Having played the excellent Ancients ruleset To The Strongest, it was natural that I would try its sister ruleset for the English Civil War: For King & Parliament.

A short time later, and I now have a substantial collection of 15mm ECW miniatures and have had published (in both pdf and hard copy no less) two scenario packs for FK&P: Marlowe to Maidenhythe and The Siege of Norchester.

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 Siege of Norchester 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 each campaign, and it is hoped that the players will come to adopt and recognise them as their own or the enemy.

Each book consists of twelve free-standing, fictional scenarios. 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.

Enough of the sales pitch - although clicking on the image to the right will take you to the Big Red Bat’s shop, where you can buy M2M or SoN - here’s a gallery of my Pike & Shot battles: each picture links to a longer report.

Postscript

Inspired by the By Fire & Sword range, I now also have armies for the Zaphorogian Cossacks, Transylvanians and Muscovites; enough Swedish command figures to re-purpose my ECW troops; and am building armies for Tatars, Ottomans and Polish Lithuanians in order to fight battles on the 17th Century “eastern front”.