English Civil War Part Three ! Trial By Battle

Having sorted out the ECW collection to my satisfaction, I decided to give them a solo outing using the Medieval rules ' Trial By Battle' with suitable adaptations as available on the group Facebook page. These rules play well for their intended period and I wondered whether they would stretch to include the 17th century conflicts? They are well suited for games with about 6 to 8 units a side, so I set up two forces of 7 units per side. I decided to make the units smaller than I might for a much bigger wargame, Cavalry in sixes, Infantry in twelves and single artillery pieces.  The rules do not prescribe scale or unit sizes which suits me just fine!

The New Model Army, Horse, Canon, Shot, Pike, Shot, with Dragoons and Horse out of shot on the left flank.

The Royalists, Horse, Pike, Shot, Pike, Shot, Canon and Horse.

The view from the Royalist Centre which held firm throughout the game.

The Battle Unfolds

The game as set up, was never going to give me any great tactical challenges, but was ideal to just try out the rule mechanisms. I wanted more than anything else to find out if these rules felt 'in character' for the 17th Century. As a wargamer of more years than I care to recall, I have learned that the best rules have a knack of 'feeling right' for a period or particular form of warfare. Its not just about the mechanics working correctly (although that's a huge plus, as many rules sets have failed this basic step!), its whether they encourage and enable the tabletop combatants to fight in the manner that they should, bearing in mind the tactics and weaponry of the time.  

The Cavalry on both wings advance towards each other, with the NMA Dragoons opening fire on Prince Rupert's Cavalry.

The NMA Dragoons fall back as the cavalry on the left wing crash into each other. 

The cavalry clash head on on the right flank!

The NMA Infantry advance forward led by their army commander

The Royalist centre hold ground and give fire!

The Guns of both sides pounded away during the game without causing any significant damage (echoing historical reality as far as I can tell!)

The musketry cause significant casualties on the advancing NMA infantry.

It was not long before a unit of NMA musketeers broke and fled the field

The Royalist cavalry on the right wing routed the Roundhead horse and charged the Parliamentary Gun!

The struggle in the centre carried on but the writing was on the wall !

 Total collapse and the Parliamentary rout began!

For King And Country!

No, not an advert for that well known manufacturer of high end figure manufacturer, but the sentiment of the winning side in this my first ever ECW game. It had involved cavalry clashes on both flanks, which were won by the Kings forces on the lright and Parliaments on the left. Unfortunately the Roundhead cavalry in its enthusiasm, chose to engage a pike block and lost badly! Whereas the Royalist cavalry chose a soft target in the form of the NMA artillery unit and then charged the rear of the infantry centre. 

Throughout, the Royalist infantry held their ground and fired steady volleys into  the advancing NMA infantry, before fighting steadfastly in the melee that eventually developed. 

So how did the rules feel? Great is my overall feeling. The battle developed along historical lines and the troops performed in the way I wanted them to. The only niggle I had was the lack of any rule for interpenetration of skirmishers. In the end I just let the NMA cavalry charge through the dismounted Dragoons and reformed that unit behind the cavalry melee. 

I shall use these rules again and recommend them for medieval games in particular, but make sure you get the compendium as well!

My next battle will be trying out Pikeman's Lament but not for a few weeks as I take a short break from the 17th century.

A lick of paint......French Foreign Legion

Whilst I have been pre-occupied with the ECW collection for the past few weeks, I did manage to finish painting the French Foreign Legion unit and thought I would show a quick picture of the end result, patiently awaiting action on a shelf in my cabinets ! I am undecided about whether the regiment needs more recruits. I don't like to include figures lying firing in my basic units. I prefer to keep them separate, to stand in where they look more appropriate, such as when skirmishing or dug in to terrain. On that basis I may add another two riflemen to give me two basic companies of 12 men including Officers, plus the machine gun section and mounted Colonel. I don't have any appropriate figures at present but it shouldn't be a problem to add two more.

That's all for now, but I have plans for a new gardening feature soon! 

Tara a bit!