FK&P AAR: Ramshackle Road

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Time for the next installment in the Siege of Norchester English Civil War campaign that I am playing through with friend Rob.

The Royalists are currently well alead after a disastrous Laundry Day battle last time. Today, however, I was sure that I could make up that ground as we headed down Ramshackle Road for scenario ten of the twelve.

View from the Royalist side of the table

The game begins with the Royalist raiding party that had been so successful last time, trapped against a river, with large numbers of Parliamentarians coming at them hard.

I knew ( as I had written the scenario!) that it was only a matter of time before the Royalists received reinforcements from Norchester itself, so had determined to overwhelm the small force they started with as soon as I could. My men therefore marched forward smartly, especially the Dutch-style horse on my right who had a clear path to loop around the enemy flank.

The arrival of the Royalist reinforcements would be determined by me pulling as certain number of Aces from the pack during my turn. Those who have played either TTS or FK&P against me will know that I currently seem to be unable to pull anything else, so it was no surprise when hoardes of Cavaliers suddenly appeared on my left, right on top of me, before I’d had a chance to get very far down the table!

wHAT? aLREADY?

There was nothing for it but to turn my left hand units to face the threat, and to try and win the game on the right.

turning my left to face the royalist horse

Cannily, however, Rob advanced his right forwards as well, trapping my cavalry into the corner of the hedgerows, attacked from front and flank. At the same time, some of his cavalry slid sideways in an attempt to get around behind my line

Back on the right flank, my infantry marched forward and engaged, seeking to pin the Royalists in place while my cavalry attacked their flank. Unfortunately, it took ages for the cavalry to get into position, giving Rob time to not only break one of my infantry battalia, but also to bring in reinforcements from his right.

My cavalry did, however, eventually manage to charge, looking to roll up the Royalist right flank…but although the Forlorn Hope was easily swept from the field, the pursuit that resulted temporarily blocked the rest of my horse charging home. Worse, when they did manage to eventually get in, the Royalist infantry proved to be tough hombres and shrugged off not one but two flank charges undamaged!

Things were going equally badly on my left: the Royalist cavalry seeking to get behind my line had done just that, riding over the two Roundhead infantry battalia sent to stop them.

Although in the centre, one squadron of Dutch horse was gradually wearing down (and would eventually rout) one battalia of Royalist infantry, the rest of my troops were now in danger of being overwhelmed!

The Parliamentarians had by now lost too many units to have much of a chance of winning and, before long, the loss of a battalia of Borders Sappers proved to be the final straw and the entire army broke and fled! Another huge defeat.

Here’s a pic (on the right) of the final moment with (on the left) pic of my cavalry from a bit before, surely about to charge down some Royalist infantry and go on to single-handedly win the game: this last just to console me and remind me of what might have been!

So another big loss for the Roundheads, which leaves me with quite a mountain to climb in the last two scenarios of the campaign!

FK&P AAR: Laundry Day

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My play-through of the Siege of Norchester campaign for For King & Parliament is really hotting up. After the encounter at Happy Valley, where Rob’s Royalists were thoroughly trounced by my Parliamentarians, it was time for Scenario 9: Laundry Day.

As background, despite their defeat in the Valley, the Royalist relief force has managed to get through the Parliamentarian cordon and sneak (if you can sneak a multi-battalia army!) through to the rear of the Roundhead lines where, as luck would have it, it’s laundry day. The scenario pits a force of Cavaliers on the offensive against a line of Parliamentarian camps, the loss of each of which would cost the Roundheads valuable victory medals.

The Royalists had the initiative and, after a bit of manouevring to get over the hedge in front of their initial positions, started forward, rapidly followed by a similar advance from the Roundheads.

After an exchange of infantry fire on the central hill that left several men dead on each side, the first main clashes occured between the cavalry forces on the wings.

Honours were even on the left wing; but on the right wing the only veteran Parliamentarian squadron of Dutch horse charged, was counter-charged, and then dashed from the field by a squadron of Royalist Swedish horse. This was a very unpleasant start to the action for the Roundheads!

Meanwhile, the two infantry lines had closed in the centre, and an inconclusive firefight broke out followed by a couple of equally inconclusive melees: the Roundheads (a) notably failing to break a mob of Royalist followers, (b) failing to have any impact at all with a supposedly-devastating first charge by some Border Reivers (the Highlanders in the pictures below), and (c) being pushed back from the hill in the centre of the field.

Worse for the Rpundheads, they had now decisively lost the cavalry battle on the right wing, leaving the Royalists free to advance and capture one of their camps. This cost three vital victory medals that I could only replace if I could re-take the camp: something that was, and excuse the TTS in-joke, not on the cards!

My cavalry on the left wing weren’t, however, doing too badly, but my problem was getting them back into a position from where they could affect the rest of the field. Some of them were pursuing fleeing enemy off the table, others had only just rallied up from disorder.

But my time was almost up. With the medals I had lost so far, the Parliamentarian force was close to breaking. Okay, so the Royalists were a bit battered too, but they hadn’t lost a camp!

I attempted a counter-attack in the centre, and came close to breaking through…and managed to get my pursuing cavalry on the left turned around and heading back to the action…but just didn’t now have the staying power of the Royalists.

Rob and I swapped unit for unit losses, but the simple factof the matter was that I ran out of coins before he did.

Metaphorical taila between their equally metaphorical legs, the Roundheads snuck from the battlefield, leaving the victorious Royalists to reinforce beleaguered Norchester.

So from being several coins ahead over the campaign as a whole I was now down seven coins overall: proving that you can’t afford to lose your laundry if you want to take a city!

Three games to go, with an encounter at Ramshackle Road being next…

Happy Valley...if you're a Roundhead!

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Friend Rob and I continued on our playthrough of the The Siege of Norchester campaign book for For King & Parliament with the Happy Valley scenario.

G0ing into the game, the Parliamentarians were way behind the Royalists in terms of overall victory medals to date, so this was a great chance to not only stop the Cavalier relief force from getting through to Norchester, but also to gain back some of the deficit.

The photo above shows the table at the start of the game. Although not very obvious, the road runs through the middle of the valley, with the terrain gradually rising up each side.

The Parliamentarians, with home field advantage, are drawn up in the traditional manner, but the Royalists have a problem: they start the game with their horse in the centre on the road (well, they insisted, and being the officers…) and their infantry (a lot of mobs raised from local supporters) largely on the wings.

Bpth sides began the game advancing their cavalry forward, with the Royalist horse heading sideways on their right to counter the threat of the Roundhead Dutch-style squadrons.

On the Parliamentarian left, two squadrons of horse thundered towards the lone enemy infantry unit blocking the way through to the Royalist rear.

That infantry unit would hold the enemy force off for the whole game, even sending one squadron reeling backwards to reform.

On the other wing, three squadrons of Roundhead horse faced three squadrons of Royalist horse: the Parliamentarians being more numerous but still operating in the somewhat obsolete Dutch style versus the more modern Swedish style of their opponents.

Despite their old-fashioned ways, the Parliamentarians smashed their way through the Royalist horse, crashing in to the unfortunate mobs behind, most of whom were soon regretting their decision to join the Norchester crusade!

Back to the centre, where the Parliamentarian infantry was rushing forward to catch up with the cavalry:

A general engagement soon broke out across the line:

Miraculously, one unit of Borders Horse, on their flea-bitten nags, survived a colossal charge by some Royalist horse, drawing four consecutive save cards when one more failure would have meant they fled the table.

Elsewhere in the centre, the opposing infantry were locked into a firefight, each side firing off huge amounts of ammunition hoping to break their foe.

Sheer weight of numbers now came into play, with the Parliamentarians able to deploy more regular soldiers into the fight in the centre: the Royalist mobs there effectively neutralised by the Roundhead horse.

Luck had also deserted the King’s men: if the Cavalier cavalry had broken through on the right, they could have rampaged in the Parliamentarian rear, but they just couldn’t get the final charge needed to clear their path.

With their left and centre lost, the Royalist relief force had no choice but to withdraw before the Parliamentarians combined to overwhelm the survivors. Norchester would not now be relieved!

This turned out to be a big victory for Ollie Cromwell’s men: putting me now two victory medals in front in the campaign overall.

Here are some more panoramic shots of the game:

FK&P AAR: Mundaydean Lane

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Friend Rob and I are working our way through the Siege of Norchester campaign pack for For King & Parliament. This was the seventh scenario of the twelve presented in the pack, and I went into it a mere two Victory Coins behind Rob.

Mundaydean Lane is a “catch the pigeon” scenario where the Royalists have to escort a coach carrying a VIP passenger off their opposite table’s edge.

Note the ROyalist coach half up the right hand edge of the table

The left-to-right hedges on the table neatly divided the field into three separate areas, each of which ended up being fought as almost a separate battle.

Cavalry Clash on the Left

On the left hand side of the battlefield, the Parliamentarian Borders Horse, mounted on their flea-ridden nags, clashed with a brigade of Royalist Swedish horse.

Unbelievably, rather than being ridden right over, the Borders Horse held their own, and the two sides just about cancelled each other out.

In the end, one unit of Borders Horse pursued a broken Royalist unit almost into a position where they might turn and threaten the Cavalier rear - where the target coach was lurking - but the Royalists had a small unit of horse held back just for this eventuality.

Here’s a chronological gallery of the action on the left:

Cavalry Clash on the Right

The geography also sectioned off a cavalry clash on tghe right hand side of the field. Here a brigade of Parliamentarian Dutch horse squared off against a brigade of Royalist Swedish horse: this would be the brute force of the Roundheads versus the more agile Cavaliers.

The Parliamentarians took the initiative and headed straight for the enemy: their aim being to dash them from the field before curving to the left to chase down the “pigeon”.

Unfortunately, the initial clash did not go well for the Parliamentarian “Puritan Horse”, and they soon found themselves well on the back foot (hoof?) in a brutal, close-quarters melee.

Nothing went right for them…even including an attempt to pull back from the central fight resulting in an Ace being drawn.

The Royalists duly punched through the middle of the Parliamentarian line and soon it became obvious that the Cavaliers had won that wing. Things were not looking good!

The Centre

In the centre of the field, the Royalist infantry proved initially reluctant to move forward: particularly the brigade to the (Royalist) left.

This allowed the Parliamentarians to get forward and form a firm battle line well up towards the enemy lines. The Roundheads even had time to get their Border Reivers into a position where they could use the wooded terrain to their advantage.

In theory, on the left hand side of the infantry fight, I should have been able to get an advantage: my troops overlapping the enemy. Unfortunately, however, the veteran Royalist foot were having none of that, and I soon found myself under some pressure there.

Likewise, when the two lines did clash, despite a wild Highland Charge from the Reivers, I just couldn’t seem to tip the balance in my favour: things just weren’t working for me today!

My infantry began to give way and soon my last victory medal departed and the day was to the Royalists.

Conclusion

Well that had been a thumping defeat for the Roundheads. Having started the day only two medals behind in the campaign as a whole, I was now twelve behind overall!

Lots of work to do in the last five games of Norchester, something to reflect on as my troops sat watching the “pigeon” sail through their lines!

FK&P AAR: Dick's Tower

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Regular visitors will know that friend Rob and I are working our way through my The Siege of Norchester campaign book for For King & Parliament. We have completed five of the twelve scenarios so far, with a run of poor results leaving my Parliamentarians six victory medals behind overall.

Game six involves a Roundhead assualt on a section of the walls of Norchester that have been breached by Titan and the other siege guns: a section of the walls incorporating the so-called Dick’s Tower, a ruined tower where one of the King Richard’s was once supposed to have stayed.

As you’ll see in the picture, below, the Royalists are both defending the breach and have troops outside the walls…

View from behind the Parliamentarian lines after their initial move

My cunning plan was to use a couple of units to bottle up the enemy behind the walls whilst using the majority of my force to overwhelm, if only by sheer weight of numbers, his men outside, then turn back to the walls and use my again presumably superior numbers to defeat his troops there too. Think Napoleon at Austerlitz!

To his credit, however, Rob told me what he thought my plan was almost as soon as I started moving, so perhaps I should have said “obvious” instead of “cunning” when describing my plan!

Here’s a shot from behind the Royalist lines:

The Graveyard bottom left is just where we stored the casualty markers!

First action was on my left, where Rob rapidly advanced his cavalry in an attempt to keep my troops there from heading right to execute the first phase of my plan.

Two squadrons of Royalist Swedish horse hit the standard pike block on my far left, and although one squadron was destroyed, the other still threatened and my pikemen were on their last legs, meaning that my commander in chief had to move my reserve Dutch horse into a position where they could intervene if necessary.

My damaged battalia fell back and began to rally as the two cavalry squadrons met. Although Rob’s Swedish horse had the advantage of the counter-charge, the sheer weight of my Dutch horse coming down off the hill was eneough to eventually break them, and that side of the field was mine…but it had delayed the execution of my plan even if doing so cost Rob two squadrons of horse.

Roundhead commander staying out of the action: you can’t afford to lose your Commanding General in FK&P!

Meanwhile Rob had also moved his troops out from behind the breeched section of the walls surrounding the tower and started a rolling firefight with my three battalia of infantry there.

This firefight would continue for a couple of turns with neither side getting an advantage, although as Rob’s shot-heavy battalia would in due course be able to “double-shot” my men for longer than my standard battalia, I knew I needed to get stuck in on the right as soon as possible.

And so on to the right hand side of the field, where both sides advanced towards the muddy stream bed as quickly as they could: Rob’s men to block me from getting across, my men to get over the stream bed in order to deploy my superior numbers.

Although I did get over the stream bed first, a quick march from Rob’s infantry left two of my battalia isolated on the wrong side of the obstacle, but that situation was soon remedied, somewhat helped by the fall of the cards (FK&P has a playing card-based activation system).

Then it was just a matter of using my greater numbers to chew through the enemy facing me on the right flank. This I eventually achieved, then curling round to head back into the centre towards the rest of the Royalist foot.

By now I had won enough victory medals off the Royalists to win a standard game, but for this encounter there were actually three more victory medals in Dick’s Tower itself, so whilst the Royalists held the tower, they could keep on fighting…and did!

Things had been fairly even in the centre so far, with each side losing a battalia. A foolish charge by the blue-coated battalia against troops behind un-breached walls cost me the Colonel of the unit, but things were about to change dramatically as my infantry poured in from the right flank. My Dutch horse were also now threatening from the left.

Assailed from three sides at once the last remaining Royalists eventually gave way, leaving the tower and the last three victory medals in my hands.

A victory for the Parliamentarians which, once we’d totted up the points, brought me to within two victory medals of the Royalist running total. It’s now on to Mundaydean Lane to see if I can narrow the gap even further!

FK&P AAR: Plumleigh Common

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Those of you who have been following Rob and I’s play through of the Siege of Norchester campaign will know that so far my Parliamentarian have not been doing very well: I’m currently ten victory medals behind overall, so really needed a decent win at Plumleigh Common to put me back on track.

In this scenario, the Cavaliers are trying another assault on the Roundhead siege lines, but this time the Parliamentarians are ready for them, resulting in an all out battle.

The picture above shows the view from behind the Parliamentarian lines, with Norchester itself being top left. My plan was to advance my Borders Horse on the far right around the flank of the enclosed fields, block any advance of enemy infantry out of the enclosures, and strongly advance in the centre and win the battle there.

The Battle of the Enclosures

The first part of my plan was to drive the enemy horse back on the far right flank. Although our forces numbered the same, my troops were mounted on nags rather than the sleek chargers of the oppositiom, so I knew I needed to win quickly or have my cavalry blown for the rest of the game.

The Royalists helped my cause by attacking piecemeal, and soon I had the advantage:

Unfortunately that didn’t last, and the situation devolved into a back and forwards encounter that neither side seemed likely to win until Rob sent some infantry in to reinforce his cavalry.

This gave him a temporary advantage and, for the moment it looked as if that flank would be lost to me.

Back in the Centre

Meanwhile, back in the centre, I had advanced quickly forward. On the right side, I had no wish to advance against the Royalist infantry safe behind the hedges of the enclosure, so was happy just to block their exit. In the centre centre, I advanced forward quickly in order to gain the initiative. Both sides avoided moving troops into the ground between Norchester and my works: too swept by artillery to be safe!

Battle was soon joined, and a general melee broke out:

All was going well until a squadron of Royalist cavalry threatened the left flank of my line. Fortunately I had a unit of the Puritan Horse there against just such a move, so charged the enemy horse downhill, confident of victory.

Unbelievably, Rob’s cavalry made four saves against the attacks on them, meaning my men swept downhill and literally bounced off the enemy. To add insult to injury, the Royalist cavalry then counter-charged and sent my men fleeing from the field!

Luckily I had reinforcements I could move to protect the flank…well, to be honest, it was a battalia of infantry that had got stuck, unused, behind the main battleline, so it was good to actually have something useful for them to do!

The fighting in the centre was now intense, and I had already had to recyle one of my Scots Battalia: it was all going to be down to whose troops could last the longest.

My left flank was also looking problematic, and even moving some of the pioneers out of the siege works to help didn’t make a huge difference. In the scenario, pioneers are represented by Highlanders: very much a one-shot weapon and useless against the cavalry they were facing!

Endgame

The main line finally shattered in both directions at once: with one of my Puritan Horse units fleeing the field whilst another broke through. At the same time, the Pioneers distracted a squadron of enemy cavalry so much that they were pinned in place, unable to take advantage of their position.

It was still neck and neck but, suddenly, gloriously, my cavalry on the right wing, long forgotten about, decided to intervene and win the day.

Freed from the cavalry melee by the intervention of one of my Borders infantry battalia, who head soundly beaten the enemy infantry that had kept my horse pinned in place, the Scottish lancers crashed into the flank of an already disordered enemy infantry battlaia and smashed them from the field.

This, combined with all the losses taken by each side so far, and the fact that two of the Royalist cavalry squadrons left the field in pursuit, reduced Rob’s pile of victory medals to zero, giving me the victory.

It had been carnage on both sides: checking my pile of coins I saw that I had gained a four-medal victory, so combined we had lost 28 victory medals between us: the equivalent of around nine units or a third of the units depoloyed at the start of the game.

So, after five games, the Parliamentarians now trail by only six victory medals overall, and it’s on to Dick’s Tower for the next encounter!

FK&P AAR: The Battle of Stour Road

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Friend Rob came up from Andover-area for the fourth game in our play-through of the Siege of Norchester scenario book for For King and Parliament. So far, my Parliamentarians have won one game and lost two, so I’m a few medals behind overall.

Today’s game features a Royalist attack on nascent Parliamentarian siege lines. The Royalists have got around the flank of the Roundheads with their cavalry and now prepare to sweep all before them…

The outskirts of Norchester can just be seen top left, parliamentarian siegeworks are top right

Royalist outflanking force

Parliamentarian mobs work the siege lines

As the Royalist infantry and cavalry moved in, the Roundhead Mobs moved into the siegeworks, and the ‘corner’ battalia of Border foot went into hedgehog:

moving in for the kill

moving in for the safety!

The first action involved two of the Royalist cavalry units combining to drive a Parliamentarian battalia from the field.

Unfortunately for the Royalists, as one of their cavalry units followed the fleeing infantry in pursuit, the event triggered the arrival of the Roundhead’s cavalry reserves, who promptly charged them in return, driving them from the table as welll.

roundhead reinforcements arrive: it’s the puritan cavalry brigade

The action then switched to the ‘corner’of the Parliamentarian line, where the battalia of foot were holding their own, unlike the pike-only battalia behind them, who were crumbling fast:

the corner of the parliamentarian line

in hedgehog

The Puritan cavalry had effectivly dealt with one Royalist regiment of Swedish-style horse, but didn’t seem to be able to polish off the other.

Meanehile, the action was hotting up at the ‘corner’ and, in the distance, you can see that Royalist infantry have now engaged and are beating up the Roundhead mobs (armed only with picks and shovels).

Puritan cavalry engaged…

…and in pursuit

The action at the ‘corner’ hots up

As my infantry was now under so much pressure, I really needed the cavalry to intervene.

Unfortunately, although one unit of Puritan horse continued their pursuit and swept the Royalist commander’s small unit of cuirassiers bodyguard from the field, it then disappeared off into the distance, never to be seen again.

Almost worse than that, my other unit of Dutch horse was still trying to deal with almost the last remaining Cavalier Swedish horse regiment: no matter what I did, the enemy horse just woudn’t break, leaving my men pinned in place!

With my cavalry thus neutralised, finally the pressure on my infantry became too much and they began to break.

A last ditch attempt by the chaps who had been digging the siege works failed to achieve anything either - their shovels and picks being no match for pike and musket - and the Parliamentarians were forced to retreat, leaving the Royalists in possession of the field.

A great game but another defeat for Parliament. Rob is now ten coins ahead overall: just about a whole battle in hand!

Onto to Plumleigh common: where we’ll see if these Royalists can stand up to the might of siege gun Titan!

FK&P AAR: Cadmore Hill

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Time for the next installment in the Siege of Norchester English Civil War campaign that friend Rob and I are playing through. The Royalists beat my Parliamentarians in both of the previous games, so I could really do with a win.

The situation is thus: the Parliamentarians are bringing up their sige artillery in order to properly invest Norchester. The Royalists have discovered this and have laid an ambush: if they can destroy the guns, then Norchester survives at least until another siege column can be raised.

Unfortunately for the Royalists, their ambush is triggered early, and that is where the action starts…

The infantry contingent of the Parliamentarian siege train executed a neat right turn to face the oncoming Royalists, but the Dutch horse at the head of the colmn got into all sorts of bother trying to sort themselves out. Finally, one unit of Borders Horse managed to get forwards and prepared to clear away the Royalist Forlorn Hopes.

Meanwhile the Royalist infantry headed forward to engage the enemy, although some confusion in the ranks meant that this advance was staggered rather than co-ordinated.

Meanwhile, at the tail of the Parliamentarian column, not much was happening. Both sides seemed reluctant to move forward, especially the Roundhead commanded shot, who quite frankly disobeyed orders to occupy the nearby farmhouse for three consecutive activations.

In fact, the only units seemingly willing to engage the enemy were the Borders Pioneers right at the back, who steamed up the far left hand side of the table towards some Royalist horse who were apparently having breakfast, then second breakfast, then third breakfast etc.

Back at the proposed ambush site, and some Borders horse swept one of the Royalist Forlorn Hopes from the field, but were then served the same coin by the other. Nothing very conclusive happening here!

Back to the tail end, and much to everyone’s surprise the Borders Pioneers had passively seen off the now-fully-breakfasted Royalist horse: I say “passively” as the Pioneers had no guns, only pikes, and if the Royalist horse had left them alone, each side would have cancelled the other out, but the Cavaliers couldn’t resist the challenge, and effectively charged themselves to death on the Pioneers’ pikes!

That left them free to attempt to curl around the Roundhead left flank, potentially helping their comrades in the centre, who were by now engaged.

Now, however, the Borders Pioneers had realised that they were indeed pioneers, and elected to stop moving towards the action despite a rather inviting flank charge opportunity: presumably waiting for someone to tell them where to dig a hole or two.

The battle was, however, always going to be decided towards the front of the column, where both sides had their main forces, and where a general combat had broken out over the hedge row.

The Royalist had managed to sneak a horse unit around onto the Roundhead flank, using it very effectively to dash some Dutch Horse from the field. This gave the Cavaliers the impetus they needed to push the Parliamentarians back from the hedge, following up to take the battle into open ground. Unfortunately for the Royalists, however, the Roundhead horse then generally rallied and began to fight back.

Both sides were also now quite weary (down to just a couple of victory medals each) so it was all going to be down to who won the next few combats and, on a roll after their fight-back, it was the Parliamentarians who, with a good run of cards, got the bit between their teeth (well, their mounts did!) and sent some enemy Swedish horse fleeing from the field.

This proved the final straw for the Royalists, and the day went to the Parliamentarians.

Aftermath

It had been a very close run thing, with my Roundheads narrowly avoiding a third defeat! As it was, I managed to claw back a couple of medals towards the campaign totals, but that still leaves the Royalists ahead.

On to Stour Road for the next thrilling installment in the campaign.

FK&P AAR: Munce's Wood

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Friend Rob and I are playing through the Siege of Norchester scenario pack. After narrowly losing the first game, Tounton Bridge, my Parliamentarians would face the Royalists at Munce’s Wood.

A pack of Royalist-sympathising Clubmen have been caught by a much larger Roundhead force. Fortunately for the Clubmen, there’s also a Cavalier army in the vicinity. The scene is set for a clash at Munce’s Wood.

Royalists on the left, Parliamentarians on the right (Clubmen in the middle!)

With the opposition a bit fragmented, and with superior quality cavalry on my left, my plan was to advance strongly on my left and centre, holding back my weaker right flank. Hopefully the Roundhead cavalry would quickly beat the fewer Cavaliers in front of them and then be able to surl around to take the enemy centre, by then presumably locked in place by my central advance, in the flank.

That was the plan, but unfortunately my cavalry just couldn’t beat their Royalist foes back. The enemy was defending a hedge line, and a particularly sticky unit of Swedish horse just plain refused to give way despite overwhelming pressure from my Dutch troopers.

Not only that, but my troops in the centre fought so badly that I was forced to pull some cavalry from the left to reinforce my centre. Things were not going well!

Meanwhile, much to my surprise, my commanded shot and artillery on the right flank were holding their own against the Royalist horse.

My three weak units held up Rob’s stronger three units for the whole of the battle and, although I would eventually lose all three, that sacrifice was worth it to keep his horse off my right flank.

On the left, my Dutch horse were still trying to get over the hedge, but just couldn’t do so in the face of continued opposition from the Royalists.

With that flank stalled as well, the game would be decided in the centre.

Things were beginning to thin out now as various units on both sides had broken and fled the field. In the end it came down to who could keep fighting for longer, and unfortunately it wasn’t my troops!

The final act was for one of my few surviving battalia of Border Foot to smash through the enmy opposite them, but then be hit from all sides by other Parliamentarians. As a final act of humiliation, it was actually a unit of Clubemn - the very people we were trying to surpress - that dealt the coup de grace, and my command generally collapsed and routed.

So a second defeat for the Parliamentarians in the campaign to take Norchester. Let’s hope I have more success at Cadmore Hill, the site of the third clash!

ECW Infantry Battalia

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Regular visitors will know that I recently bought the new ECW casualty figures from Alternative Army’s Furioso range (and very nice they were too).

Never one to miss an opportunity to buy stuff, at the same time I also ordered enough figures to make up a standard ECW infantry battalia in the way that I configure them for For King & Parliament. Seemed rude not to really!

I hadn’t bought any of the Furioso range before (mainly using Peter Pig and Hallmark via Magister Militum for my ECW collection) so was curious to see how these would fit in.

The first thing to mention is the excellent way in which they were delivered, especially the pikemen. I don’t usually like figures with integral pikes - the pikes always seem to get bent out of shape in transit and then never go back to how they should be - preferring to add my own using rigid wire spears, but these arrived absolutely and beautifully straight, taped to a piece of cardboard to make sure they remained so. Well done to AA!

Secondly, the figures paint up very well indeed. The detail is crisp, and takes Contrast paints very nicely indeed. The pikemen come in breastplate and helm, and it’s nicely sized breastplate that is easy to (after the undercoat) re-paint in black and then highlight with a dull steel colour. Likewise the musketeers: the detail (the apostles, the feathers on some of their hats) highlight clearly and easily. Great stuff.

Finally, their sizing is comparable to the rest of my collection. Yes, the pikes are considerably more solid than the wire spears I’ve used elsewhere, but this is a minor gripe: height-wise they work very well.

So, all in all, I am very impressed with the Furioso pike and shot from Alternative and will doubtless find myself browsing the rest of the range in the very near future! Highly recommended.

If you've enjoyed this post, please do consider "buying me a coffee" : you can be sure that all proceeds will be channelled back into wargaming, leading to even more content for you to enjoy!

ECW Casualties

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Those who have gamed with me know that I do love a good marker: be it an ammo marker, a pin, shock, wounds…whatever system, I love a good marker!

They’re dead, Jim: you can tell by the SBOBCP’s

Up to recently, however, I’ve shied away from using “dead” or “wounded” casualty figures to mark things such as disorder, believing that it was far better to concentrate my figure production on actual units rather than waste time and money on something that can easily be replaced by a small bit of brightly coloured plastic.

My recent foray into competition gaming has, however, made me think the opposite. I originally went into competitions using my small bits of brightly coloured plastic, but soon realised that these looked out of place opposite the more subtle casualty markers used by my opponents. I looked like a newbie, for God’s sake!

The situation was remedied for my 28mm Romans in my games of To The Strongest, when friend Peter gave me a set of Roman shields mounted on flocked 2p pieces, but my 15mm English Civil War figures for For King & Parliament still suffered from the SBOBCP syndrome.

The Romans are more subtly dead now, jim!

Until now!

I haven’t really used Alternative Armies’ Furioso range for any of my 17th Century collection, preferring to stick to the usual suspects of Peter Pig, Hallmark via Magister Militum, By Fire & Sword (for Eastern Front) and the occasional Essex. No particular reason for this (I buy sci-fi figures from Loud Ninja via their site) just generally not being familiar with the range and choosing to stick with what I know.

I did, however, see an advertisement for some new casualty markers from Alternative, so thought this might be a good time to dip my toe in the Furioso waters. I duly ordered (taking advantage of a 20% off sale and the situation to buy another battalia of ECW infantry as well…but more on them another day) and received a smart little package in return.

Apologies for the quality of the picture (the setting sun on a Grey Seer’d painting tray) but these are rather nice. They come small enough to mount on a 1p piece, as I have done above, and are very easy to paint up: just the right amount of detail to make them pop. There are six different types (three face up and three face down) but, as you can see, you can easily make a variety pack through different painting schemes.

They also do some standing up wounded if that’s your preference.

These get a highly recommended from me, and I can’t wait to get them onto the table.

FK&P AAR: Tounton Bridge

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Friend Rob came over for a game of For King & Parliament yesterday and we ended up playing through the first scenario from the Siege of Norchester campaign pack.

For this battle, the Royalists need to keep possession of a bridge near the hamlet of Tounton, with the Parliamentarians obviously needing to wrest it from them.

Tounton Bridge is to the left

The Royalists, under Sir Edmund Dexter, were in four brigades. There was a small brigade of Swedish Horse on each wing; and two brigades of foot in the centre, one of which had not seen battle before. Out front was Rankin’s Forlorn Hope, at back were Miller’s Guns.

Facing them were the Roundheads under General Thomas Dread-Naught. Core to his force was a large brigade of Puritan Horse under Colonel Kill-Sin Rhapsody: you can see God’s light shining on them as they enter the field in the picture above! The rest of his men were trawled from the border regions: a brigade of foot, one of horse mounted on steeds really only fit for the knacker’s yard, and a small brigade of tartan-clad men from further north. A rag-tag force maybe, but plenty powerful too.

The action opened with a general Parliamentarian advance against the largely static Royalists.

In the centre, the Royalist Forlorn Hope was dealt with fairly easily, but on the Roundhead right wing, one squadron of Royalist horse dispersed the Border Lancers without difficulty. This left them facing a wood full of Highlanders, but their blood was up and they charged in regardless of the terrain. The Highlanders, supported by some Mounted Pistoliers resisted the charge and that left a stalemate around the wood that lasted for the rest of the game!

Behind this action, however, another unit of Pistoliers had flank charged and dealt with the other squadron of Royalist horse, leaving the Scots to head north towards the rear of the rest of the Cavalier lines and the bridge, albeit on blown horses.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field. Colonel Rhapsody was leading his Puritan Horse to disaster. Two of his squadrons tried an outflanking manoeuvre on the far left wing, but the Cavalier horse near them proved too fleet of foot: one unit neatly hopping the hedge, turning to face, and then charging furiously into the Puritan’s rear. Two squadrons of God-fearing cavalry got to meet their Lord sooner than they expected!

Onto the centre, where the Parliamentarians had moved forward and thrown their line into a general engagement. The Royalists moved to meet them, then retreated, then moved forward again, musket fire and the shouts of charging pikemen drowning out the cries of the wounded, and this indecision allowed the Roundheads to open a gap in the Cavalier line.

Ideally they would have had cavalry ready to exploit the hole, but the rest of the Puritan Horse was stuck on the left so it was up to some commanded shot to move forward and begin to outflank the Royalist line.

Meanwhile the Roundhead Borders/Scots horse that had broken through on their right had slowly (blown horses puffing and panting their way forward) managed to get around the rear of the Royalist position. Trotting past some enemy Commanded Shot who were happy to keep hiding in Tounton (the unit just wouldn’t activate despite the fact that the Roundheads were a sitting duck!) the Scots, much to their surprise found that they had taken the bridge. Surely the battle was now decided?

It was not, however, as simple as that. Yes, the Royalists were reduced to one coin, and the Parliamentarians technically had the bridge, but the Roundheads had lost an awful lot of cavalry and were also down to one coin. It was sudden death time!

Earlier in the game: the roundheads advance to contact

The Roundheads were pretty convinced that they could destroy the Royalist unit on the right - it was already disordered and surrounded on three sides - they just had to survive the next turn in order to do so. This was when the Royalist Commanded Shot that had been skulking in Tounton finally got their act together, moved out of the houses they had been sheltering in to a position from which they could fire onto the flank of the Scots horse, who had moved off the bridge to cut down the Royalist gunners from behind.

The double-shotted volley rang out and the Scots horse disintegrated! This was too much for the rest of the Roundheads, and rather than push forward to victory, they began to retreat. Moving back onto the bridge, the Royalists had won the day!

Enemy horse? What enemy horse?

The bridge taken.

Enemy horse? What enemy horse? All we can see is two lone scotsmen officer-types!

Totting up the points, the Royalists had won a narrow victory 16:14: snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! It had been a cracking game, with the advantage swinging backwards and forwards throughout. On to Munce’s Wood for the second game in the campaign!

Untried Royalists (the yellow meeple) await the Parliamentarian onslaught!

FK&P AAR: Widbrooke Common

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Played a second game of For King & Parliament with friend Fred, this time using scenario #02 from the Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack: Widbrooke Common.

I didn’t have my camera with me, so not many photos, and those that there are are from my mobile, but one thing that did stand out about the game was the power of a well placed unit of Forlorn Hope.

For those of you who know the game, Forlorn Hope are the weakest possible units: usually acting as no more than speed bump as they get overrun by better quality battalia. Not in this game however!

Placed occupying a farm house in the centre of the table, Fred’s Forlorn Hope held up two of my full strength standard battalia for the whole game, constantly rendering them Disordered when I got too close, meaning I never really got a chance to properly assault them.

I still won the game, I hasten to add, but would have won it a lot more quickly and effectively if it hadn’t been for the Forlorn Hope.

Here are the other shots of the game that I took:

FK&P AAR: The Attack on Marlowe

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A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was at school with a chap that everyone called Fred. Not sure quite why, as that wasn’t his name, but I’m thinking it might have been because he just looked like a “Fred” in that he was very large and very strong and had a difficult to spell surname. Or it might have been because he bore more than a slight resemblance to the Scooby Doo character, assuming that Fred Jones lifts, that is!

Fred and I used to wargame at school - mostly Ancients using WRG 6th - but lost touch after he swapped to doing the real thing and joined the army. Flash forward many years and he was now out, had seen me on Linked In, and made contact again. We met up shortly afterwards for a drink or three, and from there it was a very easy transition to arranging a game.

Gaming is very different now to what it was then. In those days, the early to mid-eighties, nothing was quick and nothing was small: a battle was a whole day or weekend affair, minimum, with thousands of 25mm figures on the tabletop and an allowance built into the session’s timetable for colossal, life-threatening rules disputes involving such matters of importance as fractions of inches or degrees; the definition of charging in a straight line; or line of sight arguments that could only be settled by the hiring of a theodolite! Fred used to paint 25mm Minifigs’ Napoleonics with a syringe needle, for God’s Sake, in order to make sure the regimental numbers on the cuffs were legible!

I had no wish to return to those days, especially the “life-threatening rules disputes” as he was still a very large person and now presumably trained to kill, so decided upon a game of For King and Parliament, the English Civil War version of To The Strongest. FK&P is a cracking game that, to my mind, really captures the look and feel of the period to give reasonably realistic results with fast-play mechanics. It’s grid based, obviating a lot of the disputes about measuring, and driven by drawing playing cards.

We used the first scenario from my Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack, with both sides acknowledging that this first game would be a training session more than anything else. Fred took the Royalists, on the attack versus my Parliamentarians.

Fred’s first question: where was the grid? It is there, but indicated in a way that doesn’t interfere with the look of the game.

I won’t describe the battle in detail, but suffice to say that it was a grinding win for the Royalists.

What was interesting, however, was seeing Fred reacting to the different challenges he faced, drawing on military rather than wargaming experience. My battalia were to be “located and fixed in place” before being destroyed by an attack from the flank, so Fred immediately understood the concept of a Zone of Control or ZoC, and proved very good at the fixing and destroying bit.

An advantage was to be “immediately followed up” with the emphasis being on a series of consecutive hammer blows rather than necessarily conserving damaged units. It was all very interesting, and we both enjoyed the game immensely.

Here are some more shots of the battle:

FK&P AAR: Widbrooke Common Again

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As Rob had not only come a long way but also beaten me fairly quickly playing The Attack on Marlowe scenario, it seemed only meet and right to have another game…and being logical chaps, we set up the table for the second scenario from Marlowe the Maidenhythe scenario pack: Widbrooke Common.

Scene from behind the Parliamentarian lines

It’s the Royalists on the attack: advancing against the Parliamentarians across the eponymous common. Although Rob had played the Cavaliers in the first game, we got switched around somehow, and now I would take the loyalists into battle against the Roundheads.

The Royalists wasted no time, and marched forward smartly towards the traitors opposite them. One slight worry was that a lot of my infantry were Untried (the yellow markers in the picture below) meaning that the first time they encountered anything battle-ly (were shot at, wanted to shoot, were charged etc) they would have to check their morale

Slightly to the left of centre, the two cavalry lines clashed, with honours really falling to the Roundheads: their bigger ‘Dutch’ units surviving the initial charges of my smaller ‘Swedish’ squadrons and then bashing me up in the melee that followed.

In the event, both sides cavalry effectively cancelled each other out, especially as one of my infantry units was able to turn and blast a Roundhead horse unit in the flank. The battle would end with each sides’ surviving cavalry manoeuvering for advantage in the open ground on my left wing.

Which meant that the battle would be decided in the centre and on my right.

As you can just about see in the picture above, the first thing that I did was to dispose of the Roundhead artillery with my small unit of Cuirassiers. A bit risky, but the cards were with me and the guns were silenced for no loss.

The Cuirassiers then went on to threaten the Roundhead rear, eventually destroying the unit of commanded shot that formed the Parliamentarian reserve.

You can also see, in the picture on the right, that my infantry have moved forward and begun to push back his main line. Here’s a couple of great shots of them going into action:

What isn’t shown in the pictures above, and the reason that victory was eventually mine, is that on the right flank my horse had moved forward and outflanked two Parliamentarian infantry units that were trying to evict a Royalist Forlorn Hope from a small farm building.

Here’s a shot from earlier in the game: the Forlorn Hope would keep the Roundhead infantry distracted for long enough for my horse to turn left and hit them in the flank…which meant that when I broke the infantry in the centre, Rob ran out of Victory Medals and I had won!

It had been a great game, fairly tight right until the end. The initial Roundhead success with the cavalry hadn’t turned into more mainly because his horse pursued my retreating horse for too long, which gave me a chance to re-group what I had left and at least keep him occupied while my infantry moved forward.

The Cuirassiers were, despite their small size, the stars of the game: punching a hole in the enemy line and then disordering the main Roundhead line by violently removing their reserves behind them.

Another great game of FK&P!

 

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FK&P AAR: The Attack on Marlowe Again

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New friend Rob came up for a couple of games of For King & Parliament, a system he was considering but hadn’t played before, so where better to start than the first game from my Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario pack.

Without going into the detail of why and what for, the Royalists are attacking a Parliamentarian force “dug in” on the approaches to Marlowe. Rob would play the Royalist, I took the Parliamentarians.

Royalists on the left, Roundheads on the right

Here’s a pictorial account of the game:

So a win for the Royalists, and for Rob in his first game.

FK&P AAR: Disaster at Skirmett's Orchards

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Here’s a battle report from the playtest of the final scenario in my newly-published Siege of Norchester scenario pack for the English Civil War rules, For King & Parliament.

As the title of this post suggests, this was an absolute disaster for my Parliamentarians!

“Went the day well, my dear?”

“No it bl**dy didn’t!”

The day started very well. Above is a view from behind the Royalist lines, with the village of Skirmett in the centre of the table. My plan was to win on the wings then envelop the Cavaliers in a “horns of the buffalo” manoeuvre.

Northern Donkey Wallopers to the Front!

On my left wing, I had a brigade of Borders horse: poorly-mounted, but out-numbering the opposition. The lancers on the far left were quite nasty in a first clash, so I was pretty happy that I could get an advantage here.

The centre and right

I was a bit more concerned about my right wing, where the Roundheads had quite a few units of Swedish-style horse versus my monolithic Dutch-style troops, but my infantry were nearby and could always pore fire into the flanks of any rampaging Royalist cavalry before they got too close.

Back on the left wing, the two lines of cavalry smashed in to each other: complete disaster!

I may have gone a little over the top on the disorder markers!

Let me explain. I got my tactics just right and ended up with three cavalry units facing just the one of his. Not only that, but I was uphill charging downhill. Yes, I had both my CinC and the Brigade Commander with the central unit, but officers casualties are quite rare, yes?

Wrong!

In the first clash I lost both my CinC and the Brigade Commander: both killed outright!

This was particularly painful as in FK&P not only are officers really useful for, er, officering but, representing the cult of personality around so many ECW commanders, your CinC is worth a great many Victory Medals. Combined, I lost just about a third of all my Medals with the death of just two men! This obviously meant that even if things went 50/50 from now on, I would lose the game in short order.

Anyway, we decided to play on for a bit…

Even Stevens on the Right

Another cavalry clash on the right, with my troopers getting an initial advantage.

The Centre standing Firm

Unfortunately that advantage didn’t last. Lady Luck again deciding that she was for the King!

Centre cavalry unit couldn’t even last long enough for the infantry to intervene!

Which meant that when my already battered left flank finally gave way, I was out of Victory Medals and on the stage coach to Losertown!

The Left Crumbles

So a very quick battle mainly due to the surprising death of my CinC and a cavalry brigade commander. Still an enjoyable game and, looking for the silver lining, the speed of my defeat gave us time for another game…

FK&P AAR: Napshill Downs

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Regular visitors will be aware that last Friday saw the release of my second scenario pack for the For King & Parliament English Civil War ruleset: The Siege of Norchester.

The pack contains twelve free-standing, fictional scenarios in a loose chronological order. It tells the story of the investment of the fictional, Royalist-held city of Norchester. It begins with the Parliamentarians gradually pushing the Royalist foraging parties back into the city itself, then looks at the Royalist attempts to delay the construction of encircling works. There’s an assault on the outskirts of Norchester and then a Royalist attempt to get a messenger through to the King to ask for aid. Finally, there’s the arrival of a Royalist relief force, the fall of Norchester and the attempted escape of the main Cavalier protagonists. 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 pack is 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. 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. 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.

Napshill Downs

An important part of the preparation for launch is to playtest all the scenarios in the pack, and below you will find a gallery of images from the playtest of scenario #11: Napshill Downs.

As one of the later scenarios, the background is that Norchester has already fallen so some of the Royalist erstwhile defenders are trying to make their escape from the region in order to continue the fight against the Parliamentarian traitors elsewhere. The Roundhead force (which I was commanding) is tasked with bottling them up and destroying them.

This was one of those games that went wrong for me just about right from the beginning when I completely cocked up my opening moves! Read on to share my pain!

The Attack on Marlowe

Meanwhile, blogger Zanoni has started playing through my previous ECW scenario pack: Marlowe to Maidenhythe, which is now available in both digital and physical form.

His first AAR, covering scenario #1 The Attack on Marlowe has lots of pictures of his beautifully painted collection of ECW figures. Recommended as a feast of eye candy!

Click here to see the report on his excellent Troop Time! blog.

FK&P AAR: Ramshackle Road

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Another game of For King & Parliament using a scenario from my forthcoming Siege of Norchester scenario pack. This time it’s an encounter at Ramshackle Road, where the Royalist raiders are pinned against a river!

Although I did definitely lose the battle, the game was actually closer than the report above suggests. The appearance of the Royalist horse on my flank was a nasty shock, and I didn’t cope with it very well!

A great game, despite the result!

FK&P AAR: Laundry Day

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Another day, another Norchester playtest!

The Royalist raiders, headed by Sir Arthur d’Artois area heading for the rear of the Parliamentarian lines, determined to take some of the pressure of their colleagues under siege in Norchester.

The Roundheads, however, have been tipped off and are expecting them: they have a force drawn up in front of the rear of their camp and are prepared to do battle!

Another cracking game, with the scenario passed as playtested.

The battle swung this way and that, but always with me having the edge, right up to the last moment. To indicate how close it was, my opponent had only one Victory Medal left himself i.e. if I’d broken one more unit or taken that camp, then victory would have been mine.

The final turn began with me on four Victory Medals: all of which I lost on the right as my troops finally gave way: about as close to victory as you can get without actually winning!

On to the next scenario now: Ramshackle Road…

Action from Marlowe to Maidenhythe

Most of you should know that Norchester will be my second scenario pack for For King & Parliament, with the first being Marlowe to Maidenhythe.

Always great to see my scenarios being used: here’s a link to the Blunders on the Danube blog where there’s a great report of the first scenario from M2M: the Attack on Marlowe

Blunders on the Danube/M2M AAR