The Barons War – Free book adventure

I had always heard about galloglas / galloglass warriors from Ireland and the fact that they fought in the same styles and with the same gear for centuries. The Dürer Galloglass sketch has been one of the few sketches taken / survived of this fearsome, much sought after mercenary warrior class but much later in the period. Thankfully nothing about their look stands out as late medieval so they will give my retinue the Galwegian Irish Scots flavour I was hoping for.

When I look to swell my ranks to a higher points game I think these archers will get a few more men, remain green, but Alwyn with the huge sword will be added to my foot sergeants with double handed swords instead. With more points to play with that unit can be pushed up to veteran perhaps so they pack more of a punch.

The de Percy family stood against King John after the Magna Carta was clearly not being upheld by the King. With my initial primary school level understanding it felt like the Magna Carta ended the war, but in actual fact it only really represented an armistice. The fact that promises had now been made and not upheld only seemed to add fuel to the fire. The conflict erupted again, now almost as a duty and a requirement to uphold the signed pledges made, rather than just disagreements and grumblings of discontented Barons.

The Scots under William fought on the side of John previous to the Barons’ War. Alexander II seemed to lean towards the side of John also. The lands of Galloway though technically still autonomous at the time generally followed the line of their larger neighbour. King John called upon the Lords of Galloway to fight against the Welsh in conflicts before the Barons’ War but I haven’t seen much about them fighting in the Baron’s War. The Lords of Galloway had interests in lands in Ireland, ruled over some of the isles between Scotland and Ireland and appeared to be admired militarily.
My excuse for pitching these nobles at each other is partly the later feud the Douglas’ and Percy’s had and partly the scale of the game. These are literally just 25 to 50 men against 25 to 50 men encounters and each unit is not trying to represent a regiment, just the 4 or 5 men in each unit. So can I game in the gaps of history and say that a rouge Galloway laird, The Douglas family not yet established as one of the powerhouse families of this era, chose to take a small retinue into de Percy lands to upset the apple cart and technically support King John as an old ally of theirs? I think so. And could de Percy, in open warfare with the King, strike out in a small way against his Gaelic / Scots allies so long as it didn’t incite a wider conflict in the North? I think so.