Shakos and Bayonets 1798 -The United Men

 

We had an earlier look at the United Irishmen and suggested some Shakos and Bayonets unit statistics. Today we can look at our units to date. 

For convenience I'm using a blanket set of statistics. In reality after the first few victories even those initially too timid to Rise turned up for duty. Such men would not be trained as the United Irishmen were. Something for later I think. 

Above, four units of pike men each with a scattering of muskets. I do wish I had bought another four cavalry men. Ah well.

Our first two units with their officers. The mounted fellows might be the Irish Republicans returned from France. They were ardent revolutionaries and mostly Protestant. The rank and file except in Ulster were mainly Catholic. The "People of No Property" as Wolfe Tone said. The combination of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter accounts for their designation as the United Irishmen. This is the period when green becomes the Irish national colour. It had appeared earlier of course in the flags of the the Confederation of Kilkenny. This time it envisaged no foreign allegiance.  As the song has it " I joined the United Men to fight for the Green."

Our second two units. I had thought to provide one unit with a Father Murphy figure by way of period flavour. In keeping with the instruction of the Catholic Hierarchy Father Murphy evinced no sympathy for the Revolutionaries. That changed when the Yeomanry burned down his chapel. With the heather blazing he called his parish to arms. One to ponder.

I think I can manage to put together another 12 figure unit of Pike Men. A more singular unit is the men of Shelmalier with their long barrel guns. Their function is clear they operated as skirmishing marksmen. Obtaining suitable figures is beyond me. I'm substituting these musket armed lads from Chariot and Lancashire Games archive range. True 15mm and excellent.

Of course the above unit only vaguely resembles the actual men of Shelmalier. No long barrel guns. The Revolutionary Phrygian/Liberty caps are not attested in Ireland so far as I know. 

The French Revolutionaries seem to have adopted it as it was worn by by Roman Freedmen. A sartorial "Slave No More" if you like. British cartoonists of the period loved the image of a monkey faced man in a Liberty Cap as visual shorthand for the United Men. So that is a sort of period connection. Likewise the striped trousers could only have been obtained from French allies.

The figures themselves are very nice. Two from Chariot and three from Lancashire Games Archive Vendee range. 

That's it. I'm grateful to Ian Kay at Irregular Miniatures for making the '98 Range above.  I'm frustrated by John at Khurasan for not releasing his '98 Range below. 

John let us see the first 15mm samples. 

A species of cruelty really.

The French and Indian Wars

 

A long term interest of mine. With a deep and rewarding reading list. Fascination lies therein. Not just the tribes but also the colonists. The French method concentrating on the Fur Trade.  The English one on land acquisition. It all played out with Global consequences. A painters paradise too.

The first decision of a F&IW Project is just what are you trying to model? There were big battles (relatively speaking)  formal lines and all.  They were important too. All the same the most common combats were not like that at all. No, they were like  Monongahela (where a British Army died)writ small. European methods didn’t do well in the woods. Innovation was required. The French excelled in this and the English steadily improved with Ranger companies and Light infantry. Most engagements were small scale affairs that defined the Wars. Most gamers opt for that.

Delightfully very few figures are needed to play This Very Ground or the famous Muskets and Tomahawks. In both cases a unit can be 6 figures plus a Leader with 8 being normal and 16 the dizzy heights. Rebels and Patriots might run a few more but it needn’t. This is a project that can be done with great economy. Except you probably won’t do that.

The reason being the sheer diversity of troops involved. Thus the figure count begins to grow. Which French Militia? The Montreal or the Quebec? Do they look different? Sort of. Different skills? Arguably. Better have both.

It is no better with the English. Take Ranger Companies. Roger’s, Gorham’s. Others too? Oh yes. Do they look different. Of course they do. Different skill levels? Naturally.

There are some core troop types. Indians obviously. Also American Frontier Militia. These are raiding games. The Militia are the defenders mostly. Supporting the Militia were the Provincials, trained as European Regulars-sort of. It varied a lot. Civilians are required too. They can be captured or rescued or simply protected. Sometimes actual British Redcoats were available. A Regiment or a Company.

For the French the Colonial Marines are an essential. Formidable. Also Regulars were available now and then. For counter raids you might get some Indian civilians. And so it goes. Cabins or Longhouses? Both, I’d say. The cabins you see here are from Red Vectors WW2 Russian Village.

Is it worth it? Very much. It is a wonderful gaming experience. Of course you need not wait to begin gaming. The figures you see on this page will do for a game of Muskets and Tomahawks or This Very Ground.

You might guess a significant number of Blue Moon F&IW figures have just come my way. I anticipate about four posts on this topic.

Counts and Pilgrims- In the Days of the Cid

 

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella is one of the glories of Christendom. It was, and is, a place of pilgrimage. 

Time was if you walked from your home nation to Santiago you got a free billet in the equally glorious Palace of The Catholic Kings. At least you did in my young day. That pilgrimage is known as the Camina.  

Santiago, St. James, was the patron saint of the Re-Conquista. It was from the Rainy West that the Re-Conquista was launched. Green Spain as it is often called. Extra manpower was always welcome.

Crusaders could fight for Christ and fulfil their vows on the Spanish marches. Sometimes a spell fighting and visiting the shrines of Spain was enough. Those who had done it wore a scallop shell to indicate the achievement. For others a stop off on the way to Outremer was useful.

Currently I have no Crusaders for Spain. Although any Norman figures would do well enough. Instead I was minded for something more exotic. English perhaps or Scandinavians. I settled on Norse Irish meaning the dwellers in the Viking settlements of Ireland. Both they and the native Irish enjoyed going on Pilgrimage. Here they are. 

Essex figures. I think their long robes look nice in a Spanish context. 

You might recall in a previous Cid post we looked at Moorish Emirs. 

Here you see my Christian Counts and a martial Bishop. 

Figures from Donnington.

With that my Spanish Army is game ready.

Maximillian once more

 

Above the 2nd Infantry Battalion of Imperial Mexico. Not a uniform easily missed.

Two Republican regular battalions. Maybe the 3rd and 4th Regiments but I wouldn't swear to it.

My 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the French Foreign Legion. 

I have seen illustrations of these with white, red(line infantry) or pale blue trousers. 

I chose to go with pale blue (chasseur colour) for one. I suspect in actuality all of those colours were worn.

I'm not really sure who these fellows are supposed to be. Dismounted cavalry for sure. They all carry a picket pin for their horses. I have painted them as Rurales which they may indeed be. They are Minifigs. Luckily I have saddled standing horses to go with them.

I think there will be one more Maximilian post in this phase. Then I will have to wait for Little Corporal to fully list the range.

Final USA units- American Revolution

 

Above, the Light Infantry.  Below, various Brigadiers. Both pic's show QRF figures.  

Another view of the commanders.

Below, the Green Mountain Boys who enjoyed a fighting reputation.  The usual mixture of manufacturers Essex, Minifigs and QRF.

Is that it?  Not quite I have a Minifig unit of Light Infantry to do. Not sure when I'll get to it. Happily another collection has been put on a firm footing.

First Carlist War in 15m – The Carlists

 

I should begin by saying these are big 15mm figures, more like 18mm really.  You need to be mindful of that should you chose to substitute figures from other ranges. Most of mine come from QRF.  The rest came from the Spanish company Capitan/ Warmodelling.  The two are compatible in my view.

We are about to see my entire First Carlist War collection in a series of posts. Today, we are going to look at the Carlists.

You may notice that my painting style evolves in the following pic’s. This is due to the glacially slow release of the QRF range.  That said the QRF range is happily now complete. 

The Carlists were very much of an up and at them attitude.  Partly because of disposition and also because they were often short of ammunition. Consequently they liked to charge sooner rather than later. 

The other thing to note is that Carlist infantry moved faster than their opponents.  They were also masters of difficult or broken ground. A Carlist Mountain Gun battery above.

Carlist brigades often deployed whole battalions in skirmish order backed by a reserve battalion in column. Unusually, Carlist skirmishers would charge home without forming into closer order.

Now, let us look at the cavalry. The first pic is of QRF Carlist cavalry.  If you can get past the identical horses QRF have the fullest range of First Carlist War cavalry anywhere.

I think the use of a single horse figure let down the QRF (one piece casting) cavalry.  A shame, because the riders are fine and the variety of units commendable. The normal solution is to substitute horses.  You cannot do that with one piece castings.  

 

I chose instead to mainly opt for the Capitan ones.

Carlist cavalry was often very effective.  Lancers were popular.  That said the Carlists never had anywhere near enough horseflesh to match the quantity available to their opponents. Above Merino's Lancers and the Ontoria Hussars.  Both crack troops.  Other Carlist lancers are perhaps best rated as regular.  Interestingly, Carlist cavalry did not perform outpost or scouting duties.  They were in short supply and reserved as battle cavalry.

 

While we are talking about QRF let me recommend their range of First Carlist War artillery pieces to you.  They really are very nice.

My latest Carlist unit here.  The Portuguese volunteers with their distinctive green boina.  Note the two Totentaz grenadiers.  The rest are QRF.   Totentaz have some lovely Carlist War figures.  Alas, the range is far from complete.

I seem to have enough figures for another two battalions and another squadron or two of lancers.  I'll also be adding some cavalry command bases that will enable the cavalry to go further.  I'll show them here along with the Carlist Generals when they are done.

Next the Cristinos aka Isabelinos.

Swiss Pike for Gonzalo

 

After much delay I've returned to the Great Italian Wars.  First on my to do list was completing the Swiss Pike units. All of them intended for the French Army, hence the profusion of white crosses.  I had two units complete and one to do.  The outstanding one was one of the biggest so I prevaricated.  Above Venexia's offering and a fine one it is.  Lots of variety.

Below, we have the Blue Moon Swiss.

Another pic' of the same troops in a deeper formation.  Note that these fellows mainly lack armour even in the front ranks.  They have the long white plumes indicative of young Swiss heroes.  Accordingly, in Gonzalo, they will mover faster than their compatriots-themselves no slouches at the rapid advance.

There is much to commend the Blue Moon figures, not least an abundance of poses.  Next, we see mainly Legio Heroica figures, once more variations abound, with a few Blue Moon thrown in. Call this band the interim stage.

Finally, the completed unit and the complete Swiss contingent.  There's over 100 figures all told.

With officers from Blue Moon, one for each unit.  Swiss command was collegiate.

 

Lastly,from Museum Miniatures.

An Organ Gun, this one is destined for Imperial or Spanish Service. So, I found myself on a roll, a Swiss roll in fact. That's not a sentence you often get to write.

Consequently, I have finally got to the Imperial Landsknechts, the French ones are already done. Four bases done so far, that's 24 figures.  I'll be able to cheat of course, deploying back ranks to and from either formation.

Version 2 of my Gonzalo rules for The Great Italian Wars has been printed out too. A game is imminent.