"Firing into the Brown" #64 - The Jolly Boys march again, Sir Edmund Verney, and stuff...

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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"My soro is beyond all that can bee sade..."

Detail from a portrait of Sir Edmund Verney, ca. 1640 by Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)

Sir Edmund Verney was born in 1596 and knighted by James I in 1611. In 1612 (so could have been only16 at the time!), he was made a gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles, Duke of York, later Charles I. In 1623, he went to Spain with Charles and the Duke of Buckingham to court the Infanta Maria. They travelled incognito, and while there, he protected a dying Englishman from receiving his final rights from a Catholic priest by punching the priest in the face. Clearly the Spaniards weren't too happy about this but it does give a clue as to his religious leanings.

He was made Knight Marshal of England for life upon the coronation of Charles. He also stood for and was elected to parliament for Buckingham in 1624, New Romney in 1625, and for Aylesbury in 1629. With the approach of the English Civil War, he was also in the Short Parliament and then the Long Parliament (as member for Wycombe). 

He was no "yes, man" and despite his friendship, often found himself in opposition to the King, mostly due to his opposition to the Laudian religious policies (in essence making the Church of England more High Church/ceremonial/hierarchical). He was Puritan in his religious outlook, though not fanatical about it.  

Despite this, with the outbreak of war Verney declared himself for the King, bottom line, Charles was a personal friend as well as his King

“I do not like the quarrel, I do heartily wish that the King would yield to their desires, but I have eaten his bread and served him near thirty years, and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him now; and choose to lose my life (as I am sure to do) to preserve and defend this which it is against my conscience to do.” 

...for his service and loyalty, Charles made him Keeper of the King’s Standard.

His eldest son, Ralph, declared for Parliament, his younger son (also Edmund) declared for the King.. if ever there was a family that proved the statement this was a "war without an enemy" this was a typical one.. 

At Edgehill he died while defending the Royal Standard...

"[Sir Edmund Verney] himself killed two with his own hands, whereof one of them had killed poore Jason [Verney's servant], and brocke the poynt of his standard at push of pike before he fell, which was the last account I could receive of anie of our owne side of him … he would neither put on armes or buff cote the day of battell, the reason I know not” 

..from a letter to Verney's son Ralph, after the battle..

The standard was later recovered, but no trace of Verney's body was found - it's highly probable that he was buried in an unmarked grave on the battlefield.. Verney's widow wrote afterwards..

"My soro is beyond all that can bee sade; it tis not possibly to bee greater then it tis; but truly it trubles me much that his bodie was beriede amonst the multitude; I know itt coulde not have added anythinge to him, only have sattisfiede his friendes to have hade a cristan beriall" 

He died on the 23rd October 1642 (at the age of 46 years), and the anniversary of his death this week prompted this snippet proving that yet again history shows that we stand on the shoulders of giants.. 

Ave..

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Tex, Zeke and Robbie, reconvened at the livery after their recce of the gang's hideout - the ground was rough and broken and was perfect for a divided approach and attack... the three agreed that Tex should cover the front of the cabin, while Zeke approached from the side and Robbie the back.

Pausing only to get their weapons ready, Zeke and Robbie with a grin on their faces then pulled on their old uniforms - a bit snugger than they used to be, but if the three Jolly Boys were going into action again, it only seemed right...

Tex is armed with his trusty repeating rifle, and for this skirmish, Zeke and Robbie have 6 guns in addition to their old Sharps carbines. Black and Cole have their 6 guns as per the last skirmish. 

Move 1:

Start of move following... 

Tex (3♦), Zeke (Q♥), Robbie (Q♠) and in the cabin (floor plan left), Black (2♠) and Cole (8♠)

Crouched in the dust behind a rocky outcrop that backed on to the cabin, Robbie spat out some grit and listened out for any noise from the cabin - hearing nothing he doubled forward through the outcrop taking cover just short of the cabin but covering the back window. Over to his left, Zeke does the same but in moving kicks a rock. In the cabin, Cole looks up in surprise [I threw a D6 giving them a 50:50 chance of being surprised - I figured that they would be on edge] springs to the window, and spotting Robbie out back shouts a warning to Black as he draws his six gun. On the other side of the paddock, Tex hears Cole shout, throws up his rifle and takes a snapshot at Black through the window but not surprisingly misses. Black pulls his six gun and moves into better cover by the side of the front window.

Move 2:

Start of move following... 

Tex (5♠), Zeke (K♣), Robbie (10♦) and in the cabin (floor plan left), Black (K♠) and Cole (7♥) cover the front and back windows

In the cabin, Black sees Tex across the paddock and immediately guesses what this is about - 'stupid old man has come to get his bag of money back!'.. pausing only to rest his gun on the window frame, he aims and fires and is rewarded by the sight of Tex reaching for his ribs - crimson showing between his fingers. Zeke curses - this isn't what was supposed to happen - damn bad luck dogs him, first the damn stone alerting the bad guys and now a stupid lucky shot has hit Tex! Running forward he crouches besides the front door of the cabin. 

Robbie can see Cole and fires off two shots from his six gun. At this range there's no need to use his carbine. All he wants to do is make him keep his head down, but shouts with joy when he sees both shots hit Cole in the leg! [He threw 11 twice, needing only 8 or more to hit!] 

Cole ducks down in agony, but fires off three shots [he had a 7 card which allows three actions] in rapid succession - not surprisingly none of them hit. Tex grabs his chance and darts into cover, out of sight of the cabin, but moving towards it - no way he was leaving his friends to do this on their own.

Move 3: 

Start of move following... 

Tex (8♥), Zeke (2♦), Robbie (6♠) and in the cabin (floor plan left), Black (A♦) and Cole (K♥) - the yellow dice indicates Cole is currently "lily livered" (ie. shaken)

Black sees Tex run into the rocks and loses sight of him, so runs to door of the cabin with the intention of getting a shot at him - flinging the door open though, he is shocked to come face to face with Zeke! 

Hearing the shout of alarm, Cole spins round from the window and snaps off a shot at Zeke who he can just see round Black [threw a dice giving him a 50:50 chance to be able to see him], hitting him in the chest. 

Tex can't get a shot as Zeke is in the way [threw a dice giving him a 50:50 chance as well, which he failed],  but runs to the cabin door. Out back, Robbie fires twice more at Cole and is rewarded with at least one hit! In the doorway, Zeke recovers from his surprise, grunts "Avon calling", and fires twice at Black grazing him and causing Black to back away into the cabin [Black failed his 'lily livered' test]..

Move 4: 

Start of move following... 

Tex (8♣), Zeke (5♦), Robbie (5♣) and in the cabin (floor plan left), Black (7♣) and Cole (J♦) - the yellow dice indicates Black is currently "lily livered"

From across the cabin Cole fires twice at Zeke, he can see Tex just behind him but he's the better target - he hits him in the leg and chest, and Zeke ducks back round the corner of the cabin. With the doorway now clear Tex fires twice at Cole, hitting him twice and killing him outright [third leg wound and second chest wound either of which did for him]. Black pulls himself together, and backs into the corner of the cabin shouting out as he does that he's had enough... Robbie covers him from the back window and tells him to throw his gun down, and come out of the cabin with his hands up...

Pausing only to give some first aid to Zeke, who they are pleased to see is not as badly hurt as they had thought, Robbie and Tex enter the cabin and recover the bag of silver dollars. 

They don't hang round - the rest of the gang might be back any time, they reload their weapons, Tex takes Coles six-gun, and then tying Black to his saddle they sling Cole over the back of the other horse and the party head for home..

Post match analysis:

• First the damage - good call by Black, though I'm not so sure it will be in the long run... 😏 Cole was out of ammunition, so would have needed to reload anyway.. even if he hadn't been shot dead the odds would still have been 3:1 

• For this game, rather than a D10 to decide firing hits, I used 2D6 as I think it gives a more reliable/stable result - in the rules you're hitting on a 6+ or 8+ depending on weapon range, but there are modifiers to this for aiming/cover/morale etc. so the mean of the 2D6 is on, or about, the same value as to hit - for this game they were missing as much as hitting, so I'll go with the modifier for a few more games to decide whether the outcomes are too bloody or not. If it's too bloody then an increase of 1 to each of the "to hit" values will resolve the problem
  
  
• Lily livered test - when a character becomes lily livered ("shaken") they can test by throwing a dice and adding the value of any card in their hand - for my games I don't use a hand so in the same way as I have had to modify the 'jump the gun' and 'unconscious' rules, I just get the character to roll the D10 and score over their toughness value. In theory this is much harder than the test in the rules (in fact I can't see how you would fail the test in the rules as written!) and it worked for this game..
  
  
• Back at the livery, Tex, Zeke and Robbie collapse into chairs, and share a bottle - that's another scrape they seem to have been able to get out of. His wounds bandaged, and somewhat shame faced at having ducked away from the door, Zeke volunteers to make the evening meal - the other two laugh, and say they would have done the same, but seeing as he's offering, "yes please, and does that include breakfast as well?".
  
  In the stables, securely tied up, and with a slowly stiffening Cole wrapped up in an old horse blanket for his only company, Black awaits his fate - in the morning Tex and Robbie are taking him and the body to the local sheriff, there's a small reward for them... alive... or dead... 

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #63 - meet The Jolly Boys, real estate, and stuff

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update... and apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks - October is traditionally busy in Steve the Wargamers alternative life, as it is lift out season [clicky]  which marks the end of sailing for 2024...

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'Old' Tex at the Livery stables wasn't either of course...  neither old, nor a Texan - but what was certain was that he was damn angry about losing his nest egg, and even more angry at the way it had happened. 

Sitting down at the table on the evening of the robbery, he laboriously put pen to paper, and the next morning rode into town to send telegrams off to a couple of friends who he went way back with...

So it was that a couple of weeks later two mysterious figures turned up at the cabin a few days apart, and on the evening the second figure arrived, anyone who might have been passing (errr... no one given how remote it was 😏) might have been surprised to see the lights burning in the cabin late into the night, and the sounds of voices singing what sounded very much like “The Bonnie Blue Flag*”, yes, Tex's friends were old comrades from his time in the 7th Virginia cavalry. 

He, Zeke and Robbie (for it is they... 😁) had all served together under Ashby and 'Jeb' Stuart, and had got into, and more importantly, out of, more scrapes than they rightly should have done, but he and they shared a long history and were close friends. Together they would get Tex's nest egg back pronto, or die trying...

Meanwhile, Black and Cole are holed up in the gang's hideout, a small log cabin deep in a canyon about five miles from town with the paddock for the gang's horses just outside. The paddock only contains their two horses - the rest of the gang are away on 'business', the only reason they were not with them was that they had still been recovering from the wounds received when they robbed Tex, but they were now fully recovered.

Over the next couple of days, Tex, Zeke and Robbie reconnoitre the canyon, and then agree they have a plan and are ready to spring their attack..

* A marching song [clicky] popular in the Confederate Army 

Table set up:

Log cabin and paddock surrounded by rocks, low hills and scrub brush. Everything not a flat surface is classed as rough going. Tex, Zeke and Robbie approach the cabin from different sides; Black and Cole are in the cabin.

The dramatis personae..  Black and Cole left, Tex and the rest of the Jolly Boys right..

Stay tuned for the game..

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Three quarters of the buildings for Cedar Gulch are now done..  just the Saloon/Hotel to do..  very pleased with these, they went together well, and the small additions I made (embossed wood planking plasticard mostly) have dry brushed well...

This is sold as the Sheriffs office, but I plan to use it for that any number of other purposes.. Assay Office, Gunsmith, Telegraph office etc.

This one looks like a bank to me but again it will double for multiple other uses as required..

Wood planking roof worked well...

...and lastly the trading post - the dry goods and general store - this one kind of has it's identify nailed to the mast.. 😀

Start of Cedar Gulch's main street..

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #62 - Feeling Livery'ish, Tianeman and stuff

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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It was a fairly well-known fact in Cedar Gulch that 'old' Tex at the Livery stables had managed to stash a fair amount of money over the years as a result of a successful livery business that provides stabling and rudimentary vet care for the local horses, but also horses for hire when necessary to the local mines for use by pulling their supply, freight and ore wagons. 

What was not so generally well known, because he didn't choose to tell anyone, was that Tex was once a Texas Ranger in his previous life, and before that had served with the Confederate cavalry during the war. After one too many close shaves with the bad guys on the Mexican border he woke up one morning and figured he'd ridden his luck enough, upped, saddled, and rode west without a backward glance, before finally settling in Cedar Gulch - bottom line, he could look after himself.

Rumours of the money had spread, however, and so it was that the junior members of two local outlaw gangs - the Clanton's and the Biggs Boys - decided that it was time that money got 'redistributed' - preferably by them, and also preferably over the bar at the local saloon, and after that with the girls upstairs in Ma Kelly's Bordello. 

So it was that one quiet Sunday morning - clearly no rest for the wicked - Wes and Jimmy Clanton, and Black and Cole Biggs snuck up on the Livery from different directions, neither aware of the existence of the other, nor that Tex was no pushover, but all four of them fired up at the thought of those lovely 'ladies' and oceans of rotgut whiskey... not that any of them had ever seen an ocean...

Dramatis personae - Back row (left to right) - Tex, then Wes, and then Black - front row; Jimmy (left) and Cole

Scenario specifics:

• rules used were "Ruthless" with all the solo amendments - see here [clicky]
• Tex is armed with a repeating rifle, the bad guys all have (single) six guns
• the money is under the floorboards in Tex's cabin - 
• this will take a number of turns for the bad guys to find... throw a D10 per turn and a score of greater than or equal to eight will reveal the hiding place 
• the player searching can take no other actions while doing it, always goes last in the turn whatever card he turns up, and cannot be under fire (successful or not) - if they are fired at, they forfeit the search for that turn
• whoever is in control of the money at the end of the game is the winner
• Tex has experience and will not be surprised at the appearance of the bad guys - he also has friends in town who have told him that certain wild young men have been heard boasting what they plan to do - but he will still need 2 turns to react to their appearance.
• Tex starts the game in the cabin - he is eating breakfast so is in the front with a clear view from the veranda window

Starting positions:

Tex is in the cabin by the window next to the chair - Wes and Jimmy top left, Black and Cole bottom right

Move 1:

Full of expectation and six gun in hand, Wes  [who moves first courtesy of his higher card] dashes forward [the 7 allows 3 actions, so he moved three times], and reaches the veranda by the cabin door ready to burst in. Jimmy is not far behind him [one move to be precise 😏]. 

Across the other side of the Livery, Black and Cole are dumbfounded to see their rivals but know immediately what they're up to, both of them snap shoot at Wes on the veranda [I allowed one turn to react to the surprise, so an aimed shot wasn't possible] - it's long range for a revolver, and neither of them hit.

In the cabin Tex, looks up from his coffee at the sound of the shots.. 

Move 2:

Wes  whips round at the sound of gunfire and sees Black and Cole across the yard - smoke still clearing from their last shots. Ducking round the corner of the cabin, and into cover, he returns fire and is rewarded with the sight of him ducking down behind the scrub. 

Wes goes first as he has the Ace his shot at Cole grazes him and then Cole failed his Toughness test and became "Lily Livered" or in non-Western speak "Shaken"😏. 

Jimmy takes a snap shot at Black and runs for the cover of the cabin just behind Wes. Across the yard, Black curses and grabs his arm before ducking down out of sight ...

Black  also fails his Toughness test and became "Lily Livered". 

Black and Cole look at each other in disgust as they lie in the dust behind the bush and as one crouch, aim and fire a fusillade of shots but all of them miss...

They were lucky, the face cards give them an automatic recovery from Lily Livered and allow them to act as normal but the abject failure to hit even the side of a barn door was to be a feature of the game, none of these guys could shoot worth a damn! 😁

Tex picks up his rifle from where it is leaning against the wall behind him, and moves to the window...

Move 3: 

As you can see activation is fairly straight forward so no further explanation needed I think.. te order they activate drives the narrative..

Cole fires twice at Wes and misses, and while Jimmy moves round the back of the cabin for a better shot Wes returns shot for shot causing Cole to again drop for cover. In the meanwhile, Black see's Jimmy coming round the corner of the cabin and fires twice but also misses. 

Cole was only grazed, but again fails his toughness test and becomes lily livered...

At the window of the cabin Tex has spotted where the threats are coming from, but as the best shot he has is the Biggs Boys, takes a bead on Black, aims, and fires, and then snap shoots again hitting Black in the arm again 

Tex's 7 gives him 3 actions, and although he hits, Black passes the toughness test, but one more arm wound and he's out of the game.

Move 4:

All in all, the Biggs Boys don't believe this is going quite as well as planned and are on the verge of a decision to retire gracefully to fight another day but decide to wait it out and see what transpires - there may be scraps to be hoovered up.

Jimmy Clanton realises he and Wes also have a dilemma - until they can get the Biggs Boys to scarper, he and Wes can't risk a frontal attack on the cabin - and that is even before they have to deal with Tex..  

Taking a bead on Black, Jimmy fires twice but misses. Black snap shoots back, and ducks down to reload just as he sees Jimmy grab his leg and curse. Besides him Cole also reloads, prepares himself, and also snap shoots at Jimmy but only grazes him.

In the cabin - Tex aims and fires at Black - he can see he's badly wounded and if he can put him down it's one less threat to worry about, but misses.

Wes is wondering how the hell they managed to get into this mess, and snaps off a shot at Black that misses, before ducking back and out of sight to allow him to reload.

Move 5:

Cole takes careful aim at Jimmy but cursing, still misses. They're too far away but crossing that open ground could be a recipe for disaster.

In the cabin Tex, crosses the cabin to the window behind Wes and leans out of the window for a single snap shot at him - Wes turns, sees him and beats him to the draw throwing off two hasty shots both of which pepper the window frame, Tex's shot hits Wes but only grazes him. 

Jimmy and Black exchange shots with equal lack of success.

Move 6:

Jimmy realises that he is just wasting time and ducks back round the cabin and kicks open the back door. At the same moment Cole realises the same, and seeing that Jimmy has gone from sight, and that he can here rifle shots the other side of the cabin meaning Tex is also busy, runs towards the cabin. Pausing only to thumb 3 shells into his Peacemaker, Black follows him.

Wes is empty - he ducks back from the window and behind some scrub and starts to reload - Tex leans out and cracks off two shots at him missing with both!

Move 7:

Wes finishes reloading and runs over to Jimmy ready to back him up as required - Jimmy in the meanwhile barges through the door, spots Tex across the cabin and fans off all three remaining bullets in his revolver peppering the walls and floorboards but missing Tex, who struggles to get his rifle up in time.

Cole meanwhile has reached the window the other side of the cabin and also takes a quick shot at Tex - things are getting a bit warm. Tex is hit in the arm and drops his rifle - there's no way he can handle a repeater one handed, and holding up his hands in surrender he moves backwards to the corner of the front corner of the cabin and slumps to the floor - shouting out that they can have it, he'll not stop them... 

Move 8:

Time to switch to the floor plan 😏

Black A♦,Jimmy Q♣,Cole 5♦, Wes 2♦, Tex top right

Jimmy is out slugs and needs to reload - seeing Cole at the window he ducks and runs, pausing only when out of sight to thumb 3 bullets into his gun. 

At the front of the cabin Black pushes through the door, sees Tex slumped in the corner with his arms up, clearly out of the game and and scans the room - Cole sees him enter the cabin from the window - runs round the front and joins him in the cabin.

At the back door Wes is fully loaded - springs through the door and fan fires at Black - all six shots miss!! Black snap shoots at Wes also missing.

The rules allow characters to do what we would call overwatch ie. save actions for later in the turn, so Black saved an action after entering the cabin for possible use later - good job he did.. 😏

Move 9:

Black 7♣,Jimmy J♣,Cole 6♣, Wes 10♣, Tex top right

The way he's shooting today Wes reckons he may as well walk up and hit them over the head with the damn gun! He's empty, faced by two opponents, so heads for the door and safety - two shots ring out 

I played the 'jump the gun' rule for both Cole and Black and they both won - but I only allowed a single snapped shot as he would be through the door by the time a second shot was fired

Both of them hit and Wes grunts in pain, he is hit in both chest and arm and stumbles through the door.

The games up and Jimmy can see it - grabbing Wes under the arm he limps off into some rough ground where they tethered their horses, mount up and escape to fight another day.

In the cabin, Black and Cole start their search for the cash eventually finding a small bag of silver dollars under a loose board behind the range - looks like Ma Kelly's girls are going to have a moderately hard time of it, but not before they've had Blacks arm seen to. 

Without a glance at Tex they leave the cabin, recover their horses from where they are hidden and light out for the gang's hideout.

Post match analysis:

• Meat bill..

• Wes and Jimmy definitely came off the worse, in both cases another wound in either leg or chest would have finished them off, so almost certainly flight was the better decision. Tex was badly outnumbered by the time the bad guys were up to, and in, the cabin, just better to live and fight another day.
• I need to get myself out of the 'WW2 machine gun' mentality when playing these rules 😏 - it's difficult to hit with a six gun in these rules, even at short ranges - Black and Cole should have closed on the cabin far earlier than they did - not only for cover, but also to improve their chances of hitting anything (at all)
• Fan fire - beloved of the Hollywood cowboy movies - is a fantastic way of wasting bullets 😁
• the tinker-ability quotient of these rules is immense - if you get stuck just think what might have happened in real life and apply it within the very flexible framework the rules give - such was the case with Tex and his arm wound, in theory he can take 3 of those before the arm becomes useless in game terms, but I preferred to have him survive - that's also why he wasn't shot by Black and Cole as they left the scene 😏

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Just finished reading the last (currently 🙏) of the Jonas Merrick books by Gerald Seymour which for this one focusses on the Chinese security services, and he mentioned this picture as being on the fictional Jonas's wall.. time flies. I can't believe this was over 25 years ago! 😦

A Chinese man temporarily blocking a line of [Type 59] tanks on June 5, 1989, the day after demonstrators were cleared from Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Photo : Jeff Widener/AP Images

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #61 - Housing developments, Navarre and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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From this...

To this... 

Fairly straight forward (and cleverly designed) builds, the only downside of them are the very plain roofs - I had some Wills wood planking plasticard in a spares box and chopped that up to break the plainness. The Saloon roof is a bit gimcrack but I was running out of the planking, and in my mind they were too.. 😏  it will look fine painted..

The ridge cover is made from paper and is just to cover the join...  all of these except the Saloon are glued, so the roofs don't lift off - any inside gaming action will be transferred to an off table floor plan for the particular building..

..then to this (undercoated) - time to get the dry brushes out...   muted palate based on brown and grey I think..

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Another in those occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a project, but not documented here for posterity... so we come to French infantry regiment "Navarre", part of my War of the Spanish Succession collection... 

This wargame unit has the unique feature of being the only regiment in the collection that wasn't painted by me - this regiment was painted by my old wargaming buddy DG, and was part of the original pile of painted figures and bags of unpainted ones that he passed to me when he decided the period just wasn't for him back then in errr.... 2006? I think, he gave me the parcel just after Salute that year...

There is a very (very) good potted history of this regiment on the Kronoskaf WSS site (link below) so there's little point in me repeating the good work completed there, but by way of a framework to hang some 'rabbit holes' on (😏), 

• the regiment was created in 1558 from protestant soldiers originally members of the 'Bandes de Guyenne' who were recruited in the region of the Garonne River. The bandes (there were many) by the way were the first permanent, paid, infantry units in the service of France, modelled on the organisation of the Swiss units (mercenaries in French pay).

• When the regiment was formed, as usual for the time it took its name from the first colonel of the regiment, but in November 1562, on the death of the King of Navarre, the regiment was assigned to guard his son, Henri de Navarre (the reason being, that like his Dad, Henri was a First Prince of the Blood ie. the most senior male member of the French royal dynasty who was not in the present Kings line) so somewhere between 1568 and 1570, it became known as the Garde du Roi de Navarre (King of Navarre's Guards). NB. Henri became King of France in 1589 on the death of Henri III who was childless.

• As one of the first regular regiments, Navarre (along with regiments Picardie, Piedmont and Champagne) was in Les Vieux Corps - the Old Corps - equivalent in the British Army of the time to the Guards regiments in terms of seniority and longevity

• At the start of the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment counted three battalions - but not for long as almost the entire regiment was captured at Blenheim, when they were part of the forces occupying Blenheim village. It wasn't until the following year following a prisoner exchange that the regiment was able to reach its old strength. Other than Ramillies, the regiment was present at all the major engagements in Flanders.

• During the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment was commanded by:

• 

  Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, the Duchess
   of Burgundy - she would have been about
  24 in this portrait

  from14 November 1696: François-Édouard Colbert, Marquis de Maulevrier - he was the nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, one of the most powerful men in Louis XIV's council. It wasn't to save him as he was only 31 when he died (in Paris) on April 1st, 1706, apparently by suicide and possibly as a result of jealousy and insanity following a failed love affair with Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, the Duchess of Burgundy. He was playing for high stakes as she was the wife of the Dauphin, and the mother of the future Louis XV but she surely was a looker (see right)

• from 4 April 1706: Gilbert de Chabannes, Marquis de Pionsac (also recorded as Ponziac/Pionsat) - he died in April 1720 at the grand old age of 73. Not sure what caused him to give up the Colonelcy, but he certainly made Brigadier. It's possible he moved to the Guards.

• from 16 February 1709 till 6 March 1719: Jean, Marquis de Gassion - he was the 3rd Marquis of that name (which is confusing) and not to be confused with the earlier Jean de Gassion who performed a pivotal role at the battle of Rocroi and who Cardinal Richelieu called la Guerre ("War") - he was his great uncle. Jean III is simply described in all the references as a "Lieutenant General in the Kings Armies" - his father (Pierre de Gassion) was president of the Parliament of Navarre, which may explain his promotion. There's no reference as to when he was birth or death, but based on the fact he was the eldest and his parents married in 1670 I'm going to guess he would have been mid to late 30's, when he got the colonelcy. Interestingly - his mother was also a  Colbert - his Grandparents would have been the same as Francois-Edouard's...   wheels within wheels..  😏

These are Minifigs and painted by DG some time pre-2006, but based my me - the flag is from Warflag.com

References:

• Navarre Infanterie - Project WSS (kronoskaf.com)

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...

"Firing into the Brown" #60 - Cedar Gulch, and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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The Cedar Gulch project page is up and running.. go here [clicky] or just select the link to the right..

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...