Keep Your Powder Dry

Whilst technically a Confederate troop of dragoons, Mortimer's did their soldiering in Scotland as part of the Irish Brigade. But as I apply a fantasy football league style approach to the composition of my armies, I'm having them! There once was a troop o' Irish dragoons Cam marching doon through Fyvie-o And the captain's fa'en in love wi' a very bonnie lass And her name it was ca'd pretty Peggy-o The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie Raised in March 1645 from  Colonel Manus O’Cahan’s Regiment of Foot  they weren't exactly dragoons as we know it. They were musketeers put on horseback. Captain John having served as an officer in O'Cahan's. As with so many Irish units from the Wars, we know very little about them. Mortimer is believed to have been a Scot, rather than an Irishman. They fought at Aberdeen, Kilsyth, and Philiphaugh. At Philiphaugh it appears that they fought as a troop of horse; Mortimer is thought to have been captured following the battle a...

Enough of new stylised plastic figure ranges, time for another review. This time Andrew Abram's new book on 'Dragoons and Dragoon Operations in the British Civil Wars 1638-1653' (Helion Books). Hopefully this review won't unleash a torrent of abusive messages... but then the cut and thrust of academia can be quite vicious so I believe... Before I begin I must state that I received my copy from Helion free of charge, due to my image of dragoons from Sturt's Naseby being used as the background of the front cover. Dragoons, Civil Wars, everyone knows that they were the fellas who lined the hedges at Naseby. You'd be correct, but after that,  general knowledge of the role of dragoons is a bit lacking in the general wargaming population. Dragoons certainly had a habit of being deployed to give fire from hedgerows, but they were much more than that. Dragoons were the original mobile infantry (a phrase that unfortunately brings to mind imagery from Starship Troopers). ...

A Royalist Regiment of Dragoons that fought during the First Civil War. Raised in December 1642 it was expected that the Regiment would easily recruit 1000 men; in reality, at their first muster, they numbered just 60. They mainly fought in and around Cheshire, Shropshire and into the Welsh Borders. They took part in skirmishes at Nantwich and Tarporley; the first battle of Middlewich; possibly Hopton Heath; more skirmishing  at Moss House,  Market Drayton, and Loppington; stormed Whitchurch; battle of Wem and Leigh Bridge; probably at the siege and battle  of Nantwich; believed to have stormed Market Drayton and Hopton Castle; definitely at the storming of Oswestry; possibly stormed Sir Vincent's home, Moreton Corbet, and a skirmish at Montgomery; the Battle of Montgomery Castle; relieved Beeston Castle; the siege of High Ercall; the battle of Denbigh Green; possibly at the battle of Stow on the Wold before being besieged first at Bridgnorth  then i...

Raised in 1642 by Colonel James Ussher, Washington was Lieutenant Colonel and led the Regiment at Edgehill. He took over command when Ussher was killed, scaling the walls at Lichfield in 1643. They are also known as Prince Maurice's Dragoons as it appears that Maurice was honorary colonel. They fought at  Powick Bridge;  Edgehill; were present at the  Standoff at Turnham Green; stormed  Marlborough; possibly a skirmish  at Burford (where they over wintered as a garrison regiment); the s tandoff at Cirencester; stormed  Cirencester and Birmingham, before taking part in the siege of Lichfield, where Ussher fell. As Washington's Dragoons they fought at C aversham Bridge; C hinnor;  Chalgrove Field;  the s torm of Bristol; the s iege of Gloucester before garrisoning Banbury and Evesham. From there they marched north with Rupert probably firing the only shots fired at the s torm of Stockport; and most probably   Marston Moor -...

Due to the continuing lockdown for the global pandemic, instead of writing more #ECWtravelogue entries, my attention has once again turn to units that appeared, briefly, at the dawn of this blog. Keeps me sane; and, judging by the surge in viewing figures (got another follower- woohoo!), I hope it is entertaining everyone stuck at home. Today's spotlight falls upon Colonel James Wardlaw, and his Regiment of Dragoons. James was a Scot who began his military career fighting for Gustavus Adolphus. He was sent, with several other Scots officers, to Russia where they were tasked with reforming the Russian army to  western European standards. This led to him being part of the Russian army that besieged Smolensk in 1634. He returned to Scotland in 1641 with the intention of joining the Covenanter cause, but his ship was blown off course to Newcastle. He was arrested and sent to prison in York, where he served four months in jail. Upon release he was employed by the Earl of Essex, w...

Welcome to part 4 of my coat colours series. I had originally planned to write blog entries on the New Model Army, Regiments of Dragoons, and Regiments of Horse but, as you'll see those pages would be pretty sparse and barren. The rest of my coat colour posts are here: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   And if you are stuck wondering how to convert this information into what colours to use and what model paint colours , the links might help you start. Parliamentarian Regiments of Dragoons Colonel Richard Browne Red November 1642 ( National Archive SP28/144/pt2/28-35 ) Grey 1645 (National Archive 144/2 f30r; British Library MS Add 18982 f409v) Parliamentarian Regiments of Horse   There are a number of records detailing the issue of helmets, back and breas...

The latest unit to have their fifteen minutes fame: first appearing, very briefly, in one of the first posts to appear on the blog. The Earl of Manchester raised a Regiment of Dragoons to serve in the Eastern Association in Essex in 1643. In early 1644 they were active in the Newark area taking part in both the siege and battle at Newark. April 1644 command passed to John Lilburne as Manchester had effectively been promoted: he had been given control of the Eastern Association's finances (previously the Earl of Essex had ultimate military authority over all of Parliament's forces), Under Lilburne's command the Regiment marched to join the Siege of York; five companies fought at Marston Moor (where their previous colonel, Manchester, distinguished himself by remaining upon the battlefield whilst almost every other senior commander had disappeared). They were involved in the taking of Tickhill castle, the Siege of Knaresborough, possibly at the Siege of ...

Colonel Hugh Fraser’s Regiment of Dragoons were raised in 1643 and are most famous for their pivotal role at Marston Moor; the regiment also fought at  Corbridge, Penshaw, York, Doncaster, Newcastle, Carlisle, Hereford, and Newark. The Regiment was disbanded at Kelso, apart from Colonel Fraser's troop that continued as part of the Scots New Model Army. Command  Every single figure having a headswap. Let the headswaps begin The Regiment are re-enacted as part of the Sealed Knot's Scots Brigade , I shamelessly copied their guidon. A crime which Stuart at Maverick Models was an accessory to. The fighting men of the regiment As much as I like the look of my dragoons, I have to say I am very pleased that I will probably never* have to paint another unit of them. It's like painting a small regiment of foot and a large regiment of horse at the same time. Lots of horses and horseholders *To utilise the title of a second rate Bond ...

A jolly to Paris led to a slight painting detour via Napoleon's Rheinbund regiments, but I'm back in seventeenth century England again. What do we know about Tyldesley's Dragoons? In a nutshell - not a lot to be honest. We know that Thomas Tyldesley commissioned William Blundell to captain a company of dragoons. Blundell had got himself into trouble ''inciting riots" in the 1630s so was probably quite suited to a military life. Thomas has the dubious distinction of claiming the first recorded casualty of the First English Civil War. A street fight on 15th July 1642, claimed the life of Levenshulme linen weaver Richard Perceval, when Royalists tried to force the town to hand over its gunpowder stores. Perceval, was allegedly killed by Thomas Tyldesley. Proceedings were begun against Thomas for the killing; however, on 11th August the House of Commons ordered the judges in Lancashire to cease the action. Most likely raised in Lancashire, believed to have d...

First of my new dragoon regiments... My previous dragoon regiments are all on foot with horseholders, and kit bashed semi-mounted command. I like my existing dragoon command, and the overall look of my existing dragoon regiments (it's all that Streeter's fault), so I wanted to create something similar utilising the new figures. Once again the body of fighting men (twelve) are on foot, with six horseholders each with three horse, and a command stand consisting of mounted officer, cornet and drummer. That way I have managed to use figure from four of the five new packs. Part way through painting the figures I did start to question my wisdom of unit makeup - 18 horses, 18 foot figures, a casualty figure, and 3 mounted command figures. Lots and lots of horses and horseholders Waller's dragoons were raised in 1643 and fought extensively throughout the First Civil War: Battle of Lansdown, Roundway Down, Siege of Basing House, Alton Church, Cheriton,...

I make no bones about it, this is an eye candy post. Regular readers will be familiar with my unhappiness with my dragoon regiments due to lack of command stands (see  here ), well here they are completed. I am pretty pleased with the standard bearers - I was a bit worried about them looking too 'heavy' (they are after all standard bearers from the cavalry command packs), thankfully a 'paint conversion' hid the cuirass pretty well. No fiddly filing required. All in all, I think the command stands work really well. Figures painted by Alan Tuckey, basing by me. I decided that there should be a one man one horse ratio for the regiments. Really shows how many men are required to hold the horses, and the actual footprint of the unit on the battlefield. First up are the Parliamentarians: Earl of Manchester (with a  conjectural guidon, the green colour is taken from Manchester's regiment of horse standard), and Colonel Wardlaw's Regiment - John Barnes...

Dragoons are essential in your army if you are going to game any historical scenarios - they played a very important part at Marston Moor and Naseby. When one thinks of dragoons in the British Civil Wars one immediately thinks of them lining hedgerows at Naseby. But after that, who were they and what did they do? Gervase Markham, writing in 1634: “the last sort of which our Horse troopes are called Dragons, which are a kinde of footman on Horsebacke”. He then goes on to describe their weaponry “dragons are short peeces of 16 inches the Barrell, and full musquet bore”. The horses (usually referred to as 'nags') supplied to dragoons are described as 'ordinary'. Required only for transport, dragoon mounts were more likely to be commandeered cart-horses than what we could call thoroughbreds. The New Model Army budget for a dragoon mount was half that of a cavalry mount. They were in essence an early mobile infantry. Formed into groups of eleven men, ten would dis...