrone’s War in Ulster. We get a detailed analysis of the forces involved. Importantly, we see clearly the new Irish Army. Pen portraits of English and Irish commanders increase or understanding of the dynamics of the conflict. Highlights include extensive treatments of the battles of Clontibret, Carrickfergus and of course The Yellow Ford.

The quality of maps of the battles, including their development are very good. Increasing the readers comprehension of how the actions were fought. Pleasingly, Seán O Brógain supplies the following illustrations: Irish Shot, English Horse, English Musketeer, Irish Horse, Irish Swordsman, Captain Thomas Williams, Hugh O’Neill and Sir Henry Bagenal.

Above, English Captain Tom Lee dressed as a Kern. He appears in Dr O'Neill's book. Note how the Irish soldiers costume simplified as the new Irish Army took the field. 

The above is the briefest of reviews of this excellent work. As you would hope there are 6 pages of sources facilitating further research. 

Helion tend to be a mixed bag but this is a splendid book. Recommended.

 

Furioso for the Nine Years War in Ireland

Earlier this year I bought a copy of Furioso Wargames rules and loads of Venexia figures for the Italian Wars.  After reading through a couple of times I thought they might have potential for the Nine Years War in Ireland. My attention was initially drawn by the ‘Raiders’ cavalry type that intended for Genitors and Stradiots which would also do nicely for Irish cavalry.  The other troop types seemed equally adaptable to the Irish Wars.

Furioso does provide its own English and Irish lists, good to see, but neither reflect the combatants of the Nine Years War. As you will see I have had to tinker a little to get the right effect.  Irish caliver units could be four stands rather than the English three. As an alternative Irish calivers might be deemed ‘Drilled’ which would enable them to re roll any 1s when firing. 


Likewise, Irish mail clad ‘Raiders’ who also field four stands compared to the English three. Redshanks do not get to ‘Highland Charge’. I still need to work out how to reflect targeteers English and Irish. 

Furioso has a section on basing but I think the rules will work fine with whatever base sizes you use.

Here is my, yet to be tested, take on the armies for Furioso.

English Cavalry	Type	Tactic	Combat	initiative	Weapon	Armour	Move	No. of bases	cost
Demi lance	cavalry	Galloper	3	Plus 1	Lance	Heavy	8	4	24
Petronel	cavalry	trotters	3	Plus 1	Arquebus	Heavy	10	4	24
Border Horse	Raiders	Raiders	2	Zero	Lance	Armour	12	3	12

Pre 1600

English Foot	Type	Tactic	Combat	initiative	Weapon	Armour	Move	No. of bases	cost
Calivers	Foot	Skirmish	2	Minus 1	Arquebus	None	6	3	9
Muskets	Foot	Shot	2	Minus 1	Musket	Armour	4	4	12
Pike	Foot	Melee	3	Minus 1	Pike	Heavy	4	4	12

Post 1600

English Foot	Type	Tactic	Combat	initiative	Weapon	Armour	Move	No. of bases	cost
Calivers	Foot	Skirmish	2	Zero	Arquebus	None	6	3	9
Pike	Foot	Melee	3	Zero	Pike	Armour	4	4	12

Irish Cavalry	Type	Tactic	Combat	initiative	Weapon	Armour	Move	No. of bases	cost
Mail clads	Raiders	Raiders	3	Plus 1	Lance	Armour	12	4	24
Irish Horse	Raiders	Raiders	2	Plus 1	Javelin	None	12	3	12

Irish Foot	Type	Tactic	Combat	initiative	Weapon	Armour	Move	No. of bases	cost
Calivers	Foot	Skirmish	2	Plus 1	Arquebus	None	6	4	12
Pike	Foot	Melee	3	Plus 1	Pike	Armour	6	4	12
Redshanks	Foot	Melee	3	Zero	Polearm and Bow	Armour	4	4	24
Galloglaich	Ferocious	Melee	3	Zero	Polearm	Armour	4	4	24
Kern	Foot	Skirmish	3	Zero	Javelin	None	6	3	9

So, how does this work out on the table top?  Let’s try a few typical match ups from the Nine Years War.

Here we have a skirmish between English and Irish caliver men. 

Range is short and the English throw 2 D6 per base minus 1 dice for being skirmishers.  They score a hit on a 5 or a 6. They score 2,2,3,4, and 5. So one hit.  The Irish get a saving throw of 1 D6 for the hit and 2 D6 for being skirmishers succeeding on a 5 or 6. They score a 5 so the hit is removed.

The Irish return fire also throwing 2 D6 per base (but they have 4 bases) minus 1 dice for being skirmishers.  They score 1,2,4,5,6,6,6.  So four hits.  The English get to throw four saving D6 for the hits plus 2 dice for being skirmishers. They throw 2,2,2,2,3 and 4.  The hits stand and a base is lost. The English are now in trouble.

A clash of cavalry English demi lance against Irish mail clads. 

Both sides fight the Irish inflict 3 hits and the English 2. Both sides throw for saves the better armoured English save all their hits and the Irish only one. 

 

The following morale test makes the Irish retreat with an additional casualty.

A push of pike English and Irish.

Both sides throw 8 dice looking for 5 or 6 to hit.    The Irish manage 4 hits and the English 2. Both sides now throw for saves. The Irish throw 3 dice ( 1 dice per hit and 1 dice for their armour) and get two saves.  The English are better armoured and throw 6 dice (1 dice per hit and 2 dice for their heavy armour) getting four saves.  The melee continues but the Irish are going to be lucky to overcome the English armour.

Redshanks against demi lancers as happened at the battle of Aldfreck. 

 

The demi lancers charge but they are disordered by the ground. Normally they would throw 3 dice plus 1 for charging.  So, 4 dice per base,16 for the unit. As they are disordered, they will throw 8 dice. They get 2 hits.

The Redshanks throw 12 dice and score 4 hits. 

Both sides throw for saves.  The demi lances throw 6 dice and save two hits.  The Redshanks throw 4 dice and save one hit. In the morale test the demi lances fail and have to retire with an additional casualty.

While we are considering Redshanks I don't intend to use the Furioso minus for bow shooting.  Redshank archery standards did not decline in this period.

Also the Furioso infantry v cavalry close combat rule in my games will not apply to Redshanks, targeteers of both sides, Galloglaich or English/Palesmen Bills.  All of these types of soldier were more than capable of closing up and resisting cavalry.  That is not to say they should prevail but merely that they might. Accordingly, such units will lose 1 dice a unit when charged by cavalry.

If you have been reading the other posts in this series you will notice that the results above do not seem out of step with what we found actually happened in combat.  I may try a small Nine Years War game with Furioso.