Keep Your Powder Dry

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... I must point out that all are valid terms, but some are possibly more valid than others (to bastardise some Orwell). We'll start with... The English Civil War (ECW), probably the most widely known and used term to describe the series of conflicts that occurred in the British Isles during the reign of Charles I. Has it's problems, according to an old joke it wasn't English, it wasn't civil, and it wasn't just a singular war. But in the common vernacular, widely understood.  The British Civil Wars (BCW) a much more accurate term than ECW: British including all of the nations that existed in  the British Isles. Some take issue with the word 'British' arguing that Britain (a name that is oft used to refer to the mod...

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...

Written histories of the Irish Brigade tend to have been fabricated by the Victorians who littered this history with romantic frilly nonsense.  Little is actually known about the 1,500 men of the Brigade. The Irish Brigade were sent to Scotland in order to support Montrose by the Earl of Antrim. Three regiments made up the Brigade, this regiment was commanded by Colonel James MacDonald. Not much is known about James, he is quite possibly the illegitimate son of the Earl of Antrim, but that is by no means definite. The Earl had three sons prior to getting officially married - James is most likely the youngest of the three. Raised in 1644 they were shipped over to Scotland and almost immediately took to the field at Tippermuir where they mustered 400 men; they then fought at Aberdeen; by February 1645 at Inverlochy their numbers had halved to 200; they fought at Auldearn, Alford and finally Kilsyth. What remained of the regiment is unknown, but we do know that James returned to Irela...

 So I have pontificated about clothing colours (in general)... What Colours To Use? What Colours To Use Part 2: Paint ...regimental coat colours (or not)... 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 ...and equipment... Painting Guide - Equipment Only time before I looked at artillery. So here it is. A re-enactors' cannon ready to be fired Artillery pieces were expensive to produce, heavy and difficult to move around. The idea of using artillery in battle (rather than in a siege) was still in it's infancy. Guns were placed before the battle and pretty much stayed there win, lose or draw. Gunners were highly skilled individuals, many having learned their art on the continent during the Thirty Years War, and were often described as mercenaries employed by whomsoever paid the most rather than whose cause their hearts s...

The final Parliamentarian harquebusiers for some time leave the painting table. Lord Ferdinando Fairfax's Lifeguard of Horse: raised in 1643 they were present at the capture of Leeds, and the Battle of Adwalton Moor. 1644 saw them besiege York, fight at Marston Moor, skirmish at Halton before skirmishing a Leeds. 1645 saw the regiment venture a little further afield after a skirmish at Skipton: they were sent to Cheshire to join Brereton's army - they didn't really do much apart from besieging High Ercall and joining the march into Wales (for which the regiment got paid £200). After service with Brereton they returned to Yorkshire after spending a couple of months in Derbyshire. Their final engagement was the Battle of Sherburn in Elmet. The Regiment carried an a cornet with interesting imagery -a Papal crown impaled upon a sword topped off by a royal crown. It carries a motto in Spanish which translates as "no hurt to the King, but to his evil Government" which s...