The Black Colonel pt1

I'm collecting figures for a mini campaign set around the time of the 1st Jacobite Rebellion for an article which I will be writing. 

As a kid my Dad took me to stay at a bothy at Inverey, just up the road from Braemar.  Behind the bothy were the ruins of the "castle" of  The Black Colonel, a staunch Jacobite who blew up his own castle as the redcoats came to take him after Killiecrankie and then hid in gorge to escape. A great story for a wee kid.

More was revealed in a book I have mentioned before on this Blog - Fenton Wyness's Legends of North East Scotland.

However it wasn't until fairly recently that I stumbled across John Farqhuarson once again. This time his exploits were more detailed. Mr Wyness was never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, but in truth the history was well worth following up.

Not only was there skirmish at Inverey, but at Braemar and another at Ballater too. 

Illustration and Re-enactors skirmishing in the woods at Braemar Castle

From Lesley Weston's blog

As I already have Jacobites it was a case of adding Williamite forces and as they seem to have been dragoons I started to look around for some. The venerable Dixon range is a little limited when it comes to dragoons. The obvious choice - Warfare - didn't come up with the goods either. I need horses as well as mounted and dismounted dragoon and I thought I'd have to make do with a mix of infantry and standing horses. However Ebor have now got Grand Alliance figures AND have dragoon units on foot with horse holders. Sorted! Even better they come with a mix of heads and poses so perfect for skirmish games and their Paul Hicks sculpts fit in with the older Warrior Miniature Jacobites. 

As these lads were far from the the campaigns going on in Ireland I have swapped two hats for highland bonnets and when it comes to painting breeches won't all be regularly uniform either.  These will be packed off and sent to the painter next week. 

For terrain I shall need a bastle house - the Colonel's "Castle". I already have a tower house suitable for Braemar, which didn't have its wall at this time, that's a later post Jacobite addition. For Ballater I thought I'd need more pine trees, but a hunt around the internet shows the pass of Ballater almost treeless in a 19thC photograph, it's carpet of pines is the result of later plantings. 

Whilst the figures are getting painted I will type up my notes into background and scenarios. These will be available later this year as part of a well known wargames publication.