Garden Wars: English Civil War Edition, using Carnage and Glory

My eldest son and I lined up the ECW troops I have at my disposal in a Garden Wars battle to test out the new Carnage and Glory II rules moderating the game using software.

It took some time to learn the inputs and control systems for managing the game.
After a few weeks of study of the system I have felt I understood it well enough to run a game.

the outlay saw Royalists and Parliamentarians on the far side of tall hedgerows between each other

Parliament horse

more of the Parliament horse on the far left wing

Parliament foote

Essex in his command post

The new Welsh horse commander, with the new Welsh horse in its first ever Garden Wars battle

more Royalist horse (okay actually these are my Parliament horse doing the job filling in until I get the Royalists painted)

The Welsh foote in its first engagement

The stand of commanders being used for Rupert

The Parliament foote step out

Stepping out from the hedgerows the Royalist foot of Wales come into view of the open fields ...

the first clash of arms came on the far left of Parliament with the horse charging at each other

Only a quarter hour later the other wing of horse for both sides were engaged in the open large field

while the foote advanced

the flank horse engagement on the Royalist right had moved quickly with Royalist horse fleeing ... while Parliament horse give chase!

The King!

Sir John Urry was felled from his horse and taken prisoner!

all the while the Welsh foote continued to advance

News of the right flank collapse hit the King hard

While Essex was buoyed by the news of the left wing horse success and bid that a support the center order be drafted

Welsh foote deploy, unaware as yet that the battle was all but lost

the Welsh troop of horse, in their first battle secure great fame in chasing away Parliament horse with a leader!

They started up a scare and kept it going

and going

Past Lord Essex who had more important matters to attend to and allowed the fleeing horse to go

Parliament foote take up lines, at first blocked by the swirling mass of horse in the field blocking all view and shot

Rupert reports the loss of the left wing

indeed the battle was but two percentage points away from clear victory for the Parliament

A true tide turning was needed to rescue the Royalist cause in this battle ...

Parliament horse re-position on the far left wing

Welsh horse penetrate the hedgerows on the Parliamentary start line!

still giving chase to Roundhead horse sending them off the field!

twas not enough though as the Royalist horse in the center was totally worn out and unable to press forward

Parliament horse was no better in the center and here we see Prince Rupert now steadying a line of horse to form the start of the rear guard ...

No way could the King rally enough men to keep in the field this day.

and by 9:30, a mere hour and a half after the action started, it was all over as the Cavaliers would have to fall back to lick their wounds ...

An American Civil War game, Gettysburg Day 2

Nate of the Nanaimo Historical Wargamers group (name of Facebook) organized a Fire & Fury Gettysburg Day 2 battle.

Our venue was a Royal Canadian Legion hall, so there were some wonderful art pieces on the walls for inspiration of a military sort as we gamed out the historical action of July 2, 1863.

a shot just as the 'action' started, seen here are the Confederate commanders

The Confederate right flank, Hood's command.  Longstreet was restricted in not crossing a road on the west side of the battlefield ... thus limiting the options of the attackers after they had marched outside of his command radius.

the depiction of "the Devil's Den"

Union side, less the author, with a flanking Confederate seated on the right.  The fighter plane was the closest art piece to our game space and there were many others in the room.

The Confederate line from left flank, the troops had now crossed the road ... their commander would not.

Union forces stubbornly hold the high ground in the center, they would keep a presence on the west side of the river all day, making a victory point.

Union forces enter the Devils Den for the first time that afternoon.

Confederates close in on the forests just outside of the Round Tops (big and little) ready to press on to the top of the high ground on the Union left.

Meanwhile in the center Union troops still refused to back away from advancing Confederates, here in the wheatfield.

Leading to multiple melee clashes of close quarter combat

Later in the Devils Den a third Union force was still holding out against nearly 4 times as many Confederates the casualties were horrendous on both sides!

Bloodied and battered the Confederates still press on up the slopes of Big Round top to get at the little round top (bottom right of picture) which had another Union force just behind the summit waiting to engage the attackers.

Came down to the last 4 rolls on Little Round Top. Union was still 'contesting' for the top of the hill at nightfall ... so the Confederates did not obtain their victory condition.

On the rest of the field, Union amazing successes, troops remained to the west of the river ALL DAY and Union forces temporarily controlled Seminary Ridge ... yes I have that name correct Union forces were in control of Seminary ridge shortly before nightfall, and more Union troops were moving west before nightfall, with the ability of occupying the side of the ridge before night.

Strange ending to the battle, as the Union left 'refused' and just held on while the Union right moved deep into the Confederate deployment areas.

At this rate, Pickett would have nowhere to 'start' his charge from.

Great day and kudos to Nate for his hosting with the troops and table dressing along with scouting out the Legion as a suitable game location.

Welsh Foote first Garden Wars Parade for ECW

The Welsh Brigade of Foote for my English Civil Warre Royalist Army takes to the Garden Wars field for its first exercises.

March past in column, with the senior (first painted) regiment leading.  Now all troops have their flocking and flags are flying in the morning sun.

The three Welsh commands, Army Command (to the left with cuirass and red plume), a horse commander (in green near the towne); both painted last year, and the new Foote Command, in white with red accents and many other little flourish details that only a Royalist Cavalier would appreciate.

The full line, with horse to the 'right' of the line (seen in the left of the picture)

Horse painted last year (soon to have three more new squadrons added)

Foote painted last year (the senior regiment)

All my Royalists will have white hat bands as much as possible (so as to quickly distinguish them on the field of battle)

These flags are all conjectural as I have not found that the Welsh actually used their own colors during the era, I wanted to have more distinguishing elements for the Royalists forces

Able to find many good samples of things to use on the flags for the Welsh forces I have set a 'color' of the Welsh Dragon on the white over green and the 'regimental' of some other pattern that I have found in reference to Wales.

That sets one full brigade, or 'division' as they called them in the era, for my Royalists; next after doing some commission works to pay a few bills, are going to be the Welsh Horse to complete the Welsh 1/3rd of the planned Royalist Army.  The others are Cornish, using some of the wars of religion minis so that force will have an antique feel in comparison to the Oxford 1/3rd which will be of the more modern sort of troops similar to the ones already standing in my Parliamentary Army.

Welsh Foote ECW Drilling almost complete

Now with most colors done, only the final gloss coat remains

Gloss coating done, these troops now await their flocking (grass on the bottoms)

With this lot I did up two teams of diggers and sappers along with powder kegs, in preparation for games planning for the coming Salute in Richmond in 2019.

Weather permitting, the next photos will be a garden wars parade!