And now for something....a little different

Feeling bit run down the other day I reached for some 'comfort reading' from the newly rationalised and re-stacked shelves. I plucked the Airfix Guide to the English Civil War by George Gush and Martin Windrow. It really is an excellent little book with a brief but good explanation of the causes and course of the war. Those of you who have read the book will know that it ends with an introduction to wargaming the ECW and a nice little report of a game umpired by one* of the authors (*George Gush?). An Old School Classic.

It's a nice little scenario that could be seen as reflecting the divided loyalties of many districts. The summaries of the war show nice neat maps of the country divided between Parliamentarian and Royalist regions, when in fact the picture was more complex particularly early on when people were jockeying for position and seeing if anyone gained the upper hand before declaring their hand.

The scenario for the game was a Parliamentary force that had to get a small train of wagons containing cash from the village of Little Pottering to the safety of the small town of Puddleby (at the opposite end of the board). You can see where this is going.

The table (1.8x1.0m) viewed from Puddleby. Little Pottering is top left.

I quickly ran out of masking tape for the roads so I reached for my collection of hedges to mark the roads on the northern and eastern sides (left and far end). The sunken lane runs about halfway up from the left to the middle of the table.

Now the forces. First the orders of battle.

Parliamentarians
Commander	Colonel Dove
	Cavalry	2 squadrons	3 troops each	C
Rust Hall	Sir John Smythe	Dice for
	Infantry	Sir John Smythe’s regiment		D
	Levies		400 with Improvised weapons	E
Puddleby Garrison	Infantry	Potts’ Red regiment		D
	Cavalry	Capt. Partridge’s squadron		D
Convoy Escort	Infantry	Green regiment		C
	Firelocks	Train Guard	200 - 1 base	C
	Dragoons	4 companies	200 - 1 base	D
	Light Gun			C
	5 wagons

Royalists
Commander	Sir Clive McLeod
	Cavalry	LifeGuard of Horse	2 troops	B
	Cavalry	3 squadrons	4 troops each	A
	Cavalry	1 squadron	4 troops	C
	Dragoons	3 companies	160 - 1 weak base	C
	Commanded Musketeers		600 - 3 bases	C
	Galloper gun			C
Little Pottering	Villagers	Dice for	200 with Improvised weapons + 100 with muskets	E

The convoy and escort with Colonel Dove. The key decision will be which route(s) and whether the convoy will be divided. I don't have enough carts so I'm using 2 limbers as proxies.

Sir John Smythe and his force at Rust Hall. Activation of this force will be diced for.

Puddleby with its garrison of Potts' Foot and Captain Partridge's squadron

Sir Clive McLeod's cavalry heavy Royalist force. 3 squadrons of cavalier types likely to go haring off if victorious, 1 squadron of less 'aristocratic' tendency and 2 troops or 1/2 squadron of McLeod's more professional bodyguards. I plan to dice for where each unit arrives.

Armed locals at Little Pottering. Will they turnout for the King or remain at their homes? Another force to be diced for.

The rules I'm going to be using are my home-brewed set, last used in Covid time. They are clunky but will do the job for this sort of game as there's lots of friction built in. Changes of orders must be diced for and odds can be improved by allocating 'messengers' to units. Messengers are really command pips but have to travel from the commander to subordinates or units at courier speed (300mm/turn). They can be sent in advance of expected decisions. E.G. a unit will arrive at a junction so the player can allocate 'messengers' to the unit helping them 'pick' the right direction. The number of 'messengers' is determined each turn by roll of a dice. Commanders adjacent to units can also increase the chance of the unit complying with the player's wishes.

Horse and foot move at 200 and 100mm a turn respectively with 50% added for march column in open country, or +100% on roads. Limbered guns and wagons move at 150mm on roads. Maximum range for muskets is 200mm, 300mm for light guns and 40mm for pistols.

All forces will start off in march column. As mentioned above, the Royalists will arrive at fairly random locations and maybe at variable times. But the orders for the Parliamentarian convoy and escort is something I'd like to throw out there. If anyone would like to allocate march orders for the Parliamentarians, I'd be willing to put them into practice.