Saturday, 29 February 2020

Preparing for the last ECW campaign game and a book arrives

My English Civil War campaign is coming to a conclusion. The first year 1642 began with both sides trying to gain control of regions which continued until all regions had been battled over. This initial phase of the campaign and its games were so I could finalise a variation of One Hour Wargame ECW rules.

The following years had marching armies trying to wrestle control of neighbouring regions. The fortunes of these armies were influenced by campaign chance cards drawn with each battle. The months of these years progressed with a D3 dice roll, so the number of battles varied. Throughout the years 1643-1645 control of the regions has remained pretty steady with Royalist forces controlling the most and Parliament holding tightly to the South-East of England and their London base.

Campaign map
In a last ditch effort to break the stalemate Parliamentarian forces have marched on Oxford and the West Midland region. Technically, from a campaign point of view Parliament cannot win as the Royalists hold 8 regions to Parliaments 5 regions. However, victory here will make it a marginal 7-6 victory at best for the Royalists.

This begs the question - what would have happened with with a Royalist victory? A quick google search found this site with some possible outcomes: "What if Charles I had won the Civil War?".

As usual terrain cards were used to determine the tabletop layout and campaign cards drawn for influences on the coming battle. The luck of the campaign cards favours Parliament with additional artillery being available along with an extra unit from raining taxes earlier in the year. While Royalist forces are not being paid and will lose a unit due to desertion.

Terrain cards
Campaign cards

Order of battle...

Royalist:

  • 3 Foot
  • 1 Elite Pike
  • 5 Horse
  • 2 Dragoons
  • 1 Commanded Shot
Parliament
  • 5 Foot
  • 5 Horse
  • 1 Lobster
  • 2 Dragoons
  • 1 Artillery
So all is prepared for a game once I have finished and cleared the tabletop 19th Century game currently on the tabletop.

Currently occupying the tabletop
And finally, a secondhand copy of "Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun" by Paddy Griffith arrived in the post. While I have to ebook the diagrams are not effective in this medium and I could not resist grabbing a copy.





10 comments:

  1. It's been a very enjoyable campaign to read Peter.

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    1. As a campaign it worked well, but I am looking forward to finishing it and starting a new campaign. I am glad it has been enjoyable to read. Thanks.

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  2. I agree, it's fascinating to watch your campaign's progress and read the AARs.

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    1. Thank you. The campaign has taken a little longer than anticipated, but still enjoyable none the less.

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  3. It looks like the cards once again favour parliament, perhaps they have a conscience.
    Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun is an inspirational book - I've often wanted to combine the generalship game (as a campaign system) with tabletop battles. The generalship game ahs some very nice combat touches though. I particularly like the limitation on how many turns a force can fight depending on force size, etc.

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    1. The cards have been kind to Parliament in 1646 and they will most likely have the momentum as the campaign comes to a close. I am looking forward to re-reading the book as I found it difficult to read as an ebook.

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  4. The Game Gods have been favoring the Roundheads of late. Too little, too late it appears.

    This has been an enjoyable campaign. What next?

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    1. Yes, the Roundheads are finishing with a flourish. As for the next campaign WW2 Western Desert could be on the cards.

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  5. Always love seeing how you go about this campaign, which is excellent. Some Western Desert action in the offing has whetted my appetite.

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    1. Thank you. This campaign has worked out particularly well.

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