The Royal Army of Scotland
 

A write up on one of the potential nightmares for the English Government. I apologize now to anybody who gets the reference to the Call of Cthulhu adventure "The Water Horse."

As ever nit picking, error spotting, etc are more than welcome.

Great read as ever James.Its the personalities you populate your works with that make them entertaining and informative.

Doesn't referring to themselves as the 'English Government', rather than 'H.M Government' or the 'British Government' further legitimise dissident's claims? Compromising their claim to be the legitimate government of the United Kingdom? Plus the Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish members of the Government, civil service and armed forces who might not appreciate this title.

Also in Scotland there are several Universities Officers Training Corps-

Aberdeen University Officers Training Corps
Edinburgh University Officers Training Corps
Glasgow University Officers Training Corps
Tayforth University Officers Training Corps

James, as always with your work, kudos on coming up with something that complies with the canon established in the Survivor’s Guide to the UK (particularly in this instance, where in my opinion canon raises a number of questions...).

I think main challenge is numbers though...if you go by canon the RAS is 2,000 strong but is supposed to control the whole of Scotland? The population of Scotland was in the region of the 5 million mark in 1996 (per the 1991 census) – granted a large number of those people lived in Glasgow and Edinburgh, both of which were nuclear targets but that still leaves a lot of people living in the Central Belt, so personally I’d look at upping the strength of those Militia Battalions to keep order, certainly those units based in Central Scotland. What sort of weapons and equipment do you see the Militia using?

With regard to non Scottish units, main players here are likely to be the RN base at Rosyth (if you still have it open – IRL it closed in 1996 as a result of Options). I grew up about five miles from there and it was a pretty big base in the 80’s...you also had a fair number of ex sailors living in the area, many of whom had married local girls. Just down the road from Rosyth was RAF Pitreavie Castle, which was HQ for NATO Naval forces North Atlantic and 18 Group, RAF (if you want to take Pitreavie Castle out of the equation probably easy enough to say it was plastered by conventional bombing at some point). The RAF also had Leuchars (F3 Tornado base) and the two bases on the Moray coast, Lossiemouth and Kinloss (Maritime strike and recon respectively) as well as a couple of non flying bases dotted about here and there. Army HQ in Scotland at the time was located at Craigiehall, near Kirkliston, just north of Edinburgh (it moved from Edinburgh Castle in the 50’s, although Edinburgh castle remains an active military base and in the T2k timeline would have had a working 25 pounder (it was replaced by a 105mm light gun a few years ago) that is used to fire the One o’clock gun at – oddly enough – one o’clock every day). There were three other Army bases in and around Edinburgh – Dreghorn, Glencorse, and Redford. Dreghorn and Redford may well have been destroyed when Edinburgh was nuked, but Glencorse was located about ten miles or so outside Edinburgh (to the south east) and was a recruit training base, so could well supply a ready made Battalion if it came over to the SNP in 98. I’d imagine it would also have a plentiful supply of weapons and ammo, and would give a good base to control the Borders region from.

Oh, and 45 Commando, Royal Marines were based at RM Condor at Arbroath, just up from the road from Dundee, so there might have been a handful of Marines around. So there’s a fair scope for a few scattered HMG enclaves in Scotland – I’m not sure how likely it would be that all of these bases would come over en masse.

As I’ve said in a previous post, I’m still not 100% convinced that Companies would take titles from British Army battle honours. I totally buy into the idea of attempting to tap into the great Scottish military tradition, but still think there would be an attempt by the SNP leadership to have more “Scottishness” in the titles, but that’s maybe just me...

Good job as always - hope the above is of some use.

Dave

I used the term English Government in the same sense of the Survivor's Guide, in reality they would retain the term H. M. Government (being Welsh I agree wholeheartedly with you!).

My belief is that the OTC will have been mobilized in 1997 to provide for replacement infantry subaltans traditionally the highest casualty group in the army).

Glad you like it, it will be expanded at some point (as will the MBT article, I'm just away on a course and don't have all my reference material to do that).

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

Bear in mind the RAS does not have large numbers to oppose it, the marauder groups are actually quite small and untrained. I will probably expand the militia from the 2001 level. Militia will be armed with a real mix, at best SLRs, often .303s and some shotguns. Ammunition will be in short supply. Uniform will be armband at the start, probably with self-bought military surplus kit. Numbers may well be limited by availability of weapons though.

RN - I will probably add a note putting many in the Engineering Rgt or the Amphibious Squadron. Most of the RAF will probably gravitate to the RAF Rgt or the Engineering Rgt. The conventional bombing raid could make a good short article in that it's own right. The RM will probably gravitate to the Rapid Action Force.

I may have one base refuse and a firefight break out.

I considered as many options as I could for the names, individuals didn't feel right as it is the regiments that tend to have the glory. Any names you can suggest are welcome. If you have a better option please let me know.

Really useful comments, thank you.

I like the "The Mystery Of Loch Feinn" reference.

No problem. I appreciate that whilst I'm still discussing the RAS I may be drifting away from the intent of your thread, which was to expand on what is in canon...whereas I may be looking at more from the perspective of the flaws in that canon material...as a Scot I can't help but look at it and wonder how realistic some of it is...for example I have doubts about how many RAF / RN personnel will want to throw their lot in with an independent Scotland given that majority of them are going to be English. There probably wont be enough Marines left at Condor to resist if the RAS attacks in strength, but I'm not so sure about the Navy and RAF bases - at best I think some of them would remain neutral, at worst they are going to stay loyal to the Crown. It's probably possible RAS forces could "beseige" them and effectively starve them out, but that's going to take time and manpower. And if the RAF have enough fuel to get a Tornado airborne that could cause the RAS a World of hurt...so apologies if I'm derailing the thread slightly...

That said...looking at it from the point of view of how to expand on canon...

Fair enough, but there could still be a fair amount of law enforcement to be done...there are a few towns in central Scotland that have areas that are "dodgy" (to put it politely)...there's likely to be a fair amount of friction in some of these places with local strongmen trying to seize power, that sort of thing. That's where I think the manpower quoted in canon is somehwat optimistic to control all of Scotland. What I'd be inclined to do is have the standing force 2000 strong and have another 2,000 (or so) serving as part time Militia. Assuming the sailors come over, control of the Navy base at Rosyth would give a firm grip of the southern half of Fife (and dependent on how much damage you want to inflict may give the Scots control of a dock large enough for an Illustrious Class aircraft carrier or a big ferry (IRL a RO / RO ferry sailed between Rosyth and Zeebrugge for a number of years, whilst cruise liners have also called in). From Kinloss and Lossiemouth you'd have a great base to secure the Highlands (there's also an Army base at Fort George, which is only about ten miles from Inverness - chances are an HSF Company would be based there from whichever of the 51st Highland Battalions affiliated to the Queen's Own Highlanders). Leuchars is in northern Fife, so with Leuchars and Rosyth under control you've probably got Fife. I discussed Glencorse in my last post - with a Battalion in there you're in good shape to control the eastern Borders (and protect against incursions from England). Put at least one Battalion in Stirling and you can reach into the Central Belt (which was home to a lot of hi tech manufacturing sites for companies like Motorola, NEC, and IBM). I think you'd need a Battalion in South West Scotland as well, maybe in somewhere like Dumfries, to control the region and guard against anyone coming into the area from northwest England - you wouldn't want some marauder horde working their way north from what's left of Greater Manchester / Lancs.

This thread has reminded me that I still have some work to do on my own (non canon) Separatist piece...I intend to have a small number of Condor Marines running around causing general mischief...

I have been racking my brains trying to think of suitable names other than those that you already have such as Bannockburn, Flodden, etc and to be honest I can't think of any. I'm sure if I googled Jacobite Battles or someething similar I could come up with some, but that obviously wouldn't be an option in post apoc Scotland circa Feb 1998, so didn't go down that road.

What I would suggest is trying to tie the Battalions in with their traditional recruiting areas. For example, the Gordon Highlanders recruited from Aberdeen and Angus, the Black Watch recruited from Fife, Perth, and Tayside, etc, so I'd suggest something along the lines of 1st Battalion (Black Watch), Royal Army of Scotland for the Battalion covering the Black Watch recruiting area, 2nd Battalion (Royal Scots), Royal Army of Scotland for the Battalion covering Edinburgh and the Lothians, etc, etc. That way you're taping into the Regimental names (as you say, it's the Regiment that gets the glory). You could follow the British Army order of precedence if you wished, which would make the Royal Scots first in line. But for Companies, I'm stuck with straightforward 1 Company, 2 Company, etc, etc. Or maybe place names, e.g. 1 (Fife) Company, 2 (Perthshire) Company, etc.

Cheers

There are several inconsistencies in the UK Survivor's book that are very difficult to reconcile.

The one that gets me is the break down of the population: it says the prewar population was 56 million with 80% English, 9% Scottish, 4% Irish and 2% Welsh with about 5% being of other origins. It then goes on to say that in the post war UK about 25% of people speak Welsh. That either means that casualties in the rest of the UK were about 90%+ with very few Welsh speakers dying, or Plaid Cymru have been involved in a massive re-education policy that has spread the Welsh language well beyond its borders. Or, the writers screwed up their Maths.

In 1996 there were about 700,000 Welsh speakers, if that's 25% of the UK's 2001 population, the UK is rally screwed, down to what, about 2.8 million?

Here are few regiment suggestions:

Infantry:

The Royal Scots
The Royal Scots Fusiliers
The King's Own Scottish Borderers
The Scottish Regiment of Foot Guards
The Cameronian Regiment

Cavalry:

Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons
4th Troop of Horse Guards

Militia:

Lonach Highlanders
Atholl Highlanders
Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot
Royal Company of Archers
Lovat Scouts
Glasgow Highlanders
Highland Light Infantry

French Advisors:

Garde Écossaise

Elaborating slightly on my earlier suggestion...

The Scottish Horse (Armoured)
HQ Stirling Castle
Area of Operations: Deployed in support of other Battalions as necessary
AFV’s: 4 Chieftain MBT’s, 5 Scorpion CVR(T)’s

Rapid Action Force
HQ Stirling Castle
Area of Operations: Deployed in support of other Battalions as necessary

1st Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (Royal Scots)
HQ Stirling Castle
Area of Operations: Central Scotland

Formed from elements of the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Lowland Volunteers (TA).

2nd Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (Royal Highland Fusiliers)
HQ: Dumfries
Area of Operations: Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway

3rd Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (King’s Own Scottish Borderers)
HQ Glencorse Barracks, Penicuik.
Area of Operations: Lothian and Borders

Formed from elements of the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Lowland Volunteers (TA). Includes a large number of recruits who were undergoing basic training at Glencorse at the time of the nuclear strikes

4th Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (Black Watch)
HQ: RAF Leuchars
Area of Operations: Fife, Perthshire

5th Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (Highlanders)
HQ: Fort George, Inverness
Area of Operations: Highlands

6th Infantry Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders)
HQ Stirling Castle
Area of Operations: Central Scotland

Formed from elements of the 3rd Battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers (TA)

1st Support Battalion, Royal Army of Scotland
HQ Stirling Castle
Includes elements of the RLC and REME. Heavily augmented by civilian volunteers

This does set up a scenario where the British and Scottish Armies are both fielding similarly named formations.

I'd personally be inclined to have Rosyth subjected to such heavy conventional bombing that the RN have pulled out completely. (I seem to recall having read somewhere a theory that HMG pull all forces out of Scotland at some point in time, thus removing the RAF and RN from the equation. I can't find a reference to it in the SGUK, so think it may have been on the etranger site somewhere. It does seem to be to be a more likely option than having large numbers of English airmen and sailors joining a Separatist Scottish Army).

I like the sound of Français Expéditionnaire Groupe Écosse (which I think is French Expeditionary Group, Scotland).

I don't think the canon material specifically states one way or the other whether there are any French advisors active in Scotland though.

My guess is there is a decimal point that needs shifting one place. Should work at 2.5%.
Just a typo - they happen....

Either that or the Welsh National Voluntary Army is about to overrun England and the English are making preparations to be able to communicate with their new Welsh Overlords. :D

Cymru Am Byth...

That works for me too. :D

Da iawn :)

2.5% works almost perfectly.

I was referring to man who once said "I think in some areas you could see proxy warfare taking place, with factions armed / equipped by the French fighting factions supported by other countries. One example of that could be in Scotland if French backed Scottish separatists became engaged in combat with British Government troops."

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.p...nt+Europe+2001

I can see the practice of dispatching a few officers on "leave" could be the way the French do it. Clandestine arms shipments could be another (mainly of foreign equipment).

LOL...I was that man.

Personally I've always advocated a covert French presence in Scotland, I was just stressing that is my own view and isn't referenced in the canon UK material (one way or the other).

I found this the other day thought you might want to added it.

One O'Clock Gun
The One O'Clock Gun is a time signal, and is fired every day at precisely 13:00, excepting Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day. The gun was established in 1861 as a time signal for ships in the Firth of Forth, and complemented the time ball, which was installed on the Nelson Monument in 1852, but which was useless during foggy weather.

The gun; a Ordnance QF 25 pounder; is fired from Mill's Mount Battery, on the north face of the castle, by the District Gunner from 105th Regiment Royal Artillery (Volunteers). The original gun was an 18-pound muzzle-loading cannon, which needed four men to load, and was fired from the Half Moon Battery. This was replaced in 1913 by a 32-pound breech-loader, and in May 1952 by a 25-pound Howitzer

Updated article
 

As ever comments are welcome.

Canadian Army and Rainbow Six I hope you like the references!

the Scots have a few big and a lot of small distilleries. even the small ones might be able to put out 1000L of fuel.

being able to make are amounts of use able fuel could be good (sale or trade) or bad (ie target)

I would think that most would be damaged of limited use....maybe spare parts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es_in_Scotland

I live near a very small rye whiskey distillery in Virginia (~300,000 liter capacity) and spent some time talking to them to get an idea of what's needed for distilling. To get 100 liters of fuel-grade alcohol would require about 300 kilograms of rye, 1150 liters of water, 5 hours of cooking time, a week of fermentation, and 6+ hours of distilling. Assuming input scales linearly, each kiloliter of fuel will need 1.5 tonnes of grain and 11,500 liters of water; the time would be similar, since the larger distilleries have larger (or more) stills, but the necessary resources are quite steep. Unless there are significant surpluses of grain, making any large amount of alcohol-based fuel isn't happening.


James - there are a couple technical inconsistencies in the document. On pages 2 and 3, units are sometimes listed as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and sometimes as 1 or 2 (for example, in the 2nd Reserve Battalion Army of Scotland, Waterloo Company was formerly part of 1 51st Highland Volunteers, while Tangier company was part of 2nd 51st Highland Volunteers; I believe Waterloo should be 1st 51st rather than 1 51st). In the sidebar on page 6, the title refers to RAF Leuchars, but the first sentence has it misspelled as Leucchars.

i was thinking more along the lines of wood alcohol not grain (i don't know how a highlander would react to poring his pride and joy in a rust filled gas tank) Can you make alcohol out of seaweed or fresh water plants?

Wood alcohol is methanol (rather than ethanol), which requires different fittings since it will corrode aluminum. It's also hygroscopic, so it has to be kept in sealed containers or else it will absorb atmospheric water. It's certainly possible to use, but it's a major pain to do so if you're not already set up for it.

Seaweed has most of its sugars in the form of alginate. Up until 2012, alginate couldn't be converted to alcohol (a gene-modified E. coli bacterium was developed that year). If it could be used, it would yield around 1500 gallons (5680 liters) per acre dedicated to seaweed farming.

Yes but would they need 300,000L worth of strong drinks? it might be worth it to modify enough to supply there needs and trade the rest. the South Africa book has them converting two local distillery into a fuel supply.

By the mid-90s, the per-capita consumption of alcohol in Scotland was around 9L, and the SGUK mentions that pubs are basically the only entertainment left. If it increased even modestly to 10L, then the output of that sort of micro-distillery would supply 30,000 people or about 275,000L of fuel (fuel has to be at a higher alcohol content than drink). However, spirits only make up about 30% of Scotland's alcohol consumption (about 20% was wine, and the other half beer), so assuming appropriate amounts of beer could still be made, it would be closer to 100,000 people for such a distillery.

Honestly, converting some distilleries over to fuel production if the excess cereals are available would make sense, due to Scotland's export of spirits. I know there's at least one distillery with 30,000,000L annual capacity, which could produce millions of liters of fuel if adequately supplied; since distilling provides higher alcohol content than brewing, it's easier to convert a distillery to fuel production and let the brewery focus on products for human consumption.

British military terminology is a nightmare - either is correct (as are several other variants!) but I have standardised on a third version for consistency.

Spelling is never my strong point and typing without using my right index finger due to a bad cut doesn't help! Corrected it.

Thanks for the corrections.

How can you have a Royal Army without a Royal?

Has no one gone to Bavaria to fetch home Bonnie Princess Sophie (like it or not)?

The House of Stuart

The House of Stuart ruled Scotland as an independent nation from 1371 to 1603. This came to end in 1567 with the forced abdication of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in favor of her infant son James VI. Both Mary and her husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, were grandchildren of Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII. James VI became the heir also of childless Elizabeth I of England, and became ruler of both nations as James I, ruling Great Britain (the joined Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Wales). A lot of the political unrest in the British Isles between 1500 and 1750 were due to conflicts between the Church of England, Catholicism, and other protestant sects.

A century later, after the English Civil War, and the replacement of James II by William of Orange who was married to James’ daughter Mary, and was James’ nephew by James’ sister Mary. William and Mary died childless, followed by Mary’s sister Queen Anne. The crown of England was then passed to the (Protestant) son of a German cousin, who became George I in 1714.

Bypassed in this was (Catholic) James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II, Prince of Wales. James had gone with his father to France when James II was deposed, and his English title removed. James put forth his claim to the English Throne and backed it with an attempted rising in Scotland in 1715. That failed, and James fled back to France; he became known as the Old Pretender. His son, Charles Edward Stuart (Bonny Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender) attempted a similar uprising in 1745, but that also failed. The Old and Young Pretenders were political bugbears for English politics until Charles Stuart died in 1788 without issue; his brother Henry became a Catholic Cardinal, dying without issue in 1808.

The Jacobite succession, following English common law, transmits the right to the throne to or through women, and their descendants, whenever they have no brothers. Henry, as the last Stuart of the Scottish line, was succeeded by his nearest blood-relative, (childless) Charles Emmanuel IV, King of Sardinia (descended from Henrietta, daughter of Charles I), then his brother Victor Emmanuel I, then his daughter Maria Beatrice of Savoy, her son, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este, his daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, later Queen of Bavaria (by marriage), down the Bavarian royal line to her grandson Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria (see Pretender section below).

In addition, James II's illegitimate son, James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, founded the House of FitzJames with a branch in France and one in Spain. The last of the French branch died in 1967. The Spanish branch runs to Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba (and 39 other titles, including the 11th Duchess of Berwick), age 70 in 1996; she has six children, five of them sons (ages 48, 46,42,37, 33, sister 28 in 1996). In real life, she died in November 2014.

While one can make the case that the Scottish Crown is joined to the English Crown, one could make the argument that no one asked the Scots separately if they wanted the Elector of Hanover (German George I) as King. (Of course, the argument of supplanting the Windsors - heirs to the Elector of Hanover – because they are too German, is not enhanced with a Scottish king from Bavaria.) However, the Stuart pretense usually is for both the crown of Scotland and England.

No Wittelsbach has ever discussed in public that they have any interest in pursuing claim to the House of Stuart or Windsor.

Pretender

If the Scots want a king back, the nearest legitimate choice is Albrecht of the House of Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria. The Wittlesbachs were the Royal house of Bavaria until deposed in 1918; they were demoted to Dukes. Staunchly anti-Nazi, they moved to Hungary at the beginning of WW2, and were arrested by the Gestapo and sent to a concentration camp in 1944. Albrecht is an avid hunter and has written a book on hunting in the Alps.
In 1996, Duke Albrecht is 91. In real life, he died in 1996, living in a wing of the family castle in Bavaria.

Heir

Duke Albrecht’s heir is his oldest son, Franz (Prince of Bavaria). Franz, is 63 in 1996. He has never married. Franz Wittelsbach is a businessman with a passion for collecting modern art.

Franz’s heir is his younger brother Max (age 59 in 1996), who has six daughters. His eldest daughter, Sophie (29 in 1996) married the Alois, Hereditary Prince of Lichtenstein in 1993. (Hmmm, the French may well back this, if only to get Alois out of the area; the Princes of Lichtenstein are active rulers.) Sophie can be in line for the Stuart claim for the English and Scottish thrones – but not for the crown of Bavaria, which follows a semi-Salic male line preference.

Bonny Princess Sophie, anyone?

- House of Stuart from The Crowned Heads of Europe (work in progress)

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Actually, going to fetch an unwilling Princess Sophie could make an interesting adventure for a small team, even if the French allow passage...

Opposing teams of SAS, Scottish leftists, British Royalists, French secret services, Soviet spies, Lichtensteiner loyalists, a trip across the stormy North Sea, and an angry fairy tale princess.....

Uncle Ted

Where is the Sottish SAS?

Royal Army is what it is in the sourcebook... I think the title works, I might play around with the head of government part.

I tried to avoid the term SAS as I wanted it to try and distance itself a little from the British Army (hence the name changes)