Papal St Patricks Battalion in 28mm

[Yarkshire Gamer]

https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2022/10/papal-st-patricks-battalion.html

I've finally finished my 28mm Papal St Patricks Battalion (nothing to do with the one in Mexico for the US reader) done with Gring 40 figs.

It was a very short lived unit, just being around for about a year in 1860, made up of Irish Volunteers fighting for the Papal States in the Risorgimento.

It's a really unusual uniform and a joy to paint, sadly it never fought as a unit, most men never got the uniform and the flags are unknown, so there is a large splash of rule of cool with this unit but with the Commander being long lost Uncle Myles O'Reilly  ;-) I couldn't resist.

More pics on the blog post with more info in the unit, figs and painting.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[MaleGriffin]

Lovely troops! Thank you for the link!

[has.been]

"Ah an sure nowe aren't dey daycent fellows, one an all?"

Lovely job, & as to never really got going as a proper unit...
when did that ever stop us wargamers?
 

[CapnJim]

Lovely boyos there.  Well done, lad.

[Jemima Fawr]

They're flippin' epic! 

[Emir of Askaristan]

Lovely...!

[carlos marighela]

Great looking unit! Those Gringo 40s paint up well.

The 19th C counterpart to Eoin O'Duffy's blueshirts. Probably somewhat more militarily successful than O'Duffy's shower of shite, despite not seeing combat. 

[sepoy1857]

Looking brilliant Ken. Nice work.

[OB]

Lovely job Ken.  Myles Keogh who died with Custer and Co at Little Big Horn was one them iirc.  The Sioux got his Papal medal.

[FramFramson]

Man these guys look fantastic. Not often you get a unit with these colours and they turned out great! 

Great looking unit! Those Gringo 40s paint up well.

The 19th C counterpart to Eoin O'Duffy's blueshirts. Probably somewhat more militarily successful than O'Duffy's shower of shite, despite not seeing combat. 

O'Duffy's always good for a laugh though. As one commentator dryly noted, "Not exactly a tale to echo in the halls of Valhalla."

[OB]

Many years ago I awaited to hear an FG Senator and author come to tell us about O'Duffy and his fellows.  He didn't turn up.  I was there in a professional capacity rather than from any enthusiasm for the Blue Shirts and their legacy. The venue was thick with historians who opined in the lacuna.  Two things come back to me from over the decades:

First, O'Duffy's fellows did come under fire contrary to the popular view. It was though friendly fire.

Secondly, there was a culture clash between O'Duffy's men and Franco's. The former, off duty, set about  drinking themselves silly, the latter headed for the brothels. Both then disapproved of each other on moral grounds.

BTW, I'd have a more nuanced take than Carlos on the motivations of the Irish Papal Volunteers.  It was an opportunity to learn the military trade without joining the British Army.

[Jemima Fawr]

As an aside, I once knew a Welshman who got out of Spain with O'Duffy's Blueshirts.  He'd been serving with the Spanish Foreign Legion when the war broke out and having no love for the Left, was perfectly happy to fight with the Legion, but decided to desert when Franco started increasing the anti-British rhetoric.  The Blueshirts were happy to give him a uniform and false papers to get him out of the country when they returned home.

[carlos marighela]

Which lends credence to Brendan Behan’s remark that O’Duffy’s motley band were the ‘only army that went out to war, ever, and came back with more’. 

[Jemima Fawr]

Which lends credence to Brendan Behan’s remark that O’Duffy’s motley band were the ‘only army that went out to war, ever, and came back with more’. 

[italwars]

Years ago I read an interesting info about this Volunteers unit that fought even if piecemeal  not only at Castelidardo but also at Spoleto ecc..even if provided with surplus uniforms, inadequate meals (once they strongly protested and almost rose up cause they could nt stand the spicy Italian food and the lack of beer provisions) and lacking basic military tools , according to the Italian Official History published around 1930 from reliable sources the bersaglieri and Italian infantry sieging the fortified garrison of Spoleto were amazed to be outranged and outgunned by those very good Irish volunteers that pinpointed them with accurate shots from their rifled carbines..a weapon probably unknown in the Papal Army of that period and, as concern the Piedmontese one, probably distributed only to a few selected companies of the bersaglieri ..my only explanation could be that, maybe  , the Irish volunteers carried their own weapons bought trough some sort of fundraising among catholic communities …