Naseby 1645 Re-Fight (15mm) Royalist Win

Facing seemingly overwhelming numbers the King and his stalwart Royalists are forced to fight a battle not of their choosing. Starting from the top and they progress down the table to attack the Parliamentarians force defending the hill at the bottom of the picture. On the right hand side of the battlefield is a considerable body of Parliamentarian cavalry under the command of one "Oliver Cromwell" (see below - the time lapse sequence reveals all):

However Cromwell falls during the fighting on the Parliamentarian right and this change of fortune gives the Royalists the opportunity they need to take the initiative and take the centre of the battlefield with their redoubtable infantry. A remarkable Royalist victory and a very close run thing. (Note: In the above photographic sequence the smoke denotes combat and the orange markers denote a "state of disorder.")

Reunited with "For God, King and Country" ECW Rules

After a long separation, I can happily report that the "For God, King and Country" ECW rule set are back in the bosom of  my rule cabinet (see below):

They have returned undamaged (and unread) from their travels. To recap these rules are the source of my ECW inspiration, north and south of the border (with Scotland). I plan to assemble a Warlord Games 28mm series of ECW armies based on the scenarios from this booklet, this means:

• Parliamentarian
• Royalist
• Covenanter
• Montrose Royalist

The trick is to spot a nice "budding small wargaming force" that has the potential to build upon. Due to the limited size and scope of the northern conflict (the Montrose Campaign) their armies are far smaller than their English brethren which is great. The English battles though tend to be larger affairs and therefore typically require three to four times as many troops. Start with the Scottish you say, the trouble is I am already ahead in the game of English (albeit) unpainted troops at the moment.

My cunning compromise is to concentrate just on a particular "wing" of a larger battle (Naseby, Marston Moor and Edgehill) and perhaps do a bit of light research to try and find smaller ECW small brigade skirmishes. Any research references appreciated.

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [7] Parliament Falls

Conclusion: 

The Royalist left command attacks, attempting to overrun a Parliament light artillery piece and in the process hold back any reinforcements to the Parliamentarian center. It all hangs on a dice roll (see below): 

The center looks terrible for Parliament, a clumsy looking Parliamentarian column has been formed in a desperate attempt to force an 'opening' against the Royalist line, but at the same time it is being massively outflanked by Royalist shot and pike (see below). Even worse is the fact that the Parliamentarian center is now worn to near breaking point while the Royalists have been carefully husbanded and are still fresh.  

The fight on the Parliamentarian right results into two rounds of "standing draw" where both sides avoided deadly do-or-die situations. A lot of dice rolls but no stands lost (see below): 

Parliament's attack fails and then the front ranks of Parliamentarian pike succumb to deadly Royalist shot and artillery. The center Parliamentarian formation breaks and becomes a huddled mass of struggling humanity, lowering pikes and asking to parley (see below):

And so Parliament fell in the year of Our Lord 1644 and the monarchy was retained ... roll on the next campaign (This time with tanks please and no DBx rule systems!)

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [6]

The Parliamentarian Right:

Strategically the plan was to pull troops from the secure right flank to reinforce the Parliamentarian Center and be a form of reserve. What occurred was a comical sequence of marching "up a road" only to march "back down the same road" with a Pike Block. The C-in-C bequeathed only a few PiPs to this third command, which meant the 'strategic' plan stayed but a twinkle in the "mind's eye" of the Parliamentarian commanders. When the Royalist horse turned up and threatened the baggage the command was effectively pinned (see below):  

A minor fire-fight broke out as the Royalists tried to press a point but they suffered under 'bad dice' rolls representing good Parliamentarian marksmanship. The Royalist right lost two stands of shot recoiling into their own cavalry - by a quirk of fate dying by the very DBR rule which was 'refused or deemed unacceptable' to the other Royalist (Right Wing) command (see below, at one time there had been four Royalist shot). The less said about DBR's rules of 'recoilment' the better methinks ;) 

Finally interior distances meant that a thin wall of Parliamentarian Pikes sealed off the Royalist horses root to the Parliamentarian baggage (see below). But more Parliamentarian stands were being fixed in position by an inferior Royalist force, which meant ultimately the Parliamentarian Center was being hard pressed.

Indeed the center of the battlefield was looking very messy (see below). Gradually the Parliamentarians were getting worn down. The Parliamentarian Pike had been committed while the Royalist Pike Phalanx was  moving out from a reserve position lining up for a deadly "push of pike". The Parliamentarian command was forced to commit to several do-or-die combats, suffering badly from their absence of artillery.

To ensure no reinforcements could be committed from the Parliamentarian Right to assist the in peril center of the battlefield the Royalist Left gamely "did their duty for Rupert" and fixed the enemy (see below):

What would become of the middle?

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [5]

Subtitle: Trying to get an answer to the question of WHY we play wargames and reasoning to find out when it is best not to play ones that disagree with digestion: 

After his recent run-in with the almighty (they were very God fearing folk in the days of 1644) the Royalist General leaves a "be back later note at the pearly gates" and decides to fight his way out of trouble (see below). The battle is confused and hectic and many more dice are rolled:

However despite numbers and terrain (where the Royalist cavalry were forced back onto the rough of the "Beetfield") were on Parliamentarian side the DBR "dice" go in the way of the Royalists and it was Parliamentarian stands that started disappearing (see below) urk!

The Royalists sense an opportunity to roll it up but somehow lose their "luck of the devil" General in a freak 'I read it in the rules' moment of DBR history - an odd/even roll on a troop type in an enemy/friendly bound that results in a push back being turned into a kill (or something) when 'the moon hangs over yonder tree'. To his great and ever lasting credit it was the Royalist player pointed this out to a bemused group of DBR players who were lost in the complexity of DBR arcane law. Reading the various sets of DBx rules is sometimes more "legalese" than common wargaming sense but the upshot was that the Royalists were suddenly within a hair's breath of going demoralised (see below, the Royalist General had been in the top left corner bit is now 'gone' to Parliaments amazement).  

If the previous picture showed the noble side of the DBR sporting player explaining 'how he died' the next picture shows the fictional "billimeter" nonsense that DBR (or any) rules can degenerate into. Any loss from the Rolyalist command now means "the end of their right wing", so when the little red horsemen (see below bottom left quarter) suffered a recoil from the shooting from Parliamentarian pistol and light artillery it should have been "Goodnight Vienna" as it recoiled into friends/enemies facing the wrong way, but the Royalist player invoked the "blind billimeter DBR defense". Groan ... my head started swimming.

(For those interested in the plain inanity of it all: The stacked up combat behind the Royalist stand in question was a recoil result of a base depth and the thing to remember is that a base depth is always shorter than a base width - as in "you can'na change the laws of Physics captain". The gap is therefore a 'base depth' wide and the recoiling larger 'base width' is trying to fit into it - impossible sire BUT the table and stands had been shuffled and knocked slightly in the course of play and the 'physical bases' weren't uniform size SO the very same "sportsman of the highest noble order" is turned into a HEELS IN THE MUD OVER MY DEAD BODY so after a long debate Parliament gave way [sigh] - this despite showing him the photographs above - we let it pass, but their and then I vowed to burn my copy of DBR and make this the last game I play argh it brings out the worst of a gamer, myself included. It is Impetus for now on for me!)

Did it matter? Nope, because next turn my mounted troops from the right flank swarmed over a Royalist hanger on was dispatched and the Royalist right wing command was now demoralised and broken (see below):

Thus ended a tiring wargaming night. For the record "no quarter" was taken over this last stand but the owning player of the figures stopped me short and said I was not allowed to break the figures off the base despite the urge, only kidding. 

;)

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [4]

Parliament rolls high on their PiP dice (see below), but what can we do with them?

Parliamentarians from the right try and trundle to the left (see below) sounds vaguely logical:

Parliamentarians on the left perform all sorts of strange line out manoeuvrings (sounds more like DBx now), with the dragoons out front displaying reckless abandonment considering the proximity of the Royalist psychopathic cavalry (see below):    

Er, told you so, this is going to hurt (see top left) as the enemy Royalist General runs them down, ow! 

The infantry battle in the Beetfield closes in range so you can see "the whites of your opponents eyes" (see below). No stand losses more of a wiggling of the lines:

After mowing down one stand of Dragoons a second stand becomes a follow on target and thus seems bound to become a "speed bump" to the Royalist General's search for battle filed glory (see below). Being in the Parliamentarian army seems to be one endless learning experience of "what not to do" with the various different troop types at ones disposal! But there is a humorous moment as a Parliamentarian Light Artillery piece unexpectedly guns down a charging Royalist cavalry stand (see bottom left below versus the previous picture - two above): 

Things all get very messy, as the Parliamentarian dragoon doesn't "read the script" and inexplicably rolls good dice 'and fights the Royalist General to a standstill' so the Parliamentarian General tries to seize his moment and kill the opposite number (see below middle):

But it all goes horribly wrong (aka bad dice) as Parliament bounces off the Royalist General's armoured hide and another brave Parliamentarian dragoon alas dies (see below): 

The Royalist cavalry seems to have brought the luck of the devil with them.

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [3]

Parliament scrambles to deploy "to the edge pf the world" before the Royalist Curaissier's charge hits home (see below):

The Parliamentarian right wing (me) tries to find something useful to do. The plan was to get its infantry as a reserve for use with the middle command (see below): 

"Bang" a crumpled explosion denotes the end of 50% of the Parliamentarian 'Heavy Cannon'. Not the time to roll a "one" when your opponent rolls a "six" (six below):

The "Beetfield" musketry dual commences. Nine Royalist shot to the eight Parliamentarian (see below):

The far left of the Royalist line of battle, a wing of horse and shot starts its journey to take the long way round to the Parliamentarian defended right hand side hamlet (see below): 

The poor old crop in the "Beetfield" gets trampled underfoot (see below) as the Royalist and Parliamentarian shot exchange "hand bags at dawn" and shuffle their lines:

Here comes the Royalist Cavalry juggernaut (see below):

Brace yourself 'Percy' the Cavaliers are coming.

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [2]

The Royalists get a bundle of Command PiPs, 18 "plus two" from Rupert's command bonus, him plus the dog no doubt [Note: Rupert always carried about a large poodle hunting dog called "Boy"] (see below):

The Royalist right flank cavalry were off to the races to find out how good these new Parliamentarian Cavalry were (see below):

Into the "bloody beetfield of Bedford" the Royalist shot stormed (see below):

And the Royalist  phalanx of pike did its best at a game of hide-and-seek with the Parliamentarian cannons, choosing as much of the Royalist army it could to hide behind (see below): 

All did not go to plan as the Left Flank Royalist horse took a parting shot from the Parliamentarian cannon before it jumped completely out of arc (see below):  

The Parliamentarian line then turns to commence the long awaited heavy artillery duel with their Royalist counterparts (see below): 

Next: The "big guns" speak

The Battle of Bedford Beetfield: 1644 ECW Hypothetical [1]

Defending London from Rupert: 

Parliament is in crisis. Two Royalist armies are approaching London, either of which could defeat the "retrained" Parliamentarians. As a result the ground chosen to defend the approaches of London at Bedford was a curious mix of psychology and defensiveness (or should that read deafeatist mind-set). The Parliamentarians deployed in a corner triangle (see below):

The points of the triangle were a hamlet BUA (top right), a baggage camp behind a wood (bottom right) and a "Beetroot Field" (far left). A "flying column" of upgraded Parliamentarian cavalry forms the left wing of the army, infantry dominated elsewhere (see above).

The Royalists deployed a "wall of shot" with excellent cavalry on both wings, hiding a Macedonian Phalanx of Pike away from the attentions of the enemy (Parliamentarian) artillery. It would be interesting to see which way the artillery dual went (see above) as both sides deployed two large cannon. Parliament's center anxiously waited the opening rounds from the 'big guns' (see below).

The Parliamentarian right wing commander (me) wondered how to get his some of his mass of "shot" involved without opening the door to the Royalist mobile left wing (see below): 

A close-up of the base of the Parliamentarian right hand triangle and the curious "flying column" something lCromwell must have been thinking about over the winter (and who said he didn't drink, I think too much eggnog is at work here). Dragoons, Shot, "vastly improved"Parliamentarian cavalry" and then Light Guns in the wrong place at the rear of the line (see below):  

The "Beet Field", the namesake of the battle, full of Parliamentarian "shot" and soon to be the scene of one of the bloodiest  slug-fests in our ECW campaign (see below):
 

To which the Royalist Right Wing (and he probably was to be fair) said "I'll 'ave 'em all" and promptly charged at the Parliamentarian Left (as they were politically leaning that way) in a aristocratic 'death or glory fashion' (see below):

Meanwhile the Royalist (far, far) Left could barely see the enemy and would spend most of the game marching to meet up with them, but were a useful "shot" and "cavalry" pack (see below):

A view from the Royalist Baggage Camp of the Royalist Artillery and "reduced" Pike Block, being kept in reserve as a sort of Triari formation, partly due to their vulnerability to artillery, partly due to the "no where to put them in this bad terrain" (see below):

The Royalist Baggage, where Rupert keeps his bloomers, would Cromwell get his hands on them? The Royals seem to be keen on oxen? (See below):

Deployment "configured": Next let the action commence ...

Hoggerton Moor 1643 [Hypothetical]: Part VI - The Final Cut

The Parliamentarian Cavalry collide with their Royalist counterparts and the seething mass of man and horseflesh writhe over the now muddy morass of Hoggerton Moor (see below). The first vital round of combat are rolled for and the Gods of War favour the True Blue Bloods over the democracy of the business and small estate owning classes.

I am meanwhile rather busy over on the left of the battlefield trying on "two legs" trying to catch a bunch of "four legs" for some shooting practice (see below):

You line out, you point and then you shoot (see below):

You roll good high dice and your opponent rolls low and you knock a stand off his command, but then the rest of his forces run out of your range, so the fun is over (see below). But casualties are casualties and at least Royalist command is starting to look peaky. If only we could punish those Royalist Blue Jackets in the Hoggerton Moor enclosure, we could then break it.  

Meanwhile Parliament announces the start of the catastrophe as our Right Wing of Horse "breaks" and the center infantry is put in deadly peril (see below). It now becomes imperative to take out those Blue Jackets and avoid a "Major Defeat".

We press them hard (see below) "closing the door" on any chance of escape:

But their metal stands the stress test some four times (pretty cool dice throwing by their commander) which is time enough for the swing Royalist infantry Phalanx to crack the Parliamentarian Center and so an embarrassing 'minor defeat' turns into a 'major rout'. A young serious faced chap in my command called Cromwell mutters that "this will never do", gathers his remnants of horse together and heads off to London with intent and a large Bible. He has good cause to be discontented, not with the DBR rules this time but rather our (Parliamentarian) Generalship as we misused our troops (two legs cannot catch four legs), forgot to use our interior lines (my command should have just shuffled back to the center where it could have been at least used. Even a greater crime is that we as Generals appeared as "not want to fight" our opponents and tried our very best to "hide" behind rather than use terrain! Alas I stand as inept and incompetent as the rest. Perhaps it is time to let this young Cromwell chap have a crack at the whip.

Indeed the campaign swings towards London as the Royalist armies pursue and in early 1644 (hurray for the turn of the year and better cavalry troops) the Royalist attempt to take London ... is this the fall of the Republic?

Above, see the field of battle as it stands today, Hoggerton Moor. Look closely and you can still see the impact marks made from the dice.