"Volunteers of Ireland - Flag" Topic

So I took a closer look at my GMB flag and I was pleasantly surprise to see a harp on it. Small but there it is. Can't wait to get these guys on the game table.

They kick ass!
Well, no. Not really. But their uniforms are distinct and so is their flag.
My experience is to not rely on them to win the battle. . Tory scum.

Yes nice unit to have. I converted mine in 15mm.

They did well at Hobkirk's Hill.

I was under the impression that the Volunteers of Ireland were an excellent unit. They were also at Camden, I believe, in August 1780. Additionally they were also at Charleston and the siege of Ninety-Six and were taken onto the British establishment in 1782 as the 105th Foot. They were disbanded in Canada in 1783.

I'm not talking about their "real life" reputation.
I'm talking about how they behaved on my table.

I think it depends on your rule set, and morale throws (John), but I'd likely rate them second line in BG.

I treat them as the equivalent of "Egyptians" in TSATF. That's adequate but not elite regulars.
But you still need good die rolling.
Heck, I was able to get a 3pdr firing into the flank of a huge British Grenadier CONVERGED battalion. The guns rolled well. The Grenadiers did not. One would think that a huge elite unit in Age of Reason would be an unstoppable juggernaut, wouldn't you? You would think that a 3pdr that's already used it's "first fire" would be useless, wouldn't you?
The dice gods took pity on me that night after abusing me for weeks before that.

Where was I? Volunteers of Ireland? The first game, the dice gods sneered at a newly painted unit, as is their right. The second and third games, they rolled no higher than mediocre. High when they needed to roll low. Rolled low when they needed to roll high.

I thought the garrison at Ninety Six was made up of DeLancey's and the NJ Volunteers plus some tory militia. If there were any VOI they would have been in Rawdon's relief force.

Yes. That's where they were.

John, I feel your pain rolling dice.🙄

There are things you should never say in a game, e.g. "Grenadiers never break…"

I started to paint up this unit but never finished. While I have no problem either way, do we know for sure what their regimental colour looked like?

I went by British regulations for Colours.
I always say that the Loyalists wanted to be "more British than the British", so that justifies a stand of Colours. They certainly were used as a line regiment.
I took a green Flags for the Lads set and painted a harp, along with a scroll with "V o I" on it.
Now I understand there's a "real" set commercially available.

There are things you should never say in a game, e.g. "Grenadiers never break…"

Here's how the litany in Age of Reason goes.
"3 dice for being Elite. No secure flanks. Minus 1 for casualties. Roll ‘em. Halt disordered."
Next turn, if you take another artillery hit (automatic test), lose another for being disordered.
I could almost pity that huge Grenadier unit stalled in front of me, unable to advance. Being pummeled by 2 3pdrs on his flank (I had managed to bring up my other gun…) He had another Grenadier unit stuck behind him.
I could ALMOST pity him. Naaaah. He ended up breaking, but luckily for him not routing. But he clogged traffic for quite a while. No mercy!

I find their uniforms so curious and non-British. It is an interesting looking unit, to say the least. I believe Lord Rawdon was the Colonel.

Uniform "as the Colonel shall decide."
He had quite a bit of leeway since it started out as a Provincial unit. I suspect he would have lost that leeway once it came on the Establishment. But since it was disbanded in 1783, perhaps it never came up.
It's still fascinating to speculate on where the design originated. It was described as "Brandenburg", as if everyone knew what that meant.

I believe Brandenburg refers to the lace arrangement on their coats.

Agree.

So the question is why was that lace arrangement applied to a British uniform?
Since it was identifiable as Brandenburg Lace, where did Brandenburg lace come from?
But, they were Rawdon's lads, and it was "only" a Provincial regiment. Now, Skinner and deLancey followed regulations, when they could. By 1777, the British regulars weren't even following "regulations". Howe and Burgoyne took different approaches to making the uniform fit for American service.
That wasn't the only "different approaches", but I digress.

"…where did Brandenburg lace come from?"

It came from Brandenburg.

Thanks for coming. I'll be here all week.

+1 for Old Contemptible. I shouldn't read postings like that with my morning coffee… 👍

YouTube link

Minor quibble. Officers, sergeants and musicians were shipped to Ireland and were (briefly) engaged in rebuilding the regiment there prior to its inactivation. Only the lower enlisted were settled in the Maritime Provinces. The same thing was done to a number of British regular units at the end of the AWI. You might almost think the British were worried about discharging trained soldiers into the Irish population.

(And I ran into this researching officers of the Provincial Line. The VoI officers are particularly tricky: usually members of the Protestant Ascendency, and lost among their relatives once they go on half-pay.)

Well, that's interesting.
Protestant officers?
When the Roman Catholic Volunteers were disbanded, many of the men were absorbed into the Volunteers of Ireland.

Names of these Provincial units could be both bewildering and fascinating.

Likely officers from the army taking hire ranks in a Provincial unit. If disbanded, they went on half pay.

Yes. There was "Army rank" and "Regimental Rank". For all I know, there still is.
After all, Custer was a Major General, and after that he reverted to Colonel. The ever reliable Flashman says it grated on him.

Custer had been breveted during the ACW--lots of Major Generals and Brigadier Generals reverted to the permanent regular army grades when the war was over and the army shrank.

Custer was a Lieutenant Colonel. But he liked to be called general.