Hello again!
This game was quite special for me personally. Firstly, the English Civil Wars (ECW, or War of the Three Kingdoms if one prefers) are my favourite historical wargaming period. Secondly, I now get to write something that I've kind of wanted to for years: all figures shown are from the author's personal collection.
The background to this game follows my acquisition of the Pike and Shotte ruleset from Warlord Games. One of the club members, Carl, and I found ourselves without a game ready to join, so we decided to grab a 6x4 foot table and spontaneously use just about all of my figures. The benefit of this stable of games (Pike and Shotte, Black Powder and Hail Caesar) is that games can be thrown together in short order and still tick all the boxes for a good battle. Anyway, I set up two roughly equal forces, one of which was exclusively English (and so Royalist), whereas the other side had my Scottish Covenanters backed up by some English Allies (so these were a mix of the Parliamentarian and Covenanter army lists). I gave Carl the pick of the sides after I'd set them out, and he plumped for the Royalists (no-one ever picks Parliament). We then set up at the same time, not really knowing exactly how the rules would play anyway.
My Scottish cavalry on my far left flank. Further along, you can just about see the Covenanter infantry division.
My right flank, two units of Parliamentarian cavalry in one division, and my English infantry division next to them.
A close up of my right flank. In the distance are the massed Scots.
Carl's right flank facing my Scots.
Carl's central infantry in the foreground, and his left flank cavalry division ready themselves for what we both suspected might be a savaging of their counterparts across the table.
A closer look at the Royalist cavalry. Dragoons screen the heavier units behind.
Time to throw some dice! I ordered a general advance with my infantry, leaving the Parliamentarian cavalry a little further back on the flank so as not to get them prematurely embroiled with their Royalist enemies. You can see that Carl's dragoons have dismounted to shoot at me.
Carl wasn't having any of this messing around however, and ordered his cavalry on both flanks to sweep mine from the board. Neither move went according to plan, however. Against my Parliamentarians, who could only stand and shoot against his charge, I managed to purely fluke disordering shots against both of his charging units, denying them their crucial advantage. His cavalry broke after the combat, although mine too were so damaged that they quit the board gradually. Against my Scottish Lancers, again the dice gods favoured me and I chased him back whence he came!
The infantry battle would continue at a slower pace. Firepower became crucial.
A unit of Scottish commanded shot managed to occupy the Church early on in the battle. They proved incredibly difficult to shift, even in the face of assault by a unit of pikemen.
A nice view of the battlefield mid-game. The cavalry on my right and Carl's left have withdrawn, his dragoon's also retiring but still shooting as they do so.
Carl's infantry decide that it's not safe beyond the hedgerow, and with the luck he'd had it wasn't surprising.
A view from the top of the church tower.
My Scottish infantry close in on the Royalist lines. The firefight intensifies and disorder is rife.
Meanwhile the Parliamentarian pikemen close and destroy a sleeve of Royalist musketeers. In the confusion they failed to retreat to the safety of their pike-armed comrades.
The commander of the Sottish foot orders his leading units into hedgehog to aid staying power in the face of a late Royalist push to win the day. By this time the remaining cavalry on both sides had decided to skulk behind the main battle, not wanting to cause the rest of the army to break. By this time, it was a case of the next division to break would decide the game.
In the end the Royalist infantry, under pressure from multiple directions, crumbled. Victory for the allies!
This was a fun game, and a very important one for me personally. It was the culmination of everything I'd set out to do when I started historical gaming all those years ago. As for the Pike and Shotte ruleset- it proved itself more than capable for the task at hand. The game was given a baptism of fire in that we only decided to play a game at 8:30 pm, were able to set out two roughly equal armies by about 8:45 and got properly started by 9:00 (including terrain and a brief run-down of which units were which). The remaining hour of that week was used for playing, and the following week we were finished well in time for the conclusion of the club night, meaning that were done in roughly two and a bit hours of game time. I don't think this would have been possible if I was trying to demo any other ruleset, and it managed to deliver not only a fun game but also credible outcomes and use period tactics.
I very much look forward to playing this again, with a bigger table, more players and more figures. I can heartily recommend these rules, and of course I hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Leigh
