"New Scots "Red Shanks" Mercenaries" Topic

I was reading interesting book that had me looking up army in my old DBR book. I ended up reading the Old Irish list #44, which had an unusual troop type:

New Scots "Red Shanks" Mercenaries, Warband [Ordinary]

The description was "mercenaries from the Highlands and Isles started as mailed archers with two-handed swords but shed their mail as their wealthier members replaced their bows with firearms. They were called "red shanks" from the bare legs showing beneath their plaids.

What in the world would these soldiers realistically look like? Does anyone make figures for them, or that could make a start to modify of them?

much thanks!

I did some figs for Khurasan that might be useful, though they were focused for the later 16th century.

Yes they were more a thing in the second half of the Sixteenth Century, Shane O'Neill for example was a big employer of them, as well as having his own problems fighting the Scots of Clan Ian Mor of the Antrim Glens.

There is some evidence to suggest that they may have been employed on smaller numbers before this, excluding of course the Galloglass who by the 1500s were often native Irishmen with only the constables bearing the Scots family names.

There are some contemporary images of what they may have looked like:

link

link

Notice how in the last image the chap hunting looks pretty much identical to a Kern, even wearing the characteristic jacket or Ioanar.

Khurasan do some great figures for them in 15mm, suitable for the second half of the 16th Century. I have just completed a unit for my Irish army using a mix of converted Claymore Castings figures, now sold by Antediluvian Miniatures and Old Glory. I will probably do a blog post on them in the next week or so.

Old TMP thread for Khurasan Irish with good pictures

TMP link

See a Scots Redshank mercenary(?) in an illustration of Irish warriors by Albrecht Durer, 1521

Mirror Site
Illustration of Irish warriors by Albrecht Durer, 1521

The illustrations from Malatesta1500 above are:
'Le capitaine sauvage' in 'Recuiel de la diversite des habits qui sont present en usage', Desprez, 1567
Wild Scot, by Lucas d'Heere, about 1575
Scotsmen Hunting, from Holinshed's Chronicle, 1577

Mirror site
Illustrations of Scotish Costume & Soldiers

Druzhina
Illustrations of Irish Costume and Soldiers

According to Ian Heath's Foundry Book on the period, those huge sleeves disappear in the later 16th C.

Thanks for putting all these links in one place, Druzhina, very useful indeed!

And dittos to Malatesta and Rupert as well!

Here is my take on some 28mm Redshanks accompanied by some ramblings on them as a troop type: link