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| Jacobite Foot Guards and Grand Prior's Regiments - stalwarts of King James's Irish Army |
Our Battle for Britain campaign has been running for a year now and in campaign terms we have come two years from the beginning of 1692 till the end of 1693. We've fought four major battles and twelve minor ones together with countless 'on paper' skirmishes and expeditions.
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| French Expeditionary Force in England 1692 - A tarnished reputation for commitment to the cause |
The manpower pool of the three Kings James II & VII, William III and Louis XIV are being stretched and squeezed meaning that new forces are being introduced frequently and the existing forces take the field in ever diminishing numbers. Some famous modern regiments have never got past their infancy before extinction - a great example being the Coldstream Guards.
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| Four years of war sees less than 1,000 Jacobite Irish Horse left in the saddle in England |
Others have seen so much combat that they have be re recruited several times over. New regiments have bee formed and gained status and reputation.
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| Forces of the commercially powerful NGWIC made no impression in Jamaica in 1692 |
New factions ave been created through the every expanding geographic blast zone of the war. I often get asked where does the info come from? What is the source of one idea or another?
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| General Torres Cuban Spanish fought well in Jamaica but were betrayed by the Huguenots |
Of course, much of it is imagination but mostly grounded in some germ of fact or an expansion of a historical activity or event which has bearing on what the campaign is about.
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| A growing menace - Sa-ki- mal: A death cult operating in San Dominique |
For a year we have kept a variable sized pool of players from a core of twenty one in troops, money uniforms and causes.
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| English Creole infantry - fought in Jamaica and curiously, under a foreign flag in Tortuga. |
As the war appears ready to enter its fifth year (and the campaign its third), I wanted to pick a few examples of the transient players, the new kids on the block and the die-hards who turn out for every scrap and struggle. It as observed during our most recent weekend that enmity between various units runs deep.
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| Bitter enemies the Grand Prior's and the Danes - The Irish have the upper hand |
The example used was the animus between The Lord Grand Prior's Regiment and the Danish Garden til Fods - fostered and nurtured after the former broke the latter under a hail of fire at Badon Hill in 1692. There are of course many others.
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| Lords Dongan and Clare have two ubiquitous hard fighting veteran dragoon regiments |
Here is a little look at some of the stars and bit players of the campaign since it began in March 1692.
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| The Western Clans are temperamental but sought after allies for both Dundee and Stair. |
More on some of the units in the next post.