English Civil War - Carnage and Glory II - meeting engagement

In an effort to put my ECW forces out on the field and actually test out he Carnage and Glory II rules & computer system, I ran a game of it recently on Dec 9.

We just used the base force given in the starting scenario, here are some of my Parliamentarians

more of the full Parliament line

Royalist horse, a mix of Jeff's set and Rob's collection now merged under Rob's command

more of the Royalist line

Royalist horse on the right flank

closer view of the Royalist horse

The King's stand (yes that's a model of Cromwell? - not a good omen)

Parliament command

The Prince Rupert stand

I took some pictures just as the first turn was 1/2 way through.

long view of the table from the Parliament left

Royalist horse on the right pressing forward

Parliament foote were not going to be able to take the center hill before the Cavaliers had it

while facing Prince Rupert the Parliament horse got ready to charge at the enemy guns

some Parliament dragoons take advantage of the nearby enclosed fields

as usual once movement begins, the horse will clash first

here the hill in the center can be seen with Royalists starting up the slope with the bright Parliament flags on the other slope

more around the hill

still more views of that hill

Each turn in Carnage & Glory II is 15 minutes of real time.

not much real change from mid turn at 08h00

Royalist artillery gets ready to fire

Royalist foote crests the hill

while other Royalist foote take up station in the one hill gap

Parliament was arranged with a gap that could fire artillery at the opposing foote and in two supporting lines

over at the enclosed fields ... the horse and Dragoons made ready to engage

So by 30 minutes into the battle, simulated time as it may have taken us 2 hours to get the troops out and moved to this point since Rob as unfamiliar with the system, clash of arms had come.

the Parliament Dragoons had made a poor choice ... not dismouting

they were stuck in a confused mass near the hedges

on the Parliament Right, some Royalist horse had been beat back!  With an amazing prisoner taken!

The Prince Rupert of the Palatine was now a prisoner of the Parliament!

Over on the other flank the horse clash was more of a mixed affair with neither side winning advantage

Parliament foote continued to hold ground in the center

the start of 08h45 the dragoons had been smashed, their colors taken and their badly wounded colonel taken prisoner, he was to expire before the end of the day

Royalist horse smashed the dragoons

now in the center both forces of foote had come into musket range, with one force 'balking' at any charge

the massed pikes did get ready to engage in push of pike though

the Parliament did climb the hill and force a musketry exchange with Royalists on the top of the hill

while the capture of Rupert had precipitated a breakout of Parliament horse

on the other flank a regiment of Parliament horse had broken out and started a series of 'fall back' pursuits into the Royalists lines

the center hill was still coming under contest and both sides were taking casualties yet not giving ground

an actual push of pike did happen

the rear line of Parliament were able to stiffen the lines enough to hold

By the end of the 4th turn 09h00, the Royalists were just holding on, they had relinquished initiative to Parliament for good now and their officer losses were taking a toll on the horse.

the confused situation became clear by the end of the turn

having lost 1/3 of their guns, now the Royalist artillery may have some targets to shoot at ... or are they Royalists falling back?

Royalist horse overcome the loss of Prince Rupert and manage to push back the Parliament horse

until they are stopped with a rough fight that changes the 'mind' of the horse commander switching him to a defense mindset (the yellow 'wounded man' standing on the command stand)

more Parliament horse flee into the woods

The push of pike was inconclusive

while firing was more effective, driving back a Parliamentary regiment of foote

the second line holds as the other foote flee to the rear

next to the hill it would take two Royalist officers to keep one regiment of foote from fleeing while taking 30%+ casualties

even some other Parliament foote were 'pinned down' from forward movement due to the losses seen elsewhere and having friendly troops retreat 'through' them

not that the Royalists could move forward ... their losses and exhaustion from the sharp fight had their brigade pinned

Parliament high command is used to 'rally' one foote force

this turned out to be enough ... for the Royalists had dropped below 75% morale (to 74%), while Parliament morale was a mere 77% ... so not some great victory, merely holding on longer than the other side

The Earl of Essex gets to declare a victory

With that ended our first C&GII game, wow!  End of the whole war really seeing Prince Rupert becoming a prisoner!

All in all it was a good run of the software system and we will definitely be going for another game.