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.

Hoggerton Moor 1643 [Hypothetical]: Part V - Parliamentarian Highs and Woes

Mine was now a remote action (bottom left in the picture below), distanced from the main event (top right in the picture below) where the dim of battle was reaching a mighty climax:

Meanwhile my Shot tried to shoot some four legs, but suffered bizarre consequences (see below). Instead of knocking them off their horses I "skittered" them away behind my flank. An unsavory prospect for the following turn.

Note: DBR rule mechanism, I shot and rolled low (poor), the defender unable to shoot back rolled high (good) which gave the defender follow up/advance movement of the dice difference in bases, hence the gallop away by the horse in the way they were facing (away from my shot, which I guess seems quite reasonable in the circumstances). I must give DBR credit where credit is due.  

There ensued a frightening and confused melee to the flank of my Pike and Shot as the Royalist "hand-to-hand" Pistols suddenly fancied their chances (see below):

Despite being supported by Pike a stand of my shot were ridden down, but with combat success in DBR comes the danger of being enveloped by the mass of infantry. The victorious horse found themselves in deadly peril (see below):

The Royalist horse now had its flank exposed and their comrades were not on hand to counter the infantry "closing the door" by locking them in a 'zone of control'. The outcome was a fatal roll of the dice (see below):

'Piecemeal attacks' inevitably have but one outcome (see below) as my command scored its first Royalist kill of the day:

For all the joy of my solitary success there were bigger fish being fried in the center of the battlefield (see below):

The Royalist Pike were 'bloodied' but had 'got in'. They had pushed back the Parliamentarian Shot protecting our artillery and were about to strip the middle with a deadly wheel, who says the Phalanx has had its day, this one is alive and kicking.

Despite being outnumbered and inferior quality it was now "do-or-die" time for the Parliamentarian Right Wing of Horse to attempt to 'save the day'. All they needed was a good set of dice ...

Hoggerton Moor 1643 [Hypothetical]: Part IV - My Battle with a Wing of Horse

As George Orwell said, "Four Legs good, Two Legs bad". I would say "Two Legs 100 paces (with Pike), Four Legs 200 paces (250 if charging)". In short "Four Legs wins the foot race", even if they get shot up a little on the way in and disorganised by two Parliamentarian Saker Cannon (see below):

Somehow I managed to form a semblance of a column to expand out from, although how legal some of the moves were is at best dubious. In the spirit of the game, as in "we don't really know how to do it otherwise", the Parliamentarian forces ending up looking like thus (see below):  

Meanwhile the "big boys" were getting to grips with each other  in the center of the table. Parliament was looking to be at a disadvantage and would need some excellent dice throwing as the Royalists were about to lap round an exposed flank (see below):

Oh "Darn", on my flank I found to my annoyance that (not surprisingly given the laws of physics some would say) Cavalry are faster and can out manoeuvre Infantry (see below): 

Even if the Infantry deploy out of column quick as a flash (woof, woof [BlackAdder II]), my flank was always being turned (see below):

Again back in the middle matters were getting "hot" (see below) as the Royalist left Wing of Horse chose it's moment to attack. The Parliamentarian horse braced itself in trepidation, their mettle was about to be tested, just a few loses would take the command away as the Parliamentarian Horse fought in 'supported line'. A case of 'win' or 'lose' big (see below):

In the middle the Parliamentarian Infantry staged a counterattack but the Parliamentarian right was refused awkwardly waiting a hammer blow, just a few loses here (as they fought in supported line) would take the Parliamentarian Right command out of the game (see below):

Two thirds of the Royalist Arm was effectively hitting less than half of the Parliamentarian Army. I could see no good coming of it, even wearing my tightest Puritarian breeches. I saw and felt pain!

Hoggerton Moor 1643 [Hypothetical] - Part III

The antagonists face off, Royalist to the left and Parliamentarian to the right (see below). Note: The Hamlet of Hoggerton is off camera bottom right "below the guns":

While the Gentleman Generals of Parliament were pondering on what strategic course of action to take the King "humbugged" his former servants. Much to the consternation of Parliament the King took advantage of a school boy error. No pickets had been deployed by the Parliamentarians and this allowed the Kings effectively "three full movement turns" and sprung Parliament's forces into the jaws of a terrible trap. The leisurely readjustment of Parliamentary positions had to be abandoned and our infantry had to fight where it found itself (see below): 

My "Swine-Herd boys of Hoggerton Hamlet" emerge in column in what appears to be a rather desperate race to 'get involved in the battle' before it's all over. The bad news is that a large band of "four-legs" is ideally positioned to intercept them before they descend on the exposed Royalist flank (see below):

It is also rather a long way to travel, strategic moves or not (see below):

It all looks a horrible muddle of mixed up Parliamentarian columns and in all honesty it probably is. One can but only hope the dice give Parliament enough PiPs to extricate the mess before the Royalist 'horse come to play'. In the background the main infantry battle starts to get underway (see below):

Meanwhile the Parliamentarian right 'Wing of Horse' have 'refused their flank' hurtling back to a central position (see below):

Sadly no sign yet of a plan from Parliament.

The King's Troops at Hoggerton Moor - Part II

To the gathered Parliamentarian horror the King arrived with all his men and with single purpose of mind listened attentively to his master tactician and deployed thus according to his sage advice. The ground trembled with the approach of his horse, so many that both Parliamentarian Wings were already outnumbered before the day had even started. His infantry Pike were consolidated into one Macedonian Phalanx, some said Tercio style and wings of shot were also deployed either side. The rough ground of Hoggerton Moor was filled with his extra Shot, in particular a devilish band of men wearing Light Blue (see below for the grand scheme of things).

Disparagingly Parliament counted eleven Royalist Pistol armed Cavalry facing our seven Inferior Pistols (see below). So much for Plan A of 'Quantity' overcoming 'Quality'. A reversal of thinking was called for and the Parliamentarian Cavalry were ordered back to the centre as soon as their furry four feet could carry them.

The Phalanx of Pike caused little consternation as although large it would move slowly. As Parliament was deployed well back this meant there should be ample time to adjust to its direction. However it was clear that the King intended to win on his left and refuse on his right (see below):

The King's right was refused as he had no intention of attacking the "Swine-men of Hoggerton Hamlet" in their neatly fortified walls, hence the premature end to his line of Shot and effectively a reserve of Cavalry which still outnumbered the Parliament almost 2:1 (see below). Also note the large regiment of Blue Coated Shot, they turned out to be rather tenacious fellows, nicknamed the "Hounds of Hoggerton Moor". My "defensive" orders of hold Hoggerton Hamlet were changed to "advance and attack" the Royalist right. It would be hard to motivate my men to move out of such a defensible place, but they were neither use nor ornament there.

With the deployment completed the fine gentlemen of England supped a sack of sweet wine, were blessed by Bishops and Chaplains and then set forth on the business of war. Meanwhile the surgeons clensed their saws and knives with fire and boiled water in expectation of a busy day's and long night's work ahead.

The ECW Siege of Oxford "What if" they had fought?

Ignoring the defensive potential of the hamlet the Parliamentarians now deploy in a traditional line-of-battle to face their Royalist foes. The ranks of the more numerous Parliamentarian infantry serve to fill the plain with foot!  

To get a feel for the difficulties faced by the Parliamentarian cavalry a quick "battle bathtub" was set up (see below). The Parliamentarian horse was the inferior "shot firing type", supplemented by a stand of Dragoons against the "impact" knights of the Royalist Army. However there was so much extra Parliamentarian infantry the Parliamentarian cavalry got some extra support that way. This "foote" support was promptly dismissed out of hand by the over-confident Royalists who piled in. Pity as the stand of dead knights stood testament to their "shot" potential and Royalist stupidity, in particular when combined with the Parliamentarian shooting cavalry. The Parliamentarian cavalry went down fighting loosing 4-1 (three cavalry stands and a dragoon, to the one "unlucky" stand of Royalist knights") in a very one-sided melee, giving 4-5 turns before they would be in a position to come back into the rear of the Parliamentarian infantry. This said there was a touch-and-go moment for the Royalist general.
 
Note: This is a very, very, very none ECW thing as they would be off looting the baggage rather than worrying about their lowly foot comrades. There must be something in small print of DBR other than a round spending PiP's in reorganisation, fragmented or not the Royalist cavalry rallies far, far to quickly?    

On the other flank the cavalry matched up 4 Parliament to 5 Royalist, but this was soon turned to  4-4 as a Royalists stand of knights were shot out of their saddles as they strayed too close to a Parliamentarian Regiment of Foote that aggressively angled themselves at them (see below). Here the cavalry battle never got going before we called time. 

This left the Parliamentarian Centre advancing but not contacting (note the tables being turned here) the defensively set Royalist infantry. The canny (and correct Royalist) tactic was naturally to hang back until the Royalist cavalry had broken their Parliamentarian counterparts. The bloody hand-to-hand melee contact was not made during the time we had, but the Parliamentarians were stripped of their supporting light guns by good Royalist dice, though this would not have stopped them eventually going in (see below).

It should be noted that the temptation to support the Parliamentarian Cavalry wings with full regiments of shot should be avoided as it depletes the mass of infantry in the middle. In fact a single element of Pike and four units Shot makes an effective infantry unit/block which the Royalist horse would find hard to break. The full force of Parliamentarian infantry minus the ten elements supporting the Parliamentarian cavalry wings should eventually swamp the Royalist foot however the DBR rule set seems devoid of accurately simulating the Royalist "off to the races" when the Royalist cavalry 'inevitably' defeat the 1643 Parliamentarian cavalry. Again are the learned and devote rules lawyers of the Royalist camp missing an important DBR ECW amendment here? A Google search beckons ;)

If not I suggest a better set of ECW specific rules!

A walk on the ECW wildside

I managed to stretch my legs away from the painting table the other night and visited my Redcar (North East of UK) wargame group. A collection of like minded individuals who haven't yet grown up. This was the first time I had attended the current English Civil War (ECW) campaign. As a nominated Parliamentarian I was pleased to see that the siege of Oxford was still in progress, Parliament having already seen off one Royalist attempt to lift the siege I was an avid spectator at the Royalist second relief attempt. The Parliamentarians deployed and defended a hamlet on the approaches to Oxford (see below).   

The Royalist army deployed and to the consternation of the Parliamentarian C-in-C it was not the "cavalry heavy" force he had expected for his defensive battle plan, but an infantry heavy force. Even more worryingly was the sight of the large cannon that the Royalists had thoughtfully brought along. The Parliamentarians shuddered as they could see a long investment under cannon fire ahead. The Parliamentarian Pike troops were least of all  encouraged at this prospect due to their vulnerability to cannon ball. The Royalists are shown deployed (see below).  

Immediately the Parliamentarians took on a negative defensive mindset and elected an unforced "tactical withdrawal" of their left wing of horse (admittedly stand-for-stand inferior to the Royalist troops of this period under DBR rules) and infantry behind and into the Hamlet (see below). To the interested spectator one could not wonder if this flight was somewhat premature. 

Not to look such a gift horse in the mouth the Royalist right flank boldly advanced (see below) against empty space.

It was clear by this point the Parliamentarian Centre was floundering as the Royalist surprise weapon of doom, the large cannon (with admittedly good dice), was tearing holes in the Parliamentarian Pike, forcing Shot units to "screen off" the fire. These Shot units although harder to hit suffered casualties too and the Parliamentarian high command was flung into disarray for a counter measure (see below, as viewed from the Royalist lines).

The Royalist pounding was remorseless and the Parliamentarian Regiments of Foote were reduced to ragged bunches of desperate survivors and a remnant of their former glory  (see below).

Enough was enough, the Parliamentarian C-in-C conceded a minor defeat and the Siege of Oxford (1643) was lifted (see below). Not really a game more of a superior Royalist strategy that meant it was a "win" even before the first shot was fired due to the Parliamentarian "self-pinned" defensive mind-set and dispositions.

Clearly the Royalists had won this game of "Paper-Scissors-Stone" but I pondered the "What if?". Could it have been different if the Parliamentarians had formed up in line of battle and fought it out in a slug-fest? Parliamentarians were certainly superior in infantry fire power (having a 1:1 "Shot to Pike ratio" as opposed to the Royalist 1:2 ratio), admittedly the Royalists had the advantage over the Parliamentarian early war "glass cavalry flanks" but could they have given a better game of it and contested the battle better?

Given that the hour was still early I asked players to "rack the balls" to see how the alternative would have least played out to see if the Parliamentarian Generals mind-set was at all as justified as they claimed it to be.