A Foray into Napoleonic Wargaming

When deciding to put together a collection of Peninsula British, I definitely wanted to include the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment, more commonly known as the Black Watch. The regiment was awarded ten battle honours during the six years that it serviced in the Peninsula, with either the first or second battalion present at the majority of the most significant battles against the French.

The title of ‘the Black Watch’ can be traced back to the foundation of the regiment. In the aftermath of the first Jacobite Rebellion in 1715, militia companies were raised from loyalist Highland clans for policing and peacekeeping duties. These companies were commonly known in Gaelic as ‘Am Freiceadan Dubh’, or ‘The Black Watch’, due to the dark coloured government-issue tartan, and their role to “watch” the highlands. In 1739 King George II requested that four such companies should be raised and formed into a single line regiment. The Black Watch became the regiment’s official name in 1881.

The Black Watch had a different system of coloured company plumes to other British line infantry regiments. Centre companies had all red plumes, the light company had red over green, whilst the grenadiers wore red over white. The drummers wore another different coloured plume, being red over yellow. There’s no drummer in my battalion, but I thought I’d paint the piper that way regardless of historical accuracy, as it looks quite distinct.

All the figures are from CGM, flags are from GMB Flags. When it came to adding the flags, I found them to be too long for the poles. First time I’ve hit that snag, but I got around it by snipping the corners to fit around the hands and pole tops, leaving the main part of the flag unaltered. Not ideal, but I think it works okay.