I have recently been enjoying a small solo campaign set in Ireland in the late 16th century. I have set out a few notes to introduce this less well known period to SWA members.

What originally attracted me to this period was the small scale of the conflict, with the result that major decisions had to be taken by relatively junior officers; this gave me a great deal of scope to explore the effect of an single officer's actions on the overall conduct of a campaign. For instance, in 1574, the total English forces in Ireland numbered only 1928 men, consisting of 415 horse, 1288 foot and 225 enlisted Irish kern.

At the major battle of Yellow Ford, said to be England's worst defeat in Ireland, the two sides numbered a little over 4000 men each; but at a more typical action, say the "Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits" (marvellous name) in 1594, the English force of 46 horse and 600 foot was faced by an Irish "army" of around 1000.

ENGLISH ARMIES

The tactical and administrative unit of the infantry was the company, a self-contained force of 100 to 200 men. Some regimental formations were sent to Ireland, but more often what was referred to as a regiment was an ad-hoc group of companies under the senior captain. An infantry company consisted of both pike and shot, though the proportions varied a great deal.

This was a transitional period in the development of missile weapons. At the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the longbow predominated as the main missile weapon, but this was later superseded by the caliver or arquebus. Later still, a proportion of the shot were equipped with the heavier and longer ranged musket. A company was commanded by a captain, assisted by a lieutenant. An ancient (ensign) carried the company colours, often the arms of the captain.

The true heavy cavalry of the day were not used in Ireland. The lighter demi-lance or borderer easily outweighed his Irish opposite number and were, of course, cheaper - a major factor to the cost-conscious Elizabeth. The tactical unit was a band or troop of about 50, again commanded by a captain. Each trooper was served by an Irish horse-boy, who rode a nag and procured food and forage for his master.

Artillery could be a mixed blessing. The Irish treated guns with greater respect than the actual damage they caused might warrant, but there was great difficulty in transporting artillery and ammunition across a land with few roads and many bogs. Artillery was particularly effective in sieges, especially where it could be transported and supplied by sea.

IRISH ARMIES

The heavy infantryman of Ireland was the Galloglaich, usually of Scottish descent but probably born in Ireland to a hereditary galloglaich family, such as the MacSweeneys (MacSuibhne). He traditionally wore a mail shirt and was armed with a two handed axe or sword, but later could form into units of pike.

The Irish light infantryman was the kern, a peasant, unarmoured and armed with javelins or a bow and a long knife (skean). As foreign methods filtered into Ireland, the kern could be trained to use the caliver, becoming the shot to the galloglaich pike. Their chief strength was the ability to move quickly over their home terrain, where other troop types would struggle to move at all, and turn quickly from retreat to attack if their enemy appeared to waver or become disordered.

The Irish cavalry was made up of gentlemen, but was really unable to stand up to its English counterpart in a straight fight. The Irish rode without stirrups and with no proper saddle and their horses were far lighter. The Irish horseman used his spear overarm, not couched as a lance, and often wore a mail shirt and helmet.

Irish leaders often employed mercenaries. The Irish mercenaries were called Buannadha (though usually known by the name of the system by which they were employed, buannacht - bonnacht) and were at first poor value for money, (or the more usual Irish currency of the time - the cow). Under the Earl of Tyrone in the 1590s, however, the buannacht became a far more effective fighting force. Scottish mercenaries were also used; usually men from the Western Isles and Highlands. Unlike the galloglaich, these did not settle in Ireland, but returned home each year to Scotland. They were known as Redshanks.

ON THE TABLE

I'm not going to go into every detail of the rules I use, as the mechanisms for movement, firing and melee are all pretty standard stuff. I have included the rules that are particularly relevant to this particular series of conflicts.

After a bit of trial and error, I fixed on a figure scale of 4:1, as this enabled the best representation of the mixed troop types of an English infantry company. For the rank and file, I use multiple bases of 3-4 figures, which fits in with my command rules. I prefer to call them "maniples", which is the classical term used at the time, rather than "elements" á la WRG, which always sounds too clinical. Officers are on single bases or with, say, a drummer, etc. For example:

Sir John Falstaff's company consists:

Sir John Falstaff, mounted on a cob.
Lieutenant Bardolph, with a drummer.
Ancient Pistol, bearing the company colours, with 2 halberdiers.
2 bases, each 4 pikemen.
3 bases, each 4 calivermen.
1 base of 4 musketeers.

Captain Humphrey Earle's Band:

Captain Earle, with a trumpeter.
Cornet Carew, bearing the colours.
4 bases of 3 demi-lancers.

Each move, a captain can give orders to up to 3 maniples. A lieutenant can give orders to 2 maniples and an ancient or cornet 1. In addition, the colour bearer can rally the whole unit to himself. Orders can be shouted up to 4 inches, or 2 inches if there is any firing.

The passing of orders to the whole command would take time, so orders can be held over until all parts of the company have received them, then executed simultaneously.

The maniples are not used to adjudicate firing or melee, which is done in number of figures, but, rather than remove casualties, a casualty marker is placed for each figure lost. This is done to prevent the unit becoming easier to control as gaps appear in the ranks, which would be the case if bases were to be removed.

A unit can be reorganised, following casualties, if it remains stationary for two moves not under fire or in melee.

I allow calivers to fire every other move and the longer ranged muskets, along with artillery, every third. Javelins can be thrown each move, but a kern will only have two to throw, after which he must go to the rear for more, or get stuck in with his skean.

TERRAIN Much of the terrain being fought over was unfamiliar to the English troops. To simulate this unfamiliarity, the table should be divided into squares and the terrain diced for as each square is entered. There were no roads outside the English Pale. Typical terrain is bog, woodland, a few "plantations", heathland.

OFFICERS All officers are graded as follows:

Veteran 0
Experienced 1
Average 2
Inexperienced 3
Green 4

Upon first sight of an enemy, no matter how poor a target, a D6 is thrown for the officer. If his rating or less is thrown, he will order his men to fire immediately.

Each move that an officer's command is fired upon, or is in melee, 2 D10 are thrown. If the score is less than his rating plus the following modifiers, the officer panics:

+1 each figure casualty within 3"
+1 friends retreat within 6"
+1 command is disorganised
+2 friends rout within 6"
+1 being charged

Having panicked, a D6 is thrown:

1. Officer does nothing; stands rooted to the spot. May give no orders.
2. Officer rallies all troops of his command to form up on him
3. Officer retires with all troops under his command. Ignore all orders to the contrary.
4. Officer orders his command to wheel forward a full move. (dice for left or right) Will keep wheeling until officer regains his senses or unit is facing away from enemy.
5. Officer runs away on his own.
6. Officer snatches nearest colour and runs away.

Each move, the officer has a 4,5 or 6 to pull himself together. The above continues until he does.

RISK TO OFFICERS Each move that an officer is with a unit which is under fire or in melee, he has a 5% chance of becoming a casualty. If this occurs, a further D6 is thrown:

1. A scratch. +1 to chance of panic.
2. The officer's page is killed at his side, spraying him with blood. +2 to chance of panic.
3. If mounted, horse is killed. If dismounted, knocked over and stunned. No action or orders for 3 moves.
4. Light wound. +2 to chance of panic.
5. Severe wound. May not move. Requires a 6 on D6 to give an order.
6. Dead.

THE IRISH The actions of the Irish troops are largely governed by dice throw. Their morale rules are VERY simple. If they are losing a melee or firefight, the Irish will run away. If English troops facing them become disordered or shaken, the Irish will charge. This covers 99% of all situations. Kerns are not affected by bad terrain.

The Fords of Dunbrennan