Battle of Nantwich ECW game leads to a generic scenario

An English Civil War game has recently been played out on the tabletop. I used the Battle of Nantwich scenario from “With Pike and Musket” by C.Wesencraft as a guide for setting up the game. The battle itself took place on January 25, 1644, and was fought between a Parliamentarian force under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and a Royalist army led by Lord Byron.

The Royalist army had become divided into two parts due to flooding of the River Weaver, with the infantry and artillery on the west bank and Lord Byron and his cavalry on the east bank. Sir Thomas Fairfax attacked the Royalist infantry positioned near the village of Acton, while deploying some infantry and cavalry as a blocking force against Byron's approaching cavalry who had eventually found a crossing of the River Weaver and was approaching the left flank.

The Parliamentarians attack on the Royalist infantry would be aided by a sortie of  musketeers from Nantwich. They were able to overcome the Royalist defenders. Byron's cavalry were unable to breakthrough to turn the tide of the battle, and the Royalists were defeated.

The order of battle

Parliament Force

• 2 infantry units
• 3 cavalry units
• 1 artillery unit
• 1 infantry unit (arriving on turn 6 from Nantwich)

Royalist Forces

• 2 x Infantry units
• 1 x Artillery unit
• 3 x Cavalry units (arriving on turn 2 from the north-east.

The village of Acton is the objective of this game. The army occupying the village will be victorious. Royalist cavalry arrive on turn 2 top right, and Parliamentarian infantry arrive turn 6 bottom right. The marshland is impassible. 

Victory Conditions

The victory conditions are for Parliamentarian forces to capture Acton village. If the Royalists hold the village, then they win.

Game Report

The game used a variation of One-Hour Wargames Pike and Musket rules and limited movement to two units per turn.

In the opening moves both sides exchanged artillery fire while Parliament’s cavalry advanced.

Once the Parliamentarian cavalry were positioned threateningly on the flank, their infantry centre moved up to engage in musketry with the Royalist infantry defending the high ground around the village of Acton.

Royalist cavalry lead by Lord Byron arrive and charge the blocking infantry unit.

The attack on Acton defenders continues.

The Royalist cavalry are held up as they try and breakdown the blocking force.

The cavalry charge the Royalist infantry trying to outflank them.

Parliament infantry from Nantwich arrive on the Royalist flank.

Parliaments blocking infantry are under pressure and are supported by a cavalry unit.

Attacked on both flanks the Royalist infantry eventually surrendered the village for a Parliamentarian victory.

After game thoughts…

I've played this scenario a couple of times now, and Parliament won every time, but only by a small margin. This made me wonder if the Royalists could ever win, and I decided that they probably couldn't unless they had another unit to help defend the town, or the Royalist relief force had more room to manoeuvre around the marshland and get more units into the action. This led me to think about how the scenario could be adapted into a generic scenario, like the ones in Neil Thomas's book One-Hour Wargames, where a variety of historical situations and other wargaming scenarios have been reworked.

So for a bit of fun and hopefully interest, here is my attempt at a generic scenario using Nantwich 1644 as inspiration…

Scenario Situation

Bad weather has divided the Blue army, with half of its units defending a strategic town and the other half on the opposite side of the river trying to rejoin them. Meanwhile, the Red army is trying to concentrated its forces and plans to attack the strategic town.

Scenario map

Army Sizes

• Both armies have 6 units.

Deployment

• Red army deploys 5 units in zone 1.
• Blue army deploys 3 units in zone 2.

Reinforcements

• Turn 2 - Blue army: 3 units arrive at the north-eastern bridge
• Tuen 4 - Red army: 1 unit arrives at the south-eastern bridge

Special Rules

• The river can only be crossed at the bridges and the marshland is impassible terrain.

Game Length and Turn Order

• The game lasts for 15 turns with Red army going first.

Inspiration

• The Battle of Nantwich, “With Musket and Pike” by C. Wesencraft.

Next…

Now that the scenario is written, I'm looking forward to try it with a different period this weekend. I'm not sure which one yet, but I'm leaning towards the American Civil War.