The French in Ireland

Hello again.

Phew!!! I just about managed to get in a post before November is out as, yet again, the out of kilter work/ life balance, the poor light and life in general has slowed progress to a crawl. Never mind.

By a lucky coincidence, a chap named John asked a question on the French regiments in Ireland in and around 1690 on a Facebook group a few days ago and, as it was something I had delved into in some small way, I was able to help. I also informed John that I had finally finished a couple of regiments and said I would post a few pictures, so here we are. I believe the Facebook group was "Pike & Shotte Wargaming", aimed at the Warlord Games rules but far wider in scope and knowledge than a single rules set. So, for John, and hopefully a few others out there, here are some more figures it has taken me about seven years to varnish and base after initially painting them back around 2012.

The figures are again the old plastic Wargames Factory ones, with some conversion work, the flags hand painted onto calico following originals depicted in the excellent Mark Allen series on the French army of the time way back in the early 90's in "Wargames Illustrated" magazine. I believe these works have now also been collected in one of the "Century of the Soldier" works (from Helion, I think) covering the army of Louis XIV.

Will I be painting up more French?

Unlikely, in truth, because I want to concentrate on the Jacobite regiments and William's army to oppose them. Painting more French would, I think, steer me more towards the Marlburian War and thereby diminish any focus on this specific project, which is taking me forever anyway! I do fancy doing the Zurlauben Regiment though, if only to get some bluecoats on the field amid all the grey and red. The flags are pretty distinct too.

If you are in Birmingham, England, tomorrow, I am sure you can get a copy of this book and lose yourself a load more cash at the "Wargamer" show at the King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy. Sadly, I cannot make it, despite the best laid plans, so I will have to content myself with walking the dog, sorting stiff out and possibly, just possibly, getting a little painting done...

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REGIMENT TOURNAISIS

Regimental flag to the fore, Colonel's flag behind.

REGIMENT FOREZ

Regimental flag to the fore, Colonel's to the rear. Lots of puddles on bases - this is Ireland, you know!

Just an overhead shot to show my basing method, with these troops set to feature in games of "Beneath Lily Banners" ultimately. 50mm square bases with five or six infantry figures on them.

More Jacobites Ready For Action!

Hello again.

Hot on the heels of Lord Louth's Regiment of Foot come the first of the regiments and units I first painted back in 2012, but have only just got around to finishing off. This project really has been a triumph of perseverance over planning!

Formed from a variety of converted and "as is" Wargames Factory plastic Marlburians, these were inspired originally by a few things - the "Beneath Lily Banners" rules, Mark Allen's work on the French army at the end of the 17th and into the 18th Century, the Jacobites featuring specifically in Wargames Illustrated issue 54 for March 1992, some very nice looking games at shows, the availability of the aforementioned Wargames Factory figures and various bits of reading matter, such as Michael McNally's "The Battle of Aughrim, 1691". Apart from the plastics, which enabled me to get into the period cheaply and paved the way for relatively easy conversion work, which I was "into" at the time, there were also several ranges of metal figures available to fill out what I expected to be a considerable number of regiments.

Of course, as is always my way, the wind changed and so did my tastes, as other projects came and went to match show games with anniversaries (Bannockburn, Malta, etc) and these figures languished in storage until now. I added more figures to what I started with from the likes of Reiver Castings, Copplestone and Foundry, but they are only now starting to make it to the painting table, as first evidenced by Lord Louth's Regiment.

As usual, the flags are my own hand painted on calico types. So, without further ado, I give you the regiments of the Earl of Antrim, the Lord Grand Prior and a couple of light guns to add a bit of extra bang for the proverbial buck.

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Hinchliffe guns from my spares box with a couple of converted Wargames Factory plastic crew figures and tools again from the spares box.

The Earl of Antrim's Regiment of Foot.

Identifiably Irish given the "In Hoc Signo Vinces" motto on the flag.

The Lord Grand Prior's Regiment. As Mark Allen kindly showed grenadier caps in his artwork back in the March 1992 issue of Wargames Illustrated, this regiment was provided with a couple of grenadier figures for some variety.

I like a few puddles on my Irish bases. If you have ever been to Ireland, you will know why!!!

Lord Louth's Regiment

Hello again.

Way back in the heady days of July, 2012, with the London Olympics around and about and dear, old Blighty feeling good about herself for at least a couple of weeks, I posted what was, then, the last pictures and words for my then vogue "1690" project. The post was about a squadron of the "Montpuillan Horse" I had made from the Wargames Factory Cavalry set, the first of my planned Williamite cavalry to feature and, so far, the only squadron of Williamite cavalry I have built!

The project took a back seat for seven, long years, whilst I busied myself with Medieval English and Scots, 16th Century Mediterranean figures, Dark Ages, Swiss, Burgundians and French and Indian Wars stuff for various show games. I kept buying a few figures here and there with the intention of returning to the period, but nothing happened. Until now, that is!

Way back in 2012, I used the Wargames Factory infantry as the basis for an element of pikes, simply adding brass wire to the plastic bodies, and that element was painted as Lord Louth's Regiment, with mostly grey coats and feuille morte/ filamot ("dead leaf") facings. I had every intention of adding the rest of the battalion, but that did not happen, until now that is!

Lord Louth's Regiment of Foot in all its glory.

 After seven years, I finally got around to painting the rest of the battalion. Unlike the pikemen, theses are almost all Copplestone Castings, the exception being the Reiver Castings Officer front and centre. The are several problems with having such a gap in progress on a project and, more specifically, a single regiment.

1. Exactly what colours did you use for the figures painted all those years ago?
2. What style or techniques were you using to paint figures back then?
3. Do the exact colours still exist?
4. If you based the figures, as in texturing those bases, what materials and colours did you use? Can you match the new ones to the old ones?
5. Has research material moved on to show regiments and/or their flags differently to what we used to think?

As is the norm with my regiments of supposedly identical figures, I like to vary things a bit. Hair colour is the main difference, but, with something like a Jacobite force in the field, with fresh recruits mingling with older hands and inadequate supplies, some further variety can come in with breeches, stockings, hats, weaponry and pose if desired. Look closely at the photo above and you will see some variations in coat colour but more in breeches and stockings.

The colours, taken from Michael McNally's book "The Battle Of Aughrim, 1691". The motto is what I would call a typical Irishism - "Festina Lente" translates as "Hasten Slowly"...They are my usual rectangles of calico attached to brass wire and hand painted.

 As I mentioned above, research can and does move on. The flags are taken form McNally's book, mentioned in the above caption, but Mark Allen's work back in "Wargames Illustrated" issue 54 (March 1992) draws on other sources and shows them differently. There is also a query around exactly what feuille morte/ filamot looks like. It simply means "dead leaf" and Allen (see above source) quotes it as "yellowish brown". Out with my dog at this time of year, I am seeing all sorts of dead leaves in all sorts of vaguely brown colours! Mine may be a little too tawny, but I am happy with it. As Lord Bellew's regiment may feature soon, I need to be happy with it as he used the colour of his flags and cuffs too!

Captain and unshaven drummer.

The regiment laid out as it will eventually feature on the table top under the "Beneath the Lily Banners" rules.

So, it remains to be seen whether I get distracted again, especially for seven years, but this project at least has nudged along a smidgen. With so many other desires and potential distractions, it might in truth be a while before it nudges along some more, but, the good news is that I have started texturing the bases for the other 10 regiments I painted back in 2012, along with a couple of light artillery pieces, and have spray undercoated a regiment I believe will become Bellew's in the not too distant future, so I am at least optimistic of some progress very soon!

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Santa's been!!!

Hello again.

As 2016 wends its way towards conclusion, I thought it time to recap on what this month of gifts and goodies has brought me, starting with my purchases at "Wargamer" back on 4th and working my way through to the destruction of various sheets of coloured paper as I eagerly unveiled my presents on 25th!

For a small show, I managed to spend WAAAAAYYYY too much at "Wargamer". I bought myself a copy of "Escape from Colditz", now published by Osprey, and backed that up on the gaming front with a Fantasy Flight Games offering called "Age of War", which is a dice game and a sort of cross between Yahtzee, Risk and Happy Families. It is set in the classic age of the samurai and the object is to win control of various cards, representing castles, by rolling appropriate combinations of dice, each of which has various icons which may or may not be of use. The castles can form a set, which grants more points to their holder and the person with the most points wins. That person has so far mainly been daughter Eleanor...

I bought some stuff from Ainsty, who are carrying the SAGA ranges from Gripping Beast nowadays, so my fledgling Anglo-Saxons/ Anglo-Danes acquired Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, some huscarls, Hereward the Wake, some "Sons of Death" to add to my Irish excursion and William the (insert your epithet of choice) to add to my Normans, who are eagerly awaiting their turn on the painting table, along with Saracen and Military Orders forces for "The Crescent and The Cross". I also bought some Highlander reinforcements and a starter set of Compagnies Franches de la Marine for my "Sharp Practice 2/ Muskets & Tomahawks" foray into the French and Indian Wars.

Dave Lanchester furnished me with a copy of Neil Thomas' "Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815 to 1878", which I have read with gusto, and, last but not least, Tiger Miniatures very kindly sold me some of their Renaissance figures, including artillery, some arquebusiers and some cavalry, who have joined the ranks of my proposed French Wars of Religion project. Daughter Eleanor conned me into buying her her own set of dice (soft touch that I am) and I think that is about it.

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of some basing sheets from the ever-helpful Coritani/ Magnetic Displays (fantastic service as usual and highly recommended to all who would buy from them - Trevor even sent me a nice Christmas good wishes message, which only goes to show how good their service is!). To that I added a package from Pendraken consisting of some reinforcements/ alternatives for both my proposed 10mm American Civil War project and my "Warband" fantasy project that I spent most of last spring working on. They too deserve a lot of credit for their service quality, as I missed the posting deadline for Christmas quoted on the website but still got my order well before Christmas. Many thanks!

Christmas itself saw the opening of a parcel from Caliver Books containing a copy of "The Italian Campaign of 1859", edited by Dr. Stephen Summerfield, which I have again eagerly devoured. I also got a turntable, so I can play my old, vinyl records, many of which I do not have on CD, which has nothing to do with wargaming or the blog as a whole but just shows how much my lady wife loves me!!! I still wait with anticipation for the latest "Wargaming in History" offering on Koniggraetz, but Dave Ryan has my order and warned me it was unlikely to arrive pre-Christmas as it has not been published yet!

After all that, it is again time to decide on where my focus lies for 2017.

1. I still have a passion for anything involving the Austrians, so 1859 and 1866 feature a lot in my thoughts.
2. I want to get some ACW actions going to take advantage of all those readily-available battle reports and orbats, in my chosen 10mm scale.
3. I want to fill out my Dark Ages pretensions and have now built an entire Anglo-Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force for SAGA which I need to paint.
4. I want to add the extras to my 10mm "Warband" fantasy forces.
5. I want to thresh out my FIW stuff and get some games of "Sharp Practice 2" and "Muskets & Tomahawks" in.
6. I eagerly await Nephew Nick's commitment to the Marlburian Wars so I can kick-start my 1690 project and take him on! It will be just the excuse I need to add some more French and Irish units to my existing stock...
7. I am torn between Germans vs Hottentots in what is now Namibia, Maori Wars or Sudan Wars for "The Men Who Would Be Kings", but seriously want to get something up and running soon for that era and rules set.

And then there is the large scale WW2 skirmish figures I bought last year, the Arthurians that have been lying around for ages, a large Macedonian army I have had for upwards of ten years that I still have stowed away, the Peninsular War stuff I bought back in July for "SP2", 15mm WW2 Ostfront c. Kursk, Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians/ "Whites" and, of course, the French Wars of Religion project I want to get off the ground, ideally for 2019 and the 450th anniversary of the likes of Moncontour and Jarnac. I suppose I could stretch out that last option to 2022 and the 450th anniversary of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but I prefer battles to massacres...

The good news is that my interest in this massively absorbing hobby has not waned one iota and I do not have a project to focus on specifically for 2017, as 2018's show game is decided upon already and I have the armies already too! (I could always rustle up an extra unit or two though, or perhaps a terrain piece or feature piece or...)

I love this hobby of ours!

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The Reason I Went To Partizan (mostly)

Apart from getting the figures I ordered from Old Glory for my Bannockburn-era project, the main reason I went to Partizan was to see the advertised League of Augsburg game.

I missed the Derby show last year, but went to the 2011 show with the express intention of seeing their game there, but missed it, shoe-horned as it was into some side room. I have seen their outings in the flesh only a few times, but have always been impressed with the scenic basing of the figures, the colour and scale of the game, the vignettes, their promotion of their game and the all round look of the things they do. I love the look of the 1690 period, and will one day complete my own offerings, so sit back and (hopefully) enjoy a selection of the photos I took of their game at Partizan.

Note: the quality of the photos is variable and owes a lot to the venue, with its random lighting, milling punters and close confines causing weird shadows in unexpected places. I have tried to select the best.......A better camera might help, as would a modicum of photographic talent. Maybe one day I will have both.

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The Huguenots brigade. I believe the flags are the ones produced by Warfare Miniatures based on Clarence Harrison's work.

Bellew's Regiment, one I wish to add to my own Jacobites.

Massed Catholic horse.

And more still.

Protestant Horse.

I have always had a thing for windmills!

Some Danes.

Somewhere in "sunny" Ireland. Anyone who has ever been there will know it is anything but most of the time!!!

Magpie that I am, I was drawn to the distinctive flags of this regiment. I was informed it was John Lacey's.

I was also told that this was the Earl of Westmeath's.

The same Danes as before from a slightly different angle.



Montpuillan Horse (1st Sqdn) - Finished At Last

Just like the proverbial buses, you wait a while and then two show up at once. In my case, it was Sarsfield's Horse and now Montpuillan's. Not quite buses, but they do at least carry passengers.....

Sarsfield's were Reiver figures, Montpuillan's are Wargames Factory plastics.

The flag is entirely conjectural, based on French imagery of the time (white cross and fleur-de-lys) and an escutheon showing the arms of Aquitaine. Those who read my earlier post on ths regiment may remember that Montpuillan is a place in the Lot-et-Garonde area of Aquitaine in SW France.

Conjectural but, I hope, not entirely unfeasible...

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The entire regiment as it presently stands, just one squadron strong.

A better view of the flag. I experimented a little with the groundwork. It turned out to be a rather convoluted process  - first brown woodfiller, then an umber wash, then "Stirland Mud" from GW on top, then static grass, then various paint drybrushes with some emulsions and topped off with Army Painter swamp tufts and the odd meadow one for variety.

Sarsfield's Done and Dusted

It has been a while since I posted pics on the blog, and even longer since I showed my first 1690 cavalry in their part-finished state, but here, at long last, are the finished articles. Two squadrons of Sarsfield's Horse for your scrutiny and (hopefully constructive!) criticism.

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First squadron, with banner

Second squdron, with officer and broken cannon a la Ballyneety raid.

Both squadrons fording a stream on one of my terrain boards.

A better look at the flag. No idea how accurate using the current Royal Standard is, but it was readily available in the flesh during the recent Jubilee celebrations, so I went with what I had.

Continuing to the left

After finishing painting Sarsfield's Horse, I put together some plastic Wargames Factory WSS cavalry and selected Montpuillan's Horse as my second cavalry regiment for my 1690 project.

Sapherson in "William III at War" says this regiment was raised in 1672 and commanded by Armand Nompar de Caumont de la Force, Marquis de Montpuillan. Grant in "Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars, vol I" gives grey/white as the colour of coat, cuffs and lining.

I have seen no details at all for the flag(s)..............so I get to conject! (Is that a word???)

So, how did I create a flag for this somewhat enigmatic unit? Well, given the name, date of origin, etc, I was thinking Huguenot French - white crosses, fleur-de-lys, you know the drill. I also checked out "Montpuillan" on the interweb and found out that it was in the Lot-et-Garonne district of Aquitaine.

Thus, a white flag, with a white cross, fleur-de-lis in each canton and the arms of Aquitaine in escutcheon in the middle. Job done.

The main issue I have with these figures is the size differential between these and the Reiver figures I used for Sarsfield's Horse. It may have to be one or the other.....

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The flag in all its "glory". Painted calico on brass wire pole, as are all my flags for this project.

This photo clearly shows the sub-bases I used to try and raise the height of the figures to try to bridge the size differential I mentioned - bits of lollipop stick, cut down plastic bases, thick card etc all came in handy.

The entire unit, just one squadron in Beneath the Lily Banners terms.

I quite like the sense of movement in the figures seen from this angle. The horses are rather long, which I think is a little inaccurate anatomically, but adds to this sense of movement.

Victorious cavalry chasing off after the enemy.

Turning left....

....has brought me here.

After the best part of a year away from this project, I have effected a return with some Reiver Castings horse I bought at Derby last year. Where better to enter the fray with my first regiment of horse than with James' Guards, aka Sarsfield's Horse?

As with so much of this conflict/ era, the banner is a subject of some conjecture. I have seen various versions of the royal standard, with or without a French element in the form of a fleur-de-lys or two. I thought long and hard about this............my memory told me we had given up claims to the French crown sometime before, and I did not think it politically appropriate to reinstate that claim when the French were actually "helping" James regain his throne, so settled on the current version, courtesy of the recent jubilee celebrations. No fleur-de-lys then.

Now someone will write back to tell me exactly where I have got it wrong!!!

I varnish and base in batches, several units at a time, so will post some finished pictures at some point in the future.

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The aforementioned Royal Standard

Ballyneety in miniature....

And from the other side. I used liquid green stuff to hold the separate right hands and carbines in place more strongly. The fit was not great initially, being far too loose, so the filler helped greatly

Bono's great, great, great, great...........whatever relative. Music is in the Hewson family blood. Someone less kind than I may well claim it skipped a generation where young Paul (aka Bono) was concerned......

And his showy coat, with silver lace and hanging sleeves

Two squadrons to the Beneath the Lily Banners rules, 11 figures plus the broken cannon

Close up of "sir"

And finishing with the standard again. The other side is identical - honest!