English Civil War Campaign and Painting

Now that I am close to finishing the painting of all my English Civil War (ECW) figures. Only 3 mixed pike and shot, 1 galloper cavalry, and 2 artillery units remain unpainted. It is time to plan a campaign in which I can test out my draft house rules and provide a background to the games to make them more interesting.

My first task was to decide upon the type of simple campaign wanted. I did consider a linear campaign initially, but ended up going for an area campaign. I started looking for suitable maps from which to draw inspiration and found images of the English Civil War boardgame to base my map upon.

Campaign Map

The campaign begins with areas already occupied based upon the Royalist and Parliamentarian regions of support at the start of 1642.

Map with controlling forces

On the first turn, the latter part of 1642, Royalist forces get the first and only opportunity to attack as they control six areas to the Parliamentarian seven areas. For each of the subsequent years both sides get to make one attack on an adjoining areas from an area they control. Dice are rolled to determine who attacks first and who is second. Two attacks cannot be made in the same area in a given year, and so the second player must select and area not already being fought over.

An attack on an area generates two battles. The first battle will be a small affair, and the victor will decide the choice of terrain for the second larger battle. The forces in the second battle will be larger and influenced by the number of adjacent areas controlled by a side. For each controlled area, one additional unit can be fielded. So it makes sense to attack areas not well supported.

An attack on the North Midlands will provide the Royalists with  5 extra units in the larger battle. While Parliamentarian forces will gain 2 extra units, 1 for the defending area and 1 for an adjoining area (East Midlands).

As for the orders of battle used in the games, these will be generated using dice to determine their make up, and addition units added on top for the larger game based upon adjacent areas controlled.

A victory in the larger battle will determine which side controls the area.

• The latest unit off the painting table - I could not resist one using of Lobsters (Cuirassiers) for the Parliamentarian forces