Wilsons Hospital Irish Rebellion AAR

[Rogerc]

We played a Black Powder Irish Rebellion game for the first time, cracking figures and fun game. Write up and pictures on the blog if your interested.https://gapagnw.blogspot.com/…/wilsons-hospital-ireland-179…

oirish by Roger Castle, on Flickr
lights by Roger Castle, on Flickr

[Lysandros]

Are AWI brits ok to use for the irish rebellion?
Had thete been any change in the uniform?
Looks good and interesting but is it one sided?

[Rogerc]

AWI Brits wore a tricorne and in the Irish rebellion a bicorne, the cut of the uniform is similar and some fencible units would look very similar. Personally I would use the correct figures and then also re-use them for Egupt or the battles in the Caribean.

In terms of one sided, well the French give the Irish side some much needed hitting power and it was initially a close run thing by all accounts. Clearly though un-trained pike armed Irish rebels dont stand up well in a formal battle situation to British Veterans when they come together. Many of the Crown forces though were Fencibles, Irish Militia. I personally think the war is better fought at a skirmish level where ambushes and so on can even things out.

[flags_of_war]

Rogerc that is great looking game and nice to see the flags on display

[jambo1]

What a super looking game, the Trent figures are great, full of character and have painted up really well. Great stuff!!

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Roger,

I'm beginning to think we must have been separated at birth - Elizabethans, GNW, AWI with British Grenadier, and now 1798?  Spooky!

AWI Brits wore a tricorne and in the Irish rebellion a bicorne, the cut of the uniform is similar and some fencible units would look very similar. Personally I would use the correct figures and then also re-use them for Egupt or the battles in the Caribean.

The cocked hat had become a little "flatter" at the front, but the only real difference in the coat was that the flat cape (collar), like you would find on a modern jacket/blazer, had turned into a "rise-and-fall" version, and they would be wearing gaiters to just under the knee, rather than the half-gaiters (that said, one-piece gaitered overalls were still being worn on campaign).  Unfortunately, whilst this uniform was worn, albeit heavily modified, for the Caribbean and Mediterranean, it was not worn in Egypt, as it was replaced by the Austrian-style closed, single-breasted jacket and the shako introduced in 1800 (though the latter was leather instead of the later felt version).

In terms of one sided, well the French give the Irish side some much needed hitting power and it was initially a close run thing by all accounts. Clearly though un-trained pike armed Irish rebels don't stand up well in a formal battle situation to British Veterans when they come together. Many of the Crown forces though were Fencibles, Irish Militia. I personally think the war is better fought at a skirmish level where ambushes and so on can even things out.

There were several occasions, especially early in the war, where the Crown forces were local Militia and the rank-and-file could be Catholic, and thus their loyalty could be a bit suspect, or at the very least their heart was not in the fight (that said, some of the Ulster Militias were extremely loyal).  I would give the Rebels more rapid movement, so that they can close quite quickly with their melee weapons which, from reading about the conflict, was what scared the Crown forces - a lot!

The mounted Yeomanry, on the other hand, were usually raised from the Protestant tenants of major landowners and thus could be quite excessive in their responses to the Rebels, especially once the latter had been captured - pitch-capping being the exclusive "atrocity du jour", although in fairness, many of them had seen what the Rebels did to Protestant landowners and their staff who didn't try to defend themselves - one being Richard St George Mansergh St George, the artist who produced the watercolours associated with the British troops at Germantown, and who is shown being carried off by his servant in the foreground of the della Gatta painting of the Chew House.  St George, who had been a model landowner and had treated his tenants fairly (and broadly sympathised with the Rebels' social demands), had allowed the Rebels onto his land and had his head almost severed with a rusty scythe by way of reward.

I'd be very careful with Fencibles, as several of the units were either Welsh (the Ancient Britons) or Scottish - and hence, like many of the Rebels, did not speak English!!! - and had developed a particular animosity towards the enemy, being the only "regular" Army units to commit atrocities during the uprising.  Such units would fight like hell.  In fact, after the large surrenders that ended the uprising, regular Army regiments were employed to escort the Rebels back home to their towns and villages, to prevent them being massacred by Yeomanry and Fencibles.

[Jemima Fawr]

What a beautiful game!

Re British uniforms and headgear, as BvW says, the uniform was largely the same as that worn in the AWI (I've actually handled a British officer's coat of the 9th Foot that was worn in 1797 and the tailor's label says that it was made in 1768 and only modified thereafter (it was kept for best dress).

Here's what the 61st Foot were wearing in 1792 - largely unchanged from the AWI except that the collar had changed to a standing design, the lapels were hooked together across the chest and the gaiters now came up to just below the knee.  The hat was still the same at this time, though many units lost the hat-lace, as here:



Note that the hat of the mid-late 18th Century was really a short bicorne, without a pronounced forward point - it only comes forward a little to go around the shape of the head.  The hat changed to a taller pattern in 1794 and then became a 'proper' bicorne, with the edges of the hat coming together over the top of the head.

Many Militia units did not adopt this new style of hat until well after 1794, if at all.  However, some of them did adopt the plumes and hackles that became popular with the new style of hat, while round-hats (often with bearskin Tarleton-style crests) also started appearing - especially on the heads of officers and/or flank companies.

So it's not too much of a stretch to use AWI infantry for the Irish Rebellion, especially if representing Militia or Fencible Infantry.  We did exactly that for the Cardiganshire Militia in our Fishguard 1797 game, as they were known to be still wearing laced, older-pattern hats in 1797: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2018/04/25/british-forces-at-fishguard-1797-part-2/



Re the Fencibles: My local bunch, the Pembrokeshire Fencible Light Dragoons, from south-west Wales, had a very black reputation in Ireland, though not as black as the north-Walian 'Ancient British' Fencible Light Dragoons.

[vtsaogames]

The Corlears Hook Fencibles have a rum reputation, though we have not hat lace at all.

[Rogerc]

Well I have learned a bit here thank you. Not my figures and chum Chris is plannign to use soem of them for revolutionary Caribean as well as Ireland. My own Egypt project when I get around to it will be  Perrys range which I also intend to use (where it works) for India against Mhrattas etc, who will (in some cases) do double duty in the ranks of my Sikh aRMY.

Being from Yorkshire I like to get my moneys worth from a collection.