Monday 19 August 2013

RP No142 NYW - Earl of Leven's foot


Back to the Nine Years War for today's post, the Battle of Killiecrankie to be specific. The figures were actually painted back in June but I've only just managed to get them based  up.
The regiment was raised on 19th May 1689 in  Edinburgh by David Melville, the 3rd Earl of Leven. Its written that volunteers for the unit were so high that they managed sign up 800 men in just 2 hours. Some of these men are thought to be veterans of the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge, while the NCO's were drafted in from the Dutch Scots brigade. Leven's fought in the centre right of the Williamite battle line at Killiecrankie. During the battle Lord Kenmure's regt fled as the Highlanders charged, some of Levan's regt followed suit, while the rest and other remnants were rallied by the Earl and stood firm as the battle closed.

The figures are from Essex minis once again, there is some argument that they shouldn't be in bonnets, but if its good enough for Stuart Reid in his book I Met The Devil & Dundee", its good enough for me! Although after Killiecrankie I would think they would have been ordered to where hats. Its not known exactly what Leven's coat colours were, but its agreed they wore red coats with possibly either white or yellow cuffs,as nearly all Scots regts at this time had white cuffs, so I chose white.
As for the flags of the unit, once again they are not known so I went with a saltire with the coat of arms of the Earl of Leven in the centre for one, while for the other I went with an idea of Mr Reid again in the same book previously mentioned. There are two drawn pictures of flags, one is an unknown flag with either the coat of arms of the Maitland family or Edinburgh castle in the centre, while the other very similar flag was carried by Alexander Stewart's Edinburgh regt that fought at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. So I combined elements of both flags and came up with this one, it probably should be in white, but it looked better in yellow, that's conjecture for you!












63 comments:

  1. Hola
    Unas escenas muy buenas,y me gustan los estandartes
    un saludo

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    1. Hola j d, alegra que te guste las cifras y las banderas!

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  2. Very nice Ray, lovely looking troops.

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  3. Beautiful painting Ray! The flags are awesome too!

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  4. Another lovely unit enters the OOB!

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  5. No one will shoot you for having a yellow flag. (Tongue lashing, maybe.) They look good, Ray.
    And eight hundred volunteers in two hours is also impressive.

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    1. It is quite impressive, they must have really disliked James.

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  6. Another cracking regiment Ray, flags look great!

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  7. Very nice Ray. Having seen these it has given me the little extra push to hunt out my 6mm troops.... I put them somewhere "Safe" so they might be a struggle to find!

    I do like it when you do units like this it does inspire me. Thank you.

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    1. Found them.... behind the printer! Don't ask, Just waiting for Frontline Tim to email me back his bas sizes and then it's a GO!

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  8. Very nice, Ray. You're very skilled with those flags, too!

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  9. Excellent work! Might just inspire me to get back to the painting table (I've been negligent these past few months).

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  10. I agree, the flag looks much better in yellow! Great job, Ray!

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  11. I love Scots almost as much as I love Irish people...

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    1. We do love Scottish men don't we? Gerard springs immediately to mind nom nom nom.

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  12. Nice unit! Love the bright yellow flag, they should really stand up on the battlefield.

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    1. Lets hope it doesn't attract too much attention from the Highlanders then.

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  13. Great looking unit Ray, I'd also go along with Stuart's opinion, he's been researching this stuff for years (we both took part in a reenactment of Killikrankie back in the 70's).

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  14. I do love those flags you used.... great unit as always!

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  15. This a very nice unit. You have a wonderful collection!

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  16. Nice looking unit especially the colours of this regiment, they have to be my favourites so far!

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  17. That's a nice flag. Nice color combination on the uniforms too.

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  18. Great figures and flags. Well done.

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  19. Another awesome regiment, Ray. If you have the option for blue bonnets, always go for it. Best, Dean

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  20. Great work as always, Ray. The leader with a full beard holding a sword is my kind-of Boss!

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  21. Very nice indeed, love the flags as well

    Ian

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  22. Nice post and miniatures Ray. Nine Years War is another period that is tempting me... :-)

    Marzio.

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  23. Good stuff, Ray. I thought of this project while at GenCon, staring at the WSS figures from Wargames Factory. I managed to break out of the trance and escape, just barely...

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    1. You will sucomb to the tempation Mike.........one day!

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  24. Handsome painting. I like the three stand basing for pike and shot and the yellow flag is eye catching. Essex figures have always struck me as being a bit squatty...short in the legs. What are your thoughts on Essex 15mm anatomy?

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    1. They're my favourite 15mm figure company Jonathan, the old 80's Essex were a little squat, but from the 90's onwards the figures are spot on in anatomy.

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  25. I really like that blue flag. I can also just barely believe it takes you so long to post these up!

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  26. Another fabulous unit and great flags as always!

    Best wishes,

    Jason

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  27. Beautiful brushwork, I like the yellow flag.
    Good continuation

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  28. Great unit and nice bit of history. As mentioned by others, the yellow flag is brill.

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  29. Very nice Ray! I'm just dipping a toe in the 9YW... :-)

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