Scots Covenanters circa 1650 List

[JohnRAndrew]

Hey all, just wanted to get a bit of feedback before I put this army together.

I was reading up on ECW (I have absolutely no experience in wargaming in the era, and I've been wargaming for 20 years) and found that the Clan that my family is part of (Clan Ross) was present with the Covenanters at Carbisdale. As from what I've read Carbisdale was where Strachan went north and fought Montrose with his own forces, but General David Leslie was in charge of the complete army but didn't go up to Taim (hopefully I've read all this right). I put together a list of what might have been the complete army, but reorganizing a bit to make it more feasible for the battlefield against others in the area putting together Royalist and Parliament lists to play for fun (we will be doing some historical scenarios likely, but mainly just make up scenarios to play). Some of the names I found and some I made up to command units. Just getting some feedback from anyone with a better knowledge of this battle. This is what I put together:

Overall General: Lieutenant-General David Leslie (PC: 40)
(Leadership Random, d6 roll, 1=Leadership 7, 2-5=Leadership 8, 6=Leadership 9)

Battalia of Horse Commander: Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Strachan (PC: 20) (Leadership 7)

Units:
Captain Hutchinson’s Regiment of Horse (1 Unit of Scots Lancers, PC: 38)
Captain MacKenzie’s Regiment of Horse (1 Unit of Cavalry, PC: 35)
Captain Carlisle's Regiment of Horse (1 Unit of Cavalry, PC: 35)


Battalia of Foot Commander: John Gordon, 14th Earl of Sutherland (PC: 40)
(Leadership 8)

Units:
Earl of Sutherland’s Regiment of Foot (2 Units of Musket, 1 Unit of Pike ((large)), PC: 94)
Captain William Gordon’s Regiment of Foot (2 Units of Musket, 1 Unit of Pike, PC: 88)
Captain Desmond’s Regiment of Foot (2 Units of Musket, 1 Unit of Pike, PC: 88)
Battalia Artillery (1 Light Gun ((Frame Gun)), 1 Medium Gun ((Saker Gun)), PC: 38)


Forlorn Hope Battalia Commander: Major John Lisle (PC: 40)
(Leadership: 8)

Units:
Captain Browne’s Regiment of Foot (1 Unit of Commanded Shotte, PC: 34)
David Earl of Ross Highlanders (1 Unit of Highlanders, PC: 24)
Captain Hackett’s Regiment of Horse (1 Unit of Dragoons, PC: 35)

Total Point Cost (if it means anything):649

Any feedback is appreciated, I'm making an order through our FLGS this next week to get started. Thanks in advance to anyone with info!

[Jammers]

I don't know much about the battle itself but the list looks playable

[SteveMorgan]

Hi John

Looks like a nice force. I would be tempted to add at least one more unit of dragoons as the Covenanter armies seemed to make good use of them and would use them in force.

All the Best

Steve

[JohnRAndrew]

I had considered that a bit, wasn't sure if they'd fit in the Horse Battalia or the Forlorn Hope. Strachan was a notable Dragoon commander so it seems odd for him not to have Dragoons in his battalia, and is where I might put them.

Thanks for the feedback! The rules are great, we're going to be doing a lot of ECW here in Tulsa very soon.

[Jammers]

The only issue with putting Dragoons in with the Forlorn Hope (or infantry generally) is that it makes them that much better, being Mauraders and commanded at 8 rather than 7, which is a big difference in gameplay using a D6

Roughly you have a 25% increased chance of Evading, issuing orders to them etc

[JohnRAndrew]

That's true, I hadn't really thought of it that way. I normally think of things as far as history goes instead of what would play better. It seems weird to have Strachan, a noted Dragoon commander, lead the Cavalry without having a Dragoon unit in his Battallia. Lisle did, however, work under Strachan in reality though, so technically if they're in the Forlorn Hope Battalia they'd be somewhat in his chain of command.

Of course this list itself is modified from history so it doesn't matter TOO much anyway haha. Thanks for the tip!

[Jammers]

I put mine in with the Parliamentarian Horse (Lvl 7) yesterday evening and winced everytime i rolled for Fire & Evade

Swings and roundabouts where you put them in smallish games [ours was 600pts]. It helped the Horse survive, just, by having 4 x regiments rather than only 3 as you need >50% of the units shaken/destroyed to break the battalia of course