A darned good read it is too and for those of us lucky enough to have been on the 2017 tour of Somerset, following Monmouth's footsteps, its a very enlightening read. Dave is reading the book as well and has said its a good 'un too.
What it does highlight is just how organised the Whig rebels were, why & how much Monmouth and Argyll, mistrusted each other so much and how the various armies were organised - in quite some detail!
Having taken inspiration form the book I painted up a troop of rebel horse that can be used in either Monmouth's or Argyll's armies.
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| Monmouth's Lifeguards, 1685 |
The figures are Front Rank and arguably a little late in style for the 1685 rebellions, the next batch will have more campaign style 'battered' hats, as these are Lifeguards I wanted then to have a touch of avante-guard fashion about them - thus they are sporting a natty purple coat, faced red, supplied in bulk from the Dutch Republic, these coats were found in both Monmouth's and Argyll's stores along with supplies of black powder and weapons which also included large numbers of double barrelled carbines and quad barrelled pistols.
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| Three Troopers in Purple and Red coats funded by William of Orange |
These six figures represent three troopers in their purple jackets plus a trumpeter in reversed colours, along side two officers - one wearing his English army red coat with blue facings and the ensign in a blue coat with red facings.
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| Another view, these guys were veterans who fought in Dutch Service |
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| Command figures, the standard is from an illustration in the book |
So Monmouth was able to form a Troop of Lifeguards and this is what these fellows represent in the English rebel army.
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| Another view of the command group |
If deployed north of the border these guys would form a troop in Argyll's cavalry force lead by Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree, these guys were known to be 'Dutch' veterans and fought well at the Battle of Muirdyke.
As an aside one of my ancestors, John Whiteford, was an the Ensign in William Cleland's Troop of the the Scots Regiment of Dragoons, who fought at this battle defending James II's cause against the Whigs.
The yellow ensign in the photo's is a flag presented to Monmouth's Lifeguards by the women folk of Taunton in Somerset.
Once the current Covid madness is over I plan to run a series of games following the Monmouth & Argyll Rebellions, for these I'll be using Barry Hilton's excellent 4Play system with a dash of campaign stuff splashed over the top - quite literally!
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| The Argyll Rebellion in miniature! |
