Between Two Fires

An Attempted Refight of the Second Battle of Newbury, 27 October 1644.

I'm not sure why, but when it comes to refights, John and I seem determined to pick all the ECW battles that aren't a classic line 'em up and fight it out, infantry in the centre and cavalry on the flanks.  This time it's Second Newbury with the vastly outnumbered Royalist Oxford Army trapped between three parliamentarian armies commanded by the Earls of Essex[1] and Manchester, and Sir William Waller. 

For what was obviously going to be a very dumbed-down version of the battle, I chose to base the game on the map of the battle on the British Battles web-site.  The central part of the map that I used is shown below, rotated to bring north to the top, and with a 10x5 grid overlaid to match my 10'x5' table.

How that was translated onto the table can be seen in the overviews shown below.  First, from the east, with the leading units of Manchester's force at the bottom right of the image.

And then, from the west, with Maurice's men fully prepared and waiting (for what will be several game turns) for Waller, Cromwell, et al.

Manchester's force, complete with a battery on Clay Hill, does not even all fit on the table, some of his cavalry having to wait for room to deploy onto the table.

And, waiting to stop him, is Rupert, under the direct supervision of the King.

The King, resplendent in full majesty underneath the Royal Standard, probably doesn't trust Rupert out of his sight since Marston Moor.

But if all goes pear-shaped, he has a handy bolt-hole in Donnington Castle.

In the west, there are as yet no enemy in sight, but Maurice knows they're on their way and is dug-in and ready.

The Battle

As I wanted to try out a historical refight, I scheduled the action in five phases (the last two of which overlap) as follows:

Phase 1: Manchester’s diversion / attack = Turns 1-4

Phase 2: Manchester's reorganisation = Turns 5-6

Phase 3: Waller’s arrival & approach = Turn 7

Phase 4: Waller’s attack = Turns 8-15

Phase 5: Manchester’s attack = Turns 12-15

Turn 1

The very first card out of the play-deck (which drives the activation sequence) was a random event which after turning the next card and rolling a D6, resulted in some [un]friendly fire by Manchester's artillery on his own men, in this case Brooke's regiment of foot, who luckily escaped unharmed.

Was this an omen?  If it was, John didn't let it unsettle him, and fully aware that lack of time was his biggest problem, set Manchester's force in motion towards Shaw house and surrounding enclosures (apologies for the dice tray in the photo).

A worrying sight from the royalist perspective.

Despite all the powder burnt, as evidenced by the smoke, the King's Guard (KG, bottom right) were the only ones hit[2].

Turn 2

The actions starts as Hampden's foot assault the grounds of Shaw House, driving the detachment garrisoning it back to the house itself.

From my (royalist) perspective things were moving dangerously quickly, but at least this time my shooting was more successful in racking up some hits.

Turn 3

Things went from bad to worse, for the royalists, as Hampden's pressed on overwhelming the defenders of Shaw House and wiping them out.

Elsewhere, Parliament's progress had been slowed by the defenders of the nearby Shaw enclosures[3], who now were in danger of being outflanked on both sides but at least had the KG in support to their right.

Another random event now plagued Manchester, as Essex's Foot, having stacked their power next to a puddle, found it had got damp - meaning their firepower would be at reduced effect for the rest of the game.

Turn 4

And with this scheduled to be the last turn of Manchester's diversionary attack, it was now or never, to take the Shaw enclosures.  It was to be never, as again the Random event turned up, and again it was bad news for Parliament.  This time it was an [unbelievable] hot spell of weather [in October?] fatiguing the troops and bringing the turn to an early end.  A lucky escape for the King, as Manchester would now have to withdraw to his starting position (except for Shaw House which he now held) to reorganise and await Waller.

Turn 5

Leaving a garrison in Shaw House, Manchester withdrew his troops to rest and reorganise them for a second attack once Waller's flank march arrived.  But as they did so the two sides continued to fire at each other.

Turn 6

There was little action this turn as Manchester's men, moved out of musketry range, but both sides' artillery kept up the fight.

Just before the Turn ended, Manchester finally got a favourable random event, a surprise reinforcement of a 'troop' (half a regiment) of Cromwell's cavalry - they can be seen at the top right of the above photo.  Not much help to be sure, as Manchester was short of time and space, not troops.

Turn 7

All eyes turned to the west as Waller's flank marching force, or at least most of it, finally arrived on the table.

This included Skippon (in green) with two regiments of the London Trained Bands (LTB) ...

... and Balfour leading cavalry from both Waller's and Essex's armies.

All this was aimed, fair and square, at the royalist foot holding Speen under Fielding, backed up by Maurice's cavalry.

Turn 8

And it looked like the sequence deck was going to side with the big battalions, as the second Turn-End card[4] was turned up after most of Waller's commanders were activated but before anyone else got much of a look in.  As a result, little occurred other than the onward march of Waller's legions.

At the same time, their path blocked by their own foot, the horse attempted to find their way around the flank, risking the ire of Donnington Castle, by crossing the river.

Which, viewed from above, looked like this.

Faced with such a target rich environment, the valiant defenders of Speen let fly with what artillery they had ...

... and were promptly joined in this by the royalist siege trayne which was ensconced in the castle.

At the other end of the field, little was happening apart from some desultory artillery fire.

Turn 9

Bard's, safe behind their earthworks at Speen, kept their nerve in the face of the hordes advancing upon them.

And threw back the first assault by the Red LTB regiment (hence the green disorder marker on the Red LTB regt.).

The Blue LTB regiment had been left behind as it had been unsettled by the artillery fire from Speen and forced to retreat.  It seemed that the assault on Speen had stalled at the first hurdle.

Meanwhile, Manchester's troops, all lined up to go, just sat there no doubt waiting for Waller's attack to start showing some progress before joining in.

Turn 10

The last of Waller's troops arrived in this turn, the late arrival being Cromwell and another couple of regiments of horse - just on the lefthand side of the table below.

The infantry assault on Speen remained stalled as the first wave tries to rally from hits and recover from disorder, blocking the advance of the rest.  But at least the Balfour has got Heselrige's brigade over the river, but can they find somewhere to cross back?

Back across the field at Shaw, not much is happening but Manchester's large battery is unsettling the royalists.

The King's Guard, which was targeted this turn suffered two retreat results and retreated twice in disorder (and picked up 2 green tokens).

This turn only ended with the very last card in the play-deck, the second Turn-End card.  This was a surprise as the scenario specific (to 2nd Newbury) card had not come up.  A quick check showed that it had not been added in by mistake.  It was quickly shuffled into the pack for the next turn.
 

Turn 11

Waller's attack got going again in this turn ...

... in no way deterred by the royalist siege guns ...

... and no doubt encouraged by an itinerant preacher (random event) whose sermonising strengthened the resolve of Ballard's regiment (allowed to ignore one 'retreat' result for the rest of the game).

Over at Shaw House, the newly added scenario specific random event was drawn, and Sir George Lisle with a trusty band of die-hards burst into Shaw House through a gap in the wall.

They quickly vented their frustration at having been left out of the play-deck by giving short shrift to the garrison, a detachment from Hampden's, and re-taking Shaw House.

This was a royalist 'good thing', but not entirely.  Rupert's foot had earlier moved to take cover from the parliamentarian artillery behind Shaw House; knowing they would not risk firing over it while occupied by their own men[5].  Of course, with Shaw house back in cavalier hands they had no compunction about doing so now, and added a hit to their disorder.

The next turn, Turn 12, would see Manchester complete his reorganisation phase and return to the attack.  By a spooky coincidence, by the end of this turn, Manchester had managed to rally and reform off all the hits and disorder from his units so truly now had no reason to delay his attack. 

Turn 12

And Manchester's attack started with a bang, as both artillery firing cards came up one after the other!

Inflicting, first one, then two hits on Rupert's who broke!

After this devastating opening barrage, Manchester's regiments surged forward ...

... with Hampden's seeking to repeat their earlier feat and take Shaw House.

On the Western Front, Bard's had been driven back from their earthworks and were now in danger of being attacked in the flank.

Balfour had given up on his wide flanking move and brought his horse back across the river but had left Waller's dragoons on the far side to offer fire support across the river. 

Meanwhile Cromwell was threading his cavalry through the congested field towards Waller's right (southern flank) to try and go around Speen and get at Maurice's cavalry beyond.

Turn 13

This saw a remarkable turn of fortune as Bard's, partially rallied, and advanced to fire at both Ballard's and the Red LTB regiments.  Ballard's had, before this, suffered badly at the hands of the royalist artillery and as result were broken!

The picture was suddenly looking much better, if you're royalist.

On the Eastern Front, Manchester's assault had briefly run out of steam (the turn ended before they really got going).

Turn 14

 

With time was running out for Parliament, nightfall and a historic draw was surely with reach of the King's army?

And then, in a cruel twist of fate, for Parliament, both Turn-End cards were drawn before any significant action took place leaving the field in stasis.  With Hampden's left poised to assault Shaw House ...

... and in the west, Bard's were left largely untroubled, albeit Waller's dragoons had now dismounted across the river - but they in turn were being threatened by Astley and the detachment in the Donnington enclosure.

Turn 15

The final turn and it was now clear that the King's army would survive to fight another day.  Then, just to rub Parliament's noses in it, another random event saw Balfour unhorsed and out of action for the turn.

The action at Speen now turned into an indecisive fire-fight, with Bard's taking on the LTB Red regiment ...

... and Stradling's no longer worried that Bard's would give way were free to exchange fire across the river with Waller's dragoons.

Cromwell's cavalry had made some progress in his flanking move, but it was too little too late - and quite clear that this is what Balfour should've done much earlier in the fight.

Back at Shaw House, Parliament's fortunes were looking up again, as Hampden's chased off Lisle and his gallant band to take the house for the second, and last, time.

To advance beyond this point would be risky as it would have to face Rupert's own regiment, poised to charge any who so dared. 

Elsewhere, Manchester's men had got to the first of the bridges over the Lambourne, over which they could've have threatened Maurice's rear, but alas all too late.

And so, the game came to a close, with a near historical outcome.  In reality the parliamentarian forces took Speen but failed against Shaw House, so in our refight they did worse in the west but better in the east.  We called it a draw, honours even.

Meanwhile the King withdrew to Donnington Castle for a council of war, which needless to say, decided discretion the better part of valour and the royalists did a bunk in the night.

Gosh, this is a very nice castle, who made it?

Notes:

[1] Albeit Essex's army was a shadow of its former self after its defeat at Lostwithiel, and Essex was in his sick-bed at the time so did not command on the day.  

[2] Hits are denoted by a number red tokens (tiddlywinks) equal to the number of hits (these can be rallied off); a yellow token indicates a unit has been activated in the current turn; and, green tokens indicate how much disorder the unit is in.

[3] Because of the bath-tubbed nature of this game, the villages of Shaw and Donnington were only being represented by hedged enclosures.

[4] I typically used two Turn-End cards in the sequence deck, the turn only ending after the second card is drawn - this is to limit really early cut-offs like this one. 

[5] The overhead rule for firing from higher ground, at targets further than half range, prohibits firing if any friendly troops are closer to the target than half the distance from the guns to the target.