English Civil War Battle-Maker

This system is meant for the The Portable Pike & Shot Wargame rules, and is still a work in progress. However, tomorrow morning I will play the first (remote) game in a campaign set in Lincolnshire in 1643, so I wanted to get this posted before then.

1. CAMPAIGN BOARD:

Standard chutes-and-ladders campaign board. Both sides get a chit, and roll 1d6 and move on board accordingly. When they come to a 'battle' square they stop and a game is set up. This does mean that each battle square (except the last) could be played twice (or more, if landing on 'bad weather' or other negative event multiple times).  

2. FORCES RANDOMIZER:

Credit where credit's due: these tables are derived from the Very Civile Actions ruleset, a variant or add-on to the Spanish Fury! ruleset by The Perfect Captain (now retired).  You can download the Spanish Fury rules as well as the Very Civile Actions additions at the Perfect Captain's website.  I have always been intrigued by these rules but have never tried them. I have only completed the tables for '43-'44 Eastern Association and '43-'44 Newcastle at the moment...

(a) PARLIAMENT:

1642 Edgehill/London

50% of cavalry must be Reiters

May include London Trained Bands, Reiters, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons

1643-1644: Waller/South

50% of cavalry must be Reiters

May include London Trained Bands, Reiters, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Lobsters, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons

1643-1645: Northern Association

May include Reiters, Fairfax Horse, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons

1643-1644: Eastern Association

May include Fairfax Horse, Ironsides, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons

1d3+2 horse (roll 1d6 for each: 1-2 Fairfax Horse, 3-4 Ironsides, 5-6 Harquebusiers)

1d3+1 battalia (roll 1d6 for each: 1-3 Seasoned Foot 4-6 Trained Band Foot)

1d3-1 commanded shot (same as battalia above)

1d3 artillery (1 heavy then 1 light, and so on)

1645: New Model Army

50% of cavalry must be Ironsides

50% of foot must be New Model Foot

May include Ironsides, New Model Dragoons, Seasoned Foot, and Harquebusiers

(b) ROYALIST:

1642-1643 Oxford

50% of cavalry must be Cavaliers

May include Oxford Foot, Cavaliers, Lifeguards, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

1643 Cornwall/Hopton

50% of foot must be Cornish Foot

May include Cornish Foot, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

1643-1646 Wales

May include Lifeguards, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

1643-1644 Newcastle

50% of cavalry must be Northern Horse.

50% of foot must be Whitecoat Foot.

May include Northern Horse, Whitecoat Foot, Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

1d3+2 horse (half rounded up are Northern Horse, then roll 1d6 for each remaining: 1-3 Northern Horse, 4-6 Harquebusiers)

1d3+1 battalia (Half rounded up are Whitecoat Foot, then roll 1d6 for each remaining unit: 1 Whitecoat Foot 2-3 Seasoned Foot 4-6 Trained Band Foot)

1d3-1 commanded shot (same as battalia above)

1d3 artillery (1 heavy then 1 light, and so on)

1644-1645 Oxford Reform

50% of foot must be Oxford Foot

50% of cavalry must be Cavaliers

May include Oxford Foot, Cavaliers, Lifeguards, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

1645-1646 Post-Naseby

May include Seasoned Foot, Trained Band Foot, Harquebusiers, and Dragoons.

(c) NOTES (from Very Civile Actions):

Harquebusiers: Composed of troops that had seen a campaign or two, and perhaps some time on the continent or against the Scots during the Bishop’s Wars, these types of soldiers were at every major battle in the English Civil War. Fairly well armed, adequately trained, and moderately enthusiastic

Dragoons: Although often looked on as foragers and scouts, Dragoons of the Civil Wars were actually more highly thought of. Early armies had large numbers of them, but as the war progressed better quality mounts went to the Cavalry and their quality and numbers declined.

Cavaliers: While this term was applied to Royalists in general, it was often used specifically for their excellent quality horse, although they were unfortunately not disciplined in reining in their mounts after successfully seeing off their opponents.  Not all nobles and gentlemen of legend, there were certainly many of them in the ranks. Not found in Cornwall, Wales, or Post-Naseby.

Lifeguards: These represent the very best of Royal regiments, including the Royal Lifeguard of horse, Rupert’s regiment, and perhaps the Prince of Wales regiment.

Northern Horse: Renowned for their relief of Pontefract Castle, deep in enemy territory, the Northern Horse had a fearsome reputation well before that. Under Lord Goring, and especially Sir Marmaduke Langdale, these loyal troopers had a long experience of success in battle, and though beaten at Marston Moor, they proved more successful than Prince Rupert’s southern regiments.

Reiters: Parliamentarian horse were trained along Dutch lines, with a slow trot and a reliance on firepower. It took a series of defeats at the hands of their more modern-minded and trained Royalist opponents to start throwing away their old manuals.  In South or with Waller, must be at least half of Horse.

Haselrig's Lobsters: Sir Arthur Haselrig’s cuirassiers were the only regiment of its type during the war. In the early years, they were the toughest opponents the Royalist horse was to face, although they did suffer serious checks on occasion, such as at Roundway Down.  Use only in the 1643-1644 period in the south or with Waller only.

Fairfax Horse/Ironsides/New Model Horse: Black Tom Fairfax was the heart of the Northern Association, even when he wasn’t in supreme command. Under his steady leadership his cavalry developed into hard riding professionals who proved themselves more than capable in the Nantwich campaign. May also be used as Northern or Eastern Association horse.  Also use as Cromwell's Ironsides or as New Model Army horse.

Seasoned Foot: Composed of troops that had seen a campaign or two, and perhaps some time on the continent or against the Scots during the Bishop’s Wars, these types of soldiers were at every major battle in the English Civil War, except early on when Trained Bands were more prevalent. Fairly well armed, adequately trained, and moderately enthusiastic, they could be used to represent numerous armies. 

Trained Band Foot: While many trained bandsmen had seen action before and during the war, they were generally unenthusiastic about stand up battles. That is not to say that they didn’t fight; in fact most of the fighting in 1642 was done by these men. Often ill equipped.

London Trained Bands: London was the centre of the Parliamentarian world, and there were many who were zealous for the cause. Though poorly trained, the London Trained Bands were better motivated than their county counterparts. They weren’t keen on straying too far from home as William Waller found out, but they could be counted on to fight hard when it suited them.

Oxford Foot: The King’s army of Oxford was the best armed, trained and officered of the Royalist armies. This army was unbeaten on the field from late-1642 to mid-1645 (although many of their battles were draws). They marched and countermarched from Cornwall to the gates of Windsor castle. Their destruction at Naseby spelled the end of the King’s cause.

Cornish Foot: These stubborn soldiers were officered by their ancestral leaders. Before the storm of Bristol where they took so many casualties, Cornish troops proved capable of fighting against the odds in a most fanatical manner, as at Landsowne and Braddock Down.

White Coat Foot:  Adwalton Moor, Wakefield, and finally Marston Moor proved that surrender was never on the minds of the Northern foot. Sternly officered and well equipped (after the Queen arrived with Continental munitions), these troops commanded the north, chasing the Fairfax’s into Hull until the arrival of the Scots tipped the balance against them.

3. UNITS USING 'PORTABLE PIKE & SHOT WARGAME' PROFILES:

• Reiters = Dutch Cavalry. SP 3. Move 3. Weapon range 1.
• Harquebusiers = Swedish Cavalry. SP 3. Move 3. 
• Lobsters = Curaissiers. SP 4. Move 3. Weapon range 1.
• Cavaliers, Lifeguards, Northern Horse, Ironsides, Fairfax Horse = Swedish Cavalry (Elite rated)
• Trained Band Foot = Battalia or Commanded Shot (Poor rated)
• Seasoned Foot = Battalia or Commanded Shot (Average rated)
• London Trained Bands, Oxford Foot, Cornish Foot, Whitecoat Foot, New Model Foot = Battalia or Commanded Shot (Elite rated).
• Light Artillery* (Falconets) = SP 2. Move.2. Range 4.
• Heavy Artillery* (Demiculverins) =  SP2. Move 0. Range 8.
• Dragoons.  SP 2. Move 2. Range 2. Dragoons are deployed up to 4 squares forward of friendly units.

*Heavy and light artillery have SP of 2, but if engaged in close combat their SP counts as 1 and the following rules applies: if heavy artillery obtains a result where it must retreat, it is instead immediately destroyed, as its crew has run away, unless its attacker has also obtained a retreat, in which case the heavy artillery simply remains in place.  In short, artillery cannot resist attacks for very long, if at all. L To do so successfully, it must win the combat (inflicting a SP or a retreat result) and also not take a SP itself. Artillery in fortified positions are obviously more likely to succeed at this.

4. RANDOMIZED DEPLOYMENT:

These deployments are cribbed from several historical English Civil War battles. The 12" and 6" notations indicate how far from the starting table edge the forces are deployed.  

5. BEFORE THE BATTLE:

If the attacker has more SP, defender may add and place one 6" section of earthworks for the difference in total strength points.  If the defender has more strength points, attacker may purchase Dragoon units,  at 2 SP each, to make up the difference (rounded up) (so if defender has 3 more SP, attacker can add 2 Dragoon units for 4 SP).

Defender may place earthworks, if any, 12" (2 squares on my gridded games) forward of their starting line (so if defender's random deployment placed their front line 12" from the table edge, they can deploy earthworks up to 24" from the table edge).  Attacker may deploy dragoons, if any, 24" (4 squares if using Portable Wargame) forward of starting line. 

Heavy artillery can be start with more than one unit per square.  Both sides then advance any heavy artillery 1 square forward of their starting positions, with additional heavy artillery to the left or right of that first unit.  This is where heavy artillery will remain for rest of game.