Battle of Denbigh wargame

Record of last Thursdays game.  To Ruthin at the top, Denbigh to the right and St Asaph is nearest exit at the bottom of the picture.  The walled enclosure nearest to the top is Whitchurch and the walled enclosure nearest to the junction for Denbigh is the Friary.

Battle of Denbigh Green 1645

The game for Thursday is the Battle of Denbigh Green, 1st November 1645. In the wake of Charles I defeat at Naseby and the loss of his cavalry at Rowton Moor, this is the last gasp attempt by the Royalists to gather a relief army for Chester and maintain the King's military struggle.  Can Sir William Vaughan, "the Devil of Shrawardine", defeat Parliament, recruit a final Royalist army in North Wales and land an Irish army in Chester?

A view from Denbigh Castle; the battlefield is away to the right beyond the trees at the bottom of the hill.

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. 

Battle of Worcester 1651

A few shots of the game on Saturday.  Phil took the Royalists whilst Russ commanded the forces of Parliament.

I've used the old pictures from the game I played last year against  Mark.

King Charles I is dead, executed by Parliament which is dominated by the army under Cromwell.  However, the country is ill at ease, and his son has returned to Edinburgh, accepted the covenant of the Scottish Kirk and been crowned King of Scotland.  With command of the army of the Solemn League and Covenant he heads south, hopeful of Royalist support in England and Wales, and with the intention of securing his father's crown and punishing the regicides.  However, Cromwell is determined that there will be no return of the king, shadows the Scots army and forces them to battle at Worcester.  The future of Britain is about to be determined.

Worcester at the top, with the Severn stretching southwards

Phil's outclassed and out numbered Scots held Worcester under King Charles, whilst a detachment under Montgomery held crossing points across the river Teme to the south of the city.  Cavalry under Leslie were kept in reserve to support either flank

Fleetwood manoeuvres towards the Teme whilst Cromwell advances in support from the right.

Russ' troops were divided between three contingents.  Lambert held a besieging force close to Worcester along the high ground astride the Stratford Road.  Fleetwood was positioned to the south of the Teme whilst Cromwell with the main Parliamentarian force was between both commands with a pontoon across the Severn ready to intervene against either Royalist flank.

The Scots fight hard to prevent the Parliamentarians from crossing the pontoons.

Phil, aware of his weaker position, had resolved on a bold plan.  He placed Montgomery in a forward position at the confluence of the Teme and Severn, hoping to encourage Cromwell's force to actively support an attack with Fleetwood.  Once Russ had committed Cromwell, Phil would then order Charles supported by Leslie to attack Lambert and win the battle outside the walls of Worcester.

Fort Royal protects the main gate to Worcester.  The Royalists attack Lambert with artillery support from this advanced stronghold.

Russ took the bait, but his organised and methodical attack annihilated Montgomery, despite a tenacious defence.  Cromwell's support enabled Fleetwood to cross the Teme and threaten the southern approaches to Worcester.

Meanwhile, Phil took the opportunity to march out of Worcester and smash Lambert.  This was exactly the approach Charles took in the real battle, but unfortunately for him Leslie refused to support the attack and as a result he wasn't able to exploit his initial successes before Cromwell dashed north to intervene.  Phil suffered no such misfortune and by the end of the day the road to Stratford was open. 

The result of our game was a draw.  Phil still had two roads open for his army to retire along and his main command was relatively intact.  Russ had destroyed the Scots along the Teme and was confident that another day of battle would lead to success. 

A great game intelligently and boldly played by both sides.

New Baccus ECW Pike & Shot 24 Hr Challenge

I picked up a few packets of the new Baccus ECW range at Phalanx on Saturday.

I wanted to see if I still had the horsepower to get a unit painted and based all in 24 hrs.

I used a quicker painting technique this time and avoided the use of any highlights

Everything was kept as simple as I could bare to resist!

Primed using vallejo black primer, then block painted the faces.

I sued grey instead of a metallic on the helmets just to see what it looked like.

Overall  - pleased with the result in the time it took. I finished them off with a coat of gloss and matt airbrush varnish. They are "wargame" standard and that's all that counts these days.