Timing Error at Nantwich

Well I replayed Nantwich with the revised dispositions mentioned in the last post*. Having set the game clock to run for 10 turns (each notionally 15 minutes) I managed to complete the allotted number of turns in about 1 hour 45 minutes. I've learned a valuable lesson. I should have kept a more careful eye on the number of turns in the past. The turns churn around quickly in my house rules - tonight they averaged 10 minutes per turn. The problem was that the two sides had hardly got to grips when notional darkness fell.

Part of the reason was that I held back the Royalist infantry until the horse came on to avoid being beaten piecemeal. Maybe I should have brought all of Warren's, Earley's and R.Byron's men on all together instead of staggering it to emphasise the 'encounter' nature of the battle.

There had been some very effective gunnery. So effective that I inserted a new rule (cease fire on rolling a 1 until 'replenished' by rolling a 6). I ought to really reflect on this before another game. Musketry was also pretty lethal on first fire. The cavaliers had slightly the better of it losing 3 bases to the Roundheads 5, which included one leader, so 1 VP to 0 in Byron's favour.

Chaos reigned amongst Fairfax's ranks, which is what I like to see. Nearly half the horse continued to hack through the enclosures aided by the pioneers, and merrily made their way towards Nantwich, completely oblivious to entreaties to turn about. What was that Colonel's name now? John Borison? There'd also been some delays in getting the supply train to move after it came under fire from Acton and the drivers legged it. To be fair to them they had been set a poor example by Brereton's and Assheton's regiments who cowered behind the wagons after the first few rounds of shot plunged into their ranks. As of close of play, the Parliamentary guns had lost their way in the fading January light and looked to be heading between Acton and Dorfold Hall, having gotten over-enthusiastic in advancing towards the action. Black Tom went haring after them but no one yet knows whether he managed to find them and make them stop. "Who is it you say you are? How do we know you're not one of the King's men?"

So three options present themselves:

1. Chalk it off to experience
2. Continue the game until some sort of conclusion is reached/another X turns
3. Start it all over again but have say 8 turns per hour, so around 20 in total.

At the moment option 2 is in favour.

* I'd forgotten to list the Parliamentarian dragoons. Whoops! Morgan's men did make it onto the table and being first to a hedgerow, saw off two units of Royalist horse with very effective salvos.

Update:
Well I ran with option 2 (despite Jonathan's advice) and played an extra 10 turns this evening. The battle was touch and go for a while. For many moves the Royalists led 2 VPs to 1. Both their VPs were Parliamentarian leaders who copped it from being in the thick of it, including Black Tom himself. This led to a hiatus in command and a loss of command points permanently. Fortunately for the Roundheads their forces where pretty much where they needed to be and their musketry was very effective. Fairfax did manage to rescue the guns and got them to fire from a fortuitously advantageous position until the Royalists were able to redirect their artillery and routed the Roundhead gunners. Fairfax was with a foot unit by them, encouraging them on, when he was taken out by a salvo of Royalist musketry.

Soon after Lord Byron went the same way, and the Royalists also suffered loss of command. Both sides struggled to co-ordinate their forces but Parliament had the edge and a raft of Royalist units suffered heavy losses and the Roundheads surged into a victory 8VP to 2 by the time darkness fell.

One thing I have noticed is that push of pike is rare in my games. Once the muskets start to pop it's difficult to get units moving and until one side has a clear advantage, melee is a risky business. Or maybe it's just me and I'm risk averse.