Sunday 7 July 2013

28mm English Civil War Batrep "The Battle of Old Meadow 12th March 1643 or.......

.....as it became known the "God wills it!" game or it's the too fecking hot game or when are you buying a fecking air conditioner you cheap git game?

Myself, Surjit and Ian turned up at Posties yesterday ( a small turnout but some people were on holiday and some weren't allowed out!) to play a game of 28mm ECW to try out his new home grown rules "By God or by might we will prevail", one thing became clear was that it was way too fecking hot to play an effective wargame but a game is a game!

Postie started with a speech........

"Somewhere in the midlands near Lichfield King Charles I with an advance force has managed to get too far ahead of his main force which is at least a days ride away. Local Parliamentarian spies have sent word of the Kings advance to the Earl of Essex who is not too far away with a collection of various units under his command.
The Earl has advanced rapidly to intercept the King, could the war be over in the next few hours, will Essex be victorious or the King triumphant?
Thus the scene is set as the two armies prepare for battle, the King has hurriedly sent messages to his main army to hasten their advance".

A very brief history of the conflict.....

The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political problems between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers). The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.
The English Civil War led to the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of his son, Charles II, and replacement of the English monarchy with, first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53), and then with a Protectorate (1653–59), under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, although this concept was legally established only with the Glorious Revolution later in the century.



The initial set up with the Royalists on the right and Parliamentarians on the left, a small village can be seen at the bottom of the table (the village would later cause an unknown at the time problem), both sides had the exact same make up of forces, 7 cavalry units, 4 infantry units and two artillery pieces each...........

I know little of the period and this was my first time to game it as well, Parliamentarian horse with myself (Earl of Denby) in command advance.......

A unit of cavalry (Trotters) James Mauleveners part of the 1st Horse Brigade, Parliamentarian horse could fire before charging into combat but Royalist horse (Gallopers) were better in melee............ 

My medium gun but could only fire every second turn, full turn to reload or limber/unlimber, not the game changer that artillery would become, better for sieges........

Royalist horse advance under Lord Digby to meet my boys

William Sydenham horse in the red and veteran class........

The Royalist forces on the hill across from us........

The Earl of Essex command stand........

Ian (King Charles I) shows Surjit a new way to keep his infantry regiments straight........

3 of our infantry regiments, Lord Brookes in front on the left, Samuel Jones to their right and the Earl of Essex's regiment behind........

Contractual Postie shot, we think he was thinking but with Postie it's doubtful........

Royalist and Parliamentarian horse brigades line up........

Now this is our religious hanger on and can be added to any unit and if you roll a six he gives a plus one to all rolls including morale, Surjit nailed the six and he joined our raw unit, he saved the units hide many times......

On our left Surjit (Essex) has for some reason positioned his cavalry forces strangely and decided not to charge but just shoot (helping test the rules he called it, I had a whole other word for it)........ 

The Denzil Holles regiment (raw) with god on their side, "God wills it!" was now been shouted on both sides especially with the dice rolling........

A unit of clubmen emerge from the village unhappy with what's going on and are deciding which side to join depending on factors on the battlefield and Postie rolling a dice every turn, on the last turn they chose my side but too late and I asked Postie could I burn their village down.......

Casualties mount on the Royalist side..........

King Charles I.........

Another view of the Royalist lines, they would not move until near the end.......

The Royalist view of a Parliamentarian infantry regiment, Parliamentarian regiments had less pike but more muskets (2 to 1,made them better at firing) and the Royalist had more pikes to muskets (50/50,better melee factor).........

I was taking an aerial shot when I noticed shenanigans between Surjit and Postie, another nail attack maybe...... 

Little feckers kept getting in the way, hotpot anyone.......

The horse brigades clash, 3 regiments per side, undetermined skill levels, the multicolour pipe cleaners denote the start of charges and the possibility of pursuit charges........

The first one has gone bad, real bad for me, the numbers denote casualties.......

On going melee going a little better for me.........

but on the other side, it's not going well at all..........

Parliamentarian casualties are mounting.........

Ian is sulking because he's been caught moaning ( rashly admitted it) but the real problem is that the tattooed gobshite has farted constantly all day in the crotch scorching heat (gag a dead maggot was one of the outbursts), did I mention the day was fecking hot......

"God wills it!"............

I've had to bring on the Earl of Essex's Lifeguard to stop a little rout...........

This was the final melee of the game, all three units are at breaking point, leaders have attached themselves to units and after the smoke cleared.......

....this is all that was left, I was dead and so was nearly everything else and the game was called, a minor victory to the Royalists on points!

The infantry slog in the middle but inconclusive, pike and musket regiments do not manoeuvre well.........

Figures were mainly a mixture of Dixon and Foundry and apart from the meat and two veg crippling heat it was a good game and a good day...........

......and then the political and military discussion can was opened!

God wills it Ian!

I blame the heat, must have warped my dice............



105 comments:

  1. Damn......... It seems to have been a fun game!

    Even though it was hot, grumbling old men and fartus extremus!

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  2. A Massive Battle with wonderfully painted minitures - THIS is exactly how wargaming has to look like!

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  3. Rousing speech by Potsie.
    Victory as long as at least one person is still standing? What about the sheep?
    No AC in summer here would be cause for murder...

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  4. It was rotten, nearly as bad s the time Ray had 3 day old lasagne at work and gassed the site!

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  5. Glad my period got some play and hope you enjoyed yourself

    Ian

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  6. That was a fun game! Splendid sir! :)

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  7. I don't know what I love more, a good revolution or a good ambush. I'm all for combining them, but I'm with you on the heat. Damn it's hot. It's summer so I can't really complain but...damn...it's really really hot.

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  8. Great looking game and good to hear a Civil War shout-out for Lichfield. The West Mids was where all the important stuff happened, the rest was just a side show... ☺

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  9. Great looking game - even better looking while surfing the internet in an AC controlled environment!

    I salute you for braving the, ummm, "elements" to get a good game in!

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  10. ECW! Very good I say!!!!! Lots of luvverly cavalry and long, sharp pointy things and you can spend days and days arguing the toss over who were the good guys. Love it!

    Heat? You big Jesseca! Can't have been that hot - didn't seem to bother Andy Murray . . . .

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    1. Thanks mate but he was getting paid and all the chicks!

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  11. Was 93 degrees here with no a/c so I got off my cheap arse and bought one haha looks like a great game indeed.

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  12. God wills it - not heat, nor farting, stray sheep or absenteeism will spoil the game. Looks like fun!

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  13. The religious hanger-on is a nice touch -- gives some nice color.

    Great game report!

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  14. Looks like a fun game. Very colorful period. Do you think you will try gaming the ECW again?

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  15. This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  16. Beautiful figures and terrain, Fran. You are a true gamer, General, to have endured the hostilities of the game room.

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  17. Ah those Pike and Shotte minis... they always look so beautiful. especially here. Really brilliant work.!

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  18. Great looking game and report! You can't even live in Texas without A/C. Hope it was at least cooler outside there than it is here these days!
    Rod

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    1. It's such a short period of intense heat, then cold and wet!

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  19. Looks like a lot of fun. Middle of winter here, so I envy the heat (though not the farts)

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  20. Greate AAR Fran !

    Very good pictures looked like a greate game to playout.

    Best regards Michael

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  21. Just as well it was a limited turn out the biomass latent heat calculations would have rocketed with a few more in there.

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  22. great looking game shame about the heat

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  23. Sorry I couldn't make it to the game, although given the 'atmosphere' you describe in the WarShed it was probably a good decision. Great BatRep mate, very funny. I laughed like a drain when I read that bit about Surj 'testing the rules'.

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    1. Thanks mate, how did the D.I.Y go?

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    2. It didn't. I ended up doing loads of other stuff. As it was I had forgotten that my youngest had her annual Girls Brigade Display on that day and we had loads of family coming over to see her. If I had come to the game I would have had to have left early and would have had it held against me for weeks!

      As it is I'm one up on Mrs Biglee and can hold up my 'sacrifice' as an example next time we have a conflict of dates. Life's a game, and after 20 years of marriage I think I'm starting to get the hang of the rules...

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    3. Trust an old man on this; it's never that simple...

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    4. Mike is right, it's not that simple. I've been with the Hubby for 25 years and just when he gets really comfortable, BAM, I throw him off kilter.

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    5. Women change the rules constantly people.....come on people it's not rocket science!

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  24. Great looking game. Nice to see that you're maintaining the age old wargaming tradition of wind and heat.

    Regards,
    Matt

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    1. It was tough but we are for tradition at the Rejects!

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  25. My goodness me Francis, what a game! I have visions of Postie painstakingly setting everything out the night before, chuckling at his devilish plot twists!

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  26. Fantastic Francis, just fantastic! Looks like a great game, love the wonderful looking figures, especially the casualty vignettes, the gun and the cavalry...thanks for sharing!!

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  27. very nice game big fella, looks to have been a good game.

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  28. The heat... feeling it too!
    The game... made me want to play too! The problem is... no opponents around! Well, at least I can't be beaten! :D

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  29. Any game that you can add sheep into the fray is a good game!

    Great AAR Fran

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  30. that was a weird part of English history, but then again which one wasn't ? Charles was quite a strange king, wasn't he?

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  31. Looked like a cracking game, lovely mini's as usual! I think a fan maybe a requirement if this weather decides to stick for a bit :)

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    1. I think you're right as we're having another game this weekend!

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  32. Very good AAR. Even a hot, gassy game is still a good game.
    I liked the before and after of the last melee. Great stuff.

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    1. Thanks Mike, first use of chemical warfare I believe in English history.

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  33. A history lesson and cool minatures.

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    1. It was for me as I knew little of England's second series of civil wars!

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  34. Looks like a great time! That first picture with Ian, btw, where he's holding the wooden board. It looks like he's trying to shoot pool and has no idea what he's doing.

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  35. It has been above 105 here, even getting upwards of 110. Even with a "swamp cooler" going, it is still hot. Next time, take along a gas mask and a water cooler full of dry ice. Both should increase your comfort. :)

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  36. Its about time the little shit got the ECW figures out! Looks like it was a great game, I'm quite glad I was on my hols after reading about Pettman's arse!!!!

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    1. You were lucky as he was being a moaning git as well.

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  37. Great game, not sure how you survived the heat in Postie's shed, it was bad enough here sitting in the garden supping beer

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  38. Gorgeous game and great AAR Francis! I'd love to see Posties' rules (being an unrepentant rules junkie). Sorry to hear about the heat. Doing ANYTHING in extreme heat sucks big time. Since the Royalists stooped to 'colon released chemical agents' you should treat yourself to some nice ice cream or gelato as a consolation.

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    1. We had monkey meat and pickle sandwiches with warm cola!!!!

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    2. Yikes! You folks from that 'Green and Pleasant Land' need to learn to eat according to the season! That sounds nasty. I'd be gassy as well...

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    3. It's taken my colon nearly 12 years to grow accustomed to Posties monkey meat sandwiches!

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  39. What a game there mate and I have to say it looks blooming great too.

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  40. Good looking game, love the 28s... I have a bunch from when I dabbled in WECW... but I need to get them rebased for Warlords Pike and Shotte, if I ever get round to it...

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  41. Heat and methane are usually a deadly combination Fran, you may have been defeated but you're probably lucky to be alive. Excessive methane notwithstanding, a great looking game and AAR!

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  42. Wait? No funny pictures of Ray in this post? Not even one of him in a Waldo-like shirt?

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  43. What's better than a little heat to make you feel the pressure of the game?!

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  44. Looked a good game, despite the heat...
    and Postie...
    and farting...
    and losing...
    and the moaning...

    but on the plus side, at least you didn't have Ray there.

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  45. I like a lot this period, a lot, and the collection of figures there are here is fantastic. Very nice game and AAR, Fran, and in the TRUE scale!!!

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