Mackay's Army Plan

As I grind through the final three highlander units for Dundee's Jacobite army, my mind is already thinking how I will tackle the opposing government army. 

With thoughts regarding construction and game balance, I wanted to downsize the government army a bit. On paper, Mackay should have dealt with Dundee without issue, he had nearly double the men and half of them were veterans of the Scots Brigade. In additional m to the numerical and qualitative superiority, the government troops were also better equipped. If this was all replicated on the tabletop, I'm not sure how even of a fight it would be. 

To balance the armies out a bit, I plan to represent some of the government regiments as one battalion instead of the two that were present. Rather than 12/13 units of infantry, I will give them 9 units of infantry and several detachments. Weem's highland company will be a detachment and Lauder's grenadiers will be one or two detachments. Government cavalry will be two detachments and a single base of light artillery will complete the force. 

I think I will give the government army two commanders, obviously Mackay will be the chief commander and either Balfour or Hastings will be the other. Maybe I will give them three commanders...we'll see. 

The bulk of the figures used will be from Baccus' Sun King range: SKW01 (matchlock) and SKW03 (pike). Kenmure's regiment will probably be represented with ECW Scots Covenanter pike and shot. They will be the sole unit in hodden grey and bonnets... although I may call an audible at the last minute and paint them in red jackets. 

Weem's highlanders will be leftover figures from the Jacobite army and the cavalry will be SKW04 and SKW05 (horse and dragoons). Lauder commanded about 200 grenadiers pulled from the various regiments and they wore a soft cap with fur trim. The artillery crews were supposedly in similar headgear. 

For Lauder's grenadiers, I plan to use dismounted French grenadiers from the Spanish Succession range (WSS13)...right now the plan is to use some of these figures (or rather their heads) for some conversions of artillery crew. I only need to do this to about four figures so I think I can manage it. 

That's the plan, let's see how well I manage it. 

I feel like I should also mention that my primary source of reference for my planning, organizing and painting has been Stuart Reid's book "I met the Devil & Dundee". It covers every aspect of the battle of Killiecrankie (background, the battle and aftermath, nature of warfare, unit composition and uniform information). I can't recommend it enough. 

For Argyll's Uprising, I will be relying on Stephen M. Carter's "One King!: A Wargamer's Companion to Argyll's & Monmouth's Rebellion of 1685". It provides everything you need to know for both Argyll's and Monmouth's uprisings...there are even hypothetical scenarios and assessments of the various personalities involved and their motivations. I initially purchased it because of my interest in the Monmouth Rebellion but it will be invaluable for my plans to wargame the other uprising that occurred in 1685 a bit further north of Sedgemoor.