Order Of Battle - Royalist

"We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us" Henry V by William Shakespeare

Battle of Inverlochy, from the Royalist lines.

In this post I will describe how I interpreted the army described in the All The King's Men post as a wargames force on the table.

Wargames Rules

The rules you use will often affect the precise make up your wargames units.  However, I expect this example order of battle could be used as a guide for many sets.  I currently use Warlord Games' Pike and Shotte rules.  I have been a fan of the original Black Powder system, also from Warlord, since it was released.  I was in the process of trying to convert Black Powder myself for the English Civil War when Warlord released Pike and Shotte.  The great strength for me is how easy it is to tailor the quality of troops; very important for Montrose's battles were the abilities and qualities of troops vary wildly.

Order Of Battle

Commander-in-Chief command base: Lieutenant General James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose.

Right Wing

Command base: Major Alasdair MacColla
Major Thomas Laghtman's Regiment: 18 figure pike unit, 2 x 12 figure shot units

Centre

Command base: Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie

The MacDonalds of Glencoe and the the men of Lochaber, including the Camerons: 24 figure Highlander unit

The Captain of Clanranald, MacDonalds of Glengarry and Keppoch, the MacLeans of Duart, Coll, Kinlochaline, Treshnish and Ardgour: 24 figure Highlander unit

Left Wing

Command base: Colonel Manus O'Cahan

Colonel Manus O'Cahan's Regiment: 18 figure pike unit, 2 x 12 figure shot units

Reserve

(assumed to be under Montrose's direct command)

Colonel James McDonnell's Regiment: 18 figure pike unit, 2 x 12 figure shot units

Sir Thomas Ogilvy's Troop of Horse: 8 figure cavalry unit

This comes out as a roughly 1:10 figure to actual men ratio for the battle.  

Roster

How are the units classified for the battle?  Well, I have developed a handy A4 description of the army, or roster.  

Here is a link to a PDF Pike and Shotte roster for the Inverlochy Royalist army. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vghDSBqjCEEk7YxWxy4T_8VtalV2Pccr/view?usp=sharing

N.B. The 'Salvo' special rule used by the Irish regiments is from Warlord's "To Kill A King" Pike and Shotte supplement.

See you next time!

Starting Again

"Fallen race of Diarmed! disloyal, untrue,

No harp in the Highlands will sorrow for you;"
From The Day of Inverlochy, by Iain Lom, as published in The Heather and the Gale by Ronald Williams. 

Well, I thought I would have another go at this blogging lark.  My blogging may have fallen by the way-side, but my endeavours to re-create the Battle of Inverlochy in miniature have come to glorious fruition over the last three and a half years, as you can see from the picture above!

When I last blogged in February 2014 I had done a bundle of research, bought a fistful of figures, and commissioned a couple of figure painters to help with the daunting task of bringing the hundreds of lead (and plastic!) figures to life.  It took the rest of 2014 and much of 2015 to complete the figures, terrain boards, and the supporting cast of background 'fluff'.  So, the blog will now run through the story of how the wargame came together, how it played, and the short tour of shows where I demo'd the game during 2017.

In the next post I'll run through the wargame order of battle, and the figures that I chose to use to represent them.