Irish Jacobite command stands

In honour of the family heritage of my 98 year-old grandmother who died last week, I thought it an appropriate time to post some images of my recently painted Irish Jacobite senior command stands. My grandmother's paternal grandparents were Irish Catholic farmers from County Tipperary who immigrated to New Zealand in the 1870s.

James ll himself, accompanied by a mounted ADC and standard bearer from his Foot Guards

These figures are from the 28 mm Front Rank 17th Century range

The flag is James's royal standard from Warfare Miniatures 

James's premature departure from Ireland after the battle of the Boyle earned him the sobriquet 'Seamus a caca,' meaning 'Seamus the Shit' in Gaelic. The Irish felt abandoned and betrayed by their king but still fought on to defend his kingdom with very little support from their French allies.   

I'm going to use this stand to represent my favourite Jacobite general, Sir Patrick Sarsfield, later known as Lord Lucan (not to be confused with the one who disappeared in the 1970s suspected of murdering his children's nanny).

I'm quite happy with how this grey horse turned out after dry-brushing with a few different tones of grey. The figure is listed as William of Orange in the figure range and I've modified the horse a wee bit.

I've taken the week off from work so hopefully I'll get some painting done and have photos of Antrim's regiment in a week or two.

Until next time! 

  

James II Irish Foot Guards

I finished off James ll's Irish Foot Guards a few weeks back but I just got around to photographing them. These are the first of my foot regiments for my Irish Jacobite army and I have another three to paint up before the demo game at Conquest, Christchurch, in late October. I'm halfway through painting Antrim's regiment (in white/grey coats) and I've also started another horse regiment (Tyrconnel's). I thought I would have a few more units done by now, but never mind, I'm sure the other Southern Strategists will be progressing their painting to ensure we have enough units for a decent game...fingers crossed!

James's Irish Foot Guards. Three stands of 6 figures in double-ranks and one stand of 3 pikemen in single rank at the rear.

The centre command stand. These figures are by Front Rank and the flags are by Warfare Miniatures via the League of Augsburg website. 

One of the two musketeer stands. I've chosen to have blue garters for this unit based on the examples found in the Guards Museum in London.

I decided to include pikemen with this unit as extra defence against cavalry. During this period there was a move away from using pike, with greater emphasis being placed on firepower. However, most Jacobite units used pikes to compensate for the limited number of firelocks and matchlocks they had compared to the Williamite forces.

I wasn't sure what colour to use for the sashes and there is very limited information regarding uniforms for the Jacobite units. I think white provides a nice contrast to the red coats and is in keeping with the traditional white rosettes worn by Jacobites.

The next posting will features James himself, along with my favourite Jacobite general, Patrick Sarsfield.

Until next time!