Photo by Jay Stribling
Jackson Gamers' English Civil War Campaign
Third game
The King's Debacle
This game was fought on May 15, 2004 with our ECW rules set and our "club" 15 armies. The "club" forces are owned by Jay Stribling, Jim Pitts, Robert Whitfield, Mark Stevens, Mike Lowry, and David Burton. We planned one more of these games, using only the survivors of this game. Therefore, it has ill-behoved a general to throw his army away, winning a game, but starting the next battle with only fragments of his troops.
This, the third battle, saw the players receiving some reinforcing units, freshly painted. But the Royalists started with a pronounced loss from game 2, including all their heavy artillery. They did have an advantage in dragoons which they used to garrison the two villages to try to bleed the Roundheads with fire.
Jay Stribling was the game-master, and is your humble narrator. He took the pictures and apologizes because a number of them are poorly focused. He blames his camera and those rough soldiers who interfered with his photography!
Only a few Photos so far
Photo by Jay Stribling
Routed forces - Roundheads I believe. I think these attacked the Royalist center and were roughly handled. I believe that they rallied before the game's end.
Photo by Jay Stribling
Parliamentary cavalry on the extreme Roundhead left flank. This force turned the Royalist right and smashed in the King's center.
Photo by Jay Stribling
The hamlet of Nutley Close. This was one of Parliament's objectives. They threw two regiments of foot against it in each of the game's three turns. Defended by 6 stands of musketeers, it never fell.
The foot regiments in front of the 'town' and to the left are the Parliamentary attackers, each regiment of 8 stands. The cavalry mass to the right is the continuing melee in the center. Both sides fed in reinforcements and some units fell back out of it, but it was ended only by the King's decision to end the battle.
Casualties so far
The casualties for both sides have been heavy, but especially so for the Royalists! I did not make a separate list of losses at first, but after the first three games combined, here are the starting strengths, the losses, and the Orders of Battle for each side.
ROYALIST ARMY | ||
| LEFT WING | CENTER | RIGHT WING |
| FOOT | ||
| First Tertia (Reinforced to) 32 Stands + Officer After 2 battles: Losses = 28 Stands Second Tertia |
Dragoons 32 Stands + Officer After 2 battles: Losses = 27 Stands Fusiliers & Foot |
First Tertia (reinforced to) 32 Stands + Officer After 3 battles: Losses = 20 Stands + Officer Second Tertia |
| HORSE | ||
|
First Tertia of Horse 15 Stands + Officer After 3 battles: Losses = 14 Stands + Officer Second Tertia of Horse Third Tertia of Horse Original Fourth Tertia of Horse Fourth Tertia of Horse | ||
Photo by Jay Stribling
Nutley Close as seen from the Royalist right rear. Some colored rings may be seen on some units. This is the system that the Jackson Gamers use to mark the morale rating of a unit after it first tests morale in the game.
Gold or Yellow indicate a unit with four morale points - The BEST!
Blue indicates a unit with three morale points - above average.
Green or White indicates a unit with two morale points - average.
Red indicates a unit with only one morale point - a disaster waiting to happen!
PARLIAMENTARY ARMY | ||
| LEFT WING | CENTER | RIGHT WING |
| FOOT | ||
| First Tertia 24 Stands + Officer After 2 battles: Losses = 14 Stands + Officer Second Tertia |
Dragoons 18 Stands + Officer After 2 battles: Losses = 14 Stands + officer Fusiliers & Foot |
First Tertia 32 Stands + Officer After 2 battles: Losses = 6 Stands Second Tertia |
| HORSE | ||
|
First Tertia of Horse (After reinforcements) 20 Stands + Officer After 3 battles: Losses = 8 Stands Second Tertia of Horse Third Tertia of Horse Fourth Tertia of Horse Fifth Tertia of Horse | ||
Photo by Jay Stribling
The troops on the left side of the image are Fred Diamonds Royalist defenders of the right flank. They attemptted an attack on the Parliamentary forces opposing them. Some of Fred's men were broken and the rest were sucked into a continuing melee that allowed the Royalist horse to move along the hill at the top of the image and turn the Royalist right flank.
While John Murdaugh held fast on the extreme left around 'Warbucks Stand" the Royalist right had fallen, and the center had no troops left to shield the army's vital points.
Victory Conditions
Each Player had three Vital Points on his side of the field to hold, and three Objectives on the enemy's side of the field to take.
Parliament
Parliament and the Scots won the last battle and captured all the Royalist artillery. The cavaliers have fallen back in disarray. You are advancing now and they have chosen a strong place to receive you. You have been reinforced and the Scots have sent another regiment of their little lancers (not really proper horse) to help you.
You will attack the Royalist army and smash it! Your objectives are to seize the enemy baggage train, take Nutley close, and Bletchly Park.
Your Vital points are your baggage train, your gun line, and the bridge over Standish creek. Long live Parliament - down with the King!
Victory Conditions - The King's Men
You have chosen a strong location and have established "forlorn hopes", lined with dragoon musketeers at Nutley Close and Warbucks' Stand. These should savage any Roundhead attempt to take them, or pass by them. The queen has sold her jewels to the Dutch pawnbrokers at Usurious rates to raise new troops, including a new tertia (brigade) of horse.
There are, however, reports that the Roundheads have been reinforced also. They had had a decided advantage in numbers after the last battle, but your reinforcements should have cut that down.
Stand on the defensive and gut the Parliamentary forces like an exhausted fish. Your objectives are the enemy baggage train, the enemy's artillery, and to destroy (reduce to less than 25% or rout from table) FIVE Roundhead units, horse or foot.
Your Vital points are your baggage train, Bletchly Park and the road to the rear. God Bless the King! Parliament will hang!
Victory Conditions - The Scots
You have been sent to this land because the Parliament needs help, and they promise to embrace the true church (The Kirk of Scotland) after the war is won. These English have shown themselves to be liars and heretics! They will not keep their word.
You have your orders from Scotland to cooperate in the war. BUT - Do not let the English fight till the last Scotsman is dead. Avoid excessive losses that cannot be made up from home. With your help the Roundheads will have an advantage in numbers in this battle but you must not lose over 25% of your strength. You have been reinforced with a new regiment of lancers - a weapon that the English do not understand!
Your objectives are the enemy baggage train, their artillery (if any) and the estate of Warbucks' Stand. Your Vital points are the combined baggage train, the detached house of Bywater (your headquarters) and the road to the rear.
If you retreat, you must go down the same road as the Parliamentarians, so stay on good terms with them. God Bless the Kirk! A Pox on both these English houses!
Photo by Jay Stribling
A Royalist regiment on the march. Each of the "Foot" regiments consisted of 4 stands of 'pike' and 4 stands of 'shot', four figures per stand. So a full strength regiment was 32 men. "Horse" regiments consisted of five stands of 3 figures each, for a total of 15 men. A few horse regiments had 6 stands.
"Dragoon" regiments had 18 men mounted (6 stands of three each) and 16 men dismounted (4 stands of four each). The difference in men were considered to be holding the horses of the dismounted ones. "Firelock" regiments, of 'shot' only had s stands, each of four men.
So - Who won the battle anyway?
Parliament won the battle and probably the campaign. Their cavalry got into the King's rear areas. Though he was able to move his remaining cavalry to tie them up, he was left with no reserve. His remaining cavalry was tied up in the big contunuing melee in the center of the table, near Nutley Close. When the Royalist right collapsed on turn three, there was nothing to replace it. The Royalist Baggage train was safe and so was the road to the rear, but the issue was no longer in doubt.
The King (Robert Whitfield) decided that the game was over, and probably the campaign. He was overheard saying that he would treat with Parliament for a suspension of hostillities, which would probably mean his giving himself as a hostage to the Roundhead forces.
Who knows, perhaps he will even keep his head this time!
What about the last game, Fourth in the series?
Since the campaign in it's present form probably stopped after this battle, with the King's acknowledgement of defeat, the last game will be somewhat different. The new premise will be that the Scots are allied to the rump of the Royalist forces, while the Parliamentary army (with the blessing of the King) strives to eject the Scots from Northern England.
The FIRST battle in this series.
The SECOND battle in this series.
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