Sunday 8 December 2013

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!

4 comments:

  1. Hi -- thanks for your link to my site, the British Civil War Project.

    Unfortunately the Internet Accounts of the Battle links in the sidebar don't work. I think you missed out the colon in the http:// part of the address.

    Anyway, Back to Inverlochy looks like a fascinating project. I've added a link from the BCW Project page on Inverlochy and also from the BCW general links page. Good luck with the blog and reconstruction of the battle -- I'll be following with interest and look forward to developments.

    Regards, Dave Plant.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave. I have corrected the link. Many thanks for your interest and the link from your site!

      Best regards,
      Andy.

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  2. Looks like a great idea for a wargame I shall have to give it a go myself sometime soon. Also just wanted to point out that the links to the "internet accounts of the battle" don't work and just a side note Alba gu brath would be scottish gaelic for Scotland forever. Alba go bragh is an anglicisation of Irish.

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  3. Hi Sean, thanks for stopping by and for the suggestions. I have corrected the broken links and the Gaelic. My mix up seems quite appropriate when you consider the mix of groups involved in the battle :-)

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