Way back when I was first dabbling with ECW games I played out a scenario for the action at Southam on 23rd August 1642. This is one of the earliest actions of the conflict, albeit a small one. With the orders of battle to hand, I have adapted it for 'Dominion of Cavaliers & Roundheads'.
Southam - 23rd August 1642
During the opening phase of the English Civil War, both factions scrambled to seize strategic territory. In Warwickshire, a local rivalry pitted the Parliamentarian commander, Lord Brooke, against his Royalist counterpart, the Earl of Northampton.
The conflict shifted from political tension to open combat on August 22nd, when King Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham and formally declared war. Wasting no time, Northampton moved to intercept Brooke’s assembling militia. Just two days after the King’s declaration, the opposing forces clashed near the small market town of Southam, marking one of the earliest skirmishes of the war.
Brooke had three regiments of foot to Northampton's one, outnumbered the Royalists three to one in artillery but was outnumbered himself in horse. The Royalists formed up with their backs to the River Itchin with the Parliamentarian force on a hill opposite them. The Royalists had 300 foot and around 800 horse, whilst Parliament had 3000 foot and 400 horse.
Parliament: 2 x Cavalry, 1 x Musketeers, 1 x Reinforces Musketeers (Larger Unit), 1 x unreliable Musketeers (raw unit), 1 x Artillery
Parliament (Attackers)
Royalist (Defenders)
The action commenced at 8:00 AM with an ineffctive Royalist cannonade. The Parliamentarian artillery proved far more lethal in response; their return fire ploughed directly through the Royalist infantry, causing significant damage and claiming the lives of several riders and horses.
As the Parliamentarian horse advanced into the valley, the Royalist foot soldiers found themselves unable to withstand the relentless hail of shot and began a retreat.
Cavalry engaged between the two forces. Lord Grey led the Parliamentarian assault with "very thick and hot charges," exerting a level of pressure the Royalists could not contain. Eventually, the Royalist cavalry broke formation and fled the field, conceding the day to the Parliamentarians. Due to his inferiority in cavalry Brooke did not order a pursuit.
Design Notes: Parliament has artillery to cover their centre, whilst the Royalist guns are pushed to the fore and cannot be relied upon. If the Royalist horse can be contained, Parliament should win this with the strength of its foot. One Parliamentarian regiment was larger than the others, hence the D rating. To grant this another regiment was downgraded to UR - unreliable troops wouldn't be out of the question at this early stage. However if you feel that this detracts from Parliament's performance, drop the D and UR rating and just make their reserve foot 2 x Musketeers. To reflect the Royalist's lack of foot you could drop the unreliable status from their artillery (since it's already pretty vulnerable) and give it to the dragoons instead who were really only a detachment of musketeers.
Excellent, thanks. And just the sort figure setup I like to use for Dominion games.
ReplyDeleteNicely done! It can be tough assigning status, especially in the Civil War where so many of the units are of unknown ability*, but you’ve worked this well.
ReplyDelete*even opinions of the London Trained Bands’ ‘quality’ seem to vary: some say they were an elite, others suggest they more of a mutinous rabble. 🙃
I find the simplest method of rating units as elite or unreliable is to look at the specific battle. If they fought especially well, then give them attack and/or defence advantages. If they underperformed, then unreliable is probably suitable. So particular units can vary their rating from battle to battle.
ReplyDeleteA fun read. Looking forward to more encounters.
ReplyDelete