An Introduction

"Heard ye not! heard ye not! how that whirlwind the Gael -

To Lochaber swept down from Loch Ness to Loch Eil, - ..."

From 'The Day of Inverlochy', by Iain Lom MacDonald 1625-1710. 

The Battle of Inverlochy was the Royalist Marquis of Montrose's  third great victory over the Covenanting Scottish Government's forces during the Great Rebellion, or English Civil War 1642-1652.  It is set apart from his other battles in having a large proportion of Highlanders fighting on either side.  Indeed, it could be said that the battle had little to do with the King or his enemies in the English Parliament, and much to do with two of the great Scottish Clans; Clan Campbell and Clan Donald.  As such the battle can be seen as the last Highlander versus Highlander battle in Britain.

As a long standing student of the 17th century and wargamer (i.e. toy soldier wrangler) the campaign of the Marquis of Montrose and his ally Alisdair MacDonald have always held a great fascination. The campaign was the desperate struggle of a disparate band of Scottish Royalists, Irish Confederates and Scottish Highlanders to wrest control of Scotland from the dominant Covenanting Scottish Government based in Edinburgh.  Their hope was to raise Scotland in support of King Charles, defeat his enemies in Scotland, and then march South to the King's support in England.   Montrose fought a remarkable campaign around Scotland in which he defeated a number of larger, and more professional, forces sent against him over a 12 month period during which he had little in the way of a standing army, and no permanent base of operations.

This blog will form an account of the journey to re-create in miniature the battle between the Marquis of Montrose's Royalist army, and the army of his great rival the Marquis of Argyll, at Inverlochy.  The blog will cover the research carried out into the battle, as well as the collection and fielding of the two miniature armies.

Alba gu bràth!