Action at Puddleby / Little Pottering

The game was played earlier exposing some gaping hole in my home-brew rules. Nevermind, I had fun.

If ever there was a game of chance, this was it. First of all I diced for whether the the Parliamentarian force would march in one column or split up. The Dice Gods determined that it should stay together. Then I diced for choice of route. The middle route was selected.

Colonel Dove's force and the wagon train it was accompanying was preceded by the dragoons, then the wagons, gun, infantry and one squadron of horse followed up the rear. The other squadron of horse headed over the fields to guard the flank on the column. Dove had been warned of Royalist incursions into the area. No certainty of direction, but the most likely route was from the north.

The column makes its way south then east. The dragoons have trotted on ahead to secure the junction with the sunken lane.

On the fourth turn the Royalists appeared. I diced for which side of the each unit would appear on (1 west; 2 south; 3 east, 4-6 north). Then I diced for how far along the unit would arrive from the chosen side. The commanded shot arrived from the south, between Rust Hall and Puddleby. Another squadron arrived north of Puddleby with a galloper gun. The rest arrived  from the north, between the sunken lane and the Puddleby side of the stream, except for one unit that arrived from the east by Little Pottering.

Yellow = Parliament; Blue = Royalist

The Parliamentarian rearguard squadron deploys into line and the Green Regiment forms a hedgehog to block the road when a Royalist horse unit appears from the west. The foot to the front left are the 'locals' waiting for an opportune time to declare for the King.

Just as the dragoons dismounted at the junction of the road and sunken lane, a Royalist squadron comes thundering down the lane. The flanking Roundhead squadron is not able to intervene in time due to the high banks of the lane. Fortunately for the dragoons the enemy is restricted to a narrow frontage and they get a shot off before the cavalry crash into them. Nevertheless the cavalry get the better of the encounter and the dragoons give ground then rout.

In the west the Royalists reach the bridge from two directions. Potts' Red Regiment forms up on the edge of Puddleby whilst Potts' horse trot down the road to Rust Hall to try to catch the Royalist musketeers.

The Royalist cavalry who have seen off the dragoons surprisingly do not hare off in pursuit. The train guard firelocks to their left shoot some of the cavaliers.

At Little Pottering the Royalist squadron has failed to work its way through the village and is caught in the flank by the Parliamentarian rear guard. This is when they are first pushed back before routing. Whilst this is all going on the locals fail to throw their lot in with the Royalists.

Royalist commander Sir Clive and his lifeguard of horse climb up the bank of the sunken lane to challenge the Roundhead flank guard. After a brief action Sir Clive's men are defeated then finished off. Brave Sir Clive quits the field with his routed men. The loss of command was to hamper the Royalists thereafter.

On the west side of the stream a squadron of Royalists have charged Potts' squadron to save the musketeers. Potts' men countercharge and rout the Cavaliers pursuing them to the bridge, despite being outnumbered.

Meanwhile the Royalist dragoons hold off Potts' Red Regiment with honour

At Rust Hall, Sir John Smythe has finally sobered up enough to lead his men onto the field of battle. Whereupon first his foot regiment and then the levies are charged and routed. Before long Smythe's men are all sheltering in the Hall's grounds with the dragoons. All three routed by the same cavalier squadron. Unfortunately for the Royalists, the cumulative effect of these actions is to wear them down. Eventually the combined efforts of the firelocks and Smythe's musketeers finish off the cavaliers as an effective unit.

Having finished off the Royalist cavalry the Roundhead rear guard and the Green Regiment catch up with the train.

The remaining intact Royalist cavalry squadron retreat from the sunken lane to meet up with the commanded shot (right of the picture)

The Puddleby garrison hold the bridge at both ends whilst a depleted cavalier squadron looks on. There appeared to be little chance of the Royalists succeeding at this point so I called it a day. Colonel Dove's luck held out, especially in the cavalry combats. The Roundheads didn't lose a single round of horse v horse melee.

That was an enjoyable, if chaotic game. I need to tidy up a lot of stuff in the rules if I am to use them again.

PS I'll be heading up to Newark on Sunday for the Other Partizan. If there is any kind of blogger meet up (I note that Ray, and no doubt some other Rejects will be there) I'd love to hear about it.