ECW Campiagn II ... just a little south of Bristol

 A throw-down battle between local forces near Kingsbury in Somershire.

Colonel Royston commanded three battalia of clubmen, with two formations of horse (terrible milita horse at C2*) and one formation of Pike & Shotte.

The local Royalist commander was ... some Captain, with a meager clubmen force and two horse units (the same C2* quality).

Truly a tale to write home about ...

A random field was assembled, with a town and some fields

the Parliament filled the line from hill to beyond the woods

Colonel Royston took charge of the horse

leaving the pike & shotte to a local captain

turn 2 began the closing in of forces

though not without stumbles (the pike & shotte rolled a "1"
during movement & the other die was a
"2", for a total of 3 inches moved and 1 DP
[Disruption Point])

Royalist horse did not fare much better also picking up a DP
during the first move

Amazingly the Royalists did not fail any of the command tests this game, which led to a full run on the field.

by turn three the shooting started

Parliament horse was still out of range

as were the pike & shotte

the masses of clubmen nervously awaited the outcome
of the pending horse battle

turn four and the shooting is intense

musket and pistol shots ring out

all the pony units are engaged

Royalist horse manage to save vs. three hits in one blow

yet still the clubmen must await their fate ...

now the shooting action was fierce

pistols blast away again from all the ponies

firelocks again deliver a massive hit

not enough command points to fully recover the losses

glad for cover, the clubmen remain watchful of the wild pistol fight
among the horsemen

The tide finally shifted with a poor command roll from the Royalist captain ... cannot recall the name ... while Colonel Royston surged ahead with more than enough support from one of the foote captains for Parliament.

with turn six the Royalist horse began to melt
seen here with the dreadded "5" for DPs
and already missing a stand from casualties

Colonel Royston leading the way

Royalist horse dissolve under heavy fire from firelock and pistols

remaining distant the clubmen start to relax as it becomes clear
Parliament is winning the horse encounters

just able to get enough command points
Royalist forces start the withdrawl

Parliament pushes for a take down

out of range of the Pike & Shotte as the clubmen cheer the victory
of their horsemen

the Royalist horse managed to withdraw in some order
the clubmen, did not fare so well, yet
enough escaped as to not eliminate the battalia

no chance to win for the Royalists, at least they did not get over-run.

Next up:  Prince Maurice vs. Sir William Waller!

ECW Campaign II - Week two in the books

 We did not end up laying out the troops for the first big(er) battle ...

My young opponent chose to withdraw immediately from Princes Rupert and Maurice.

It cost him the 'drunkard' leader Major Congnac and the cohesion of the area militia as they were scattered across the area after they fled the field.

The Royalists got to move first this time and pulled back to cover Oxford with Rupert and his lifeguard, then Waller came forward with Hesselrigges Lobsters and combined with another Parliament force in the area to really hit hard on the remaining Royalists, now back under Prince Maurice.

Looks like another smaller action south of Bristol is going to take place also ... two fronts are warming up in the west country...

two battles coming in week three

Maybe we'll get them both done the coming week on the now deployed 'big' table.

ECW Campiagn II First week battles - Warr Without an Enemie

 So my youngest son and I set out to generate some battles on the tabletop using my ECW troops and the "Warr without an Enemie" rules by Wyre Forest Wargamers 

So our map moves generated two battles between rather uneven forces ... expected in the early stages of any civil war campaign.

The first battle we game'd out was between Prince Maurice and some unnamed captain of a foot company of clubmen from the Barkshire region.

the Parliament milita was a clubmen and pistol armed horsemen (lower left)
Royalists under Prince Maurice were a Pike & Shotte Veterans from Cornwall,
a pair of ultra-light guns and a mass of Barkshire clubmen (3 units) (top right)

the ultra-light guns did all the work
and a single 'sort-of' carracole/charge feint managed
to push back one unit of clubmen

the Veterans of Cornwall did not get close enough to volley

the Parliament 'border horse' fled the field

after five turns the morale of the Parliament was close to collapse and the commander wisely chose to flee from the site of battle in Barkshire.

That same first week of March 1643 saw another lop-sided battle, where Major Bradford and the Western Association took on a lone brigade of Royalist militia near Bathe and the border of Wiltshire.

battlefield this time was on a river
Parliament again to the left
Royalists are right

behind the river and on a hilltop were three units of clubmen
to their left were the lone pike and shotte of this mostly militia force

Parliament came loaded for bear with the Western Association
and one small militia battalia of clubmen and border horse

video was running for this game

Artillery again doing all the work

Royalist pike and shotte are damaged in turn 1

then routed in turn 2 as more casualties mounted from more
artillery hits!

seeing their only real combat unit flee, the Royalist Captain
ordered a retreat ... that turned into a rout

Parliament ultra-light gun team made all the action happen
as the commander wisely stood his men still and forced
the Royalists to come to him ...

Little battles with large on-map consequences.

Week two moves are also done and a BIG BATTLE is shaping up ...

Both Princes Rupert and Maurice are now on the border of
Wiltshire to do battle
William Waller is close by,
meaning week #3 will also have a
big battle prospect ...

English Civil War - Campaign Game II

 The game plans for the winter have now firmed up and my youngest son and I will engage in some English Civil War battles set in the west country (same region as the ones the Rob and I are doing), though this time the establishment will be to 'create battle situations' and not so much worry about supplies or the wider war issues.

I have put together a cyberboard game box for us to use and set out an initial setup:

The intention is to use the larger 'named' forces from Unhappy King Charles as full brigades of trained troops, pike & shotte units and horse units.  Then the un-named and smaller 'flag' forces as random club-men, a pike & shotte unit (maybe) and maybe some border horse (all raw and C2* pistoleer) units.

We'll see what sort of crazy mayhem we manage to create.

Alpian Wars - October game in the sun!

 In an amazing turn of weather, there was a Saturday planned game in October that we could do OUTSIDE!  On Vancouver Island!

For those who are not understanding my surprise, normally October is the start of the rainy season in our rainforest climate, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Table laid out, Stagonia on the left, Alpia on the right

Alpian Horse

Stagonian foote

Alpian foote, Utinni Regiment in the center

Alpian knights

Alpian command

Stagonian Command and Ordnnance

first card of deck 1

A gentle game, with the cards bringing about actions, that often cause traffic jams.

Deck 2 opening

The Alpian foote did a cha-cha over the little hill here

Stagonian kannon managed to startle some Alpians

Stagonian knights

The second deck was mostly Stagonian moves

deck three included many artillery action cards
which Stagonia used to great effect

not many move cards, they were mostly Stagonian

some Alpian horse did move forward
to be shot up

Alpian cannon were silenced in the artillery barrage

A mostly friendly match, the nice weather helped to keep everyone's spirits up.

deck four was again short stack

with Alpian troops taking the worst of the battle effects
though finally giving some fire

deck five featured some more cavalry clashes and the shift to the Stagonian right wing

Stagonia knights arrive on the right flank

Stagonian foote hold the line and the towne

a tense standoff ensues

great sunny afternoon - messing with clear pictures

again Alpian foote step back off the hilltop

now Alpian horse start to deliver punishing blows on Stagonian horse

The battle was still not fully decided, for the Alpians could turn the flank of the horse ...

down three regiments of foote, Alpia now needed to take more risks

Stagonia now dominated the hill on the Alpian right flank

the center had turned to Stagonia's favor

only the woods were keeping Alpian foote from taking
even more devastating fire

at the towne the lines clash

Alpia coming off the worse for wear in the center

though Utinni regiment did manage to hold the edge of the hill
on the right flank ...

We were using the random effects cards in the deck and mostly the effects were benign, this turn was to see a change ...

Stagonian lined had crossed more than half the battlefield in all sectors

more Alpians were destroyed at the woods edge

reduced to their crossbowmen forlorne hope, Alpia struggled on

one Alpian brigadier had no more command

in the center the continued depletion of Alpian regiments
slowed their return fire ability

incredibly
(or maybe obviously for this is
Vile Stagonia we're
talking about)
the Stagonian commander in chief
LEFT THE FIELD
in the command of one of the brigadiers!

at least the Stagonian foote did not seem to notice

they continued to hold the center and blast away at all comers

until there were only Stagonians in the center and left
(on the hill)

now only the horse of Alpia could save face

hammed in by Stagonian forces

limited foote to support

though the Stagonian knights were wounded ...

deck ten, the situation looked grim for Alpia

now though their CiC and Brigadiers attached to the last commands
making them super-powered!

Stagonia had numbers, yet as long as the Alpian knights got to charge first
...
then they would have the attacker advantage
...
all hinged on the turn of the next card

only 2 of the 12 lost units so far were Stagonian

the field was commanded by Stagonia

deck 12 was to decide the game

only Alpia's knights with the CiC and Brigadier remained

All of the rest of the field was Stagonian

Alpia's knights proved their valor and defeated all
Stagonian knights ... then withdrew from the field

FINAL RESULT:  STAGONIAN VICTORY!