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Wednesday 23 June 2021

1745 Dragoons & Artillery

I'm still working my way through the first unit (12 figures) of 'kilties' for the 1745, and I get the feeling I may be overdoing it a bit. I mean, who does highlights on the sock garters? 

But in the meantime, I have added a few other units. Oh, and decided that I couldn;t resist adding a couple more groups to the Shatp Practice forces. So an order to Flags of War, and I now have some North British Fusiliers, and some Irish Piquets to add to the forces arrayed. 

And this post was started ths morning, so by now... I did manage to finish a couple of things... 





Then there's these...








Close ups are very unforgiving...  I do need to fix Cumberland's face. And the drgoon standard bearer has been fixed since this picture was taken.

So the planned small forces will be: 


So far, 3/10 groups done for the Jacobites, 2/10 for the Hanoverians. Still a way to go... Right. Off to airbrush the base red for Lally and Scots Fusiliers. And another half-dozen 1/56 French tanks. 




Sunday 13 June 2021

1745 - A lengthy discourse or procrastination?

I've been planning the 1745 Project for some time. In fact, looking back at things, I first pledged to the Flags of War Kickstarter for figures back in 2018. Needless to say - this is not the oldest project \I have going, but it is one of the oldest since I moved continent in 2016. 

To date, there have now been three Kickstarter 'Waves' from Flags of War, and I have bought into each, so now, with the exception of the Irish Piquets,  (which I am now kicking myself I didn't get..) I now have a little of pretty much everything - 

I've actually had a long term hankering for a 1745 campaign or armies or battles. I suppose; having grown up with hugely conflicting and sometimes romanticised versions of the myth, having walked Culloden Moor in the rain, and learning to sing 'Hey Johnnie Cope' as a small child, it's inevitable that like most Scots, I would have some impression of the whole thing. I remember illustrations of how the Scot was depicted in contemporary or near contemporary prints and papers.   

'Sawney on the Bog House' att: James Gillray, (Wikipedia)

Untangling the myth from facts was immeasurably helped by Stuart Reid's 'Like Hungry Wolves' and '1745, A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising', some contributions by John Prebble 'Culloden' and more recent publications such as 'The Army of George II 1727-1760' Peter Brown and 'The Lilies & The Thistle' by Andrew Bamford. There are also of course, the Osprey Books on uniforms, clothing and campaigns. With the one thing in common being the illustrations that show inordinate amounts of tartan. There are tartan breeks, tartan waistcoats, tartan coats, jackets, cloaks, hose, plaids, hats - in fact, a wealth of tartan. 

It's not worth re-hashing all the debate about tartans here, most readers will know that much of the tartan myth is a spurious 19th Century concoction at least partly to soothe injured pride in the far-flung Imperial outpost of North Britain. So we know that tartan would not have looked as we now know it. 

What we do have are contemporary or near contemporary illustrations such as the famous painting by David Morier:- 

'Culloden', David Morier via Wikipedia

Not to mention numerous near contemporary portraits of Lairds, Clan Chiefs, and other 'High Heid Yins' of that ilk. Many of them wearing extraordinary, and to the modern eye, ludicrous amounts of tartan.

I'm suspicious of such sources, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, that there was a real tendency to 'other' the Jacobites, and what easier way than to play up their barbarity of dress. It's the equivalent of all those Victorian illustrations of Africans with bones through their noses and grass skirts. Savages, of course. 

Then there was the proscription of the kilt, so gentlemen needing to display their Scottish-ness were depicted in trews, waistcoats and jackets of tartan. Whether this was reflected in their daily dress it is impossible to know.   

In any case, I should really be painting dozens of kilted savages, with claymore and targe, dirk and musket, but instead I am shilly-shallying - and to date have spent more time on Shock Markers than on actual infantry.








Now, whether to do artillery, 10th Dragoons or \Bagot's Hussars next? Anything to defer the savage hordes,

Tuesday 1 June 2021

1745 - A Lacy Diversion

On schedule, and as glorious as the other figures so far, I now have the third release from the Flags of War 1745 Kickstarter. This release was some Hanoverian Grenadiers loading, Bagot's Hussars, Artillery, and some other rather nice specials, like 'Rude' Highlanders and a very nice Hanoverian Sergeant. 

I now have all the figures I need to do a reasonable sized Jacobite engagement for Sharp Practice, essentially 9 'groups' a side. For other rules, each figure could be 1-5 or 1-10 giving 40-80 men per group. 

The corollary is that I now have no excuse for not getting started painting. I should really finish up what's on my workbench, but where's the fun in that.. ? So, inspired by another post of someone having painted the Royal Ecossais, or Lord Drummond's regiment. I grabbed a single base yesterday and had a crack at it. Here's the results... 



I have to say I'm very happy with how these turned out. Being uniformed, they are probably the easiest to paint for the Jacobites. The plan, (which will doubtless fall apart very quickly..)  Is to alternate between Hanoverian and Jacobite groups, doing one per side till they are all done. Although it might make more sense to tackle them 2 bases at a time, as the roster is:

Jacobite

2 groups - Lowlanders (Duke of Perth's)

1 group - Royal Ecossais

2 groups - Highlanders (MacPhersons)

2 groups - Highlanders (mixed)

1 group - Bagot's Hussars

1 group - 3 lb gun with crew 

 Hanoverian

3 groups - Barrels (4th) Regiment (2 x Hatmen, 1 x Grenadiers)

3 groups - Buffs (3rd) Regiment (2 x Hatmen, 1 x Grenadiers)

1 group - Government Highlanders (64th?) 

1 group - Cobden's (10th) dragoons

1 group - 3ln gun with crew

Hopefully two fairly evenly matched sides. In hindsight, I probably should have made the Jacobite cavalry a 'mixed' unit of hussars, lifeguards etc, as the mounted were so few in number, especially compared to the relatively numerous Hanoverian mounted.  

By wargamers logic, I should now do one of the 'line' units for the Hanoverians, having done the glamour boys for the Jacobites. But I have some red coats to do, time to crank up the airbrush