The Battle of Turnham Green was a bit of a non-event. The King didn't want to attack because he was outnumbered about 2:1 & short of ammo. Parliament didn't want to attack because most of their army was "trained bands" who really weren't very trained, & also short of ammo. So after a bit of skirmishing the King went back to Oxford & the parliamentary army went back to London. Details of the battle are sketchy so we can only make a rough simulation. The critical issues being that the King's troops were better quality than parliament's, the nos of cavalry were about equal, but the King's foot was outnumbered by about 2:1.
King (Mark & SteveJ): 8 regs of horse & 5 pike & shot.
Parliament (Mike, Jim & Mitch): 8 regs of horse & 7 pike & shot.
The King's horse were vets to Parliaments regs.
The Kings foot were in smaller units but regular to the parliament's untrained.
The King's shot had ammo for 3 turns, parliament for 5.
28mm figs. M2M house rules.
Pics taken from behind parliament's army.
Parliament put all their cavalry on the left. The King put 2 regs horse on his right & the other 6 on his left. His infnatry held a ridge line. Parliament began an immediate advance on the whole front.
Rupert is moving his left falnk cavary across the rear of the King's infantry. The parliamentary advance has broken up a bit ebcause of the inevitable command issues with a poorly trained force. The King's foot has advanced a little to close the range & start a firefight.
Rupert managed to consolidate his cavary on the near flank before the the parliamentary cavalry could organise an attack on the 2 regiments originally on this flank. The infantry is exchanging musket fire.
The King's horse has charged the parliamentary cavalry, immediately breaking thru on their left end of the line. The King's adjacent infantry regiment also charged & broke their opposite number. On the far flank the parliamentary foot is slowly moving around the King's flank.
The King's cavalry is getting on top of the roundheads. Parliament have pulled back the left of their infantry line to cover their flank.
The parliamentary cavalry has been broken & the camera has shifted to the other flank where the parliament's foot is assaulting the end of the King's line. The infantry on the left of parliament's line is now being attacked frontally by infantry & in flank by cavalry. In the centre one of King's foot regiments has been broken.
The King's foot has now been broken & the survivors are fleeing. The parliamentary foot have formed a hedgehog to protect their left flank from cavalry.
The King has no foot left, but parliament has no cavalry left. Niether can hurt the other so the King goes back to Oxford & the Parliamentary army goes back to London. both claiming victory.
A few days later Abel Tasman sighted the island he called Van Diemans Land, site of Camp Cromwell.
2 comments:
Had to read this as a mate of mine used to live at Turnham Green and I have been there by tube several times - its a bit more built up nowadays :) Which leads to a query - was the battlefield as open as depicted in your game - I would have expected a small hamlet or similar - my impression has always been the Parliamentary forces were kind of sitting in the edges of the start of the built up area of London, and that was one of the reasons the King was not prepared to attack - maybe that's all wrong though? It seemed a hard fought action and if this battle had actually happened, I think Parliament would have been justified in calling it a win - the King could ill afford to lose all his infantry, whereas Parliament had greater resources to recruit replacement troops. Probably, it was a sensible decision on the Kings part not to fight this battle in 1642?
You are probably right that the battlefield wasn't a bare as my table, but in the absence of detail I chose to just provide ridges to aid the defence. In our game, the King's losses would not have been high as they had cavalry to cover their retreat. With the benefit of hindsight I think a Royalist attack should have been tried as it was one of those situations where the payoff of a gamble was potentially so great it was worth a go.
Post a Comment