Shakos and Bayonets for Ireland 1798

The best way to adapt a game is to do as little damage as possible to the original. At least that’s my belief. What follows is my first take on troop types for Ireland 1798. Before we get into the nitty-gritty let us bag an easy win. British or French Regulars are rated as- British and French Regulars! Who knew? We will get to them a later post. Meantime here is a pic of the first battalion of the 70e Demi-Brigade.

Now for another easy one. Of the Yeomanry Cavalry British General Lake opined “ A danger to everyone but the enemy.”  They were on his side. Where can we find a Shakos and Bayonets equivalent? I’m opting for Russian Opolchenie Cavalry. Obviously they will have to lose their lances. Otherwise, not a bad fit. Here are the stat’s.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Militia	Conscript	7+	6+	6+

 

Equipment	Traits
Sabre and pistol	Cavalry, Cowardly

I’m not sure about the pistol. A bit more digging needed there. A good first pass all the same.

Now to the Irish Militia. The Militia were created to keep an eye on the Yeomanry. This they seem to have been happy to do. They were less keen on fighting the United Irishmen.  Sometimes they just ran away. Fortunately Shakos and Bayonets has lots of Militia examples. They are much of a muchness. I have opted for the Austrian Landwehr one. Here we go. The Light Company of the Monaghan Militia-a work in progress.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Militia	Recruit	6+	7+	6+

 

Equipment	Traits
Musket	Close order, Idle

 

As you might expect the negative traits of both of the above do reduce the cost of per unit. Should you want to improve their chances you can attach a Militia Officer at additional cost.

There’s more. The Militia had both Light and Grenadier Companies. The Grenadiers should at least have been the biggest men. I don’t know if the Light Companies were really trained adequately enough for separate stats. Another thing to find out. The Militia Grenadiers might have better Aggression.

It’s back to Russia for my first pass on the United Men. I’m going with the Musketeers (Line Infantry). Why so? As General Suvorov said “The Bayonet is  wise, the Bullet a fool”. A translation, and variants abound. The United Irishmen were mostly pike armed and highly motivated. If they closed they likely won. The trick was to shoot them down before they did. Here are the Stats.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Line Infantry	Trained	7+	6+	5+

 

Equipment	Traits
Mostly Pike	Close order, Swordsman trait.

 

If you know little of ’98 you may wonder at the Trained rating above. Here is Joseph Holt a United Irishmen Commander “My pikemen were the most difficult to manage. I had to teach them to step in time, to face about, counter march, wheel about, but particularly to disperse and form rapidly, and to march in quick or double quick time." You will note Holt did teach them.

What of Shooting? Here is Myles Byrne, another Commander, "For twenty pikemen that kept together, with two or three with fire-arms, was quite sufficient to keep the best of those (Yeomanry Cavalry) corps at a respectful distance."

We will explore all this subsequently. The Wild Fowlers of Shelmalier with their long barrelled guns also need our attention. I will add here, one unit of them only.

All the same a good start.

Less toys than usual and I'm sorry for it. I thought it best to clarify our categories. By way of compensation I intend a post on the available figures for '98.   Next time we will look at the Yeomanry Infantry and others who eluded the first cut.