Sedgbrook (Sept. 1643) - ECW Lincolnshire Campaign Game #6

Following the Parliament victory by Sir John Meldrum at Thorp in the Fallow, the Royalists had managed to reach the final battle square first and took advantage of Parliament's bad fortunes (unpaid troops mutinying, bad weather) to strike unexpectedly south at Grantham with the idea of opening up the road to London.  3 miles from Grantham, the Royalists, having replaced as their commander the oft-defeated Sir John Henderson with Sir William Widdrington, found Meldrum waiting for them in small sconce blocking the road, outside of Sedgbrook.

Positions after first moves. Royalists on right, Parliament on left.

In the finale to the 1495 Italian Wars campaign, the advantage conferred on the first to the final battle square was that the defending side took a -1 on every roll on the force composition randomizer.  Each side then received a "captain," which was an additional heroic personality figure conferring the same +1 modifiers as the usual general.  The problem with this approach is that the result can be fairly pedestrian - in the aforementioned Italian Wars finale game the defender rolled exceptionally well, and the -1 to each troop type only ended up creating equally sized forces. Both sides won an equal number of games during the campaign so had an equal number of captains, so its hard to say if having a 4-to-1 advantage in captains would be advantageous.  Additionally, because the Italian Wars game ended up with equally sized armies, there was no need for the defender to acquire the usual earthworks for its deficit in strength points.

Rather than "captains," I decided that each game won would grant the winning side an additional unit in the final battle (so +4 to Parliament and +1 to the Royalists). Parliament would therefore be rewarded for winning more of the earlier battles which would offset them not reaching the final battle square first. Sir William Widdrington thus rolled up 3 elite Northern Horse and 1 average Harquebusier troops of horse, 3 elite Whitecoat and 1 average battalias of foot, a single Whitecoat elite commanded shot unit, and a light gun.

Parliament.

Sir John Meldrum's Parliament army of the Eastern Association ended up with 4 troops of elite Fairfax Horse and one average Harquebusier, one average battalia and three poor battalias of Lincolnshire Train'd Bands, and a light gun.  As the Royalists had 33 SP to Parliaments 30, Parliament also had a small 3-sided sconce as an upgrade (adding 3 SP) to bring them to 33.  On the random deployment table, Widdringtron deployed his troops in two lines, with cavalry mixed in at edge of the foot, while Meldrum's forces were deployed in a more traditional line with the foot in the middle and the cavalry on the flanks. 

Royalists.

Now Widdrington took survey of the field.  To his left flank was a fairly dense wood (3 squares by 3 squares) and a hill or ridge ran along his right.  Opposite the woods were 3 squadrons of Parliament horse.  He struck upon a plan (not wanting to be indecisive, like Henderson had at Thorp in the Fallow and earlier in June at Carlton Scroop), which was for his horse on his left to swing across and join his horse on his right. The commanded shot would take cover in the woods and assist the non-Whitecoat battalia and deflecting flanking moves by the Parliament horse opposite the woods, while the three battalias of elite Newcastle Whitecoat foot would attack the center at the same time the now-massed Northern Horse attacked the Parliament horse.  

On the right side, the Parliament cavalry by the woods threatens the advancing Royalist infantry.  In the back, the Royalists are swinging their left flank cavalry around to the Royalist right. 

Meldrum, with the benefit of some defensive works in the form of sconce, decided to form his foot up around said sconce.  He suffered a bit of indecision with his three troops of horse on his left. At first he thought to position them by woods and to attack the Parliament foot in the flank when they attacked the sconce. But as the Royalist horse rode away to the other flank, he decided to send at least one troop all the way around the wood to harass the Parliament rear. 

Elite Royalist Whitecoats foot advancing en masse. These figures in buff coats and morion helmets are my latest addition.

The Parliament trained bands in position around their sconce.

In other words, other than some ineffective cannon fire by the falconets, both sides politely waited while the other got itself into position.

The Royalist attack is in position. Parliament has decided to send a troop of Fairfax Horse around the woods to pin down a Royalist battalia in the rear.

This was the first game of the Portable Pike & Shot Wargame where I was not allowing heavy artillery to be present, and, at the last minute, decided to port over the idea of letting guns share a square with a friendly unit.  This was really quite easy to figure out (1) the light gun and any friendly unit could share a square; (2) they resolved their shooting attacks separately; (3) if shot at, and if fire was effective, simply roll for both the gun and co-habitant unit separately so see if they lose a SP or retreat.

Royalist infantry ready for the attack.

Royalist cavalry ready for the attack.

Parliament horse on Parliament left, now contemplating two-to-one odds against them...

His army in position, Widdrington gave the signal and the Royalist army began its advance, with the foot and horse both moving to charge range.

The Royalist attack begins...

Around the same time, the Parliament flank horse came around the woods to attempt its attack on the Parliament rear.

Parliamentarians waiting for the Royalist assault.

Then there was close combat everywhere at once. The flanking Parliamentarian harquebusiers attacked the waiting Royalist battalia in the flank, failed to make headway, then lost the subequent round and ended up fleeing the table!

A huge break for the Royalists - the flanking Parliament horse is quickly beaten and flees the field!

On the other flank, the outnumbered-two-to-one Fairfax Horse were swarmed by the Royalist cavalry, and while one troop held its ground, the other was also quickly routed. Things are going very well for Widdrington thus far!

While at the other side of the field, another squadron of Parliament horse is also routed by the swarming Northern Horse...

In the center the Whitecoats attacked the sconce and the battalias on its flanks. On one side, the Whitecoats (blue flag with white caltrop) pushed back Meldrum's single battalia of veterans (green banner with white quarters), and although the Lincolnshire trained band held the sconce, the civilian crew of the falconet fell back. 

The Royalist Whitecoats gain ground on left side of the sconce. 

On the other side of the sconce, Parliament cavalry attempted to flank the advancing Whitecoats, made little headway, and then ended up boxed in between their own trained bands and the Whitecoats.

While some Parliament horse has attempted to intervene in the combats on the right side of the sconce.

Now, with a little luck, Widdrington's plans continued to pay dividends. With the Royalist foot engaged in front of the sconce, the falconet was able to pivot and fire on the Fairfax Horse waiting by the woods. They scored a hit (no mean task, needing a 6) and the targeted horse fell back. The commanded shot in the woods now moved over and fired into the flank of another troop of Fairfax Horse, causing a SP of damage and pushing the Parliament army past its exhaustion point! At this point, Widdrington's forces had only lost 6 or 7 SP, so the advantage was strongly theirs to get Parliament the break point first!

Another key moment - the Royalist gun is able to push back one troop of Parliament horse threatening the flank of the foot. Commanded shot in the woods then is able to move and get a shot at another Parliament squadron and inflict another lost SP - the Parliamentarian army has reached its exhaustion point!

Another view - Royalist gun in background has caused Parliament horse at right to fall back, opening up the LOS for the commanded shot in the woods.

As it so happened, however, Parliament proved tenacious, and despite being unable to advance towards the Royalists anymore, the Royalists fared poorly in several combats and were quickly past the exhaustion point as well.

Now both sides are at exhaustion point, so musketry fire has increased and the few units still in close combat range continue to resolve melees.

Then began several rounds of musketry and artillery fire as both sides tried to push the other past the break point. For a second, the struggle pulled even, with both sides at 13 SP lost each, but the Royalists managed a few more hits, and Widdrington himself led a Whitecoat charge against a battalia of Lincolnshire trained bands to win the day!

Widdrington personally leads the deciding combat to carry the day, and the campaign!

In one day of ferocious fighting at Sedgbrook, the previous five months of Parliament victories were undone, with Grantham once again in Royalist hands and the road to London too open for Parliament comfort. 

End of game.

Campaign play and the battle-maker continue to create interesting and balanced games.  The only hiccup was the overpowered artillery in the earlier games, which was easily fixed.  The siege of Newark game worked quite well, and only needs a few wrinkles fixed. If I have gripe, its that visually its looks too much the same as the Italian Wars siege of Novarra game - I think the only way to address this is to construct more towers, walls, and fortifications of varying shapes so that it doesn't look like the same town everytime! This isn't a hard or even burdensome task (terrain construction takes far less time than figure painting and the resulting effect is dramatic and immediate), but I just need to figure out the modular nature of the new fortifications so they can be mixed and matched (I'm thinking of adding some larger/wider towers, some curved walls, and something more castle-like or stronghold-like that could sit at one edge with the town enclosure spreading out from it.

Thanks to all who read along and commented here and elsewhere, and to Gabe, Pete, and Nick for playing remotely. Not sure when or what the next game (or campaign) will be, as summer vacation begins in earnest this week and hobby time will be more limited. But being fully vaccinated (effective last Thursday!) I'm sure an in-person games will return!

Braddock Down 1643

Pete and Jamie were over on Saturday afternoon for the Last Game of the Year, in this case, the English Civil War battle of Braddock Down in January of 1643 using Pikeman's Lament. The historical context was the Royalist Baron Ralph Hopton was trying to break his Cornish army out of Cornwall but was blocked by a Parliament army operating out of Plymouth under Colonel William Ruthven. Ruthven was hoping to score a quick victory to quash Royalist support in Cornwall altogether, and thought he had pounced upon the stragglers of Hopton's army – only to discover he was facing Hopton's main army as a whole. Both sides drew up on opposite slopes of Braddock Down, and Hopton's Cornish Pike attacked. Parliament fired but once (hitting two Cornwall men) and then turned and fled, ending the battle!

This game was very enjoyable, which is especially important for two reasons: first, because I had ginned up a very diverse set of unit profiles that I was hoping would give a much more balanced game with the right amount of period flavor (I'm going to post all of those up in a separate post). In this particular game, the new units featured where a new Harquebusier cavalry unit (a slightly less enthusiastic Galloper with no wild charge and a pistol attack added) representing "generic" English cavalry for the period used by both sides, '42-'42 Harquebusiers (Trotters) representing early Parliamentarian cavalry which used Dutch cavalry tactics, the vaunted Cornish Pike (regular pike but with better Morale and Move scores to represent their enthusiasm), regular infantry divided into Seasoned Regiments (regular Pike and Shot) and Trained Bands (lower Morale and Move scores to represent their slight lack of enthusiasm). Finally, I used the artillery rules I have been using in my Italian Wars games (reload actions, dice thrown varied by range), and artillery units counted as their own "companies" (so failures trying to shoot or reload did not count against your Officers' companies). Also, I increased all infantry movements to 8". All unit profiles are included at the bottom of this post.

The second reason this game's success was important was the victory conditions set out. As you can see, I poured lines of flock about 12" from each long board edge. Braddock Down was fought in a slight depression between two low hills. Both sides deployed on an opposite hill. The flock lines represent the hills. Since this is essentially a defensive battle for the Royalists, Parliament's goal is to have units outnumbered the Royalist units on the Royalist hill. The Royalists want to push the Parliamentarians back to their starting positions, so their victory condition hinges on outnumbering the Parliamentarians in the middle zone. Therefore, a "major victory" for each side becomes evident (for both sides, really, have +1 unit than the other in both the middle zone and the Royalist zone), with draws and possible "minor victories" as well. This doesn't seem complicated or even particularly innovative but I've become aware recently of how often players in a game will keep their armies stationary and "play it safe" by slugging away with ranged attacks, which is particularly boring and unsatisfying if nothing else. "Objective zones," or whatever you'd like to call them, force the players to actually fight for "control of the field".

I probably gave Parliament too much infantry and had too much of it be "Seasoned Regiments" instead of "Trained Bands" but oh well. Since there were three of us, and since Parliament had 13 units vs. the Royalist 10, I took a smaller portion of the Parliament forces with Pete taking the majority, and Jamie played the Royalists. The starting dispositions found the Royalists on Beacon Hill, with their center held by the Cornish Pike, their left by two units of cavalry and a falconet, and their right by three cavalry units and falconet. Additionally, a unit of shot (Seasoned Regiment) were deployed forward behind hedgerows by the farm. Opposite them, Parliament had cavalry on the wings and a larger mass of infantry in the center.

(Above: Starting positions, Parliament on bottom, Royalist on top)

(Above: Parliament infantry)

(Above: Another view, Royalists on left, Parliament on right)

Parliament surged off the hill and into the low ground, and its cavalry attacked on both flanks. On the Parliament right, harquebusiers used their follow-up attack to destroy a shot unit and rode right up on to Beacon Hill. On the left, Pete rolled boxcars and then another 6 and received a reinforcement unit of more '42-'43 Harquebusiers, and shooting by Royalist Dragoons was ineffective. With Parliamentary horse on the hill and the bulk of the Parliamentary infantry already halfway across the low ground in the middle, things seemed to be going extremely well.

(Above: Parliament center advancing)

(Above: Parliament center advancing)

(Above: Royalist harquebusiers)

But then the Royalist falconet fired upon aforementioned Parliament harquebusiers on the hill, and routed the unit, including its officer. This triggered a morale check on the other cavalry unit in that company, which also failed and fled. With the Parliamentary right gone, the Cornish Pike advanced down off Beacon Hill, and good shooting sent a unit of Parliamentary muskets packing as well. To top it off, Jamie rolled boxcars and the Royalists ended up with unit of Harquebusier reinforcements as well.

(Above: Cornish Pike at center right. This is just before the Parliamentarian cavalry at the left side there ran away)

 

After this counter-swing in fortune, the Parliament left's cavalry kept chipping away at the Royalist right, pushing them further and further back onto the hill. And in the center the Cornish Pike's advance faltered and began to break up. The "game clock" stopped when one side hit 50% units lost, and the Royalists were right on the brink. Parliament clearly had control of the middle zone, but the Royalists enjoyed a very slight (2 vs. 1) unit advantage on their hill. So Jamie played a little "dirty pool" (as described by Pete) and had his harquebusier unit attack Parliament pike in close order, a melee he predictably lost and therefore "stopped the clock." Parliament enjoyed a 5 units vs. 2 advantage in the middle ground and 1 vs. 2 disadvantage on the hill, so it was ruled a minor victory for Parliament.

(Above: Endgame, I think. You can see how close Parliament pike units were to climbing Beacon Hill in the center there)

 

You could argue that Jamie's "clock-stopping" was gamey and thus the "objective zones" victory condition didn't alleviate the sort of gamey-ness I was trying to solve. But I figure at least he was still attacking and not just turtled up, which is the behavior I am most-seeking to disincentive.

Further rule suggestion/modification arising from this game was to make it a little easier for guns to fire, since they are already limited by their needing a reload action and their limited shooting dice at longer range, a suggestion I agree with – if a falconet is only throwing 4 dice at 8"-16", you might as well let them plug away a bit.



ORDER OF BATTLE:

HOPTON (Royalists)

Horse Company #1
Dragoons 3pts
Dragoons 3pts
Dragoons 3pts

Horse Company #2
Harquebusiers 4pts
Harquebusiers 4pts

Foot Company
Seasoned Shot 4pts
Trained Band Shot 3pts
Cornish Pike 6pts
Cornish Pike 6pts
Cornish Pike 6pts

Falconets x 2 (6 pts)
Two light guns. These are hidden behind a horse unit. Secretly designate which.

TOTAL 48 points

RUTHVEN (Parliament)

Horse Company #1
Harquebusiers 4pts
Harquebusiers 4pts

Horse Company #2
'42-'43 Harquebusiers 4pts
'42-'43 Harquebusiers 4pts

Foot Company #1
Seasoned Shot 4pts
Seasoned Shot 4pts
Seasoned Pike 4pts

Foot Company #2
Seasoned Shot 4pts
Seasoned Shot 4pts
Seasoned Pike 4pts

Foot Company #3
Trained Band Shot 3pts
Trained Band Shot 3pts
Trained Band Pike 3pts

TOTAL: 49 points

UNIT PROFILES*

HOPTON'S ROYALISTS

HARQUEBUSIERS 4 Points
Attack 6+ Attack Value 4+
Move 5+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 6+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/6"
Morale 4+ Max. Move 10”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 6
Special Rules: Counter-charge; Compulsory Follow-Up (as per rulebook but can only be done once per game per unit)

DRAGOONS 3 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 5+
Move 5+ Defense Value 6+
Shoot 6+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/12”
Morale 5+ Max. Move 12”
Stamina 2 # of Figures 6
Special Rules: Skirmish

CORNISH PIKE 6 Points
Attack 6+ Attack Value 5+
Move 5+ Defense Value 4+
Shoot -- Shoot Value/ Range --
Morale 3+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: Close Order

SEASONED SHOTTE 4 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 6+
Move 5+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 7+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/18”
Morale 4+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 2 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: First Salvo

TRAINED BAND SHOTTE 3 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 6+
Move 6+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 7+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/18”
Morale 5+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 2 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: First Salvo

FALCONET 3 Points
Attack -- Attack Value --
Move 6+ Defense Value 6
Shoot/Reload 8+/6+* Shoot Value/Range 5-6+ /12”*
Morale 5+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 1 # of Figures 4
Special Rules: *Reload: After a successful shooting action, cannot fire again until making a reload action at 7+, then 8+, 9+ etc.
Closing Fire on test at 8+.
Short Range (0”-6”): 12 dice @ 5+ (4+ if target Close Order) target @ -1 stamina & auto Morale test
Long Range: (6”-16”): 4 dice @ 6+

RUTHVEN'S PARLIAMENTARIANS

'42-'43 HARQUEBUSIERS 4 Points
Attack 6+ Attack Value 5+
Move 5+ Defense Value 4+
Shoot 6+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/6”
Morale 4+ Max. Move 10”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 6
Special Rules: Caracole

HARQUEBUSIERS 4 Points
Attack 6+ Attack Value 4+
Move 5+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 6+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/6"
Morale 4+ Max. Move 10”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 6
Special Rules: Counter-charge; Compulsory Follow-Up

SEASONED PIKE 4 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 5+
Move 5+ Defense Value 4+
Shoot -- Shoot Value/ Range --
Morale 4+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: Close Order

SEASONED SHOTTE 4 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 6+
Move 5+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 7+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/18”
Morale 4+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 2 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: First Salvo

TRAINED BAND PIKE 3 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 5+
Move 6+ Defense Value 4+
Shoot -- Shoot Value/ Range --
Morale 5+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 3 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: Close Order

TRAINED BAND SHOTTE 3 Points
Attack 7+ Attack Value 6+
Move 6+ Defense Value 5+
Shoot 7+ Shoot Value/ Range 5+/18”
Morale 5+ Max. Move 8”
Stamina 2 # of Figures 12
Special Rules: First Salvo

*NOTE:  I have opted to tinker with things like Morale and Attack activation values more so than Stamina or Attack/Defense Values. During the Braddock Down game I tried to pay attention to Cornish Pike morale checks, because I had increased their morale to a base of 3+.  I feel confident in saying Cornish Pike passed morale checks at 3 times and perhaps more by exactly hitting their target number. If their base morale was 4+ and not 3+ then all those passes are instead off by one and a Waver result instead. Similarly, the Harquebusiers have lower morale than their more rambunctious Cavalier cousins and the big difference between the foot of Seasoned Regiments versus Trained Bands is willingness to Attack and Morale and not Attack Values or Stamina.

Reinforcements!

A few weeks ago fellow Portland war gamer and all around great person Victor (of Operation Wargaming) emailed me to ask for my mailing address, as he had "something to send me."  My best guess as what he was sending me was some unpainted ECW or Italian Wars figures he was looking to unload, or even maybe a unit of say, 12 painted figures for one of those periods. 

What I instead received was TWENTY-FOUR landsknecht pike men along with four command figures (Vic detailed their painting here)!  They were not based and did not include a flag.  Last night finished basing them, and attached the hand-painted the flag you see below, and present them below...

I am somewhat constantly amazed at the generosity and authenticity of the miniature wargaming hobby - Victor's unbelievably kind gift only underlines that wonderfulness.

Thanks, Vic!

(ahem)

If you, too, would like to be cool like Victor and send me painted units of English Civil War or Renaissance 28mm miniatures, please email me and I would be happy to provide you with a mailing address!!

Italian Wars painting completed!

Well, not really.  I still have a box of Perry plastic War of the Roses 'European Mercenaries' (and the separate metal Italian heads) to assemble and paint, another six Perry light cavalry (I'll do them as mounted crossbows) and 12 Perry plastic men at arms, but none of those were required for this project to be done.  Since November 2017 I have painted:

• 36 Landsknecht pike
• 60 Italian/Swiss pike
• 36 Landsknecht aquebusiers
• 36 Italian/Swiss arquebusiers
• 24 Landsknecht doppelsoldners 
• 24 Halberdiers
• 30 Gendarmes
• 30 Elmeti 
• 12 'Archer' cavalry
• 12 Stradiots light cavalry
• 12 Mounted Crossbowmen
• 12 command stands
• 4 Heavy Guns with 5 crew each
• 4 Guns (with 'Burgundian Carriages') with 3 crew each
• 4 Baggage Stands

 This is a total of at least 350 figures in approximately 6 months, which is a nice clip of roughly 2 figures per day! Now, let us never attempt such a task again! I must confess I feel very liberated now to have this lead mountain completely painted and done with. 

(Above: my French king/commander stand - figures by Foundry - very pleased with how this came out)

(Above: the opposing general, for my Fornovo scenario this will be Gonzaga - figures again by Foundry)

(Above: A Perry Italian Wars commander.  I wish I could have made his horse more interesting but by this stage I felt unmodivated to come up with something unique - that said I'm very pleased with my armor effects at this point!)

(Above: Stoked on how these heavy artillery stands came out.)

(Above: A playtest underway. Play time was about 3 hours. Might go faster or slower at Enfilade! with more than two players playing.)

(Above: From the playtest - the French Gendarmes in the lower left move forward - while Italian Elmeti surge forward in the center right.  Getting these heavy cavalry units 'right' stat and rules-wise has been challenging.)

Not sure what the next painting projects/focus will be. As noted above I have more Italian Wars stuff to paint, which I will do at a relaxed and leisurely pace involving small batches!  I have also been acquired small units of fantasy stuff for Dragon Rampant which I would like to have a few more go-arounds with.

See you at Enfilade!



Montgomery 1644

In probably my last game of 2017, we (Pete, Andy and I) played out the relief of Montgomery Castle of 1644, an English Civil War game using the Pikeman's Lament 'big battle' rules (the 'big battle' variant being no figure removal and multi-based figures).  Andy even got to get his ECW cavalry on a table for the first time!


(Above: starting positions - Parliament is at the river, Royalists at the ridge)

There were 52 points per side, with 12 points of Parliament cavalry coming on table on turn six (the foraging cavalry returning, as per the historical battle).  Kept all the stat blocks at vanilla levels - no elite or raw troops or even wild charge for the gallopers.


(Above: Royalists dragoons (right) harass Parliamentarian infantry)

Unfortunately I messed up the unit stat blocks on my game handouts, and Parliament cavalry ended up with overstated attack values and understated defense values.  We caught and fixed the attack values early on, but failed to catch the defense value misprint until after the game was over - so major boo boo on me there.


(Above: Pete advancing Parliament cavalry, while at below right the Royalists enjoy a tasty Portland-brewed beverage)

Otherwise the game was good and fast-paced.  We played to a reasonable conclusion in just two hours!






(Above: Royalist and Parliamentarian cavalry clash. The lisping cavaliers with the red jackets and blue hats are Andy's)


(Above: the final turns of the game. The Parliamentarian cavalry companies have been effectively destroyed, so the infantry, aided by some reinforcements (Pete rolled double 6s on an activation) try to see if they can make headway)

Next time I'll proof-read my stat-blocks!