Shakos and Bayonets 1798 -The United Men

 

We had an earlier look at the United Irishmen and suggested some Shakos and Bayonets unit statistics. Today we can look at our units to date. 

For convenience I'm using a blanket set of statistics. In reality after the first few victories even those initially too timid to Rise turned up for duty. Such men would not be trained as the United Irishmen were. Something for later I think. 

Above, four units of pike men each with a scattering of muskets. I do wish I had bought another four cavalry men. Ah well.

Our first two units with their officers. The mounted fellows might be the Irish Republicans returned from France. They were ardent revolutionaries and mostly Protestant. The rank and file except in Ulster were mainly Catholic. The "People of No Property" as Wolfe Tone said. The combination of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter accounts for their designation as the United Irishmen. This is the period when green becomes the Irish national colour. It had appeared earlier of course in the flags of the the Confederation of Kilkenny. This time it envisaged no foreign allegiance.  As the song has it " I joined the United Men to fight for the Green."

Our second two units. I had thought to provide one unit with a Father Murphy figure by way of period flavour. In keeping with the instruction of the Catholic Hierarchy Father Murphy evinced no sympathy for the Revolutionaries. That changed when the Yeomanry burned down his chapel. With the heather blazing he called his parish to arms. One to ponder.

I think I can manage to put together another 12 figure unit of Pike Men. A more singular unit is the men of Shelmalier with their long barrel guns. Their function is clear they operated as skirmishing marksmen. Obtaining suitable figures is beyond me. I'm substituting these musket armed lads from Chariot and Lancashire Games archive range. True 15mm and excellent.

Of course the above unit only vaguely resembles the actual men of Shelmalier. No long barrel guns. The Revolutionary Phrygian/Liberty caps are not attested in Ireland so far as I know. 

The French Revolutionaries seem to have adopted it as it was worn by by Roman Freedmen. A sartorial "Slave No More" if you like. British cartoonists of the period loved the image of a monkey faced man in a Liberty Cap as visual shorthand for the United Men. So that is a sort of period connection. Likewise the striped trousers could only have been obtained from French allies.

The figures themselves are very nice. Two from Chariot and three from Lancashire Games Archive Vendee range. 

That's it. I'm grateful to Ian Kay at Irregular Miniatures for making the '98 Range above.  I'm frustrated by John at Khurasan for not releasing his '98 Range below. 

John let us see the first 15mm samples. 

A species of cruelty really.

The 70e Demi-Brigade Ireland 1798- Shakos and Bayonets

Above  are the three battalions of the 70e Demi-Brigade and their Chasseurs and Grenadiers. Let us have a look in detail.

 

The Chasseurs from Minifigs. I intend adding an officer and another 6 figures including a drummer. It makes for variation. Nice figures all the same as can be said for all of Minifigs French Revolution Range.

The 1^st Battalion. Minifigs and Chariot. I’d like to think someone will put the Chariot French Revolution range back into production. Who doesn’t want a Parisian Mob?

The 2^nd Battalion, once again Minifigs and Chariot 15mm.

The 3^rd Battalion, the same combination of figures as Battalions 1 and 2. I see I have used the same officer for two battalions. Best see all three again with the correct command.

The combined Grenadiers all from Minifigs. Here we have variation galore. 

Once more I will add another 6 figures.

Now for supports. General Humbert had a small cavalry force with him comprised of Hussars and Chasseurs a Cheval. I had a bunch of Irregular Miniatures Crimean Light Dragoons surplus to requirement. The reason being the were sculpted wearing a Mirliton. An error. Even Homer nodded as the Ancients were wont to say.

Anyhow, here they are re-purposed for Ireland 1798. A campaign look and I think they will do. I’m glad to have found a use for them.

They need a General Humbert and an artillery piece and they are done. Additionally I'm adding 4 Chasseurs a Cheval for colour. Chrome if you like, the real work is done.

Next on this project we will see the United Irishmen. Mostly from Irregular Miniatures with a few Chariot mixed in. They are all done save for 6 Shelmalier Skirmishers. For those I'm using Lancashire Games Archive Range Vendeans with muskets.

Then more work begins. I need to paint Militia and Yeomanry infantry for the British. Then British Regular infantry. Flags will be a challenge for the Militia and Yeomanry infantry. Luckily the cavalry and the Highlanders are done.

A question looms in my mind. Should I re-purpose all of my French Revolutionary British for Shakos and Bayonets? If so the Austrians and Prussians will surely follow. A First World dilemma in an age of chaos.

A French Demi-Brigade for Shakos and Bayonets

 

This is about the 70e Demi-Brigade but what follows could apply to others. A French Demi-Brigade had 3 battalions. In addition the Grenadiers and Voltigeurs could operate in detached units.

Regular infantry battalions in Shakos and Bayonets (S&B) are 12 figures strong plus an officer if used. The Austrians are an exception coming in at 16 figures.

The grenadiers in S&B are either 8 or 12 strong. For the 70e Demi-Brigade under Humbert at Castlebar I’d opt for 12 figures. Otherwise 8 might do. We see them at the top of the page. I have given them a flag as I had a Grenadier standard bearer.

 

The first battalion

 

The second battalion, note the variation of the 70e Flag.

  

The Grenadiers, also at the top of the page.

The third Battalion and the skirmishers are painted and yet to be based. As is the artillery-one gun only. The cavalry have arrived in the post and we will see all of these laggards shortly.

Very nice I think. Do note I have gone big on officers. Officers do a lot in this game. I should say the bulk of what you see here was painted decades ago.

At Castlebar Humbert had a small unit of cavalry. Drawn from the 3e Chasseurs a Cheval and the 12e Hussars in fact.  It is possible to upgrade these troopers and I might. Panache sounds useful.

So, nearly there. I think it will make a nice side for a game of S&B.

Shakos and Bayonets for Ireland 1798

The best way to adapt a game is to do as little damage as possible to the original. At least that’s my belief. What follows is my first take on troop types for Ireland 1798. Before we get into the nitty-gritty let us bag an easy win. British or French Regulars are rated as- British and French Regulars! Who knew? We will get to them a later post. Meantime here is a pic of the first battalion of the 70e Demi-Brigade.

Now for another easy one. Of the Yeomanry Cavalry British General Lake opined “ A danger to everyone but the enemy.”  They were on his side. Where can we find a Shakos and Bayonets equivalent? I’m opting for Russian Opolchenie Cavalry. Obviously they will have to lose their lances. Otherwise, not a bad fit. Here are the stat’s.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Militia	Conscript	7+	6+	6+

 

Equipment	Traits
Sabre and pistol	Cavalry, Cowardly

I’m not sure about the pistol. A bit more digging needed there. A good first pass all the same.

Now to the Irish Militia. The Militia were created to keep an eye on the Yeomanry. This they seem to have been happy to do. They were less keen on fighting the United Irishmen.  Sometimes they just ran away. Fortunately Shakos and Bayonets has lots of Militia examples. They are much of a muchness. I have opted for the Austrian Landwehr one. Here we go. The Light Company of the Monaghan Militia-a work in progress.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Militia	Recruit	6+	7+	6+

 

Equipment	Traits
Musket	Close order, Idle

 

As you might expect the negative traits of both of the above do reduce the cost of per unit. Should you want to improve their chances you can attach a Militia Officer at additional cost.

There’s more. The Militia had both Light and Grenadier Companies. The Grenadiers should at least have been the biggest men. I don’t know if the Light Companies were really trained adequately enough for separate stats. Another thing to find out. The Militia Grenadiers might have better Aggression.

It’s back to Russia for my first pass on the United Men. I’m going with the Musketeers (Line Infantry). Why so? As General Suvorov said “The Bayonet is  wise, the Bullet a fool”. A translation, and variants abound. The United Irishmen were mostly pike armed and highly motivated. If they closed they likely won. The trick was to shoot them down before they did. Here are the Stats.

Type	Discipline	Shooting	Aggression	Defence
Line Infantry	Trained	7+	6+	5+

 

Equipment	Traits
Mostly Pike	Close order, Swordsman trait.

 

If you know little of ’98 you may wonder at the Trained rating above. Here is Joseph Holt a United Irishmen Commander “My pikemen were the most difficult to manage. I had to teach them to step in time, to face about, counter march, wheel about, but particularly to disperse and form rapidly, and to march in quick or double quick time." You will note Holt did teach them.

What of Shooting? Here is Myles Byrne, another Commander, "For twenty pikemen that kept together, with two or three with fire-arms, was quite sufficient to keep the best of those (Yeomanry Cavalry) corps at a respectful distance."

We will explore all this subsequently. The Wild Fowlers of Shelmalier with their long barrelled guns also need our attention. I will add here, one unit of them only.

All the same a good start.

Less toys than usual and I'm sorry for it. I thought it best to clarify our categories. By way of compensation I intend a post on the available figures for '98.   Next time we will look at the Yeomanry Infantry and others who eluded the first cut.