I’m still filling in a few gaps in my ECW collection.
This week’s completed unit is a squadron of Scots Pistoliers. The figures are from Khurasan, and very nice they are too.
As always, these are painted with GW Contrast Paints, and mounted on a single element base from Warbases.
Exciting news. My Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack for For King & Parliament has been printed in physical form i.e. is now not just available as a pdf but also as a wire-bound book.
This is the first time one of my books has been available ready-printed since the heady days of Vis Bellica.
I’m sure that you have all bought M2M in digital format already (and if not, why not!) but here’s the link to the hard copy.
As a reminder, here’s the marketing blurb:
The 66 page Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario Book, written by Robert Avery, is a physical print book, designed for the TtS! For King and Parliament English Civil War rules but useful with other rule systems too. It is printed on 130 GSM paper and is wire-O-bound so that it will lie flat on the table.
The book contains twelve free-standing fictional scenarios set around in the counties of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire during and shortly after the English Civil War. They tell the story of a series of clashes between Sir John Boulters (for the King) and Sir Christopher Grey (for Parliament). Each scenario contains a background briefing, separate briefings for each of the players, a deployment plan and orders of battle. The scenarios can be played individually or in sequence, as a campaign. Many of the characters and units recur throughout the campaign.
And finally, here’s a couple of pics of the Cookham Moor scenario just starting, one from a game I played over Zoom recently and one taken from the FB 6mm Miniatures & Wargaming group.
Last weekend I had the chance to re-play the final scenario in my Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack for FK&P: Rogue Nation.
It’s a stand-up fight between a late ECW period Parliamentarian army and a combination of militia and clubmen set, once again, around the village of Gappe.
As is customary these days (but not for much longer!) we played via Zoom: with my opponent being able to see the whole table via an overhead webcam, and more specific areas of the battlefield via an on-table mobile phone.
Here’s the report:
Although it looks as if I outnumber the rebels, the points scores are equal!
Typical: you spend years defeating a Papist King and then everyone else starts rebelling as well!
The Roundhead artillery would only fire a few shots before being masked by their own troops.
Much to my surprise, the rebels come forward: pike in front, Rabble behind, and Dutch horse on the wings.
Note my horse charging forward in a both-wings enveloping movement.
Both sides’ infantry met in the middle of the field and a colossal scrum ensued.
It’s a bit dicey for a few turns, but slowly my superior quality starts to count. His foot are pike-heavy, so quickly run out of ammunition for double-shot volley fire. Not so for my men! Plus his Rabble have no guns.
…is starting to thin out now as the enemy units collapse and flee.
I’ve already punched through his line with a unit of Swedish horse and a battalia of infantry. Even if he hadn’t crumpled now, my subsequent flank and rear attacks would have finished him off.
So a glorious victory for my Parliamentarians for a change. My opponent’s post-game e-mail began “what was I thinking?” as I think he realised that coming forward as his men did had been a mistake.
What was also pleasing was that my run of extremely (really extremely) bad cards seemed to have come to an end. In fact, another reason that my opponent gave for his defeat was that he was careless of his tactics as he was expecting my cards to be as bad as usual! Well, this game I actually had some quite good luck for a change, especially in the opening stages of the main infantry clash.
My victory was, however, not enough to reverse the course of the campaign in general. The M2M pack gives you a totaliser to keep track of how you do in each battle…and I think it fair to say that after twelve games played I was firmly on the losing side.
Great fun, and I must start writing the new pack soon!
As I was playing the Rogue Nations scenario, the chap of FB who’s playing through the campaign was playing the Pinkney’s Court game:
Nice to see that someone else also has problems with the Royalist horse at this stage of the war!
Lots of pike-and-shot content on here at the moment. No apologies for that: I’m playing all my games via Zoom at the moment, and grid based games are a lot easier to manage than freeform games such as IABSM or Q13. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!
Anyhoo, on to today’s post: an after action report from my latest game of For King & Parliament : another scenario from the Marlowe to Maidenhythe pack, this time scenario 11: The King’s Secrets.
The basic premise is that the Royalists (played remotely by my opponent) have to get a stagecoach carrying secret documents off the opposite end of the table. Blocking their way are a Parliamentarian militia supported by local villagers…
That’s my Rabble on the left. I should have put them inside the Dutch horse not out on the wing.
Even after the disastrous cards on my left, I came close to winning the game in the centre: but the Parliamentarians remained resolute and I couldn’t get the disorder I needed.
Although at the end of the game I had curled around his main line and was about to roll it up, other Royalist units had punched a hole for the stagecoach and bodyguard Cuirassiers to get through.
Another great game, despite the result!
A couple of days ago I mentioned that I’d seen the Marlowe to Maidenhythe campaign from my new scenario pack for For King & Parliament being played out by someone on the Facebook 6mm Miniatures & Wargaming group. They’d just played the first scenario in the campaign: the Attack on Marlowe.
Fortunately they seem to have enjoyed that game (!) as they’ve now posted game two: Widbrooke Common.
You have to be a member to see posts on the group, but here’s a link for those of you who are, or who would like to be: link.
In the meantime, for those of you who either belong to far too many FB groups already (guilty as charged, your honour) or who don’t like FB at all, here’s a pic from the start of the game.
And now for the plug!
You can buy the scenario pack from the BigRedBat shop by clicking here or on the pic below.
One of the nice things about writing scenario packs (in addition to having a little bit of extra cash to buy more figures) is seeing that people are actually playing games based on your work.
Marlowe to Maidenhythe, my English Civil War scenario pack for For King & Parliament was only published about two weeks ago, so it’s really pleasing to be able to report that I’ve seen the first AAR based on the first encounter of the campaign.
It’s posted on FB, in the 6mm Miniatures & Wargames Group which, as it is Private, you might not be able to immediately see from this link…but it is there, let me assure you!
I hope the author doesn’t mind, but here’s a quick pic of the initial stage of the battle:
If anyone’s interested, you can buy your own copy of Marlowe to Maidenhythe by clicking here or on the picture below.
With my Rabble bases now painted, it was time to have go at scenario #10 from the Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack: McCleod’s Odyssey.
In summary, the Scots who have featured as mercenaries in previous scenarios in the campaign are making their way home, but run into a force of Militia backed up by locals who want a word, shall we say, about the Scots’ behaviour as they went south.
It’s a standard encounter battle, with both sides directed to get stuck in as soon as possible.
The Scots, to the right, approach the village of the Gappe, held by the Militia and local folk
The Scots placed their Highlanders on the left, opposite the rough and more enclosed terrain, their artillery and pike only units in the centre, and their standard battalia on the right. In reserve were their horse: a unit of poorly mounted pistoliers and a unit of poorly mounted lancers.
The Militia occupied the Gappe: infantry battalia in the centre, Swedish horse on the left and Dutch horse on the right. The three units of Rabble were on the far right, facing the Highlanders.
My plan was for my Highlanders to deal with the Rabble then sweep in to the Gappe from the flank. Bevan, my opponent, however, was up to all my tricks, and moved his Dutch horse to the right of the village, threatening the Highlanders’ flanks.
At the same time, the enemy Swedish horse moved out to their left. Not wanting my day ruined by the sudden arrival of cavalry on my right flank, I moved the Scots horse to counter: you can see them top left in the picture below.
Finally, my main infantry units moved forward…but my pike-armed battalia decided that they had walked far enough and just about refused to move.
Everything then seemed to happen at once.
On the left, two of my Highlander units were charged, as predicted, by the enemy Dutch horse, with both surviving the charge but becoming disordered in the process. I struck back and, incredibly, one unit of Dutch horse was double-disordered and had their Colonel wounded.
This was a great opportunity for a game-winning opening clash but, try as I might, I just couldn’t find a way to break the enemy horse and would now have to suffer the fate of all loose infantry attacked by large numbers of close formation horse!
Meanwhile, on the other flank, my horse and the enemy Swedish horse now faced each across one of the fields outside the village.
A victory for the Scottish horse, despite their manky mounts, but now they would Pursue their fleeing enemies from the field unless they stopped and rallied.
As these actions were happening on the flanks, my centre moved forward, me seeking an advantage by overlapping his left wing.
After the initial clash, I had won the right flank but was about to lose my left flank: the Highlanders were outnumbered 5:3 and could do nothing except take the charges from the Dutch horse.
One unit of Highlanders crumbled and fled, leaving a gap through which one unit of Dutch horse could pour. The enemy horse pursued for a bit, then rallied and headed into the big open space behind my centre. All that was in front of them was my guns, and although I managed to disorder the horse and wound the General with them with some startlingly accurate artillery fire, I was soon overrun.
Meanwhile, another of my Highlander units had gone, leaving the third in a dire situation.
Meanwhile, the two centres were fighting it out but, despite having superior numbers, a bit of bad luck meant I was losing.
If my cavalry didn’t return soon, I was going to be out of victory medals!
The left side of my centre was now beginning to crumble as well as his successful right wing started to curl in on me.
We were both down to a handful of victory medals, with enough units at double-disorder to settle the matter one way or the other if they broke.
My pistolier horse quite their pursuit and crashed into the left side of the enemy battalia in the right hand building. That pike unit broke, and the advantage was momentarily mine, but then my pike-only unit in the centre of the field (bottom left in the pic above) went, and we were evens again.
It was down to whoever lost the next unit and, finally, my last unit of Highlanders could take no more: they had been fighting front and flank for three turns now, somehow hanging on…and that was the last of my coins gone!
The day was lost: but it had been an epic battle that, once again, had come down to a could-go-either-way climax.
My big mistake was to let my Highlanders get into combat with Dutch horse: I should have retreated to cover if I could. That would have meant I went into the more successful clashes on the right and centre without having haemorrhaged victory coins on the left.
A great game, however, whatever the result.
This being the second game in my latest run-through of Marlowe to Maidenhythe, my just-published scenario pack for For King & Parliament.
I had lost the first game quite badly (down ten victory medals) so was keen that this one went my way. The scenario is an encounter battle, with the Parliamentarians (played by Peter, boo, hiss!) facing the Royalists (played by me, huzzah!) across Widbrooke and Battlemead Commons: the open land between Cookham and Maidenhythe down near the river.
Roundheads to the left, skulking in the hedgerows!
The Royalists face a couple of problems. Number one, the enemy has hedges to hide behind meaning that if they didn’t attack I would have to assault troops in cover with an even number of points; and number two, my main infantry brigade is all untried, meaning the danger of disorder in any first clash is high.
On the other hand, my opponent, Peter, was absolutely paranoid about the large numbers of “Swedish” horse that I was fielding. He was convinced that they would make mincemeat of his “Dutch” horse (a fair assumption, but one that had been firmly shown not to be a surety in our first game last week*) to the point that I am fairly certain that he had lain awake at night moaning “the Swedes, the Swedes: what do I do about the Swedes”!
This worry would actually be the major factor that decided the outcome of the game.
*Dutch horse fight deep and slow, Swedish horse fight fast and thin. They tend to lap around the flanks of Dutch horse and thus get a substantial advantage in an initial melee.
I opened the proceedings by sweeping forward on either wing with, you guessed it, my Swedish horse. My infantry I advanced cautiously in the centre.
Peter replied by opening fire with his artillery, which actually did me a favour, as the units targeted had to check for disorder due to their untried status: which both failed, but so early on in the game that I had the chance to re-order them before any enemy was encountered. My men had now had their first taste of battle and survived unscathed: they would act normally from now on.
As my Swedish horse on my left approached his Dutch horse, they retreated behind the hedgerows to their rear. This suited me just fine as Dutch horse, despite their deficiencies, are worth more points that Swedish horse (they are strong against almost everything else) so I was happy to have his cavalry bottled up in a corner ‘guarded’ by units worth half the cost.
The Roundhead Dutch horse bottled up in one corner by their own fear of my Swedish horse
Meanwhile on my right, my other brigade of Swedish horse was attempting to turn the Parliamentarian flank.
This looked difficult to do at first, as there were a couple of infantry battalia there who turned to face me, but my infantry were coming forward as well, meaning that the Roundhead foot would potentially have to fight in two directions at once.
Scene from behind the Parliamentarian lines. Units 9, 11 and 12 are about to retreat to their right, leaving my horse free to curl in from the flank
The Roundheads attempted to consolidate their position by pulling back and to the right as much as possible, but this manoeuvre, whilst sensible in some ways, let me bring my cavalry around in a proper outflanking movement.
Once my cavalry were around his flank, with my infantry coming forward, the Parliamentarians were in some difficulties. I used a battalia of infantry to clear his guns (by this time out of ammunition) and then sent them in through the gap opened up to attack the right hand side (from my point of view) of his line.
A bit of bad luck saw me lose the battalia, so I was forced to commit my reserve (my commanding general’s Cuirassier bodyguard) into the attack, but by this time my cavalry were in position for their flank attack.
The Royalist cavalry are round the flank!
With commanded shot to their front and Swedish horse to their flank, the grey-suited Roundhead battalia quickly crumbled, exposing the flank of the untried infantry battalia next to them.
This followed suit, and the rest of his line quickly followed them off the table: pinned from the front and rolled up from the right.
The Roundhead cavalry were, eventually, thrown forward but, by this time, it was too late to have any real effect: the day was mine.
A solid victory that netted me 10 victory medals (I had lost a couple of units early on) and evened up the campaign to date.
Next we will fight for Pinkneys Court, but here are some more pictures of today’s encounter:
One of my regular To The Strongest Ancients opponents wanted a go at For King & Parliament, so I suggested we play through the new Marlowe to Maidenhythe campaign.
I have recently been playing the Parliamentarians a lot, so we agreed that I would play the Royalists, and he would play the Roundheads. With that decided, it was on to scenario #01: The Attack on Marlowe.
The battlefield from the Royalist side. We were playing by Zoom.
This first, introductory, scenario is quite small (only 90 points per side) and features a Royalist attack on Parliamentarian forces drawn up waiting for them.
My plan was simple: use my superior horse to dispose of his cavalry, and then harry his flanks as my infantry took the centre.
Well, that was the plan…but it didn’t work. Despite the fact that my horse were fighting in the superior “Swedish” style and his were fighting in the old-fashioned “Dutch” style, my cavalry on my right flank were swept from the field!
The battle has begun: the field from the Parliamentarian side. Note the unit markers used to help my opponent keep track of his troops over Zoom.
Worse than that, on my left I manoeuvred my two units of cavalry to face and flank one of his pike units only to fall victim to some amazing shooting from both the unit and its accompanying light gun.
The opening stages of the game therefore left me down five units!
Although the outcome was now something of a foregone conclusion, I had no choice but to battle on: each game in the campaign is scored on how many victory medals the winner had left at the end of the game, so although I was fairly sure I was now going to lose, I needed to make it as painful as possible for my opponent to finish me off!
“‘Ware Horse to our right!”
Unfortunately this proved no very painful at all!
As my line moved forward, the Roundhead Dutch horse returned from having disposed of my cavalry and lined up to roll up my main battle line (as shown in the pic above).
I committed my reserve battalia to stopping them, but they were soon overwhelmed by a combination of infantry and cavalry attacks. I managed to blow away a couple of enemy Forlorn Hope units away, but soon my last victory medal was gone and I had suffered a pretty devastating defeat: down 10 victory medals after only the first game!
Revenge had better be mine in Game 2!
Finally managed to actually finish some painting: four bases of Rabble for my ECW armies and a coach & horses model to provide an objective or battlefield colour.
Let’s start with the coach:
This an Essex Miniatures model, with outriders from Peter Pig. It is a lovely, chunky bit of kit, and not too complicated to build.
That’s not to say it was easy (it wasn’t, and there was a lot of Superglue involved, most of which ended up on my fingers) but it was easier than the Magister Militum version that I bought at the same time. That arrived with no wheels, and had so many teeny-tiny fiddly bits that I eventually gave up trying to build it at all!
The problem for both is the way that the coach part is supposed to “float” above the carriage bit, hanging from the suspension springs that attach to uprights from the carriage. If you look at the picture above, that odd bit of blue above the rear wheels (don’t understand how that ended up there: there’s no blue on the model!) is where the suspension spring attaches to the upright. On this model, the suspension springs are very cleverly part of the main coach body, bending out from it at whatever angle you need them to. On the MM version, you had to build each part bit by bit i.e. tiny bit attached to tiny bit attached to tiny bit. I’m sure a better modeler than I would have coped, but it was too much for me.
As you’ll see, I based the model to fit with how I’m going to use it when playing the grid-based For King & Parliament rules. The team is separate from the coach, so when the coach is in a square on its own or with nothing in front of it, I shall put the team on the table; and if there’s no room, I won’t. It seems a bit odd, but works without having to use one of my double-deep bases to fit the coach and team on in one, which would then prevent me putting another unit into the same square.
You need some Rabble bases for three of the scenarios in my newly published Marlowe to Maidenhead ECW scenario book, so I thought that I’d better finish the ones that I’ve had part-finished for some time.
The figures are a real mixture. There are all the civilian figures I could find from Magister Militum’s Hallmark range; there are the Peter Pig clubmen and peasants; there are the Peter Pig plague doctors (I had to find a use for them somehow!) and then there are a few carefully chosen “specials” from Minifigs’ ECW range. All in all, a wide variety of poses that look properly mob-like.
I always think that it’s difficult to get a good looking Rabble base, and I’m still sure of that now. These are okay, and will do, but they don’t look at good as, say, the equally-mob-like Highlanders that I painted for my Scottish ECW army. On reflection, rather than going for a wide variety of colours, I should have decided on a very simple colour scheme and used that for all the figures, making allowances only for what they are wearing.
Well, looking at them again in the picture above, maybe they don’t look as bad as I thought. Let me know what you think via the comments.
Oh, and that is a single Minifigs Highlander out front: a Gallant Gentleman for the Scots.
Exciting news: my new English Civil War scenario pack for the For King & Parliament set of rules is now available!
In the UK:
In Europe/the USA:
Here’s the marketing blurb:
Marlowe to Maidenhythe is a supplement for TtS! For King & Parliament that contains twelve free-standing, fictional scenarios: nine in a loose chronological order and three bonus scenarios following the fortunes of the main participants after the campaign ends.
The pack is deliberately designed to give players who don’t have enough time to write their own scenarios a number of games that they can play with little or no preparation at all. All you have to do is print out the game and player briefings, set up the table according to the map, break out the figures and cards, and start the first turn. You don’t even need to print the pack out in full: just the pages you need for the scenario you’re going to play.
Marlowe to Maidenhythe tells the story of the clash between Sir John Boulters (for the Royalists) and Sir Christopher Grey (Parliamentarian): erstwhile friends now separated by their different loyalties. The same officers and units are used throughout the campaign, and it is hoped that the players will come to adopt and recognise them as their own or the enemy.
The games can be played either as a series of linked games or as a collection of one-off battles. To emphasise: each scenario is free standing and they do not have to be played in any particular order…but it is anticipated that players will play them in order as a campaign, keeping a running total of each sides’ score as they go along. The pack provides a Campaign Record Sheet as an easy way of doing so.
Finally, although specifically designed for FK&P, with a little work the scenarios can be adapted for any set of English Civil War/Renaissance rules: the basic elements of why, where and with what each side is fighting being largely common to all systems.
So whether you’re for the King or for Parliament, Marlowe to Maidenhythe gives you everything you need for many hours of joyful gaming!
After last week’s defeat, there was nothing for it but to play the next game in the campaign: Cookham Moor.
The Moor is a fun battle where both sides start the game facing each other across a stretch of open land:
My right flank consisted of a brigade of Dutch horse. They are good, solid troops, but the Royalists in front of them were in Swedish formation: more agile and, most importantly, able to counter-charge. That has led to defeat in previous battles, so I decided to try something new: I would advance up to the hedgerow and wait for them to come to me. The Commanded Shot from the nearest infantry brigade would move slightly forward into the woods, threatening the flank of any Royalist advance. At the same time, the guns would deploy and the Scots on my left flank would move up to the hedgerow in front of them. For once, the cards fell my way:
The Royalists advanced forward across their line, and soon the battlefield looked like this:
The Royalists then moved their central infantry to their right to face up against the Scots, uncovering the cavalry that had moved over from the right. This cavalry then charged straight forward: right at the Parliamentarian guns just over the bridge!
This was a disaster, as the Royalist cavalry swept the guns from the field, then heading off table in pursuit. There was now a massive hole in my line.
A general melee then broke out across the entire line. My Scottish pikemen did well, forcing the Royalist Commanded Shot to intervene; but my Highlanders, as usual, proved ineffectually weak.
With the infantry locked into combat, the focus changed to the cavalry clash on the right.
Here, my decision to hold the hedgerow proved a very good one, as after a couple of turns all his cavalry was dispersed.
This made up for the disaster in my centre, but both sides were now looking very battered indeed: so battered, in fact, that whichever side next lost a unit would lose the game.
If that was not exciting enough, on my far right the Royalist CinC at the head of his small-unit bodyguard cuirassiers was faced off against my CinC at the head of some Dutch horse!
It all came down to this combat. Could I do the single hit I needed to break the bodyguard and win the game?
Well, you can see from the picture above that I didn’t manage to hit the enemy in my turn. No matter, I thought, he needs two hits on me to break me.
Unbelievably, however, the two hits were done, my cavalry broke, leaving Sir Christopher all on his tod! I had lost the combat and lost the battle!
Phew! What a game!
I had managed to retrieve the situation in the centre and everything had all come down to one final combat that I had really lost on the luck of the cards…but at least I had played the Dutch horse well!
I had another play through of the Whyteladyes Lane scenario last weekend, hoping to put my previous defeat (to John) behind me as I sent Bevan’s Royalists running from the field. As is now usual, the game was played over Zoom, with markers showing the number of each unit so that Bevan could more easily work out which of his troops were where.
The game is a tough one for the Roundheads, as they begin the game in an extended column against ready-for-them Cavaliers in a more sensible formation.
Last time, I had pushed forward right from the start, and been chewed up piecemeal. This time I decided that I would form approximately on the head of my column and work from there.
This definitely seemed to work much better, and although I still had one unit (the one at the head of the column) isolated, I now had a bit of a battle line formed to hold the front whilst the rest of my troops deployed. As you can see in the photo below, the Royalists spotted my isolated Highlanders and charged them with a small unit of “bodyguard” Cuirassiers.
All my cavalry were on my right flank, so I advanced them forward to block his cavalry moving down behind a hedge and into my rear.
Usually I charge my Dutch-style horse in as soon as possible but, this time, knowing that the enemy Swedish-style horse would then take the initiative through a counter-charge (something my more ponderous units cannot do) I decided to employ more historical tactics and halt just beyond charge range and discharge my pistols into the advancing enemy.
This worked a treat, as you’ll see in the picture below. All three units to the right are disordered, but it will only take one more hit to break either of the enemy horse units, whereas my greater numbers mean that I can survive another two hits.
All now seemed to be going well, and even Bevan confessed later that he felt that, at this stage, I had the advantage. That was, unfortunately, about to change!
If you look at the picture, below, you’ll see that out at the top of the screen two Royalist units are overlapping my line. I should have taken steps to deal with these immediately, probably by withdrawing back over the hedge or by moving sideways…but I didn’t, not seeing how much of a threat these would turn out to be.
This was a bad mistake, compounded by my response: I thought I move forwards out of danger by breaking through the enemy line.
This is the situation (below) a few minutes later: the enemy unit of pikemen dressed in red in the centre of the photo have swept in from the left and destroyed two of my pike units.
My unit dressed in blue managed to get onto their flank, but the cards didn’t fall for me, and the Royalists would go on to destroy the Highlanders as well. That was nine Victory Medals gone in one fell swoop!
To add insult to injury, on the other side of the field my Dutch horse had now been forced into engaging two battalia of enemy pike: not something that horse enjoy doing! The game continued for another couple of turns, but the writing was on the wall. I eventually had no choice except to order a retreat.
I came close this time, so I think when I replay this scenario again I will try pulling back my column and forming on the hedge line behind the first couple of battalia.
Whatever the result, another great game of FK&P: I shall just have to get my revenge at Cookham Moor this afternoon!
Here’s another unit for my 15mm ECW Scots Covenanter army: a second pike-only battalia.
The fine-looking pikemen are from the Hallmark range via Magister Militum; and the command figures are Peter Pig. These are painted mainly with GW Contrast Paints, with just the metalwork being normal acrylics.
As regards everything else, the flag is a custom order from Maverick, the pikes are from Northstar, the heather is from Boontown (see yesterday’s post for more) , the base is from Warbases (see below for more), and the flock is from Hobby Round.
The story so far: a load of lockdown loot ordered from eight different manufacturers/suppliers last Sunday. On Wednesday, Boontown won the race to be the first to deliver, and yesterday the ever-reliable Warbases came in second with my order of vehicle bases (which I use for 15mm elements such as the pike, above) and a packet of command bases.
So far, therefore, we have:
Boontown (3 days)
Warbases (4 days)
Pretty impressive stuff!
I’ve finally had a chance to finish a unit that’s been sitting on the painting table for almost a week: a unit of Scottish Lancers for my ECW Covenantor army.
The main body figures are from Khurasan’s ECW Scots & Irish range, painted mainly with GW Contrast Paints. The two command figures are Peter Pig. The flag is a custom design from Maverick. As I didn’t have a command figure holding a flag, and wrapping it around one of the lancers looked weird, I decided to have the chap on the left waving a cut-down version!
The unit is based for For King & Parliament on a Warbases vehicle base. The purple heather is from Boontown.
I also managed to paint up a Colonel’s command base for the troops: a couple of figures from Peter Pig:
These were painted in the same way as the Lancers, above.
After the battle for Cookham Moor, the Parliamentarians have retreated in some disarray: falling back to a position where their rear and one flank is protected by the river Thames.
This protection, however, forms two sides of a potential cage, so the Royalists have hurried forward to do battle again, knowing that if the Roundheads break, there is nowhere, at least on two sides, for them to run.
Could this finally be the decisive battle that both sides have been seeking?
The action takes place on Cock Marsh: a bleak, wind-swept area of open ground between Winter Hill and the Thames. The lower slope of Winter Hill borders the south side of the battlefield. The north and part of the east side of the battlefield are bordered by the Thames i.e. impassable terrain. Any unit that is forced off-table into the Thames is lost.
The main part of the tabletop consists of moorland separated by hedgerows and the odd patch of trees. All hedgerows count as linear rough terrain. All wooded squares count as rough terrain. There are two Iron Age burial mounds on the Parliamentarian side of the field.
Cock Marsh is a bleak and featureless place.
I would play the Roundheads, John would play the Cavaliers.
Scottish mercenaries good for an initial, ferocious charge, but largely useless after that!
The yellow Meeple indicates an Untried unit i.e. one that must test morale the first time that it sees action of any kind.
My plan was to sweep forward with my four units of Dutch Horse and smash the Royalist Swedish Horse from the field. The Cavalerie would then be free to turn and roll up the Royalist line.
I had, however, forgotten that Swedish Horse (like the units opposite me) are not inferior to Dutch Horse, just different. As John said afterwards: “You threw away your cavalry by attacking my best units head on”. Thank you, John, for your words of wisdom!
The red Meeples represent Veteran units, and that’s more Scottish mercenaries on screen as well.
He obviously didn’t think standing on a burial mound presaged the outcome of the battle!
A cavalry brigade (Swedish Horse and Dragoons); plus a unit of pike-only foot from the neighbouring foot brigade.
The pikemen appear to be impersonating Scots mercenaries: a cunning ploy!
Quite a few of them…and is that the Oxford Musketeers Commanded Shot I see at the back (with the blue and white stripey flag). Evil buggers who have stuffed me several times before!
Look how weak it looks compared to my glorious Cavalerie.
Appearances can be deceptive!
Everything looks good so far…
One squadron of my Dutch Horse disappears, as does one squadron of Royalist Swedish Horse.
I was rather hoping the Highlanders would make short work of the Dragoons, but they end the turn honours even (the two units with the red disordered markers on them).
The rest of the Highlanders wait for the enemy Swedish Horse to charge. Come on: if you think you’re hard enough!
…and it’s all gone horribly wrong.
Only one squadron of Dutch Horse left, and they are double-disordered, and there are still two enemy cavalry squadrons existent.
The two sides have moved towards each other. The only difference between this point and the start of the battle is that I’ve lost (read: thrown away) three squadrons of Dutch Horse worth nine victory coins (about half my supply).
This is where my men started to divide themselves into those who could swim and those who could not!
And I’ve let a gap appear in my infantry line, leaving one Scottish pike unit isolated.
My Highlanders and John’s cavalry just about wipe each other out…but I can’t afford to lose many more coins!
And here’s where the cards deserted me as well: you’ll notice that my battalia seem to be double-disordered versus the Royalists’ single disorder.
I forget which one of my units broke, but this photo was taken just before they did, costing me my last victory medal.
I’d like to say that my (extremely heavy) defeat was all my fault, but that would be to underplay John’s skill at exploiting my errors.
I am now writing out one hundred times "Do not throw away your cavalry on a frontal charge against even or worse odds” whilst Sit Christopher and his surviving men drag themselves out of the water on the far side of the river!
A great game of For King & Parliament despite my defeat: 150 points a side played out in just over 90 minutes.
Robert Avery
This weekend I finally had the chance to get back to the painting table and polish off another unit of “Dutch” horse for my 15mm ECW collection.
The figures are Hallmark from Magister Militum, painted with GW Contrast Paints.
As with all my ECW figures, I mounted them as a For King & Parliament element on a Warbases Vehicle Base. They are lovely and chunky to move around the tabletop, but I am somewhat terrified of dropping one!
Whilst I was waiting for the paint to dry between colours on the above, I also managed to paint a command base for my Scots Covenantor force. Here I used the Peter Pig special Scots pack of ensign, preacher and dog and a Hallmark gentleman command figure.
I must remember to brush off the spider’s web before photographing!
These came out quite well, and I do love the preacher. One thing I must remember to do, however, is to brush off the bits of errant spider’s web that the varnish picks up when I’m spraying in the garage before photographing the figures. It comes off easily, but you can barely see it in normal light…or at least that’s my excuse.
Onto some pike-only units now.
After the encounter at Whyteladyes Lane, the Royalists retreated to the small hamlet of Cookham. The Parliamentarians, however, rather than withdrawing to regroup, have followed them.
Cookham, a pleasant place mostly home to farm labourers, is split by the Moor: an open piece of land crossed one way by a small stream, Strand Water, and the other way by Dean Lane, now more of a road.
Unwilling to surrender the Moor, “Little John” Boulters leads his men forwards to the eastern edge of the open ground only to see Sir Christopher and his men just arriving on the other side. The stage is set for another epic For King & Parliament clash!
I would command the Roundheads, John would lead the Cavaliers.
Two brigades of foot in the centre, a brigade of horse on each wing, guns and a bodyguard unit of cuirassiers also in the centre.
A brigade of foot, a brigade of Scots mercenaries, a brigade of Dutch horse.
Is on the Parliamentarian right.
One squadron of Dutch horse finds itself isolated on the wrong side of a hedge.
The Highlanders just emerging from the splash-through stream will move forward and will be charged by the enemy cuirassiers.
And I have established a decent line of battle against a more fragmented Royalist advance.
But they just won’t budge for many turns (I suspect their commander, Sir Kavan Nelson, defected to the Royalist cause) leaving me fatally weak in the centre.
But, again, having lost their Colonel, I just can’t get them to move forward. My army appears paralysed, and the Royalists are about to take full advantage!
But because Sir Kavan won’t move his men forward, I am outnumbered!
It’s six units to four, and two of my battalia are Highlanders that have spent their first, ferocious charge!
Losing a pike-n-shot battalia and a General in one turn is a good way to shed coins fast!
And that’s where I ran out of coins!
Well that was a game that was really going my way when a sudden paralysis amongst my troops caused by the loss of my Colonel of Cavalerie and Sir Kavan’s defection (I can see no other explanation as to why Aces suddenly appeared all over his brigade!) meant that the Roylaists were given a chance to rally, catch their breath, and then move forward and concenrate their numbers with devastating effect.
It didn’t help that my CinC, Sir Christopher, led a sorely-needed Scots mercenary battalia on a complete Jeb Stuart-like perambulation up the wrong side of the left hand wood, effectively taking them out of the battle at the moment of decision. That was deffo my fault though!
A great game that saw John keeping his nerve as I scored early successes, pulling back and then seeing an opportunity and taking full advantage. Just to emphasise the point: at one stage of the game (after the early clashes) I was something like eight coins in front!
Time for the Parliamentarians to retreat and regroup!
Robert Avery
Another unit for my ECW Scots Covenantor army: this time it’s the artillery.
These are figures from Khurasan Miniatures’ 15mm Scots & Irish range, with one man per crew coming from Peter Pig.
They are painted with GW Contrast Paints, and mounted on a vehicle base from Warbases. The “heather” comes from Boontown.
Time for the next encounter in my North Wessex For King & Parliament English Civil War campaign.
After the battle just north of Bisham Abbey, Sir Christopher Grey has led his Parliamentarian army (reinforced with more Scots mercenaries) east in an attempt to loop around the Royalists whom, he believes, are regrouping before moving north on their existing axis of attack.
The Roundheads get as far as Cookham Dean before they realise that the Cavaliers have been tipped off and have managed to get a blocking force across the Parliamentarian line of advance.
Battle will once more be joined!
The Parliamentarians (commanded by Yours Truly) advance in column from the top of the table. The Royalists, commanded by John, lie in wait athwart Deans Lane. Whyteladyes Lane is the road, bottom right, running into Dean’s Lane.
At the head of the column is a Highlander battalia: some of MacLeod’s Oathmen. They are followed by three Scottish standard battalia and then a brigade of English foot. The Parliamentarian horse is to the right of the column (left as you look at the photograph) moving along a smaller lane in an attempt to avoid congestion.
Two brigades of infantry, one of them pike-heavy; two brigades of horse, one each side of the infantry.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the right. This commanded shot battalia would go on to destroy almost the entire Scottish pike element.
Scots at the front, English behind, Dutch horse on the far side!
The battle opened with the horse on both sides moving forward.
The Roundhead Dutch horse started the game quite far from the action, so needed to get up to the schwerpunkt as fast as possible: in the event, two units managed to do so, but one got slightly left behind.
Likewise, the Royalist right flank horse brigade (Stafferton’s Brigade) started the game behind the main infantry line, so needed to thread their way through to the centre.
Note that the lead Highlander unit has already destroyed the Royalist Forlorn Hope (“Gauldie’s Men”) but got themselves disordered in the process.
The Red Meeples represent veteran units. The blue dice are Dash, the white dice are Ammo.
The Royalist horse move left whilst the Parliamentarians desperately try to sort themselves out. Moving from column to line in a restricted space is proving difficult!
Meanwhile the other Royalist horse face off against their Dutch opposition.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the far side have crossed the hedge.
No matter who initiates the charge, the Royalist Swedish horse (whilst they still have dash) always have the initiative.
Note that the Parliamentarians are going up a gentle hill.
The 1st Cookham Militia confront some of MacLeod’s mercenary Scots.
Derrick’s Horse confront another of MacLeod’s battalia.
At the top of the picture, the Oxford Musketeers have turned to outflank the Scottish line and blown away the first of MacLeod’s pike battalia.
At the bottom, Derrick’s Horse have been destroyed.
…and are keeping the second from interfering with the demise of the Scots.
The Oxford Musketeers have blown away a second Scottish battalia, with the third and final Scottish battalia destroyed by one of the Cookham Militia units.
Things are not looking good for Cromwell’s lot!
But the Parliamentarians have already forfeited a lot of coins and (to the right) the Royalists have battalia in reserve.
At this point the Parliamentarians finally ran out of coins and I was forced to admit defeat: a fairly crushing defeat!
It had been a great game, even if I had lost!
The truth was that I never really got the Parliamentary battle line properly sorted, which allowed the Royalists to defeat my brigades piecemeal. Annoying, as before the battle I’d specifically told John that I needed to avoid that happening!
Robert Avery
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
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