The Battle of Sourpuss Plain: ECW battle with Baroque

My Royalist left Brigade deploys under the command of Sir Percival Utterly-Barkinge

Over the weekend gaming club buddy Aled walked me through my first game using the Baroque tules set, released last year by the authors of Impetus.  It was a great opportunity to thrown down for some long overdue 6mm ECW action.

Royalist Horse deploys on the right flank near the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt

Overall, I found the mechanics easy to pick up (I had a good tutor!) but it took me awhile to get my head around the damage system.  Once I did, I realised how elegant they are - adding and subtracting combat dice is easy to do, but damage impact is non linear.  That is, it's how badly a unit fails a coherence test that matters - not the number of hits it takes.  But naturally, it's easier to fail badly when hit a number of times.  So like real life, some units kept taking punishment volley after volley, while others evaporated much more quickly.

Foote Brigades engaged on Sourpuss Plain

Royalist Foot anchor the line behind the stone walls of the cultivated fields and engage the Roundheads

I also found that the Cavalry engagements on the wings was fast, strong and decisive (possibly because I had all those lovely Cavalier gallopers).  The melee combat system is the same as firing, but charging home adds dice as an impetus bonus and catching an enemy on the flank is brutally effective.  On the other hand, the infantry brigades in the centre were slow and difficult to adjust once committed (as you would expect).

A palpable hit indeed! Take that Roundheads!

I also quite liked the Army morale system: once reduced to half strength a unit is exhausted and its VPs are removed from the Force Morale.  However, if it is eliminated then double its VPs are taken.  Thus, withdrawing spent units before they die (and having reserves available to take their place) is not only sensible but essential in keeping your Army together.  But being able to withdraw the unit is not a given either...

Cavalier gallopers sweep away the Parliament horse on the right flank and penetrate into the enemy rear 

I felt like I was a General commanding the battle, though not everything was going to go the way I had planned it and there were certainly points of friction occurring around me.  Overall, a really fun experience and I'm looking forward to my next game.

And here is the WI review of the rules:

https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/baroque-europe-at-war-1500-1700/

Humpty Dumpty

The rhyme was first printed in 1810 and became famous through Lewis Caroll's book, Alice Through the Looking Glass, where Humpty Dumpty is shown as a round egg. However, it is a very old rhyme and goes back much earlier than this. One theory is that 'Humpty Dumpty' goes back to the English Civil War and the 1648 Parliamentarian siege of Royalist held Colchester. 

The 15th century tower of the church known as 'St Mary's by the Wall' was part of the defences.  Reports indicate that on 15th June 1648 the church was strengthened against attack by putting a large cannon (named Humpty Dumpty) on the roof, manned by a master gunner known as 'One-Eyed Jack Thompson'. Fire from this commanding position apparently caused a lot of difficulty to Lord Fairfax's attacking force.  

The Church of St Mary's by the Wall in Colchester.  The repair work is clearly evident

The 15th century stone tower was incorporated into the 18th century brick rebuild

Thompson's success made many of the Roundheads fire onto the church roof and, sometime during the 14th or 15th of July, Thompson and his gun came tumbling down. The damaged cannon could not be raised again. This was one of a number of setbacks for the defender and, on 28 August 28th the Royalists lay down their weapons and opened the gates of Colchester to the Parliamentarians.

Parlimentarian Horse and Command bases

Look like I neglected to publish pics of these earlier this year when they were done by Alan.  Kindly permit me to correct that omission now:

Meanwhile, I am searching for something to use as a 6mm poodle so I can make my Prince Rupert stand with Boye at his side!



 

Victory Without Quarter: Rules Review

Yes its been a dearth of ECW goodness around here but I think we are getting back on track now.  This week Dux and I were treated to a fantastic game of 28mm ECW by Millsy and got to play with all his lovely models - lots of pics and Battle reports here, here and here.

The Royalist Centre - from the wonderful collection of Millsy (a staunch and worthy King's man)

The rules we used were Victory Without Quarter by Clarence Harrison of Quindia Studios
Available (legally) off the Internet for free here: Link
These are my thoughts, noting that this was the only time I have played them.

Bottom Line Up Front - these are a fun, easy to pickup set of rules which really captured the period flavour without an overloading stack of detail.

The key mechanism is randomised card driven system.  Each unit has a card randomly shuffled into the deck so you don't know what order they will come in.  Shuffled in are Artillery units (both sides fire together), Reload Cards (which allow Volley Fire) and a Turn End card which ensures that you never know if a unit will get to activate or not before the deck is reshuffled.  The end result is a tense randomisation that can be as frustrating as heck, but definitely gives you the feeling that you aren't fully in control (which of course was exactly the situation).

Units get 2 or 3 dice per element to fire, depending on what they are, with 5+ (on a d6) being the target roll.  If you get three hits you inflict a casualty and cause a morale check roll.  After 3 casualties the unit dissolves.  Melee uses a similar to hit roll but the unit which inflicts more casualties winds the combat and repels the enemy unit.

Available units are Foote, Commanded Shotte, Dragoons (which can dismount obviously), Horse (Gallopers, Trotters, Cuirassiers) and Artillery (which is immobile) - each unit is comprised of 3-4 elements.  Army and Brigade Commanders are modelled individually. Units are rated as Veteran, Trained and Raw, which gives them various modifiers in Combat and to their morale test.

Overall, the system works nicely without getting too bogged down in detail. You can feel the difference between the different units types but its not overpowering.  The real challenge is trying to run a battle with random unit activation and no guarantee of any specific unit getting a turn before the turn over card shows up.  It was really enjoyable and we were quickly fighting the battle, not messing about with the rules.

With a view to 6mm battles vice 28mm scared ones, we've been thinking about how that might work with 12+ Regiments per side and single base units. We think that Brigading the formations would be the obvious way forward.  Looking forward to giving that a try sooner rather than later!

We are hoping to try the same scenario with a few different sets of rules too, so we can compare them: these have been a good start, and also in the mix are Baccus' Polemos and the newly published Baroque Impetus.

Thanks for the great day out and taking us through the rules Millsy!

The Defence of St Harlot's Wood

...as it is known by Royalist forces, also referred to as the Second Battle for Curmudgeon Moor by the forces of Parliament.  Both refer equally to a cracking day out with Dux at Chateau Millsy yesterday.

Observant members of the blogosphere may have noted the other chaps' more timely battle reports here and here.  What follows here is the one true account as reported to His Majesty.

Two loyal Regiments of Foote deployed in the key approaches to Strumpet's Way, a pivotal strategic point and the key Parliamentarian objective.  The Royalist General and a rag-tag reserve of Clubmen deployed to give this key position depth.

The fearsome Royalist centre

Royalist Commander Sir Hugh Notatall-Surly, Earl of Crapstone
A little gouty on the day and not as effective as his Parliamentarian counterpart 

The left flank was securely anchored on the stone walled Church of Our Lady of Negotiable Virtue (a lovely scratch build by Millsy) with a unit of Commanded Shotte (newly painted by Millsy, surely they were doomed to die quickly and to a man) and a Veteran Unit of Dashing Cavalier Gallopers.

The right flank was anchored on the impenetrable forest of St Harlot's Wood where a massive Culverin demonstrated His Majesty's resolve and might

The Forces of Parliament advanced, determined to force their passage before nightfall and the inevitable Royalist reinforcements.

The real reason its called Curmudgeon Moor...

Early success as the culverin took the Enemy Trotters under intense bombardment and routed them from the field!

While on the left the Commanded Shotte came under pressure by enemy Foote and dismounted Dragoons.  The Cavalry Commander undertook a daring move to relieve the pressure but under intense fire the Squadron broke and fled.  Their Commander was cashiered personally by Prince Rupert after the battle and sent home in disgrace (This was indeed a bold but silly gamble which dramatically failed to pay off...)

Things were looking poorly on the right too, as enemy Dragoons outflanked the line and threatened to take out the artillery.  Some timely intervention by the Royalist Commander (a rare feature of this game, the servants must have been refreshing the claret at this point) manoeuvred the Clubmen reserve into position where they showed remarkable fortitude, no doubt assisted by many flagons of ale.  Their continued resilience in the face of enemy shotte would prove critical to the outcome of the day and preventing the right from crumbling.

 

Just as it looked like the position was stabilising, misery struck! The understrength and raw Foote in the centre crumbled, fleeing the field and leaving just one loyal Regiment to try and last until sunset.  Could they hold one under such odds?

Under fire from enemy foot, commanded shot and charged by enemy trotter, things were looking grim for His Majesty's forces.

And then divine intervention showed God's true will.  The Culverin belched forth doom and death upon another squadron of Trotters, dispatching them from the field.

As the enemy tried to turn the flank, the darkness enveloped the field and the din of battle died away.  His Majesty's forces had prevented the feared breakthrough but at a fearful cost.  It was indeed a close run thing.

It must be noted that the newly raised unit of Commanded Shotte who so gallantly defended the Church were able to retire in good order with no casualties and having successfully delayed an entire unit of enemy Foote plus a unit of dismounted Dragoons.  Could this be the start of a new era were newly painted regiments don't die to a man in their first ballet? We shall see!

Best on Ground - Tots all round lads!

What a great day out - thanks Millsy for the fantastic hospitality and the chance to play with such splendid hobby goodness.  It was also fun to ooh and aaah in your hobby room and 'cupboard of shame'!

Covenanter Horse

More goodness from the brushwork of Sir Dux, MP to add to his northern rebel force

ECW Relics at the Tower of London

Some eye candies we found while visiting the Royal Armouries exhibit at the White Tower recently:

Harquebusier's Breastplate, buff coat and equipment (but not the colt .45 next to it though!)

Helmet detail

The inlaid armour of King Charles I

Cuirassier armour

Period pikeman's uniform

Long barrelled cavalry pistols

Period Falcon cannon

A visit to the Houses of Parliament

...to find this chap looking down disapprovingly at me! I think he can sense my Royalist tendencies...

Covenanters!

Dux Homunculorum actual here!

It has been a long time since I've done anything on our ECW project, but with Paul heading back to the same hemisphere soon it's time to get cracking. To get some runs on the board I've been painting Covenanter infantry, and nice and simple they are after the army of Republican Romans in 28mm I've been painting over the past few months.

I've altered my painting style on these little chaps compared to my last lot of English troops. I've generally gone for lighter shades and haven't used any washes. What do you think?

Oh and Paul - don't call them rebels. They're the forces of the Scottish government, right?!

Cruel Necessity

I've been looking at this ECW boardgame from Victory Point Games for awhile now and finally ordered it this week.

In this solitaire game one plays the Parliamentarians and tries to balance a range of political, military and religious matters to try and wrest control of the country away from HM King Charles.  It clearly has quite an array of variables which impact those and failure in any one of them leads to defeat.  The 75 different event cards add a lot period flavour and deployability value too.

The tactical aspects are also of interest, but the game could clearly be used quite easily as a campaign system with the tactical battles resolved on the tabletop.  That might have a lot of promise actually, and one I'll put my mind to as I play the game and get a feel for it.

There are quite a few detailed reviews and playthroughs on YouTube.  I'll post my own thoughts here once I've given it a go.  The good news is that when you loose at this game, the Royalists triumph - yay!



http://www.victorypointgames.com/cruel-necessity.html

ECW Uniforms

I recently found another useful article at Warlords Games, which depicts some of the ECW displays at the Combined Military Services Museum - here

The museum’s English Civil War collection is one of the finest in the country, with armour, swords, polearms, muskets and clothing from the period on display.

http://www.cmsm.co.uk/collections.php

Alan and I clearly need to find an excuse to go on an ECW pilgrimage to the UK I think...