The Battle of Fletcher's Cross

A few months after the battle of Halford in 1643, Lord Standing and Sir Thomas Barnaby crossed swords again at the village of Fletcher's Cross. It was a quiet Sunday morning ...

... and Lord Standing's Royalist troops were marching south towards the village.

However Sir Thomas Barnaby's Parliamentarians were marching north on the same road.

As both forces reached the outskirts of the village they sighted each other. Drums began to beat, weapons were readied and the two groups prepared for battle.

Lord Standing's horse moved west around the village to cover against a move by their Parliamentarian counterparts. His dragoons occupied the village. A regiment of Parliamentarian foot engaged the green-coated Royalists.

The Parliamentarian horse skirmished around the edge of the village, supporting the foot.

They broke off, however, when the Royalist horse threatened their army's flank.

Both sides formed lines on each side of the village, whilst holding units in reserve to feed into the settlement should an opportunity present itself.

An overview of the battle, taken from a contemporary print. maybe.

The Royalist dragoons were unable to stand against the Parliamentarian foot, and abandoned their position.

Meanwhile a swirling cavalry melee had developed to the west of the village, with neither side able to gain an advantage.

Parliamentarian troops pushed into the village south side of the village, whilst Royalists entered from the north

However the fighting to the east of the village had very much gone the way of Sir Thomas Barnaby's troops, and the Royalist defenders found themselves under heavy fire from dragoons and artillery as well as the infantry opposing them

To the west the Royalist horse had also been driven off, and the Parliamentarian horse quickly wheeled into an attack on the Royalist infantry regiment supporting the defence of the village.

With no relief coming the Royalists in the village were under extreme pressure.

They held firm, however, and in a wild charge drove away the Parliamentarian regiment of foot. However weakened and scattered by the fighting they themselves were driven off by fire from the Parliamentarian guns to the south-east of the village.

The final Royalist regiment marched into the village from the west as Parliamentarian dragoons moved in from the east.

However they too were driven off by the artillery.

As night fell the Parliamentarian forces held the village. Sir Thomas Barnaby had scored his first victory of the campaign.

This was the Advance Guard scenario from One Hour Wargames, played out using the latest modifications I have made for the OHW Pike and Shot rules. This includes Gallopers losing their extra melee bonus in the same way as other units go out of ammunition, and Dragoons (as I am now referring to the units I previously called Shot) being allowed a level of cover if they are stationary in the open, on the assumption that they would always deploy behind available walls and hedges. In addition I have added a rule which causes units to fall back if they fail to inflict casualties in close combat.

I have also started to write up the rules, rather than keeping them in the increasingly untidy mess that is my head.