Highland Command

 

Hello there

This is something of a follow up post, some command for the Highland Archer contingent in my Army.

I fully intended to do these straight after but well, that's distraction for you !

All figures bar the charging Kern (Perry Miniatures) are from Antediluvian Miniatures.

The commander and Gallowglass with spear both came with heater shields which I elected to leave aside. The range is intended for an earlier period but luckily for me the armour and dress had little change over time though I believe the shields were not in use by the sixteenth century. 

The figures are really evocative and indeed no doubt inspired by some of the tomb effigies that survive such as this effigy from the mid 16c at Finlaggan.

The Cateran Piper, Gallowglass and Irish Kern all wear the saffron Leine (shirt) of which you can learn a lot more about in this previous post upon Irish Kern.

One of the reasons for the slight delay in this group was how to represent the plaid and trews that the commander wears. I have had very mixed results with plaid (forerunner to tartan) and shelved it for a while but happily help was at hand with a recommendation for this tutorial available for free download from Flags of War.

I had such good fun with it that I gave the piper a plaid mantle.....which was either a stroke of genius or 3 hours i'm never getting back but I do love the results.

I then went down a rabbit hole of researching tartan which was fun once you get past all the Victorian revival. The colours I chose were at random but it seems are typical of the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides and yellow was also favoured for commanders to stand out.

South of Lewis is the peninsular of Ardnamuchan, part of the lands of clan Macdonald which is what the banner is traditionally associated with.

It is one of two banners captured by Sir William Molyneux, a captain in Sir Edward Stanley's division. Sir William Molyneux is buried in St Helens Church, Sefton and upon his tomb were depictions of the two banners that he captured. 

The ownership of one of the banners he captured has not been established, and the part of the brass representing it has been broken off. However one brass does survive which depicts this banner.

“on a field, gules – ships or galleys, -argent; a falcon rising, or between a stag in his course and a greyhound running, or courant-argent; in the point, the crie-de-guerre or war-cry, clanc tout”

The banner is I believe mis-described as belonging to Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl Huntly who survived the battle and whilst Molyneux is credited with capturing his banner, the Heraldic symbols shown here are typical of Macdonald. Perhaps the lost part of the effigy featured the Huntly banner?

MacDonald Coat of Arms

Either way this mis-description does feature in some books on Flodden whilst others also suggest per the above.

There's a really interesting article on Sir William Molyneux here .

In closing, whilst the base represents the highlanders under the joint command of Lennox & Argyll, I wanted to go with a standard that could be used in other games. 

I based the figures in a sort of last stand type composition as a nod to how the banner was captured at Flodden.

Not sure what's next, the Flodden hyper-fixation is still strong though and I think my English forces need a bit of attention, let's see what comes off the painting desk.

Hope that was a fun read

Bye for now

Stuart