Prelude to Lostwithil - English Civil War

Got into a bit of an English Civil War scrap last night as we tested out Aidan’s scenario for the bigger Battle of Lostwithil (hopefully to appear later in the month).  In brief my Royalists were joined by Red’s, and commanded by Charles himself (who turned out to be as inept as the rest of my commanders).  They advanced onto the board on a 6 foot frontage against a Parliamentarian army only slightly smaller and proceeded to fight in an unsightly scrap that didn’t go far and wasn’t in the slightest decisive after 3 hours.  David Astbury and Aidan split the defending Rebels 50/50.

The setting was that the Parliamentarian troops, commanded by Old Robin the Lord Essex, were trapped and awaiting naval ships to lift them out of Cornwall, but in the meantime they were to try and break out of the Royalist cordon.  The victory conditions were that the Rebels got 1 victory point for each unit that escaped, and the Royalists 1 victory point for each they wiped out, so the Roundheads sent forward their horse to try and get away, while their foot mostly stayed further back.  In the end it was a rather predictable 4-1 Royalist win, with only the invincible Polish Lancers(!) breaking through and fleeing.  My infantry suffered from bloody awful command rolls, and went up against rebel infantry in a ruined castle which weren’t going anywhere, while Red expended all of our powder reserves (limited powder in operation this time out) trying to shoot 3-4 roundhead horse regiments, and mostly failing.  The scenario needs a bit of work and a much bigger table for the actual thing I think.

Interestingly we turned up to discover another 28mm English Civil war battle about to start on a similar sized table, so we setup as close as possible in the hope of trading a few shots later across the void…..

David's Rebels defending fields, hedgerows, and sheep.

The main area of the battlefield, with the Royalists appearing en-masse on the far edge.

The Rebels second big charge as Red's Royalist infantry starts turning up.

My dragoons in the woods on the Royalist left flank.

The castle (to the right) defended so ably by David.

Unengaged Scotsmen.

My desperate attempts to reduce the castle - I even had a storming party complete with petard which failed in 6+ turns to move more than 18" of the 36" I needed.

Stradlings pike come close, but not close enough.

The final nail for the Roundheads escape hopes as Red brings on the reserve cavalry brigade.

Still time for the flamboyant lancers to scythe through some of my remaining horse and escape.