Relief of Newark Rerun

A couple of months ago I played through a portable wargame based on a bathtubbed Newark 1644 scenario. I gave it another try today, partially because I wanted to actually set up and play a game at home (something I don't seem to have had the time or inclination to do for a few weeks now) and partially because I wanted to try out a modification to the rules.

One issue I've been having with the portable wargame is that it's very easy to make a flank attack if the unit density is relatively low, (which for most games is the case) even if you are face to face with an enemy unit. A unit can leave  the face to face position, moving to its side, then move forward and turn onto the enemy unit's flank. Even infantry moving 2 squares can do it. It creates a strange situation where, if there is space, units are constantly circling around each other attacking flanks.

I decided to simply state that if you are in the front square of an enemy unit, you can only leave that square by moving into the square directly away from it. This means that if you are in the front square of two enemy units you are actually stuck, but I didn't think that unreasonable. For ECW games it seemed to me that this forced a more linear approach to things. It doesn't stop flank attacks, but it means that units making them have to do so from outside proximity to the enemy.

The link above gives you the details of troops and the scenario, so I will just get straight on with the report.

Here's the initial setup with the Royalists on the left and parliament on the right. In the distance is the besieged garrison of Newark.

The Parliamentarian besiegers.

Siege artillery and the Newark garrison.

As with many battles, this one opened with Prince Rupert launching a cavalry charge.

Cavalry attacks on both flanks.

The Royalist foot plodded forward as well.

On the whole Parliament's cavalry came off worse in the fights, whilst the infantry fight in the centre was a stalemate.

The Royalist reinforcements arrived.

This encouraged a bolder attack by the Royalist foot in the centre. The defenders of The Spittal were now hard-pressed.

Parliament's reinforcements now arrived.

The height of the battle. On Parliament's left flank their horse had actually driven the Royalist horse into the heart of the fight.

The Royalist horse made the best of a bad job, turned and attacked the Parliamentarian foot in front of it. And drove it back.

This exposed The Spittal to an all-out assault by the bulk of the Royalist foot.

On the other flank the Parliamentarian horse were struggling to defend the siege battery from concerted attacks by Prince Rupert. They were quickly driven off. A unit of foot moved up to support the guns.

Rupert kept up the attack ...

... and the garrison of Newark sallied forth as well.

Parliament's horse tried to gain an advantage on their left, but to no avail. Their attacks on foot troops were less successful than their Royalist opposite numbers' had been, and they were quickly routed. This left Parliament's troops exhausted, and unable to maintain offensive operations.

The Royalist horse made an attempt to drive a brigade of parliamentarian foot back across the river, but failed, and scattered.

The Spittal was still the scene of ferocious fighting ...

... but its defenders were eventually driven out, and routed.

The Royalists effectively controlled the field now.

The battle finished as the Newark garrison dispersed the Parliamentarian foot before it.

The Royalists won a convincing victory here, with Parliament losing three units of horse and two of foot to the Royalists losses of one unit of horse. Once again I treated all units as Average for the purposes of determining if they took a hit or retreated, whilst reflecting quality by reducing or increasing the number of hits they took. I rather like the idea of determining if a unit retreats (or can retreat) based on whether it is horse or foot, but I will have to think this through. The restricted movement in the face of enemy units worked fairly well, making the game more rigid and linear, which is how it should be.

And it was nice to have some troops out on the table after far too long.