The re-carpeting of the apartment at Camp Cromwell has lead to the games room being completely reorganised and tidied up. We christened the new look room with the English Civil War using our Hail Cromwell variant of Hail Caesar.
Mike's Royalists v. Jim & Mark's Parliamentarians
The Royalists started deployed in a village with a division of 6 shot & 2 pike. They have a cavalry division of 4 cavalry & 2 dragons and an infantry division of 4 shot & 2 pike coming as reinforcements on 2 of the 3 roads to their rear & flanks. Mike drew chits so he knew which div was coming on which road without the enemy knowing. He threw 1 dice on turn 1, 2 on turn 2, etc getting a reserve if a 5 was thrown.
Parliament started with 2 infantry divisions of 4 shot & 2 pike & 2 cavalry divisions of 4 cavalry deployed up to 18" onto the table but not closer than 18" to enemy. Mark took 2 divs on the left, Jim took 2 on the right.
Parliament win if they break the big div in the village or both reinforcements. The Royals win if they break 2 Parliamentary divisions including 1 inf.
This pic is taken behind the Royalists right with all ready to start.
This pic is taken from behind the Royalist left where their cavalry has come on turn 2. Jim's horse has galloped forward to meet them with the up-hill advantage. The Parl'y foot is advancing slowly with the shot in front. Mark's cavalry has crossed the creek to a position where he hopes to bottle up the enemy infantry reinforcements.
Jim's cavalry quickly broke half of Mike's horse & has rallied back, but 1 Royal horse retired off the table & the dragoons survived in the house and wood so the division was not broken. The Parl'y shot is firing away at the village as the pikes manoeuvre to the rear. The Royal inf reinforcements have come on the far end & are facing off with Mark's horse.
Mike's dragoons got some good command, remounted and galloped across to reinforce the village while Jim's horse decided they needed a rest. Mike launched a counterattack with a lone pike unit on his left. He broke one Parlimentary pike block and made the other fall back. Mark's attempts to attack the foot on the far flank got nowhere. The Royals either got into hedgehog or stopped them with shot.
On this flank Jim's horse has finally got moving again. His musketeers have charged the field after shaking the enemy with their fire and taken the hedgerow. Mark's foot is still trying to weaken the enemy on his side of the village enough to assault them. His horse is giving ground to the pike & shot.
Jim's infantry have broken 2 shot units, but have run out of steam with all units shaken. Mark's pikes have finally charged the other side of the village but are meeting fierce resistance. Most of Jim's horse has got over to help Mark on the far flank.
A view from behind Parliament's left. Mark's foot has cleared the field on his side, but were shaken in the process & unable to follow on. Mike has 4 of the original 8 defenders of the village still fighting (reinforced by the dragoons). He only has to lose 1 more for the div to break & with it the army, but Parliament are running out of units fit to fight.
Parliament had one chance left to win the battle - they could attack the shaken pike unit on the crossroads with the tail end Charley of Jim's cavalry division & Jim's last pike block, both rallied back from shaken & one casualty off being shaken again. The cavalry got good command and charged the pikes in flank. The pikes managed to turn & face, the dragoons in the house missed with opportunity fire & the charge went home. The casualties were tied, but both were then shaken & had to test & the cavalry broke. The Parliament's pikes failed to charge home in concert with the cavalry & next turn when they did charge were broken by the opportunity fire of dragoons. Jim's infantry div then broke with half units broken & the rest shaken.
Parliament played on for another turn in the hope of a miracle, but Mark's horse was broken by musket fire & it was all over. It was an exciting & very enjoyable battle of fluctuating fortunes that easily could have gone either way.
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