Battle Of Edge Hill

On the 23rd October 1642 the first battle of the English Civil war took place between the two villages of Kineton and Radway in south Warwickshire in open fields.

Ian and I played it at his house today on a 6ft a x 4ft table

It has been some time since we fought an ECW battled and I thought it would be a good idea to play this one again as I remember it being a very good game last time in 2011.

I had played the Parliamentarian forces last time so elected to take the Royalist side.

Ian had set both armies up historically so I was pretty much happy to go with the flow and not mess around with the initial deployments.

Pre battle photos.... 

Ian deploys his dragoons in the fields  - a standard cunning trick from the master

Photo from above.... Prince Ruperts cavalry are setup on the right flank with the centre command of Royalist infantry poised to advance in the middle ground

Windy miller has just popped to the shops...

Royalist pike & shot units awaiting their orders....

Turn 1 and we are away. I felt that the setup meant no fancy stuff so my initial orders were all attack. Rupert on the right was ordered to charge the parliamentarian cavalry over on the other side of the table. My superior numbers and troops meant I was odds on before any dice were thrown.

Centre command slowly advances at 4" per turn

After turn 1 - Ian holds the position. My entire army has advanced

Rupert's cavalry were all class 5 elite so moved at max speed 10". On turn two I had managed to charge into the parliamentarian cavalry with devastating effect. Ian rolled very well on his shooting phase prior to the initial charge and inflicted 3 casualties across my line but after passing every morale test I was not stopping here!

The next turn saw me plough into the cavalry and Ian's second volley was almost negated by the charge modifier by gallopers so did not cause any casualties on my units.

I rolled on the 100 table inflicting 7 casualties. Needless to say Ian's line disintegrated and holes appeared.

Over in the centre my infantry cross the open fields of Warwickshire... uncomfortably close those guns.

Over on the left flank where technically I had a clear advantage things did not go to plan.

I only managed to charge in 50% of the units as Ian had protected his flanks using his infantry

Shaken...not stirred was the result

3 turns in and the battlefield is developing

After smashing my way through Ian's left cavalry command my biggest problem now was trying to control class 5 elite cavalry who simply just went off and did their own thing. After I hit and caused retire results I had to pursue and then went shaken as there were no new targets to contact.

Ruperts command..... all over the place but historically correct as they went off looting during the actual battle. By problem here was that I could simply not re organise an attack because the baggage was luring my units in

Tunr 5 and I am getting closer to reaching the infantry in the centre... The guns are now in effect and have already started to soften me up

Over on the left Ian changes an order and sends in some infantry to help finish off my weak attack

Charged by pikes!

Not ideal for me. Ian maximises his forces to ensure the best possible outcome but the result is mixed and I manged to hold on.

Over in the centre I was starting to feel the pressure as I quickly realised my infantry were not going to break through without some cavalry support to hit Ian's flanks. Two of my units were shaken from cannon fire so could not advance!

End of turn 5 close but not close enough...

Ruperts forces in chaos but there is nothing left of the Parliament horses over here.

Ian charged my commander and killed him to the man so I has no command points to issue on the left.

In the centre I managed to get one unit in but it got thumped. The majority of my other units was shaken again.

On turn 7 Rupert manages to re organise his cavalry. It was too little too late though

I was lucky enough to roll a 6 on the left and re order my newly appointed general to attack Ian's infantry in the flank in a last gasp attempt to break his army and send it on hold.

In they go.. come on lads don't let me down

in the centre it's getting desperate for the Royalists now.

Rupert is on his way over to rescue the left flank but he missed the bus by a mile

Last turn and after charging in on the left Ian needed to make a morale roll.

For some very strange reason neither of us has rolled a single "20" all day which I think must be a first for POW and that devil dice of Ian's, however after tempting fate Ian delivered the 20 I was looking for but it made no difference as he had won the melee so was just shaken

Much blood had been split on both sides but the Royalist attack faltered and my centre was close to collapse.

Final turn..... Ian had held on to claim a solid win for parliament but we both agreed that earlier on when Rupert's attack smashed through on the right things looked decidedly dodgy but the cavalry on the left which was meant to win was ineffective so my infantry were left to try and punch through in the centre on their own. I think even I thought this was a little optimistic in the end.

King Charles enjoys a well earned rest after a brutal defeat....

Kineton Church....

Royalist Pike & Shot.... Ready for battle

Well played to Ian and an enjoyable day. Even though we had not played the rules for some time we were pretty quick to pick things up as we left them last time. POW Renaissance are a solid set of rules which have stood the test of time.

The result felt historically "right" and I think the rules are clever enough to simulate the period nicely.

Would like to play out the other battles of the war too at some point.