In October 1642 a contingent of Scots mercenaries on the way from campaigning in Ireland to service on the continent, was diverted into Plymouth by stormy weather. The commander of the contingent, Colonel William Ruthven, was an experienced soldier and offered his services to the Parliamentarian defenders of the town, no doubt to make the most of the situation. He was made military governor of Plymouth but subsequently made a right pigs breakfast of it at Braddock Down in January 1643.
I've wanted to have a unit based on Ruthven's Scots for ages but was stuck on how to represent them as a regiment. In different accounts I've read the Scots mercenaries numbered between a measly 200 and an indeterminate 'regiment' in size, so clearly on the small size. I decided in the end to use some leftover pike and shot blocks with a 1:2 pike to musket ratio, which would reflect the better equipment and experience of the regiment, compared to the high pike to shot ratio of early civil war regiments. I'm not sure I like the end result but it will do for the moment.
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