(Draft commenced August 12, 2001)
In the first month of the Summer Season, every Province save The Lowlands enjoyed warm and clear weather. In The Lowlands, rain continued to fall.
This hampered both offensive and defensive operations in the capital district, but the Queen held a marked superiority and, after some maneuvering and a quick skirmish or two, the "rebels" were pushed out and the capital taken.
This victory was short-lived however, as the newly formed Lowland Army under command of General Featherstone, took an opposite tack. Instead of marching to the relief of his beleaguered capital, he took the fight into Eastershire and trounced the garrison force of the first district he entered. Turning back northwards, he quickly subdued a second district. The garrison here retreated; much reduced, In a very short time then, Queen Polivka found herself and her large army cut off from her home Province and her capital city.
In Sussex, Duke Bertrand advanced cautiously from his base to secure yet another district of the Province. Just as the Queen was cut off from her supply base and capital, the skillful advance of the French cut Sussex Province in two.
Over on the South and West of the island country, the Association was close to a declared alliance with the cause of Prince John. If this did develop fully, the Queen was going to be in a very bad way for Lord Otto's force was once again engaged with the Scottish forces under Lord McMullin. Even allowing for the best possible turn of events and weather, it would take Lord Otto and his troops at least two months of hard marching to get into a position where they could obstruct an invasion or passing through of troops from the Southern Alliance.
Indeed, the candle of hope for the Royalist cause was in Lord Otto's hands. For the second time in as many months, he advanced to bring the Scots to battle. Time was pressing in this theater as well, for the Second Scottish Army had pinned Major General Turner's polyglot force into the capital district of Northumberland. Turner's force, unlike the Scots, was very low on supplies. His force was also smaller in number than the Scottish. Once again, the General found himself between a rock and a hard place. To offer battle risked the chance of death on the field; to wait for rescue by the Army of the Western Confederation, well, that was to risk the chance of a slower death.
Prince John was in fine spirits this month. The sun shone in the sky as brightly as the prospects of the "Rebel" cause and his claim to the throne. Word had arrived of the status of the Queen, as well as word of the progress being made by his ambassadors in the capital of The Southern Association. He dared to imagine that, come August - or September at the latest - that he would be ensconced in the Royal Chambers of the Palace of Eastershire Province.
The Battle of Ilkeston Plain
(drafted August 18, 2001)
For the second time in as many months, the commands of Lord Otto and Lord McMullin faced each other in the southern most district of the Province of Northumberland. Unlike the first engagement, the Royalists were not caught strung out on their line of march. Instead, the Scots made their approach to a partially encamped enemy.
The Royalist camp was located on a slight rise in the center rear of the position. Inside, Lord Otto placed himself (he was still recovering from his wound). Two veteran foot regiments were also in camp, along with a medium artillery battery and a small band of musketeers. As it turned out, none of these troops were to see any action on the day.
To the immediate left of the encampment, Lord Otto had posted a single regiment of Dragoons. On this same flank, but on the plain and not the hill, Lord Otto positioned a first line of three foot regiments (one regiment was classed as veteran and one, nearest the camp, was classed as garrison). These were deployed on a slight angle from the left front corner of the camp lines. Behind the foot, there were two cavalry regiments; one of these being a garrison regiment - brought in after the defeat suffered in May. Directly in front of the camp, and again, in front of the rise, Lord Otto placed his remaining two regiments of foot. Then, over to the right and slightly in front of the camp, General Appleby commanded a wing of three regiments of veteran horse. These regiments were under strength, having been somewhat bruised the previous month and not yet fully recovered.
Across the plain, the Scots were arranged in two lines. Unbeknownst to Lord Otto, there were two bands of Highlanders in the small wood on the left front of the Royalist position. Additionally, behind this copse were two light regiments of Scottish horse (one was of Dragoons), set to swing around and engage the Royalist left flank if not rear.
The center of the line was composed of two veteran regiments of foot. Attached to these pike and musket units were two batteries of light guns. The guns were deployed and centered upon the Royalist foot regiments fronting the encampment. To the immediate left of the guns, Lord McMullin stationed himself with three regiments of horse. Two of these were Demi Lancers, and they flanked a veteran unit of heavy horse. To the rear of this cavalry force, three foot regiments were arranged in line. These men were under the direct command of the wounded General Appleby. A little ways to their right, and to the rear of the veteran foot regiments, Lord McMullin placed a single unit of Highlanders supported by a "battalion" of musketeers. Anyhow.
The battle began with the Scottish artillery ranging an ineffective fire against the Royalist foot to their front. Having won the initiative, both cavalry wings of the Scots advanced at a steady pace. As one might expect, the moves were matched or countered by bodies of Royalist horse. In terms of movement by foot, the Scottish moved only their pike and musket units: advancing under the "protection" of the artillery and moving up to take the place of the recently deployed cavalry.
Combat quickly developed on the flanks of each line: the Scots gaining impetus under Lord McMullin, but suffering at the hands of the detached left wing Royalist horse. In short order, the light horse and dragoons were broken and streaming to the rear. Being in a defensive mode, the victorious regimental commanders recalled their horse and assumed a line near their infantry counter parts. In the swirling combat on the Scottish left, the engagement was not so quickly decided, but it did, ultimately, spell defeat for the day. First one regiment of Demi Lancers reached breaking point, and then another followed. Lord McMullin was within the ranks of his heavy horsemen and hotly engaged as well - nearly giving as good as he got. However, his men could not withstand the veteran Royal troopers. Retreat was sounded, and those men surviving the melee withdrew to reform behind the line of pike and musket men. General Appleby, having been strictly reminded by Lord Otto that they were to defend only - and having lost a regiment in the bargain - made no pursuit.
As happened on the other flank, he reformed his men and prepared for new action. (Aside: ARMATI veterans will note that this kind of action/development is not possible on the field, for cavalry cannot break-off against other cavalry. While there is, under the Conliffe rules, a distinct attraction and even simplicity of a unit fighting until it reaches a breaking point and then "evaporating," I also like a house rule provided by Charles Grant in his text, Wargame Tactics. In short, this house rule provides that if, by the passage of a certain number of periods of close combat, a decision has not been reached, then both sides with withdraw to rest and re-order themselves.)
There would be none. The Scots artillery hire had barely scratched the regiments standing on the plain in front of Lord Otto's camp. The two veteran regiments found themselves in a withering crossfire: the musketry from the two regiments to their left front, combined with the fire from the Royalist foot to their right front, proved too much. Leaving more that several score men on the ground, these veteran regiments withdrew.
For all their ferocity and enthusiasm demonstrated in the previous battle, the Highlander bands made no contribution on this field. The two units hiding in ambush never launched an attack. To be fair, the opportunity never really presented itself.
And so, with scarcely any viable cavalry force intact, Lord McMullin quit the plain at Ilkeston. Lord Otto satisfied himself with a victory (however less than resounding it had been) and with securing a district in the name of the Royalist cause.
No unit standards were lost in this primarily cavalry engagement. In terms of victory points awarded, the Royalist could claim a total of 19. Just four of these for breaking key Scottish units; 15 points were won for taking the field. The Scots, on the other hand, abandoned the field with a measly two victory points for their efforts.
NOTES
(developed August 16, 2001)
Re-thinking my approach to supply issues and the record keeping involved, I revised the record sheet to make this administrative task a little easier. There is still the replication (or duplication) of the one section of the campaign turn record; that being the Army listing under Roman Numeral 3. However, this new form or approach identifies the forces (army and garrison) by their map identification. It also allows for a more detailed tracking of supply points in terms of plus, minus and remaining stocks. An example of the French record appears below. This is for the campaign month of June, 1649.
| FRENCH | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAP ID | FORCE | REVENUE | DEPOTS | DEDUCTIONS | REMAINDER / OVERAGE |
| PINK A | FRENCH/1ST | +6 | 86/ +10 | -22 | +71 |
| PINK C | GARRISON | N/A | 86/ +10 | -2 | +69 |
| PINK P | GARRISON | N/A | 86/+10 | -7 | +62 (END) / depots only |
Notes: 10 additional points to depots; gift from Scots.
As the reader will note, the force is identified not only by map pin/standard, but with a brief description of the force. Revenue is then determined and any depot supply is added to this amount. Deductions are then calculated (3 points for cavalry, 1 for infantry and 2 for artillery), and this total is subtracted from the supply point amount. In the above case, the French "start" with 96 total supply points. The cost of the main army works out to be 22, so 96 minus 22 equals a positive 71 points. The same procedure is followed for each subsequent force, and a final supply total, be it positive or negative points, is determined and represented by (END). For the next campaign month then, the French will begin with 62 points of supply available in their depot(s).
As an added note here, I wanted to make a distinction between home district garrisons and those garrisons tasked with holding or occupying subjugated districts. For sake of simplicity, it seemed to me that there only need be an assessment made against those garrisons / forces in "action" as opposed to those garrisons occupying home districts. For example, the Scottish (in the month of June) have seven garrisons holding the seven districts that make up the two provinces of their country. It is assumed that these garrisons are supplied. If the garrison or part of it becomes part of an operational army or is transferred to an enemy district for garrison duty, then supply points will be expended to keep this force in the field.
I have also been thinking about revising the Pre-Battle Tension "rules" for this campaign. The reason: I am not completely satisfied with the "transition" of DBA concept to ARMATI rules, especially with respect to command and control. For example, in this second battle between the "Lords of the North" - as I have come to call the Scots under McMullin and the Army under Otto - the Scots selected a Flank counter and the Royalists a Defend counter. This results in a restricted battle, with Lord Otto placing 25% of his force in an encampment. Per the ARMATI battle set up, there is no, or can be no, flanking attack or approach. At this point, I have not developed any firm revision to this perceived problem, but it's on my list of "things to do."
In that same respect, I was also thinking about adopting the DBA command die roll for use in these battles, instead of utilizing the ARMATI rules on army division command and control, It seems to me that this would allow a little more flexibility, both in terms of deployment and of the progress of the general action. With regard to the above "discussion", commander ratings could affect the die roll. The "conditions" of the battle could also have an impact. For example, if the Scots have a Flank counter against the Royalists Defend, then the Scots get a + 1 to their pip roll. The Royalists, in contrast, will suffer a -1 to their die roll.
Anyhow, it gives me something to think about while I'm adding up (or subtracting) the supply point records for each army and garrison presently on the map.
Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules
Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules
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Introduction
Campaign Journal: July 1649
Campaign Journal: August 1649
Campaign Journal: September 1649
Campaign Journal: October 1649
Campaign Journal: November and December 1649 [Conclusion] (MW118)
Return of Prince John ECW Campaign Rules
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Revisiting and Revising "For God, Queen, and Country"
Background and Rules
Charts and Tables (very slow: 215K)
Campaign Map (slow: 67K)
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© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
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