More information on Volunteers of Ireland uniform

 Francis Lord Rawson in uniform of the Volunteers of Ireland Regiment

www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Portrait-of-Francis--Lord-Rawdon---Hasti/0CA65A11F99001E2

Over the years I have painted two versions of the loyalist Regiment the Volunteers of Ireland.  The uniform references were few and far between and I was just not sure about the brandenburg lace and helmet instead of cocked hat.  But, I am coming around to the version accepted by most people today and done so very well by the Perry Brothers.

  The portrait of Francis Lord Rawdon at the top of the page was posted by Chase on the Fife and Drum miniature forum.  To me it has been a revelation.

 The reference usually used to show the unusual uniform is this engraving of Lord Rawson with small figures in the background.  I wondered how accurate this was when I first saw it in Phil Katcher's book on The American Provincial Corps 1775-1784 published back in the 1970's.  

Recently I found refences to caps being issued in 1779 to the volunteers.  Although there is no illustration or description of them we know at least the regiment had caps and not cocked hats.  A latter return mentioned Brandenburg lace and collar and cuff in facing color (green).  

So my first attempt at painting the regiment had them in round hats. I was happy at first.  But had that nagging doubt.

 And, I really liked the Perry Brothers miniatures version in the unusual uniform.  So eventually I did them with those figures.  The old regiment got promoted into the 63rd regiment so all was good. 

  But the portrait of Rawdon, wearing what the engraving illustration showed was a real revalation.  Here he is wearing what must be the uniform of the regiment.  Outstanding!  Now I do not have to be concerned if my miniature regiment is correct.  Yes, its sad that a grown man worries about such things.

H. G. Wells playing "Little Wars"

 

 What a great father's day gift!  Alexandra and Nathaniel collaborated on getting this for me.  Nathan it the print while Alex got the frame.   Its a large farmed picture of H. G. Well playing his miniature wargame.  The print has been reproduced many times and I am sure mist wargamers are familiar with it.  I have just the place to hang it by my Wargames table to add inspiration and class to my games.

Take the cross road! A Crimean Action

 

For club game night I hosted a "Charge of The Light Brigade" game.  A Russian infantry and cavalry division attempted to capture a cross road to disrupt the Allies supply line.  A British Infantry and cavalry division with a French reinforced brigade attempted to hold that same cross road.  Victory conditions were capture and hold two of three buildings by end of game and/or reduced other side to less then 50%.

The battlefield.  The Allies are set up on the right of the picture and the Russians are set up on the left.
The three buildings represent the village.  

The battlefield from the opposite side.

The Russians (John and Warren) brought their entire Cavalry division, all four batteries and eight infantry battalions onto the table.  Another eight battalions were held in reserve.  The cavalry set up on their left flank and was to turn the allied flank while the infantry marched against the village.  All infantry was in march column formation for the race to the village criss roads.

The Allies (Phil and Kevin)  set up on their side with French on the right and the British in the center and left.  While the French commander choose to guard his flank with the cavalry the British commander placed his guns and cavalry in his center.  A most unorthodox formation!  But, it enabled them to get into two of the three buildings first so perhaps it was not so unorthodox after all!  The Allies were first into the village and quickly meet up defensive positions.  Artillery batteries were quickly in lumbered.   

  One unusual aspect of the rules I use, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is the turn sequence and command points.  The game is a "I Go U Go" but with a twist.  Each infantry battalion, cavalry Regiment and artillery battery has a certain amount of command points (CP).  Better units have more;  sluggish or poor units have less.  Thus a Guards battalion could have 12 CP;  A Russia battalion 8 CP and poor Johnny Turk has 4 CP.  When it is your sides turn each unit may do one operation.  Move, change formation, fire, etc. Its free!  After that, each unit may do a second operation but it costs 1 CP.  So you could move again or fire again or close into close combat.   BUT if you do this the other side gets to react to it.  They can shot back at that unit.  If a battery is limbered it can unlimber.  Then, if you want you can do a third thing but it now costs 2 CP.  And the other side can react to it.  This can go on indefinitely, with each extra move costing more CP.   But once you run out of CP they are gone forever.  BTW if your battalion commander is killed you loose what CP he has.   So use them wisely and be careful! 

The Russians quickened their pace and moved forward.  They also brought their reinforcements onto the table.  But the British countered with very effective long range rifle and artillery fire against the massed columns.

On the Russian right, a column closed on the Highland Brigade.  The Highland commander cooly  directed their fire and decimated first one then a second Russian battalion.  The survivors routed back causing a chain reaction not morale checks.  

Another unusual part of the rules is moral and morale markers.  Due to casualties or other bad things happening your regiment may get a moral marker.  You can use a free move to remove it or just drag it around the board with you.  But for every marker you get, you subtract 1 from every dice roll you have to make.  And since you roll dice to move, fire,  check moral, etc this can quickly cause headaches!  As the Russian quickly found out.

On the Russian left, the cavalry division closed in on the French cavalry.  The commander chose to place his cavalry regiments one behind the other to support the first line. 

 Outnumbered, a Zouave battalion (including Mr zigzag)  drew up to support the Chasseur d'afrique.  As the Russian cavalry charged forward they took heavy fire and ran into both the French cavalry and  battalion.  This was too much and the Russian cavalry Regiment routed back into its supports.  Again this caused a massive retreat on that flank.

Times up gentleman.

The clock on the wall rang out that time was up.  With both flanks gone and the Allies secure in the village they conceded the battle.  In the words of the Russian commander, " although we lost a lot of poor  peasent soldiers tonight, at least they are now in a better place. " How thoughtful!  

Thank you to Kevin, Phil, John and Warren for playing in my game.  All agreed it was a fun game and a good time.  And its great to once again have in person events and club game night.

Club game night

 

It's club game night and as usual we put on three games for the monthly event.  We are back to in person gaming and its great to be with friends once again.  Club members volunteer to put on games and set up everything. Usually there are three games for the meeting and you can pick which game you would like to play in.   For this evenings games we had 16 club members attending and one guest.

Tonight's events:

Ralph Gero –  Sausages with Mustard
Rules: Lion Rampant, 28mm.
A large band of Mongol Raiders under the fierce warlord Kadan are burning villages and farms in Hungary and the eastern regions of Germany. Teutonic knights respond to the Pope’s call for all good Christians to oppose the Mongols. The two forces come together in a village beyond the gates of the city of Liegnitz. The Mongol force needs to destroy four high value targets in the village before the defenders can eliminate half of the Mongol force.

There will be a separate post for this battle.  Please be patient while the correspondent for the times finishes his tea.

Mark Nichipor – Crimean War 1854
Rules: Charge of The Light Brigade, 25mm.
Meeting engagement.  Russian infantry division and a Cavalry division vs British 1st Division  and French Brigade plus attached cavalry fight for control of a important cross road.

There will be a separate post for this battle.

Earl Richards – French and Indian War Skirmish
Rules: Musket & Tomahawk, 28mm.

A great fun game.  Settlers, warriors, regulars and militia all clash in a fun and fast paced game. 

What I worked on this week

 

  I think I got my painting mojo back!

Finished up my wagons and a bunch of Indians and militia for King Philips War this week.  Its been fun and I have enjoyed it very much.  I still need to base the wagons but the Indians and Pilgrims look fine.

Now its time to put painting aside as Friday is game night for the club.  I am putting on a Crimean War Russian vs British and French battle around capturing a cross road.  More on this and the other game later.

Work in progress Wampanog Indians

 

Slowly getting my Wampanoag Indians painted.  These are from Brigade Games and are very nice figures.  But, used to painting multiple same uniforms its taking me a bit to paint these individualistic warriors.  But now I have a little over half of the fifteen figures done I am starting to get the feeling of how to do them.  

Bases for both these figures and the militia are in order so I will be a basing fool come the  end of the month.  Simple round bases for these fine fellows.

And here is the portrait figure of King Philips himself.  Of course there is no picture of him from real life and most illustration of him are artist imagining. The most common illustration if him was done by Paul Revere in 1772.  It appears to have been "borrowed" from an earlier portrait if some Mohawks done by another artist.  Things like this did not bother Revere who freely borrowed from many people.  But that could be another post some day.

Work in progress Wagon

 

Slowly putting together the wagons I bought.  Little bit if a learning curve as there are no instructions and you should try fitting the pieces before gluing.  But I think I figured it out.  Once in did that it was fun assembling them and painting this one.  I think I have to work on my shading if the canvas top so any advice would be appreciated.

I painted this one natural wood, although in the future I may paint them in a more military blue or reddish brown.  I figure since wagons were hired locally not all would be the same color.

I also have to cut out a base for the entire thing. This was a piece of wood I had laying around but I think its a tad too big.  I think by the end of the month I will be doing a massive basing effort with my pilgrim militia, Wampanoag Indians and wheeled transports.