Keep Your Powder Dry

Colonel Patrick Graham of Inchbrackie was a cousin of the Marquis of Montrose, and was known as Black Pate because he had been facially disfigured in a gunpowder explosion.  Inchbrackie was an ardent supporter of Montrose and Charles I, and raised a small regiment of Highlanders from the Atholl area -  the regiment were also known as the Perthshire Levies.  The regiment was raised  from the Atholl estates and were in the main Stewarts, Robertsons, Camerons and Murrays.  One of these men, Alexander Robertson was later given a pension by Charles II in recognition of his services. The Robertsons carried a standard at the point of which was a small stone known as the Clan-Nan-Brattich that apparently made them invincible in battle.  They fielded 500 men at Tippermuir, were present at Fyvie, fielding 500 men again this time at Inverlochy, fought at Auldearn, possibly fought at Alford, fielded 200 men at Kilsyth, then besieged Inverness. They finished off  b...

I suppose this post was inevitable; I started wondering what colour palette I would need to use to paint my forthcoming Montrose army. I've already investigated coat colours , general dye colours and how that roughly translates to paint codes , but I needed a rough idea of tartan colours, shirts and in particular those colours favoured by the Irish. Just as there is a wargamer fact™  that 'the London Trained Bands all wore red coats' so there are also quite a number of well established wargamer facts™  concerning the clothing of the Irish and Highlanders. But how factual are these facts? Highlanders Wargamer Fact™: the Highlanders wore yellow shirts .  Highlanders did wear shirts, and some, at least were dyed yellow. Highlander's shirts were made from coarse linen, they certainly didn't lace up at the front (in an Adam and The Ants style). James Gordon's History of Scots Affairs 1637-1641 (written 1841) has this description “As for their apparel; next the skin,...

You probably don't know much, or have even heard of Sir Horatio's Regiment of Horse but you will, no doubt, be aware of their cornets; nor may you know the story behind the less than subtle message emblazoned on the cornets. Cary's Cornet - original artwork by Tony Barton, from a Military Modelling series on ECW flags available to download via BCW Regimental Wiki Sir Horatio was originally a Parliamentarian, fighting as colonel of foot in Waller's Southern Association: Cary would defect to the Royalist cause shortly before the Siege of Bristol in 1643. The history of the regiment is confused by Symonds's mistaken suggestion that the regiment was taken over by the Earl of Cleveland, and that Cary would raise a second regiment in the West Country. The details that we can  attribute to Cary's are: possibly skirmishing at Westbourne, possibly at Cheriton, Storming of Leicester (where they numbered 200), Naseby, besieged at Bristol (the karmic circle catchi...

The Army of Montrose: and so it begins... But first some housekeeping (so to speak).  My armies have custom casualty markers from Warbases with suitable messages around the rim of the markers - Parliament's have "for God and Parliament", the King's have "pro Deo Rege et Patria", the Covenanters "Couenant for Religion King and Kingdomes", and  clubmen "Repel all plunderers!". After much deliberation a number of slogans were thought up, but nothing really leapt out at me. "To Win or Lose It All", a line from Montrose's poetry was the leading contender for quite some time, until I started researching flags. Then I saw the slogan on the Strathbogie Regimental flag "for God the King against all traitouris". A few characters longer than any of my other slogans, would it fit? Thankfully Warbases tested it out and it fits! Ladies and gentlemen - we have a winner. Flags were always going to be a bit of an issue. The True...

Having spent quite a bit of time, not to mention a few thousand words, prattling on about the colours (and paint codes) that I use to paint my toy soldiers, it is probably only right and proper that I discuss the hardware carried, and worn, by soldiers. This is an excuse to share lots of little bits of information that I have come across whilst researching my armies, and wider questions such as coat colours. Don't be surprised if there is a digression or three. For those of you new to the blog here are the other posts: What Colours To Use? What Colours To Use Part 2: Paint Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot Coat Colours Part 3: The Scots Coat Colours Part 4: Others - NMA, Dragoons & Horse The Trained Bands Caveat: these are my observations, with a smattering of references thrown in for good measure, they are in no way definitive. They could never be. The best we can ever aspire to, when modelling soldiers of th...