Battle of Adwalton Moor

John came over today for an ECW game using my 25mm Hinchliffe collection and my rules which are a mash-up of: Command and Colours (C&C) for the combat dice which also covers morale; Victory Without Quarter (VWQ) for the card-based activation; and, Brevis Tercios for the movement.  And, as it makes a nice headline photo, here's a rather nice photo of my siege gun that John sent me after the game.

Gog or Magog?

Looking for something a little different I opted for the Battle of Adwalton Moor, 1643.  This pitched a smaller, but better armed (mostly musket) force under Lord Fairfax in a good defensive position against a larger Royalist force under the Earl of Newcastle.  Newcastle had fewer foot (but more pike) but twice as many cavalry.  Accepting the Wikipedia estimates (there are others available), the two sides consisted of:

I had enough figures to fight this at a scale of one figure to 25 men.  For terrain I based my table on the map below taken from the British Battles website (www.britishbattles.com) clipped and with a 10x5 grid superimposed to show how I mapped the battlefield onto my 10'x5' table.

The following photos show the terrain set-up with the armies in their starting positions.  First, Newcastle's view of the Parliamentarian defensive position behind the hedges of the enclosed fields and the disused open coal mining pits...

...and then, Fairfax's view of the oncoming Royalist juggernaut.

The low sun coming through the windows didn't make for very good photos so, here's a few closer ones of the troops all ready for the off.

One troop type I was short of was Clubmen, a single element having to represent the fairly large crowd that accompanied Fairfax.

However, as these had little impact on the real battle, and in my rules are pretty ineffective, we decided that it wasn't going to significantly affect the game.

The first few turns went pretty quick; the Parliamentarians simply moving up to line the hedges...

...while their dragoons quickly abandoned their exposed position to nip behind another convenient hedgerow - soon to become notorious as the 'bloody hedge'.

Their opposing numbers, who had intended to take this key piece of cover, rapidly advanced to contest possession.   

In the ensuing scuffle, the Royalist dragoons came a poor second and fled.  But, before the victorious Parliament dragoons could recover, a regiment of horse came crashing over the hedge, broke them and cut them down in pursuit.

However, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and the pursuing Royalist horse were hit by a fresh regiment of enemy horse who promptly drove them back the way they had come.  The following photo shows the position at the end of the turn, with the fleeing Royalist horse about to recross the contested hedge and the Royalist dragoons (white guidon) who started it all still in retreat - but they'll be back.     

Also, visible in the above, is the main body of the Parliamentarian foot unleashing a few volleys against the Royalist horse approaching the hedges.  The dice determined this shooting to be ineffective, but it was still a bit scary up close.

In the next turn the card-driven randomised move sequence handed the victorious Parliamentarian cavalry a chance to charge before their fleeing opponents could act, and so caught them in the rear and up against the 'bloody hedge' and wiped them out.

Further along the line the Royalist horse attempted to force their way into the hedged enclosures.  With the first few attempts being rebuffed.

But in the next turn, with the defending musketeers caught unloaded after repelling one attack, and courtesy of the fickle card-driven activation sequence, a subsequent charge managed to break in.  Not only did they manage to fight their way in but some spectacular combat dice saw them destroy the musketeers, but left them badly disordered (as shown by the small pile of green markers behind them).

While all this has been taking place all attempts by the Royalist artillery, including the mighty demi-cannon (32-pounders!) Gog and Magog, to soften up the Parliamentarians had been frustrated with their fire being repeatedly blocked by their own troops (as turned out to be the case throughout the game).

In the next turn, the fighting around the 'bloody hedge' continued with Crisp's Royalist troop ignoring the odds and plunging into the Fiennes' regiment of horse.  Things looked promising until their opponents threw four 'Flags' in the combat!

One in a Thousand!  (actually 1:1,296)

This saw them retreat all the way back to Adwalton; the next photo showing them disappearing into the distance along the old Roman road.  It was only because we were playing lengthways on the table that their 61" retreat didn't see them gone for good. 

But, once again, the more numerous Royalist horse had another unit ready to step in, and Loughborough's horse promptly threw back Fiennes' who sought shelter behind a friendly unit of foot.

But this time the Royalist pursuit was unable to remain in contact and, surprisingly for once, didn't pursue any further. 

Whether it was this that spooked the horse of Parliament's Sergeant Major General of Foot's horse is not known.  But (in a random event) he was thrown and consequently unable to exert any influence on the battle for a turn. 

Apart from the return of the rallied Royalist dragoons to the 'bloody hedge'...

...a lull settled over the rest of the battle where the exhausted troops stared each out as they sought to recover their breath (and order) ready for another effort.  The exception being another commanded shot unit, no longer benefiting from standing behind a hedge, being destroyed by the Royalist horse that had previously broken in (the enclosure now belonging solely to the Royalist horse).

Some early end-of-turn cards from the sequence deck saw little happen in the following turn.  But, the very next turn saw the 'bloody hedge' live up to its soubriquet with the Parliament horse charging and destroying the dragoons lining it.  It was all over so quick there was no time for a photo...    :o(

The value of reserves was again proven as Parliament's victorious cavalry were caught while pursuing and thrown back over the 'bloody hedge' by Caernarvon's horse, while yet more cavalry on both sides advanced alongside them.

Over in the enclosures, the Royalist horse started to press on into the next fields.

The following turn was dominated by Meldrum, who, in a random event, decided to launch all his available troops in an all-out counter-attack against the Royalists.

This saw his foot foolishly attempt to charge the Royalist horse, who promptly counter-charged and caught them while moving, throwing the foot into disorder.  Despite this and taking some heavy losses in the fight they threw back Loughborough's horse who can be seen in full retreat at the bottom of the next photo.

The cards then ended the turn before much else could happen, other than another random event saw Meldrum (again!) inspiring his troops to recover their order following his wild counter-attack.

In the next turn, the Earl of Caernarvon, now reduced to a single effective unit, his own regiment of horse, decided it was time to intervene in person.  So, eschewing any attempt to rally his blown regiments he attached himself to his regiment and charged.  This proved an inspired decision[1], as he destroyed the enemy horse to his front and the resulting pursuit saw him almost capture Fairfax, who fled the field to save his skin.  His pursuit also took him on to one of the Parliamentarian cannon whose crew decided, that rather than die for Parliament, they would fight for the King, and promptly changed sides.

What was happening elsewhere you ask?  Well, Newcastle had finally prompted Crisp's troop to start the long trek back from Adwalton to rejoin the fight.

And the fight for the enclosures had bogged down into an inconclusive slugging match, but the Royalist infantry had at last come up in support of their cavalry to break the deadlock.

The next turn was again a short one with little taking place beyond the massed Royalist pikes finally getting close enough to pressure Parliament's left flank.

And so, to the end-game as the sun sank slowly in the West (our time limit being reached with John having to leave).  The battle petered out with the turncoat artillery failing to inflict any harm on their erstwhile comrades - some say they weren't really trying.

And on this sorry note, with no decisive combat elsewhere, the battle drew to a close.  

But who had won?  The Royalist horse had successfully broken into the enclosures and were now being backed up by their foot...

...while at the other end of the field Caernarvon's horse were loose in Parliament's rear and the Royalist massed pike were about to make their presence felt.

This and a score of 9-5 (losses inflicted) in the Royalists favour, while not a clear victory, looks a lot like a winning draw to me, but then I would say that wouldn't I as I was the Royalist commander.  No doubt John will point to that fact that he did better than his historical counterparts and claim that as a win.

Perhaps we'll have to fight it out again?

Notes:

[1]. The inspiration was actually John's, as he suggested that was what Caernarvon ought to do - I decided to follow his advice, no doubt John wishes I hadn't!

Belgian Chocolates & Ludus Gladiatorius

I do like Belgian chocolates, but some years ago when offered some, I was taken with the box as much as the contents.

The contents were scoffed pretty quick and I claimed the box and have been holding on to it ever since to be refashioned into an arena for my 15mm gladiators.  However, like so many planned projects, nothing happened for years but recently when clearing out a cupboard I came across it again and decided it was time to do something about it.

So, here it is.

The images, including the Ludus Gladiatorius board were all found on the net and printed out on A4 label paper, cut out and stuck onto the box.  The playing area has a layer of ferro-sheet underneath and all the figures (and pillars) are based on magnetic tiles.  There are a couple of layers of foamboard in the box lid such that the inner sits up higher to create that nice amphitheatre look.

The figures, IIRC, are 15mm Chariot Miniatures that have been painted and waiting years for somewhere to play.

I am making record sheets for players and cards for use as a QPS, the latter can also be used for dealing out gladiator characters.  The card designs, see examples below, will be printed out on label sheets cut out and stuck on playing cards.

Well?

Old-School 25mm Ancients - WiP

The next batch of 25mm Ancients in my topping off process is complete, and are presented here for the record.

These hoplites were all based, repaired and touched up, including a flesh-wash.  These give me enough, when deployed in two ranks, to occupy three 6" squares, and thus give me three more units.  The lefthand 'green unit' were, like the bowmen in the previous post, inherited from a friend but were one figure short of four bases worth.  I only had to paint one extra to match in, the newbie is in the rear rank of the photo below.

Of the other 32 Hoplites, the rank and file, were recently bought ready-painted from eBay during this 'topping-off' process as I thought their painting style was a good match for the 'green unit.  I must stop calling them the 'green unit' as they were clearly intended to be Thebans with their shield emblazoned with the club of Herakles.

What the dolphin on the shields of the hoplites bought on eBay implies is unknown (to me anyway).  This eBay lot had enough hoplites for two units when I added some my friend's command figures - they were in his phalanx units but I don't like the array of pikes broken up by command figures so had been sitting around unused for some time.  The painting styles were a good match and, apart from re-touching, I only added black lining and dolphins to the command figures for them to blend in rather well.

So next, are one base worth's of figures each for Persian armoured cavalry, Companion cavalry (with shields) and Arab camelry ... but I have been distracted down a rabbit-hole so these might not be done as soon as I'd like - see the next post to find out more on this.

Topping Up Old Ancients - WiP

Been a bit unwell lately, nothing serious, so progress has been slow.  Nonetheless, there has been some progress on rounding off my old (1970s), 25mm ancient army - the oldest wargame figures I have retained from my earlier years.  This is an overwhelmingly Hinchliffe collection that started off as Alexandrian but very quickly got bent to a Seleucid force.  After all, who can resist war elephants, scythed chariots and camels!  

The first in the batch were some Syrian / Babylonian bowmen.

These were already painted and based as inherited from an old friend.  Back in the day they were useful for rounding out WRG armies as they were Irregular D and only cost a point each.  All I had to do with these, was add ferro sheet under the bases so they would be secure in my magnetised transit boxes and then texture and paint the bases to match the rest of my collection.  I've kept the figures gloss in memory of my friend whose army was a nice shiny one, but I did just do a quick brown wash on their faces.

While the bowmen above were done to complete the refurbishment of my friend's figures the rest of the batch was all about rounding out existing units to better match the rules I use.  My figures have been used with WRG (5th Ed. IIRC) through to DBM while also stepping outside the 'WRG' world with sets ranging from Ian Beck's 'Shock of Impact' to Simon Miller's 'To the Strongest'.  While I like the simplicity of the DBx rules I have always found the movement frustratingly pernickety.  In contrast I like the grid movement in 'TtS' but find the combat fairly bland.  Clearly, it's possible to have the best of both worlds - DBx on a grid and now I have some nice battle mats with 6" crosshairs on which to do my gridded games.

Using a 6" gird means having even numbers of bases in a unit it requires two DBx bases (6cm wide) to fill the square.  Needless to say, I have odd numbers of many troop types in my armies!  Hence the desire to knock up an extra base for some of these BUT ... being a bit OCD, the issue is making sure the additional elements match my painting from many decades ago.  

First, some Thracian cavalry, both new and old (three of each) - hopefully it's not too easy to spot the differences.

The leading base of figures are easily identified as new as I couldn't resist a quick head-swap and added shield to create a 'leader' for the group.  The reason there are not one, but three, new bases of Thracian cavalry is simply because I had eight of these already cleaned and primed in my spares box.  They were also already attached to their horses, so I painted them while mounted, not something I usually do and will try to avoid in future.

Next, a base of Numidian cavalry, with an old one for comparison - again a pretty good match (IMO).

Others in this current batch are an element each of some Cappadocian extra-heavy cavalry, Companion cavalry with shields, Arab camelry and the retouching and rebasing of 48 Successor phalangites and 36 Hoplites.  I shall be busy for a little while yet - the scale of the challenge can be seen by all the bases awaiting their figures in this photo.

Atlantic Breakout ... a Fletcher-Pratt Wargame

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017.]

Fighting the naval battles of World War 2 has a certain nostalgia as one of my first wargames, using rules rather than marbles, was the Battle of the Java Sea.  I fought this out many times on my bedroom floor about half a century ago using ship-shaped pieces of balsa wood painted grey for the fleets and rules by Arthur Taylor.  

The rules used some simple calculations to determine the number of hits and playing cards to determine the effect.  As far as I can recall at this distance in time, the games were dominated by the Japanese Long Lance torpedo for which I tweaked the rules as all torpedoes were treated equally.  Clearly, I’ve always felt the need to tinker with other people’s rules to match my perception of how a battle should play out.

The inspiration for the choice of battle, and the efficacy of Japanese torpedoes, was my cherished copy of the Pan paperback on the battle.

However, since those days I’ve tended to wargame earlier periods with shorter range weapons to avoid using either, vanishingly small ship models or, massively out of scale gunnery ranges.  Nowadays, I have lots more books to inspire my rule-tinkering, and among them was one that rekindled those distant memories of naval actions fought out on my hands and knees.  The book in question is the John Curry re-print of the Fletcher-Pratt naval wargame rules.  A fun read was all I thought it would ever be as I lacked the requisite ‘ballroom’ to recreate the original style of play.  

About nine years ago this all changed when, seeking to play more games, I joined a local modelling club that also included a couple of keen wargamers.  One club night, when getting a cuppa from the kitchen behind the local Baptist church where we met, I realised that at the end of the corridor was a church hall!  A quick enquiry confirmed we were allowed to use it.  So, seizing the moment I bought several 1:1200 warship kits from eBay and set about painting up sufficient for the Battle of Denmark Strait.  The choice of scale was influenced by the size of the hall and cost; the choice of engagement by kit availability in 1:1200 and the number of ships required, i.e. only four: Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Hood and Prince of Wales (you'll see Norfolk and Suffolk have also sneaked in as I enjoyed making the kits so much I couldn't resistthem).  

With only a few hours available during an evening club session I decided I would streamline the rules and act umpire; umpires are an integral part of the original Fletcher-Pratt games.  I chose to ignore secondary armament as largely irrelevant during this action and only allowed the Prinz Eugen to use torpedoes as capital ship torpedo action was such a rarity, although ironically Bismarck is the only battleship hit by a torpedo from another battleship (HMS Rodney).  To speed the game, I prepared quick-play and record sheets, including a look-up chart of damage inflicted by up to four hits, penetrating and non-penetrating, to save on the mental maths required.

To suit the floor-space available, a scale of 1 inch equals 120 yard was selected and all movement, ranges, etc. on the QPS were converted into inches.  This scale means that shooting ranges are only 3.6 times shorter than the true scale distance for 1:1200 ships.  Now for the inevitable rule tinkering; a special rule was added to allow the Hood to be blown up as the rules do not allow for critical hits.  The rule was that if Bismarck scored a hit directly over the main magazines at range where the fire is plunging (greater than 13ft 6”, ~19,400yds) then the magazines would explode.  The main magazines, for game purposes, were ruled to extend as far as the main turrets but exclude the turrets themselves, i.e. the area outlined in red in the accompanying photo. 

The photo shows the Hood’s rear turrets but a similar area applied around the forward turrets.  The area is only 2.5cm long by 1.5–2cm wide, with cut-outs for the turrets, so is not easy to hit by guessing ranges from more than 13 feet away (Fletcher-Pratt gunnery rules require players to estimate the range to the target with the umpire measuring and marking fall of shot using golf tees).  

Another rule was introduced to represent the problems the Prince of Wales experienced with her main armament that resulted in her firing around half the number of rounds that she should have.  To represent this a random list of which guns jammed on which turn was used by the umpire to discount hits from ‘jammed’ rounds.

The game was set up to represent the historical engagement at the point just before the ships came within effective range (max. range was limited to 26,000 yards).  The rough plan below which I used for the game shows the hall floor area as a rectangle (broken line).

The players quickly got the hang of the simplified rules after a couple of turns: ½” per knot and a turn of up to 45° at the start and half-way point of the move, and firing by guessing the range.  The battle played out well and realistically or at least in agreement with the history books.  The British, after opening fire when out of range, steered towards the Germans to rapidly close the range so the Hood could avoid the risk from long range plunging fire against her weak deck armour.  This meant that only the forward guns of the British ships could bear on the enemy while both sides tried find the correct range; I ruled that ships must fire ranging ladder salvoes (with half their guns) until they achieved a straddle at which point they could switch to firing full broadsides.  Bizarrely, exactly as in 1941, the British ships initially concentrated their fire on Prinz Eugen for several turns before switching to Bismarck; why, I didn’t ask, not wanting to spoil the historical coincidence.  Then disaster struck, a ranging ladder from Bismarck plunged into Hood’s rear magazine and she was engulfed in a massive explosion. 

This was a shocking fluke as Bismarck hadn’t even found the range yet, and never landed another hit for the rest of the engagement.  The British were stunned but undeterred Prince of Wales gallantly pressed on and manoeuvred to open her arcs to bring her rear turret to bear.

She also started to dramatically vary her speed and course to throw off the aim of the German ships.  This worked well against Bismarck who consistently failed to land a hit, but Prinz Eugen coped better and at one point landed the best salvo of the game (3 hits).  

The radical changes in course and speed by the Prince of Wales also threw her own gunnery off to some extent but she still registered several hits on Bismarck and was lucky in having none of the ‘hits’ discounted as coming from one of her randomly jammed guns.

Time finally brought the combat to close as the club session ended and it was decided that the engagement was broken off at this point with Prince of Wales withdrawing while the Germans pressed on into the Atlantic.  All in all, a satisfactory refight, with all ships suffering the fate of their historical counterparts; the exception being the Prince of Wales who escaped lightly as Prinz Eugen’s guns could not fully make up for Bismarck’s appalling gunnery.  

So, with the Bismarck on the loose in the Atlantic other games were planned for the rest of Unternehmen Rheinübung: the night attack by Commodore Vian’s destroyer flotilla; the Ark Royal Swordfish strike; and, the final showdown with the King George V and Rodney (bodged up from a KGV and Iowa kit).  But those stories are for another day.