More Highlanders?

 Yup, I think this may be the last stand for my 40mm 16thC Highlanders. 

The silvery guy is a Prince August Viking with a head and targe off of a very tall medieval Scot pikeman.

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I was going to have 2 of the swordsmen but one of them chopped his own leg off while trying to insert a pin in his foot to secure himself to the base. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

There's a feeling in the air that those dastardly English (sorry Mom) are about to come poking over the border again ere long......or there may be one of those annoying Scottish civil wars like Queen Mary vs her 1/2 brother the Earl of Moray, Catholics vs Protestants etc. Its a little bit later than my armies but little but fashion changed and besides, its the only Scottish battle that I've found where the Macfarlanes (on the Earl's side) played an important role by appearing late (an inherited gene), and in the rear of Mary's army, not that its often mentioned in the rare modern summaries of the battle.  

Anyway, I'm not going to reenact Langside, just some generic scenario, once these guys are fully dressed.  

Indulging Myself

Sometimes things just come together and either one seizes the moment or one lets it go by. 

Well, there I was, pondering my plans for this year, and of the passing of Rene Chartrand who I had the good fortune of meeting several times when I was a young officer cadet and cadet curator of the Musee de Fort St, Jean and also a member of the Montreal Wargame Club who were meeting at the old fort on Ile St Helene in Montreal  where Rene was curator amongst other things and would show us stuff. 

In addition, I had decided to focus more on 18thC campaigns in Canada, esp on Louisburg and Acadia. Then a Helion book sale flyer landed in my inbox and it included a two volume set with "Frontier Soldiers in New France" with Rene being a co-author. They also had a book on Grey's 1794 West Indies campaign, the only other book I had found on this subject had been in a university library some 30+ years ago.  Well, that was relevant to my current miniatures interest.  

Once looking, I stumbled across a new printing of a fairly rare 26 year old book on the 1745 siege of Louisburg, available from a "local" bookstore (about 120km but in Nova Scotia) . Well that was just the period I've been setting my games in, and Louisburg is a site that I've visited several times, so.........

Anyway, having just completed my first 7 decades, I decided to treat myself to help me stay on track over the next 2 decades. 

Death OR Glory

....and so the battle began.  Since the Saxons had managed to turn so as to move down the British flagship's starboard side, the central British ship was blocked unless she took a long way around, against the wind and in danger of rocky shoals. A horn blew from the flag ship and she was pointed towards the other Saxon ship. That left one ship to attack the large Saxon flagship with twice as many warriors but with two on one against the small Saxon ship, it might be possible to take it in short time.

The first two knights to scramble over to the Saxon ship were met by twice as many foes and pushed back.

Although outnumbered, the initial British attackers were better armoured than their Saxon enemies and slowly but steadily pushed them back into the bow and stern. But, could they keep that up as the fighting spread over the full deck giving the Saxons more room to deploy?

Nearer to the rocky shore, the British, especially the armoured regulars, steadily pushed back the Saxons until the remainder threw down their swords. Leaving the regulars to secure the captured ship, the middle ship turned and headed towards the outnumbered flag ship. The wind was not favourable to maneuvering quickly around to the Saxon's starboard side so they took the shortest path and used the Count's flagship as a bridge to the Saxon ship.

In no time at all, the Earl had a choice, fight to the death and his men with him, or surrender and come to terms to end the current war. It didn't take him long to decide to fight again another day.

A seagull's view of the end of the fight.