Keep Your Powder Dry

An interesting regiment this one, changing allegiance on a number of occasions, and regularly being disbanded and raised anew.  The Marquis of Huntly appears to be loyal to himself and himself alone: which ever side was furthering his cause (or whoever was fighting against his personal enemies) would benefit from his sword.  Whilst they were Huntly's Regiment they were that in name only - they were trained and commanded in the field by Lieutenant Colonel William Johnston. Raised originally to fight in the First Bishop's War in 1639 they would fight at Trot o’Turriff; the battle of Megray Hill; and Brig o’Dee. Huntly managed to get himself imprisoned in April 1639 attempting to broker a peace deal with the Earl of Montrose; he was released from prison and he and his regiment played no part in the Second Bishops' War. They were raised again in 1644 this time fighting for the King and were present at the taking of Aberdeen; and the storming of Montrose (the town not the Marq...

Here's the final unit of highlanders from the current batch of figures for the Army of Montrose. More will follow, eventually. When I recovered from the psychological trauma of having to paint tartan. The Lochaber Highlanders were a subset of Cameron Highlanders, traditionally fiercely loyal to the crown they are perhaps best known for their modern association with the  Lochaber axe which their valley lends it's name to: the Lochaber axe is a traditional Scottish halberd that may or may not originate from Lochaber. The Lochaber men's loyalty to the Stuarts would be the last acts of the suppression of the Jacobite 1745 Rising. We don't know much about the Lochabermen as an entity in their own right (their exploits with the 1745 Rising are quite well documented) as they were raised by their Clan Chief Allan Cameron of Lochiel and their exploits are possibly subsumed into the general Clan Cameron history.  They are believed to have fought at Tippermuir and Inverlochy, wher...

Captain Thomas Sandford (sometimes Sanford) most probably raised his independent Company of Firelocks in Shropshire, for service in Ireland.  Thomas was described as a 'colourful character': which seems fairly accurate, as evidenced by his correspondence. One of his letters, addressed to the garrison at Hawarden, began: "Behold the messenger of death, Sanford and his firelocks, who neither use to give, nor take quarter" He had previously been a quartermaster serving with the Earl of Northumberland's Regiment of Foot during the First Bishops' War.  When originally raised the company had a strength of about 60 men. They arrived in Dublin in 1642 and served under Ormonde, where they helped lead the assault on the Confederate forces at Kilrush. Of the men who went to Ireland 50 men returned to Chester in 1643. Once back in England they fought for the King at Hawarden* and Beeston Castles.  At Beeston legend has it that Sandford and eight of his men famously scaled...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I am always on the lookout for suitable commanders to augment my armies.  This time my attention turned to Naismith whose figures match nicely heightwise with PP. Naismith horses are a little 'esoteric' so they were ditched and replacement PP horses sourced. All these figures come from just two packs - the Montrose character pack (EC14 Montrose, Leslie and Dundee), and the EC06 mounted Scots officer pack. Those tempted to purchase from Naismith should check the status of the company on internet forums, as service can be sporadic at times. As of 03/01/2021 the Naismith-Roundway website has gone, and the domain is available to purchase. I fear that these ranges may now have disappeared. Update April 2021: sadly, it does indeed look like Naismith have disappeared. However a limited stock of Naismith ECW can be found in stock at KeepWargaming (no limbers I'm afraid, as I've just bought the last packs). They do have the per...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will recognise the name Sir Gervase Lucas, we've already 'met' his Regiment of Horse . Just as his Regiment of Horse were based at Belvoir* Castle, so were his Regiment of Foot. Being based at the Castle, they didn't get out much: they fought in and around the castle; venturing out to fight at Cotes Bridge; Newark; were besieged at Belvoir Castle; they left Belvoir Castle to reinforce Lichfield and were certainly present when Lichfield fell, although it isn't certain if they were besieged in the Close. Sir Gervase had helped escort King Charles from the battlefield at Naseby to safety, and after the Civil Wars would be rewarded by Charles II by being made Governor of Bombay, with a salary of £2 a day (and an initial sweetener of £1500). Sadly he didn't get to enjoy this job for long, as he died within a year of taking it up. No known coat colours are recorded, so pure conjecture gave them blue coats. A handful of headswaps, mo...

 Having been asked the tricksy question,  What is it: The English Civil War, The British Civil Wars or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms? Pictures from Holly Holy Day 2020, Nantwich's annual celebration of the battle I will attempt to answer it... but first, some definitions.  British , means belonging to the archipelago known as the British Isles, a geographical term (Great Britain is the name of the largest island in the archipelago). Britain is not the name of a country, it is the name of an island on which there are two countries and a principality. The term is, understandably, unpopular in Eire. Three Kingdoms - Charles was concurrently king of England, Scotland and Ireland. The kingdoms were separate countries, the Act of Union creating the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland hadn't happened yet. But what about Wales? (long story made short): Wales had been subsumed by England in the thirteenth century and politically when the word England was used, it included Wale...

Who'd have thunk it, another year of KeepYourPowderDry? Due to Covid restrictions there was no party this year, so here's a pic from a previous works do - a goats and goblins theme (the accounts department do like their fancy dress). Regular readers will notice that the Saturday boy wasn't invited as his mum wouldn't let him out after the state he'd left the downstairs loo in , after the last works 'do'. First off there are quite a few people I need to say thank you to: everyone who has visited and read my posts, I still find it bemusing that so many people are interested in my nonsense; also, those of you who have taken the time to write kind words about the blog; a special thank you to all the fellow bloggers who link to this site from their own blogs. This year has seen KeepYourPowderDry pass an enormous milestone - visitor numbers have just eased past 126,000 hits! Which is really quite staggering when I didn't really expect anyone to read what I...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will no doubt have been wondering why some 'wargamer favourites' haven't made an appearance on this blog yet - the King's Lifeguard, Hesilrigge's lobsters and so on... Well wait and wonder no more. I will spare you the long boring story why they have only just made it to the the painting table over three years after they were originally purchased. Here they are now, and expect a return to Royalist and Parliamentarian units for the next few months. Don't be confused by the the grand title of this Regiment of Foot - they were just that, a regular Regiment of Foot. The actual lifeguarding bit is down to the Gentlemen Pensioners (not to be confused with the King's Lifeguard of Horse, who were a different unit altogether, although WargamerFacts™ insists that the two cavalry units are one and the same). In the the modern British Army this Regiment would have the words "King's..." or "King's Own..." at...

I can put off painting tartan for only so long, so time to grasp the nettle and get down to it. So here are the next clan of marauding men from the Highlands. Led by their Clan Chief, Sir Lachlan Maclean 1st Baron Morven, they fought at Inverlochy; Auldearn; and Kilsyth. They were present at the loss of Mull (Leslie came to the Island with a strong force of horse and foot in search of eight Irishmen, who were sheltering on Mull: seven were caught and executed, the eighth fleeing)   and the defence of Duart Castle. Sir Lachlan died in 1650 and the Chiefdom passed to his son Sir Hector Maclean. Hector was commissioned as colonel of foot of a Regiment to be raised from Argyll and Bute highlanders; they joined the army at Stirling in 1651 and fought at Inverkeithing. The Clan lost 500 men at Inverkeithing, as well as Sir Hector. It was during this battle that seven brothers died protecting their Clan Chief. Each brother crying "Another for Hector" as they stepped forward...

Not having been frightened off from 'painting tartan' a second highland regiment rolls off the painting table. This time Donald Farquharson of Monaltrie’s Highland Regiment of Foot. Donald Oig Farquharson of Monaltrie was called ‘the pride of Braemar'; he spent six months at court and clearly made an impression, as Charles would always call him "my man". Whilst visiting Edinburgh King Charles was informed of Donald being threatened in a fray by some Covenanters, the King angrily exclaimed, “Who dares be so bold as to touch my man, Donald Farquharson?”  Donald would be slain by a pistol-shot in street fighting in Aberdeen on 16th March 1645. His death was much lamented by the Marquis of Montrose, who had his body buried with military honours in Drum's Aisle of St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen. A Victorian plaque marks the supposed spot. When I paint 'tartan' I pick about four base colours and paint randomly, on this occasion the two highland officers in ...

Every so often a little snippet of information turns into a day of book diving and visiting some of the more esoteric corners of the world wide web.  Ballads such as  The Valiant Commander with his Resolute Lady  tell us of women wearing men's clothes and taking up arms; and, there are many myths and legends of women donning men's clothes to fight in the wars - but is this fact or fiction? The lot of camp followers and the women working as spies is relatively well documented (in C17th terms that is!) but did women cross dress and actually get to the sharp pointy end of things?  Professor Mark Stoyle of Southampton University investigated, and wrote a paper on the subject (I)n 1643, a draft proclamation was drawn up, setting out required standards of behaviour for Charles I’s army. It included a hand-written memo in the margin from the king himself stating ‘lett no woman presume to counterfeit her sex by wearing mans apparall under payne of the severest punishmen...

Here's the third of three Irish regiments of foot; Colonel Manus O’Cahan’s Regiment of Foot. Not much is known about O'Cahan (prononunced O'Kane) or his men. An experienced soldier, both he and his Regiment had been recruited from Owen Roe O'Neil's Northern Army of the Irish Confederation in the early months of 1644. Captain Mortimer’s company of dragoons grew out of the Regiment: musketeers started being provided with horses for scouting and raiding parties, eventually becoming classed as dragoons in March 1645. O'Cahan's was made up of seven companies which were formed along a sectarian divide: five companies of Protestants, and two made up of Catholics. This sectarian divide would provide grounds for confusion and inter-regimental fighting (and I don't mean not so friendly fisticuffs). Shipped to Scotland in the first half of 1644 they fought at  Kinlochaline Castle; Tippermuir, where they fielded 400 men; Aberdeen; Fyvie; raided Inverary; Inverlochy,...

Alexander MacDonnell was the brother of Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquis of Antrim. The family was a branch (technically called a sept) of the Clan Donald, an historic clan with claims to the title Lord of the Isles. Randal would die without producing an heir and Alexander would go on to become the 3rd Earl of Antrim (Randal was 1st Marquis, 2nd Earl in case you are wondering why it seems as though I have poor numeracy skills). The good thing about taking pictures of 15mm figures and looking at them on a big screen is noticing mistakes - the errant pike (back row, left hand side as we view it) has now been repaired. Alexander had been travelling around Europe on his Grand Tour (think seventeenth century Inter-Railing) and returned to Ireland as the Irish Rebellion was beginning to gather pace. He sided with the Confederate rebels and was given command of a Regiment in 1642 by Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill. When the Regiment was sent to Scotland in 1644, as part of the Irish Brigade, Alexander...