English Civil War Siege - Game Report

Today I hosted a remote English Civil War siege game with Jon of Palouse Wargaming Journal. Details of the game setup are in my previous post. The scenario is a fictitious siege played with the defender’s actions determined by an events table.

Siege Background

Greyford is a small fortified town guarding the only bridge for twenty miles in either direction. Situated in the Harrow Valley, it commands the main north–south route for supply convoys, messenger riders, and troop movements.

In peacetime, Greyford was a market centre for wool, grain, and salt. Since the outbreak of war, however, it has become a prize of strategic value far beyond its modest size.

After a series of defeats, a small Royalist force has withdrawn into Greyford to regroup and await reinforcements. Determined to deny the King any foothold in the region, the Parliamentarian army has begun a loose blockade of the town.

The Royalist governor, Sir Edmund Kaye, a veteran of the wars in the Low Countries, ordered the townsfolk to stockpile food and ammunition and make repairs to the walls.

The Royalists prepare for the siege.

Parliamentarian commander Colonel John Haversham has brought up his heaviest available guns and is preparing to lay siege. His chief engineer has prepared a plan of parallels and trenches to carry the assault to Greyford’s walls.

Parliamentarian artillery park.

Siege Report

In the opening weeks of the siege, Jon made a strong start, committing most of his limited troops to digging the first parallel and establishing guard lines and patrols to control every road in and out of Greyford. Yet, the Royalist defenders proved adept at slipping messengers through the lines, raising the alarm for reinforcements. This placed Jon under mounting pressure to bring the siege to a conclusion before any relief force could arrive.

The defenders watch on at the siege preparations take place.

Progress on the siege works slowed in the following persistent rain that hampered the trench digging, and disease swept through the camp, reducing Jon’s available troops. Undeterred, he pressed on, diverting troops from patrols and guard duties to continue the work. By the fifth or sixth week, two heavy artillery batteries were in place and construction of the second parallel had begun. Seizing their chance, the defenders launched several sorties, inflicting casualties and forcing Jon to shift some of his troops back to patrols and guard duties, further delaying the digging of trenches.

Work begins on the second parallel.

The balance of the siege now seemed to favour the defenders, as progress on the second parallel and the remaining gun batteries slowed. Worse still for Jon, disease continued to thin the ranks of his troops, while the garrison successfully smuggled out messages to the approaching relief force.

Parliamentarian commanders look on as the gun batteries attempt to make breaches.

Though his numbers were dwindling, Jon managed to complete the final gun batteries and, in the weeks that followed, unleashed successful bombardments against the town’s walls. One breach was opened, inflicting casualties on the Royalist defenders and reducing their morale.

The assaults begin on the first breach.

Jon launched two assaults against the breach. The first was decisively repulsed, inflicting further losses on his army and raising serious doubts about the Parliamentarians’ ability to continue the siege. Undeterred, Jon pressed on with a second attack. This too was beaten back, but at a heavy cost to the defenders, leaving their morale at its lowest ebb.

Artillery bombard the walls to make a second and decisive breach.

Hoping the defenders were unaware of his army’s hardships and unable to risk further losses with a third assault, Jon concentrated all remaining effort on a bombardment to open up a second breach. His guns proved to be accurate, and the new gap in the walls was soon made. This final blow broke the defenders’ morale, and they sued for terms. With his own ranks depleted by disease and casualties, the Parliamentarians accepted the surrender, allowing the Royalists to march out before occupying Greyford.

Summary

Early on, it seemed time would be Jon's greatest challenge, but disease and casualties from repeated sorties meant any further losses might have forced Parliament to abandon the siege. However, accurate gunnery in opening a second breach shattered the Royalist morale. A narrow, but well earned, victory for Jon. Well done!

Taking the fortified town in this game is no easy feat. The besieging commander must carefully allocate their limited troops between:

• Constructing parallels and trenches
• Building gun emplacements
• Conducting bombardments
• Launching assaults
• Establishing guard lines and sending out patrols to prevent sorties and messengers
• Planning and reconnaissance to improve outcomes

And all the while, a mix of defender actions, rain, and disease reduces both manpower and the time available.

Jon managed to balance these demands until disease began to seriously thin his ranks. Then, a calculated gamble of focusing on the siege works and delaying the bombardment until enough batteries were ready proved to be decisive in the end.

For those interested, the game was completed in one hour.

What is Next?

I am really enjoying these rules and have two English Civil War ideas in mind.

The first is to create a small-scale ECW campaign with only a handful of regions, some containing a strategic town or city. To fully control a region, a player would need to win a field battle and, if the region includes a fortified town or city, successfully complete a siege. This idea still needs more thought as I do not want to have the situation of my last ECW campaign which took some 40 odd battles to decide.

The second idea, inspired by some helpful comments (thank you), is to adapt the rules for sieges of fortified manors during the ECW. Where the use of trenches and parallels was far more limited. I will need to do some further reading on how these engagements were conducted and what activity would replace constructing trenches and parallels.

Or perhaps I might take a completely different direction and try a Samurai-themed siege. My Samurai armies have not yet seen the tabletop since I moved to New Zealand, so it might be time to change that.