The English Civil War In A Morning

This is a report of a game using the ECW campaign rules I posted yesterday. I confess that, as much as the Dominion rules encourage you to add a narrative to each battle I really didn't think one through or take detailed notes of anything but the troops I generated for each side. This at least will give you an idea of the kind of forces the system is capable of generating. 

The random army system can be found HERE.

Anyway, the focus of this writeup will really be how the campaign system works, and I hope it all makes sense. I was certainly pleased with how it played out.

Here's teh initial setup for 1642. The Royalists control Midlands and South West, whilst Parliament control South East and East Anglia. I rolled a D6 for each unoccupied region to determine where battles would take place for control of two more regions. The highest rolls were for Wales and Yorkshire.

Battle 1 - The Battle of Cwmbran (Wales)

The random generator gave the following armies.

Royalist: 1 x Elite Horse, 1 x Horse, 1 x Disciplined Horse, 1 x Dragoons, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot

Parliament: 1 x Horse, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Elite Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Artillery in Defences.

For each battle I rolled a D6 for each side and added the number of horse and dragoons. This gave a scouting score. The side with the highest score was the tactical attacker. 

Here you can see the armies set up. Parliament defended with a mostly foot army against an assault by Royalist horse.

(In all pictures the defender's army is at the top and the attacker's the bottom.)

Despite their dominance in horse it was the single unit of Royalist foot that gave them the edge, smashing all before it in the centre to give the Royalists a win.

So the Royalists won the first battle and took control of Wales. This now left the fate of Yorkshire to be decided.

Battle 2 - The Battle of Doncaster (Yorkshire)

Royalist: 1 x Elite Artillery, 1 x Elite Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Elite disciplined Horse, 1 x Dragoons

Parliament: 3 x Horse, 2 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Dragoons

So Parliament had a fairly conventional force (if a bit horse-heavy), whilst the Royalists had a small, highly-motivated army. I assumed that they were a besieging force maybe.

Parliaments attacked and pretty much won teh battle by exchanging unit for unit until the Royalists ran out.

So at the end of 1642 the Royalists had gained Wales and Parliament added Yorkshire.

We now move to 1643. I diced for each controlled region, and added one to the score for each enemy controlled region. Scores max out at 6 however. This is what I got. South West, South East and Midlands tied to be the active region. You get this a lot. I diced off and it was the Royalists in the South West who made the move. Normally you'd dice for any uncontrolled regions adjacent and then compare the scores of all regions (controlled or uncontrolled) to see which one was attacked. However there's no choice for teh South West; they had to attack the South.

The South is uncontrolled, so the Royalists simply take possession. You can assume there's marches and minor sieges but nothing else. This does not count as a battle.

So it's still 1643 and I diced again. The winning regions were Midlands (with three enemy regions adjacent to it, it will always score well) and the South East. The parliamentarians in the South east won the roll-off. They have two regions they could attack - Midlands and South. In a two-player game you'd let the player decide. In a solo game I use the scores each region rolled to determine the target. The South rolled a 2 to the Midlands' 6, so the South is the target. Since it's controlled a battle must be fought.

Battle 3 - The Battle Of Blandford St Mary (South)

Royalists: 3 x Horse, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Shot, 1 x Dragoons 

Parliament: 1 x Elite Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Shot in Defences, 1 x Dragoons

The Royalists attacked (even though it was Parliament who is the strategic attacker). The Parliamentarian position was based around shot defending a ridge.

The Royalist shot couldn't shift them, but supporting dragoons did. 

Parliament failed to stabilise the situation and lost the battle.

The Royalists maintained control of the South. Because an unsuccessful attack was made from the South East, it gets  a -1 to its roll in the next phase only. I put a marker on the region to show this.

The Midlands was the sole high-scorer this time. With one uncontrolled region adjacent I needed to generate a score for it so that I could see where the troops in the Midlands advanced to.

The North west rolled a 1. This meant that there was a tie between the North West and the South East as the target of the Midlands' attack. However in this case I assume that that troops from a region will always advance into an uncontrolled region rather than a controlled one. So the Royalists take the North West.

This does not count as a battle, so we stay in 1643. I rolled again, and once again both the South and the Midlands were high-scorers. Note that I don't roll for Wales or the South West since neither region has an enemy-controlled or uncontrolled region adjacent to it.

The Parliamentarians in the South East won the tie-break. With a score of 3 against the Midlands' 6, the South was the target. So having recovered from their failure earlier in the year, Parliament advanced once more into the South.

Battle 4 - The Battle Of Watership Down* (South)

Royalists: 1 x Elite Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Elite Horse, 1 x Horse, 1 x Artillery

Parliament: 3 x Horse, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Shot, 1 x Artillery

Parliament attacked. The centre saw a fruitless artillery duel.

However artillery fire did coax the Royalist's elite horse into a charge, which saw them cut down by shot. This set the tone for the battle

Parliament followed up on their success and quickly routed the Royalist army.

Parliament took control of the South. A marker was placed in the region to show that it takes a -1 on its roll next time.

With two battles having been fought the campaign moves on to 1644. This has the effect of making it more likely that the Royalists will get missile foot rather than melee foot.

The first rolls for 1644 see three areas in contention: the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands.

The roll-off sees the Royalists in the North West advance into the North.

The next roll sees three areas in contention again, and this time the Midlands finally wins. With a score of 2 the South East becomes the target. Capturing this would put the Royalists close to victory, since controlling the enemy's capital is required to win before the end.

Battle 5 - The Battle of Staines Moor

Royalists: 1 x Disciplined Horse, 1 x Horse, 1 x Elite Dragoons in Defences, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot in Defences
Parliament: 4 x Horse, 1 x Shot, 1 x Artillery

A strong force of Parliamentarian cavalry comes across the Royalists, who are in a strong defensive position behind the River Colne.

Parliament used their artillery to drive the Royalists from their positions ...

... and their horse won the day for them

So Parliament retained control of the South East, and the Midlands would get a penalty in the next round of initiative.

Despite this penalty the Midlands was in contention once again. But it was the Parliamentarians in Yorkshire who actually took the initiative.

Battle 6 - The Battle Of Bishop Aukland

Royalists: 3 x Horse, 1 x Elite Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot in Defences
Parliament: 2 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Horse, 1 x Dragoon, 1 x Shot

The Royalists attacked.

This was a long battle in Dominion terms but eventually the Royalists ground down their opponents with a series of cavalry attacks.

So Parliament failed to take the North. And with two battles fought 1644 dew to a close.

1645 saw the Royalists take the initiative in the North and reverse the previous move; they attacked Yorkshire.

Battle 7 - The Battle Of Harrogate

Royalists: 2 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 2 x Horse, 1 x Dragoon

Parliament: 2 x Mixed Missile Foot, 3 x Horse, 1 x Artillery

Both armies fielded six units and fairly balanced forces in terms of foot and horse. This would be a classic set-piece battle.

The Royalist foot dominated the centre, and won them an easy victory over the Parliamentarians. Yorkshire passed into Royalist control.

If the Royalists could capture the South East now then they would win by having four more areas than Parliament and controlling the enemy's capital. A lot of areas ended up with initiative thanks to some incredible rolls.

The South East won the tie-break and attacked the Midlands. Could this be the beginnings of a Parliamentarian come-back?

Battle 8 - The Battle Of Waddesdon Manor

Royalists: 4 x Horse, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Dragoons

Parliament: 1 x Horse, 1 x Artillery, 3 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot

A strong Royalist cavalry force ambushed the Parliamentarian main body.

The Royalists won another easy victory and held off the Parliamentarian advance.

This battle saw the end of 1645.

1646 is the final year, so only two battles remained. If Parliament could attack and win both of them then it could still secure victory. 

However the first activity of the year saw the Royalists in Yorkshire advance into East Anglia.

Battle 9 - The Battle Of Thetford

Royalists: 1 x Elite Horse, 1 x Horse, 1 x Artillery in Defences, 1 x Shot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot

Parliament: 2 x Horse, 1 x Shot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Dragoons.

The Royalists attacked.

However Parliament's dragoons defeated their artillery.

In fact the Royalists never got into this battle at all, and threw back the Royalist advance and held their territory.

So on to the last battle. Parliament could not win the campaign, but with the Midlands attacking the South East the Royalists could secure a decisive win.

Battle 10 - The Battle Of Hampstead

Royalists: 2 x Horse, 1 x Dragoons, 2 x Mixed Missile Foot, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot

Parliament: 1 x Horse, 1 x Elite Horse, 1 x Elite Pike, 1 x Mixed Melee Foot, 1 x Dragoons

I loved the makeup of these two armies, as Parliament threw everything into the defence of London. I assumed that the elite horse was commanded by Oliver Cromwell, whilst the pike represented the London Trained Bands (with low stocks of powder thanks to Parliament's now precarious position).

The Royalists started off well, destroying the Trained Bands.

But Cromwell's cavalry saved the day, and saved London.

So Parliament won teh final two battles. However it didn't change the result; at the end of 1646 the Royalists held 6 regions to Parliament's 3 and were therefore the victors.

The whole thing took a relaxed three hours to set up and play, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I'm not sure I'd change much at this stage, although if I do it again I might skip the 1642 special selection and simply run the campaign from both sides controlling two regions each at the start and let the initiative decide everything from there.

I hope you've found the whole thing at least mildly interesting.

*Yes, it's a real place. It's just south of Newbury.