The Battle of Cheriton

 15mm The Battle of Cheriton

For our final game of ECW for the time being I based a scenario on the battle of Cheriton. Interestingly you get quite a few differing opinions depending upon which books you read or historians that you listen to. It was going to be a difficult game for the Royalists as they were outnumbered by the Parliamentarian troops but their cavalry were much superior in fighting. For our game I set up gentle hills sloping towards the table centre with the Royalists deployed to the north with their guns on top of the most prominent hill by the side of Cherition Wood. The Roundheads were deployed opposite with their big guns more central. WE also used some 'chance' cards that I had created for the game. Ian and Charlie playing the Royalists delighted in making my cavalry commander a drunk thus reducing his command ability by 1. This did affect how effective he was but then Nigel and I were able to respond with recruiting an extra unit of foote. 

I had placed name cards on the table to aid deployment from the pre prepared army lists. The roundheads are to the right, Royalist to the left. The eastern edge of the town of Cheriton is visible in the bottom right. The far hills represent the rising ground to either side and the far end. 

Turn 1 and the Roundheads did a cautious move forward. 

The Royalists took up a defensive stance. 

Protected by the river the Roundhead dragoons went off on a flanker, moving 3x in their first move, 2 in the second, one in their third then never moved again!

The Royalists still not moving. 

The view from behind Nigel's Parliamentarian infantry. 

A view across the main Roundheads centre. Note the second piece of artillery with the token on it. A 'chance' card had blown that up. 

A good tactic is to fire at Royalist cavalry units in a sort of column and try and disorder the front one, really messing with their advance (once they had decided to come forward).  

From this point onwards I forgot to take more photo's as the action got so engrossing. Over in the woods the units deployed there seemed to hold each other at bay. On both flanks their was a mighty cavalry clash with the more numerous Roundhead cavalry eventually breaking their Royalist opposition. In the centre both sides advanced into musketry range but the Roundhead cannon tipped the balance in favour of the Roundheads as one of the Royalist battalions was alo broken resulting in quite a convincing victory for the Parliamentarians. 

First try at Dragon Rampant v2 using Old School figures.

 Ian and I met for our first game of the 2nd version of Dragon Rampant. We were using my old school dwarf and goblin armies where the vast bulk of the figures were produced pre the year 2,000. We opted to use the Ringbearer scenario and a quick dice throw decided that Ian was the goblins and myself the dwarves. Ian and the goblins were the ring-bearers and my dwarves had to find which enemy unit was transporting the ring about and try to steal it from them.  

A hint as to how this battle may go came when we threw randomly for Leader Traits. Ian got a trait that was of no use in the game but my Dwarf Leader was deemed a 'Weakling'!

Deployment, dwarves to the left, goblins to the right. 

Hinchliffe goblin riders advance. I had my suspicions that this fast moving unit was transporting the ring. (How wrong was I!). 

The dwarf king and his bodyguard were hauling a barrel of beer around with them. 

Dwarf Crossbow troops, figures from Conquest Miniatures. 

Goblin wolf allies try to outflank the dwarves. (The smaller wolves are from Ghost miniatures, the larger wolf is a Reaper Bones model so not that old). 

The wild wolves still getting round the dwarven flank. 

Goblin Warchief takes shelter in the temple. (Nick Lund Chronicle Miniatures). 

Dwarf Crossbow troops score the first kills, taking out 3 goblin warriors. 

The two sides move ever closer. 

The wolf pack came running over the rocks and charged the dwarf crossbow. 

The dwarf crossbow suffer several casualties and are forced back, the two '6's were Ian's Courage test for the wolves, (high is good). 

The wolf pack leader gloats over the fallen dwarves. 

The goblin warlord charges into the dwarf leader and his unit. 

Although both units were injured look at the dwarf throw for Courage; off they ran!

The Goblin leader looks happily at the dwarven beer barrel the dwarf leader left behind.

Elsewhere, the dwarves were whittled down to just one unit left and slowly the goblin force began to surround them as they prepared for a last stand on the hill. 

Trying to get out of this tricky situation, the brave dwarves charged down the hill towards some goblins but they were caught by a couple of enemy units who first Battered them then broke them. Game over and a solid win for the goblins. 

Savouring his victory Ian enjoyed telling me it was the wolf pack that was bearing the ring, Early on I had reduced them to just one model so came very close to snatching the ring. 

This was a really fun game. The second edition of the game still plays like the game we all enjoy just with more depth. I avoided using Spellcasters for this first game but we will use them next time, Happily Ian was off home to look at his Orc army and how he could rebase it for Dragon Rampant so maybe I won after all?

15mm The Battle of Stow on the Wold, 1646: Epic Pike and Shotte rules.

 The Battle of Stow on the Wold, 1646

Today's wargame was a refight of the ECW battle of Stow on the Wold using our 15mm figures and Warlord Games Epic Pike and Shotte rules.  Sadly Nigel is full of a cold so did not join us leaving Ian in control of the Royalists and Charlie and myself commanding the Roundheads.  

At the battle of Stow on the Wold, the Royalists had taken up a defensive position on a ridge outside Stow on the Wold where they remained overnight. Even before first light the Parliamentarian troops attacked and the even nastier surprise was that a division of infantry had managed to get round behind the Royalists. To mimic this surprise, I had Ian deploy his troops along the ridge facing Stow then moved the ridge forward to allow room for the Roundhead foot under Morgan to be deployed behind them. 

This photo shows deployment with the Royalists trapped in the centre of the table. 

The Parliamentarians had slightly more troops and were mostly better quality. In fact Astley, the Royalist general described his troops as...'A drunken and dissolute band of robbers.'

However, I had created some random 'chance' cards which we used for the first time today and Ian got the card that granted him an extra unit of Pike and Shotte that almost equaled the number of units on each side. The Roundheads pulled a card that hindered the shooting power of one Royalist unit. 

Charlie sent Bereton's cavalry division straight towards his opposing cavalry division. It took several turns but Charlie did destroy the Parliamentarian horse on that flank. 

On the other flank there was another face off between two opposing cavalry divisions and again the Roundheads eventually won meaning the central infantry division of the Royalists was left isolated. 

More cavalry action.

The Royalist gun in the centre firing at the Parliamentarian foot. 

The infantry stand-off in the centre. The Parliamentarians suffered badly at first from the Royalist shooting but then started to get the upper hand. With one of the the Royalist horse divisions defeated and the other one close to breaking Ian forfeited the game once his foote units started to suffer badly but it had been a hard fought win for the Roundheads. 

Birch.s Parliamentarian cavalry regroup upon hearing of the victory. 

The gap in the centre of the Royalist  infantry line is where a destroyed unit of Pike and Shotte once lined up. 

Another fun and close game. 

The Battle of Alton, 1643. 15mm ECW

 The Battle of Alton, 1643. 

We returned to playing ECW this week with our 15mm figures and Warlord Games epic ECW Pike and Shotte rules. These rules give a quick moving game (or they would if we knew them well enough). For a scenario I chose one of the ECW's smaller battles; the Battle of Alton fought in 1643 somewhere below Winchester. I added in a unit of clubmen as I had just painted some up and a unit of dragoons per side because we all like using dragoons and to make the number of units more easily divided between 4 players. Nigel and I are collecting Parliamentarian armies and Ian is a Royalist with Charlie as his sidekick. 

The Royalist on the defence on the left, the attacking Parliamentarians on the right. 

Note the Royalist horse, commanded by our Lord Crawford... Ian, top left being held back. In the actual battle they fled at first sight of the Roundhead troops so I said if they ever scored a blunder for their orders they would flee instantly. Would this happen during the game? 

Charlie in his role as Col Bolles deployed just outside Alton, ready to fall back to the defensive barricades on the other side of the stream. 

The Parliamentarians on a steady advance (another way of saying that our Command roles were not very good). 

At the top of the photo Nigel squares his infantry up against Charlies. 

Most of these units were of questionable quality. 

My Roundhead cavalry advance along the hedge only to become totally stalled by the hedge, especially when Charlie moved his dragoons up the road to harass them. 

The fight in the centre. Nigels Roundheads were doing very well until we stopped for tea and cake. After that Charlie took the offensive and eventually Nigel's division was broken. 

My cavalry looking good until they got bogged down by the hedge. 

My dragoons trying to get around the Royalists small field piece. 

Then, with my cavalry division in tatters and Nigel's infantry broken a comfortable Royalist victory was declared. This game was great fun but we need to read up on the rules a bit more before we play again next week. 

  

The Battle of Lettonsfield. 1068.

The Battle of Lettonsfield. 1068.

Today, Ian, Charlie and I met for a 28mm game of Hail Caesar. Ian and Charlie commanded the Saxons whilst I took control of the Normans. Playing on a 6' x 4' table we limited the sides to 340 points in the hope that the armies would fit on the table with a bit of room left for manoeuvre.

The theme of the game was all about one of the many ‘unrecorded’ (made up) clashes between the Saxon and Normans during the unrest up north after the events of 1066, played a a simple encounter battle.  

Bernart, Count of Mortagne leading his knights into battle. He was going to be a busy chap. 

Norman knights about to charge. 

Charlie's Saxon skirmishers pester the local priest. 

These guys were a real pain throughout the battle. 

Here come the knights.

The knights won the melee (just), pushing the saxon line back but opted not to follow up due to all the other enemy units ready to pounce on their flank. 

Bernart led the charge and was wounded in the melee. 

Both sides regroup. 

Elsewhere Ian's Saxon Ceorls thrashed my Norman Heavy Infantry due to my awful dice throwing. 

A very busy, complex melee which the Saxon huscarls won despite being surrounded. 

 That's how bad my dice throwing was!

Next turn my knights tried to charge in again, failed the order but the one unit of 'Fierce Fighted Knights had to go in unsupported. The melee carried on into a second round with my knights being destroyed and the rest of my army looking a bit battered to say the least. Bertrand was also wounded again so I conceded the game at this point. 

Questions from this game? 

Is there any further penalty for a leader figure that is wounded twice? 

If the one unit with Fierce Charge has other knight units supporting it, can the support units move with the Fierce unit if the actual order is failed (but the Fierce unit still has to charge one move)? 

Hail Caesar gave us another close and enjoyable game and happily 340 point armies fitted on the table just nicely. 

More Pillaging, Vikings v Saxons.

 It was time today for a second game of 'Pillage' a fast moving skirmish game. Ian brought along his Saxon force led by the brave and redoubtable Waermund. Nigel and I were acting as Vikings led by the fierce yet Christian warrior Amund. The table was set up ready for the scenario where one side had to lead 3 priests to safety by getting them across the board to safety. I added a small farm to the terrain to tempt players into a bit of pillaging. 

Overhead view of the board, Saxons at the top Vikings at the bottom. 

Peace and quiet at the little farm. 

Nigel took control of a viking berserker and a few other troops. In the background the hazy figures are all Saxons.

The view from the Saxon (Ian) side of the table. 

On my side of the table tactics were fairly basic. After exchanging a couple of rounds of archery Ian and I crashed into each other in a fast and fierce melee.

In this photo Amund was bravely taking on Waermund despite being outnumbered by the sneaky saxon on his flank. 

Elsewhere, Nigels men charged into Ian's other troops and soon got the upperhand. 

Amund sent the priests to hide in the woods whilst he battled it out with the Saxon foe. Trying to achieve the game objective was largely forgotten whilst the troops battled. 

Waermund's last stand. Now on his own Waermund battled until the end. 

A good victory for the Vikings who one assumes now led the priests safely across the board as there were no Saxons left to pester them. 

Great fun.