My Scottish Season

Campaign Journal: May 1649

by Chris J. Hahn

(Draft commenced July 30, 2001)

In the month of May, rain continued to fall in the Province of Sussex. The weather did not serve to hamper any operations, as General Turner, after weighing his options, decided to "hold in place" and work on welding his "new" army into an effective fighting force.

Rain fell in The Lowlands, too. The Queen's march north into the capital district was relatively uneventful. Her powerful force brushed aside the garrison of the first district. However, once crossing into the capital district, the defense became even more stingy. Even with the Royalist garrison in the capital, the Queen's army was still checked in its attempt to subjugate the district.

Politically, the Royalists looked to secure their foothold in Northumberland. Lord Otto had finally forced the garrison to withdraw, but he was soon occupied by the Scottish First Army, which had crossed into his newly subjugated district. The other Scottish force advanced in tandem, into the capital district of Northumberland. Here, the newly raised army of Northumberland (not tested in battle and due to present circumstances, out of supply) opposed the Scots. The problem was complex, as there was a Royalist garrison occupying the capital.

Additional problems arose in The Lowlands, when the Queen crossed the border in an effort to advance to the support of Sussex. She was successful in taking the first district she marched into, but met with difficulties in the capital district of The Lowlands. Even with the presence of a friendly Royalist garrison (made up of troops from her home province), the Queen was stymied.

NOTES

Originally, the non-aligned districts could be allied with either Prince John's .'rebels" or with the Queen. This was determined by a simple roll of the dice. The question that springs to mind, however, is whether or not these districts, having been "invaded" by a side, will automatically declare for the other side.

It being May, and reinforcements due ... the Scots took their 7 BP and transferred them into supply points. The Royalists took their 12 BP and "drafted" three foot regiments in the capital of Eastershire.

In terms of status, the only army out of supply was the newly raised force in Northumberland. This force was neither Rebel or Royalist; it was more concerned with pushing the Scots back and recapturing those two home districts. However, it was minus four points with respect to supply, so the army would be subsequently reduced.

For the French, the standing army was in fair condition, while the garrison was ranked as "poor". With respect to supply status, the French depots were much reduced. Originally at 132 points, the French and new garrison consumed 64 points. In helping out the Scots, the French spent a further 21 points. For the month of June then, the Duke would have just 47 points. At this rate, July would prove "interesting" for the French and their effort.

On the Royalist side of the "fence", this was the supply situation and status of their forces: the Queen's force was in fair condition and had used 12 points from her depots in addition to that supply provided by the Province. Lord Otto's force was also in fair condition and had used just 4 points from his depots. The re-built army of Sussex was in fair condition; the new troops anxious to exact revenge on the French, and yet a little cautious. The units having seen battle - now veterans - were not as anxious though they were resolved to inflict defeat on the Duke. With the loss of the one district, the new army consumed 10 points of supply from depots in this month. This brought the campaign total to 13 points. Of the 30 points at the start of this campaign, the Army of Sussex had 17 points remaining in depot.

(addenda, August 04, 2001)

For the second time in as many months, a Royalist army was "surprised" on its route of march. On this occasion, however, the Scots were the victors and, they were considerably less discomforted in their success than the French.

In a brief but sharp engagement, Lord Otto was received a superficial cut to the leg while retrieving his mounted element from a veritable sea of highlanders. In fact, the Scottish commander, Lord McMullin was much vexed by the action of the clans. Instead of acting in concert, and thereby capturing or destroying an even larger part of Lord Otto's force, the Highlanders were taken by blood lust at the sight of unformed Royalist troops making their way across the fields surrounding Playnesfield Manor. These irregulars attacked with great elan. Three Royalist foot regiments took 50% casualties, and, as mentioned, their cavalry compatriots faired only slightly better. Lord Otto lost half of his artillery arm as well; so rapid was the retreat and so rapid the advance of the Scots and their cavalry.

Adding insult to injury, the Royalist regiments lost two standards in the contest.

In contrast, the Scots lost but one Highlander banner. As for casualties, overall, they were light and spread rather evenly between foot, Highlanders and horse. Scottish artillery played little part in the engagement. Though every battery was classed as light and so, easily moved, the action was too quick. Only at the very end did these crew get any shots away. These had little effect, other than to further depress the morale of the running Royalists. The Scots did come close to losing their second in command ... General O'Day was hit in the shoulder with a musket ball and unhorsed. Fortunately, he was protected by the men in his suite and was quickly borne to surgeons in the rear of the line.

Prince John was not at any real risk, as he was back with the baggage trains when the fighting started. It was not a surprise to some casual observers when he remained there during the course of the battle. At the end, when the Royalist were withdrawing, he did strongly urge Lord McMullin to pursue and "wipe them out." The substantially more experienced Lord did acknowledge the presence of the Prince. The advice, on the other hand, went unheeded. Lord McMullin was more concerned about consolidating the Scottish position in Northumberland. It did not make much military sense, after all, to advance while a strong Royalist garrison and small, but potentially dangerous Northumberland force, remained within striking distance of his lines of supply and communication.

With respect to victory points, at Playnesfield Manor, the Scots earned a total of 27. Two points for the standards taken, 15 points for the battle won and 10 points for the automatic subjugation of a non-aligned district. (The garrison of this district had been pushed out by Lord Otto before the Scots arrived.)

In contrast, the Royalists limped away from the field of battle with just one (1) victory point: for securing that single highland "regimental" banner.

A few days later, in the capital district of Northumberland, the "2nd Army" of Scots fought a harder battle against the newly raised/combined Northumberland forces. In this particular battle, it was the Scots who were caught relatively unprepared. (In determining the parameters of the field engagement, the Scots were "restricted" and so, on the defense.) As it turned out though, it was not that much of a handicap to have 25% of their force in camp. And yet, it was a bloody fight. The Northumberland forces were split into two wings there was really no center due to a small copse forward of the Scottish encampment - under the respective commands of Major General Turner and Count Leo. The battle went well, initially, for the Northumberland force. It was thought that they could not do that much, given the size of their force, it's inexperience and because it was out of supply.

The original cavalry wings for the Scots were met and broken by the Northumberland horse. On the Scottish right, it was a closely fought contest. On the left, a reserve regiment deployed from the encampment and was able to shore up the Scottish left. On this same flank, Count Leo advanced against the foot regiments within the encampment. An hour's exchange of musket and cannon resulted in the withdrawal of the Northumberland regiments - now experienced in battle, if less in number. Over on the Scottish right, a solid line of Highlanders awaited the advance of three Northumberland regiments and what remained of the cavalry contingent. In a very hard-fought melee, where the advantage swung to one side and then the other, the Scottish were ultimately victorious. They were very disorganized and depleted by the contest however, and so, did not engineer any kind of pursuit of the retreating Northumberland forces.

In terms of losses, neither side lost its commander or alternate. Surprisingly, neither side lost any unit colors or standards. The Scots did suffer three units "breaking." One of these being a "regiment" of Highlanders. Two of the remaining three Highlander units were pretty "cut up." For the Northumberland "army," four units were broken. Half of these units were cavalry. The surviving regiment of horse was very close to being routed when Major General Turner ordered the withdrawal. The foot regiments suffered quite a little bit too. Two of five regiments were completely broken, and the casualties taken by the other three added up to the loss of another regiment.

The Scottish earned 23 victory points in this battle: 15 for defeating the Northumberland "army" and an additional eight points for breaking four regiments. The force under Major General Turner earned just six victory points, for routing three units of the Scottish force.

Political Ramifications

The Scottish could not subjugate the capital district of Northumberland, as the Major General was still "at large", even if recently defeated. Additionally, there was a small but powerful Royalist garrison within the capital city. General Crispin reorganized his forces, sent word to his counterpart to the South, then sat down in his command tent and seriously considered requesting reinforcements from the homeland.

Major General Turner was forced to realize that he could not hope to withstand let alone survive another fight against the Scots. His only course of action then, was to ally himself with the Royalists. And so, less than a week after his defeat, the Major General met in talks with the Royalist garrison commander. In less than a day, they had arrived at terms. What remained of Northumberland would declare against Prince John.

News of this development reached the camp of Queen Polivka toward the end of the month, and she was heartened by the report. "Things" were going not at all well for her cause. In two months, two Royalist armies had been met and defeated on the field of battle. Northumberland had not declared for the crown at the time of its defeat, so she really could not count this as a third loss. However, she wondered if it might be too little to late with respect to Northumberland. The combined garrison / army was effectively isolated and very probably low on supplies. A naval operation was considered, but it was refuted on the grounds that it would take too long to put together and besides, what of the French fleet?

Lord Otto was away, "licking his wounds," and therefore could not be counted upon to address or redress the present situation. In Sussex, a new army had been formed, but the capital district was right in the middle of the French and Scottish threat. To attack either way would result in exposing the capital to capture by the uninvolved enemy army. In the face of this, the Queen sent orders for the army of Sussex Province to "remain in place."

In addition to all of this, the Queen was facing her own troubles. The news of the Scottish victories had also reached the governors of The Lowlands. Still upset from the transgression by the Queen when she marched across the border and took a district from the Province, these men now called for war against the Queen.

The garrison of the capital district found itself between the Queen's army and the Royalist garrison. This was not a good place to be. Therefore, this small force retreated north toward the French in Sussex. They did not cross this border, however. They simply hoped to draw the Queen away from their capital or at the very least, stretch her communication and supply lines. In the meantime, garrisons of the remaining districts were combined and a call went out for volunteers. This "army" was forming in the southern most district of The Lowlands. The consensus among officers - as no commander in chief had been selected - was to take the fight into Eastershire and in so doing, force the Queen to withdraw from The Lowlands.

Communiques relating this very information were dispatched to Prince John.

At the close of May then, Northumberland was "on fire" and the Scottish were doing their best to fan the flames. And, while it may be suggested that the Queen and her allied provinces formed a kind of "central position" against the aggression of the French and Scottish; two Royalist armies had been defeated and a Province in the middle of this "central position" had just declared for Prince John.

NOTES

While the developments with respect to Northumberland and The Lowlands go against a literal reading of the rules, I would like to suggest that one advantage (among many) to solo-wargaming and campaigning is the "arguing out" of what would be considered a logical evolution of events. To be certain, the die roll totals for Prince John and the Queen are no where near the required score to "earn" the alliance of these two involved Provinces. Given the present state of circumstances however, it does not seem unreasonable to "fabricate" the narrative course described above.

It's already getting to be problematic (laborious) to keep track of the garrison forces. Perhaps I need to review this process. Questions revolve around the placement of garrisons in subjugated districts, as well as the taking of garrison troops for replacement of battle losses or for the formation of "task forces." But maybe this is just due to the level of activity in the campaign so far.

Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules

Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules

Campaign Journal: November and December 1649 [Conclusion] (MW118)

Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules

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