In the coming week, I have a remote English Civil War game planned with Jon from Palouse Wargaming Journal. Jon suggested that we play the battle twice, once with me hosting and then with Jon hosting. We've used this approach before with the Battle of Lake Tresimene (see here and here) which proved a very interesting comparison and enjoyable.
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| A view of the Royalist units |
This time, the battle was selected from the English Civil War, the Battle of Cheriton (1644) picked from one of the scenarios in C.F. Wessencraft’s book “With Pike and Musket”. I plan to play the battle on a 6 foot by 5 foot tabletop, which allows nearly the entire battlefield to be visible from my mobile phone mounted on a tripod. It’s a simple and cheap setup for remote gaming, though it does limit the size of the game.
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| A view of Parliamentarian units |
The Battle
The Battle of Cheriton, fought on 29th March, 1644 and was a Parliamentarian victory. Sir William Waller's force defeated a Royalist force commanded by the Earl of Forth and Sir Ralph Hopton. The Parliamentarian army had marched overnight and had occupied Cheriton Wood. Lord Hopton positioned the Royalist army on a ridge north of the wood. The battle began with the Royalists taking the wood and forcing the Parliamentarians to retreat. Hopton had then planned to defend, but an impulsive Royalist infantry commander attacked the Parliamentarian left wing. The attack failed and the Royalist cavalry were drawn in to supporting the attack, but were defeated. Hopton then moved his left wing cavalry to join the attack and they were similarly defeated. The Parliamentarians then counter-attacked, driving back the Royalist forces and regaining Cheriton Wood. As evening fell, the Royalists retreated.
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| The tabletop layout. |
Order of Battle…
Parliament
- 6 x Cavalry units
- 8 x Infantry units
- 1 x Artillery units
- 3 x Dragoon/Commanded Shot units
Royalist
- 6 x Cavalry units
- 7 x Infantry units
- 1 x Artillery units
- 3 x Dragoon/Commanded Shot units
Scenario Rules?
This weekend, I plan to test the scenario and try out some rules. For example, Royalist units must attempt to capture the woods before any other units can advance. If they succeed in taking the woods, roll a D3 dice to determine how many infantry units make an impulsive double move towards Parliament’s cavalry.
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| The tabletop ready for a game. |
Oh, this looks great, Peter! I am looking forward to the game very much. You went with having the two armies roughly of equal size. OBs vary wildly. My table has been cleared of Reconquista and I am resetting the table for Cheriton this weekend. Still in development. I am trying to keep the battle footprint small so we will be fighting over a similar space. My armies may be slightly smaller than yours and I will try playing it on a hex grid. Seeing our different interpretations will be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteThe OBs may change a fraction depending upon how the rules forcing an impulsive charge by the Royalists work out.
DeleteThe table looks great and the figures are splendid, looking forward to seeing how it pans out, should be good!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to both the remote games.
DeleteGood looking table.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteLooking forward to the game reports.
ReplyDeleteThe comparison between the two games will be interesting. The last time we tried this as with Lake Tresimene and it had the same results.
DeleteGreat looking game as always Peter.
ReplyDeleteThe town and the windmill look really good against the background.
I could not resist adding a windmill.
DeleteI thought that was new 😊
DeleteLooks like a good one, Peter.
ReplyDeleteBy pure coincidence, there’s a 1:1 scale Battle of Cheriton taking place TODAY!! (ie a reenactment, by the ECW reenactment societies, on the battle site…just a few miles from me 😁⚔️⚔️⚔️).
It was seeing a reenactment when I was a youngster got me collecting ECW miniatures back in the 1970’s.
DeleteGreat looking table and a nice scenario from a classic book:)!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Looking forward to playing the game.
DeleteExcellent set up Peter and some nice ideas to "force" a semi historical refight..which I like, if refighting an actual battle. Can't wait to read how it all goes!
ReplyDeleteI am hoping the forced advance works while still allowing the Royalist player to play the game.
DeleteShould players be forced into making the same mistakes as their historical counterparts? I prefer giving players the forces and dispositions at hand and allowing players to fight the battle as they see fit. Let players make their own mistakes!
DeleteI think it depends when in the game it occurs. If the event (or situation) occurs early on, as in the first or second turn to set the scenario up, then it is in a sense setting up the scenario. Ambush scenarios would be one example where the ambushed player is “forced” to hold a position until surprised. If the forced event is late in the game it occurs later in the game, then it can be difficult, or problematic, to apply in a scenario given all the events that have occurred on the tabletop.
DeleteLooks like this could be a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the game.
DeleteRubbing my hands in anticipation of the AARs Peter. Cheriton is one of my ‘favourites’. Your table looks great as usual.
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
Thank you. Yes, looking forward to the game too.
DeletePS forgive the plug, but if you want to see what the battlefield looks like these days, see the post from 5 years ago on my walk.
ReplyDeleteChris:
https://horseandmusketgaming.blogspot.com/2019/07/cheriton.html?m=1
Thanks for the link to the photos. The photo of the information board with the battlefield deployment is most interesting.
DeleteLooks like a lot of fun. What rules are you using?
ReplyDeleteWe used the version that is a tab link at the top of the blog. The rules take a little bit of inspiration from the old SPI Thirty Years War Quad boardgame.
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