Lincoln Heath (May 1643) - ECW Lincolnshire Campaign Game #2

After the battle at Dimbleby, I rolled on the campaign board, and Lord Willoughby and his Parliament forces landed on the second battle square, indicating that he had caught up with Sir Thomas Cavendish's Royalists somewhere.  I figured that Cavendish fell back to Grantham, then headed north by road to Lincoln.  Willoughby, still at Sleaford, ran north on the Sleaford road towards Lincoln, then popped around and in front of, Cavendish's army at Lincoln Heath, about six mile south of the town of Lincoln itself.

For Parliament: Lord Willoughby's Lincolnshire Trained Bands.

Lord Willoughby had with him:

3 Horse (2 Fairfax horse, 1 harquebusier) (9 SP)

3 battalia (all Lincolnshire trained bands) (12 SP)

1 heavy gun, 1 light. (4 SP)

Total: 25 SP

Attacker upgrade: 1 Dragoons (2 SP)

Updated Total: 27 SP (exhaustion point: 10 SP. Break point: 15 SP)

Sir Cavendish had:

3 horse (2 Northern, 1 harquebusier) (9 SP)

2 battalia (both White Coats) (8 SP)

2 commanded shot (1 white coat, the other seasoned foot) (6 SP)

1 heavy gun, 1 light. (4 SP)

Total: 27 SP (exhaustion point: 10 SP. Break point: 15 SP)

Initial positions: Parliament at bottom, Royalists at top.

Lord Willoughby's (played by Nick) plan was for the dragoons to directly harass the Royalist right at dangerously close range, which would force Cavendish (played by me) to disrupt his own plans to dispose of the dragoons.  The Royalist plan was to form a strong line of the better quality infantry and keep the cavalry in reserve to take advantage of any opportunity that should arise.

Sir Thomas Cavendish's Whitecoats and Northern Horse.

Willoughby's ruse with the dragoons worked the charm, as even though they were easily dispatched, Cavendish had to send a troop of harquebusiers to do so.  Willoughby then sent two troops of horse to quickly attack the Royalist harquebusiers, driving them off the board (a loss of 3 SP!). 

Willoughby sends his harquebusiers and Fairfax Horse on the attack.

Cavendish had little choice but to move his remaining two troops of Northern Horse to counter the cavalry threat to his right flank.  Meanwhile, the Lincolnshire trained bands remained mostly stationary in the center, (and out of range of musketry) although Parliament's falconet light gun did wheel atop the long ridge and started peppering the Whitecoat commanded shot at a distance.

I don't like chits and markers on my table but because the poor-average-elite rankings add good ECW-flavor to these games, and because I would forget otherwise, I had to litter the table with notes about unit levels of training. Here, elite "Newcastle Whitecoats" hold the crest of a small hill.

Whitecoat commanded shot and small gun on Royalist left push forward a bit.

Being closer to his exhaustion point than Willoughby, Cavendish had to creep his own falconet and commanded shot forward on his left to get them into range of some targets. 

Willoughby's Lincolnshire trained bands (rated poor). These were smartly kept out of musket range until the very end of the battle.

Around this time, playing as Cavendish, I pondered if I should advance my infantry in the center and right forward a full two spaces - this would put some of the Parliament trained bands and horse in musket range.  Experience with The Portable Wargame has taught me that you typically get one good attack during a game, in terms of your army being fresh enough to capitalize on an attack (i.e. not too close to your exhaustion point). If you wait too long, however, you will so close to your exhaustion point as to not be able to make a strong attack.  Because I was feeling pretty secure in current position, and thought I could handle the attacking Parliament cavalry on my right, I decided to sit tight and not advance.

Retrospectively, this it about the high-water mark for Royalists (to the right side) in the game. Although they have just lost a unit of harquebusiers, they have also dispatched Parliament dragoons and have a slight lead in Strength Points. The Royalist left has crept forward a little, and perhaps the center and right should have advanced en masse at this point to press advantage of better quality Whitecoats against Lincolnshire trained bands...

As it turned out, the Parliament cavalry did better than the Northern Horse.  In fact, trying to rally the right flank, Sir Thomas Cavendish himself was slain, some say by an musketeers bullet, by the blade of a Parliament trooper by others (see Note).   The Royalists lost a few more SP here and there, and Cavendish's army was suddenly past its exhaustion point and could not advance towards the enemy any more, at which point the Lincolnshire Trained Bands began their advance on the Royalist left and center.

Lincolnshire trained bands on the attack.

On the Royalist right the Northern Horse and Whitecoats fought fiercely and were able to rack up some quick lost strength points on the Parliament forces, which also became exhausted!

Cavendish's Northern Horse tries to fight off Willoughby's cavalry from two sides.

Then followed a quick series of turns as both sides tried to use ranged attacks as they were still available (if a unit retreated out of range, one could not advance to stay in range any longer!) or completed close combats with units still adjacent (but could not follow up!).

Outnumbered Whitecoat commanded shot tries to hold against the Lincolnshire trained bands.

Despite a strong rally, in the end it was Willoughby who won out, with the Royalists first to lose 15 SP (Parliament lost 12, I recall), and the Royalists fled the field.

Victorious Lord Willoughby at the head of his trained bands.

This was a quick (1 hour and 45 minutes) game played remotely.  As discussed above, both players devised battle plans.  As the Royalist player, I probably stuck to my plan too long, and should have pressed an attack with my better trained foot when I had the chance.  Still, even past the exhaustion point, the better quality Royalist Whitecoat infantry and Northern Horse were able to push the Parliament forces past their own exhaustion point and even got in striking distance of breaking the Parliament army altogether. Dramatic stuff, and (to me at least), credible insofar as it resembles accounts of how smaller English Civil War battles could unfold.

Note: The real Sir Thomas Cavendish went into exile with his brother after the Royalist defeat. He eventually returned to England after the Restoration and died in 1654 at the age of 59.