Last night an in-depth discussion surrounding pasta, house prices, and other things that Aidan will soon learn about, took place. And somewhere in the middle a battle started, had a middle and abruptly finished. The battle, although less important than the pasta sauce under discussion, is what I will deal with here.
The usual protagonists took their places on their usual sides; Luke & Aidan playing a mixed role covering various Parliamentarian characters including the Earl of Essex, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Montrose (who was clearing confused again). Chris Fazey deigned to join the Royalists at my side as the fictitious Brigadier Wolfe, while I took the part of Sir Hugh of Beeston and Lord Flasheart, the army general.
With some new style rules (based on Blackpowder as always, and created by Aidan) being tried, a simple fairly open battlefield was used, Parliamentarians to the right, Royalists to the left in a 6ft by 5ft space. Chris’ horse division took the left, while my foot division had the centre and right. The parliamentarians considered this to be unsporting because they had split their horse on both flanks, and the foot in the centre. We ignored them and belittled their hats and feathers.
The Battle:
Chris uttered the opening word, setting the tone for the battle, and said simply “Charge!” His horse ignored him mostly. When they did get going they had a proper bit of horse on horse action on the Royalist left as the Parliamentarian counter-charged, and after a lot of the ‘C’ word being used the Parliamentarian horse and Lord Fairfax himself were sent packing by the Royalists superior numbers, although not without the loss of 50% of the Royalist horse regiments.
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| Initial Deployment |
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| Chris' Royalist horse charge up a hill into the enemy.
In the centre not a lot happened.
On the right Oliver Cromwell decided to be canny and lead his brand new cuirassiers in a hell-for-leather charge into a unit of musketeers, who bizarrely stood their ground. This enabled two units of Royalist pike to get stuck in and see Cromwell and his chums off the battlefield. This left the Royalist foot very disjointed, but the Parliamentarians seemed hesitant to get stuck in, instead watching the horse clash on the far side and trading musketry. The Royalist CO (me) became frustrated at the lack of action and movement and ordered a general charge, leading to a generally complicated melee involving most of each armies foot at some point.
Key amongst the clashes was the remaining Parliamentarian horse regiment (complete with a third commander - Essex) being driven from the field by a unit of pike, then the Parliamentarian Scots pike decided they had had enough as well and fled, along with some train guards. Some Royalist troops were pushed back, but in good enough condition to return, but with time ticking, and their right flank now open to Chris’ horse, the Parliamentarians decided victory was beyond them and surrendered the field. Victory for the Royalists - Hurrah!
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| The main foot on foot contest.
Analysis:
Not much analysis to be honest. I spent most of the start and a substantial part of the middle of the battle talking pasta with Chris Fry, and only recovered my focus towards the end to shout ‘Charge’ very loudly in the direction of my foot regiments. Chris Fazey’s horse did most of the fighting, and were probably key in causing the enemy to quit the field, although I was fairly close to throwing in the towel because I felt we were finished and had little chance of winning! The viewpoint from the other side of the table must have been a tad different. Few pictures as well due to the pasta conversation. Royalists models were mine, Parliamentarians were painted and Aidans.
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