Being a wargame between Alasdair Jamison and David Shuttleworth (attackers) and David Barnes, Governor of Medupsberg (defender).
*Who actually won wearing his "Lowest Roller - On" tee shirt. (0 to the power of n, as I'm sure you know, is 0 x 0 x 0 to infinity. Impossible I know as "one" is the lowest number on a die. However, having usually rolled "ones" in sequence on many occasions, the tee shirt logo is apt for me!)
A letter demanding the surrender of Medupsberg has been received by the Governor. He has rejected it even though a large breach has been made in the town wall on the East and a small one beside the bastion to the North.
A second letter promised no quarter, so the garrison prepared to sell their lives dearly. The rules used were " 1644," by Rick Priestly, published by Wargames Foundry.
The Garrison:
Old Tilly Regiment (elite)
The Mounted Burgher Regt (dismounted, trained)
The City Red Regiment (raw)
The City Green Regiment (raw)
Cavalry Regiment Grolz (trained)
The Cardinal's Guard (trained but few in number)
The Governor's Guard (trained but few in number)
In the East tower on the wall a cannon, 6 lber
In the North Bastion a 9 lb cannon
In a roofless building in the center of the barricade stopping the East wall breach, a triple organ gun
On the mound of the South tower" a single organ gun
On top of the South tower a 91b Long Tom cannon sighted on the small breach
And two snipers
Beautifully made by Christopher Constable of Clayton le Moors, Accrington
The Swedish Attackers:
Sir James Spen's (Scots in Hodden Grey, trained)
His Majesty's Regiment of Foot (or the Old Yellows, elite)
Von Rehn's (trained)
Von Hogendorf s (trained)
Von Pfuel's (trained)
Von Dargetz's (trained)
Smalands (trained)
Nordands (trained)
Von der Noth (trained)
Strieff s Horse (never engaged, trained)
Johann Banner's Horse (never engaged, trained)
Two Petardier groups, with Forlorn Hopes to the rear
A covered battery of artillery which made the Eastern breach
Two light guns in limber
A siege piece, which made the small breach in the North wall
A mortar
Various peasants with ladders for an escalade
The King's Majesty was also in the vicinity of Spen's and the Old Yellows
Both sides had prospects of support from inside the town. Each move a die was thrown and the defenders had to score 50, the attackers had to score 60 (throwing "1" three times meant non-activation). The Governor reached 50 in the penultimate move and 2 large bodies of citizens paraded with improvised weapons at the Rathaus square and the clock tower. Neither had time to deploy before the game ended. The attackers "inside support" naturally lay doggo. There were less of then anyway.
A drawing of Medupsberg will help readers understand the problems facing both sides - and incidentally help the writer remember most of what happened. "One picture is worth a thousand words."
Now you can get an idea of the layout and imagine those ranks of assaulters and defenders pressing forward and back.
The main attack was of course at the large Eastern breach where the old Tilly regiment was disposed in two halves behind the North and Sought parts of the barricades. In their center was the roofless byre from a window of which peered out the multi barrels of the triple organ gun. A chevau de frise stood before the window. The assaulting regiments there were His Majesty's Regiment of Foot and Sir James Spen's Regiment.
These two regiments, supported by a light cannon that sought to suppress the defenders' nearby tower cannon, struggled with Old Tilly's all day. The South defenders were pushed back twice but rallied both times to send the attackers tumbling back over the barricade. On the North side that half of old Tilly's were eventually pushed back by His Majesty's.
On the North wall, the burghers fired away at the Forlorn Hopes and the petard parties. The party aiming for the smaller of the two gates suffered quite badly but the petardier himself was unscathed and both parties successfully hoisted their petards and blew in their respective gates. The attacking regiments there, under Graf von Shuttleworth, suffered badly from the burghers' fire and more from the cannon on the bastion which enfiladed them again and again. His Majesty's General of the Ordinance, Sir Alasdair Jamison, brought a mortar into play. Unfortunately although the mortar gunners got their fuses right for range, the wind (dice throws for divergence***) caused most of their carcases to fall on the Buttercross, the small breach, and once, disastrously, they blew away the front ranks of one of their own attacking regiments.
In order to silence this gun, an escalade was ordered against the East side of the bastion. The ladders were carried by impressed peasants promised by the dragoons who went with them their house roofs would not be fired if they did the service. Having placed the ladders, the peasants scampered away back over the lines of circumvallation where they watched the assault, fascinated. As one of them said, "If they'd invented television yet, this would be on it! " The burgher musketeers on the East wall of the bastion stuck to the task of knocking any dragoon who ventured up the ladders down. In the end, the dragoons removed the ladders and escaladed part of the North wall that had been cleared by salvoe fire from an assaulting regiment. The dragoons gained the walk way of the wall and ran in single file to deal with the burghers who had the same idea about them! One by one, the dragoons were meleed off the wall.
Pressure, training, and numbers were beginning to tell. The burgheTs on the North walls descended from them and, passing through the inn archway, regrouped in the close of the ruined church. The cavalry regiment Goltz remained uncommitted beside the pottico of the ruined church, effectively pinning the troops beginning to surge over the North barricade in increasing numbers. The Governor's Guard charged into the main North gate to cover the regrouping of the remnants of various regiments in the close.
The Governor's 50 comes up and two large bodies of townsfolk come out in support of the garrison - but before they can be deployed, darkness falls. A tremendous game enjoyed by the three participants, who do this particular event (different games) once a year. Roll on 1999!
***Note: the mortar rules are home grown. Also, any problems are resolved using a D6 (1,2,3 = yes, 4,5,6 = no, or similar).
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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