ECW- Montrose, the Irish and the Covenanters.

I was taking stock of my Highlanders the other day- thinking about the fact that this year was the 300th Anniversary of the battle of Glenshiel- the Rebellion of the '19 and preparing to do the battle again!!
(Click on "Jacobite Rebellion of the '19" down the right side! )

Now all these Highlanders could also be put to use from just about any period from the 1600's to 1746, so I started ticking off in my mind what I could use them for- and had an idea after reading Trevor Royle's book: Civil War, The Wars of the Three Kingdoms  and decided on one word- Montrose!!

So- dragging out some old figures, buying some more- adding in cavalry- I started collating forces for Montrose's battles:
Tippermuir, (or Tibbermore)
Aberdeen,
Fyvie Castle,
Inverlochy,
Auldearn,
Alford,
Kilsyth
and Philiphaugh.
Which one to do? - well at least to start with, I settled on Inverlochy,  2nd FEB 1645, so that I could have three units of Irish and MacColla's bodyguard.

I took the Order of Battle from 'English Civil War Gaming Scenarios" Vol 4 by Robert Giglio- a very handy little book.

Starting with the Government forces, I need some Covenanters- infantry first up- Check!!
2 Units of Covenanter types and three units of highlander types.

 Some Cavalry-a couple of units - Check!

Some guns- Check!

Now Montrose's army- The infantry:

Gotta start with three Irish regiments- only two so far, need one more. And I will need to create a unit to represent MacColla's guard- small but very effective!

The Highlanders: 2 units representing Camerons, Sterwarts  of Appin and Athall, and  the Macdonalds

Sir Thomas Ogilvy's regiment of Horse- Check!

No guns!!

Rules??? Well this was a tough one- I was thinking of using Baroque, but then stumbled on the expansion pack for Liber Militum Tercios, which covers the ECW. My only concern was that I felt that they didn't cover the Highlanders adequately so I made my own stats for them.

Now to finish off the Irish and have a game!