‘Herding Butterflies’

 For those that know me or have followed my blog for some time they will know that my paint desk usually has 3 or 4 painting projects on the go at once! It’s just how my mind works, I need different figures in terms of scale or uniform so that I can paint what I fancy at that time! 

I envy those individuals who can focus on one period at the expense of everything else but my ‘butterfly’ mind just isn’t disciplined enough for that, the best I have been able to achieve is to stay within some fairly broad parameters, Ancient/ Darkages. 17th Century, 18th century British in the Caribbean and America, Napoleonic and ACW and that really is quite a lot and I’m sure there’s some other bits lurking on the fringes.

Since the sale of Crann Tara it has enabled me to dabble in all of these and make progress. In particular the ECW mainly due to the painting services of Lee Gramson who has painted about 90% of  the figures in my two armies. That is ongoing but I’m also quite tempted to move east in Europe and look at Cossacks/ Poles/ Ottomans. By Fire and Sword 2nd edition is currently on KS and I’m mighty tempted- so whilst mulling over thought I’d print a Russian church 🤦🏼

A little bit of filling to do where it’s glued but won’t take long and can then paint.

I also had a good run on painting those Warlord ‘epics’ for the Quatre Bras project, all the French are done just need basing finishing so I will show them later, in the meantime here’s a pic of the French characters, they need highlighting and some Matt varnish put on.

On a Wednesday my colleague usually pops round for a game, the last couple of weeks we’ve returned to board gaming and our focus has been on GMT’s Panzer. At present we are just about to progress from tank v tank action to adding infantry and artillery when I feel comfortable to write about a game in progress I shall do so.

I also received what appears to be a very interesting game, a cross over between board and figure gaming, Onus Traianus has excellent production qualities and includes standard rules, solo rules and campaign games. I’m still working through the contents but you can see the production quality is nice and the cards, which are used on the table top as units, could easily be replaced with figures or as some other gamers have already done they’re using the cards to try out other rule sets.

So just a few things floating around and in the background there’s my 15mm Ancient Thracian army which is just about 50% painted😁 variety is the spice of life! 

Keep safe.

Edgehill part 2.

 The King is impatient and wants to keep momentum however his command roll is poor and with only 4 activation chits it will need carefully thought.

On  the  Royalist left flank Wilmott retires his regiment of horse in order to reform and rest.

In the centre the musket exchange was slightly in favour of Parliament with Cholmley’s regiment causing Dutton to retire. 

On the Royalist right flank the Prince of Wales regiment reforms and Ushers dragoons cause Ballards detached musketeers to retreat.

Brooke’s and his Purple coated regiment fires on Prince Maurice’s regiment and causes them to retreat.

Suddenly at 3.40 the Royalist army appeared to find new impetus, on the left flank Astons horse advances to support  Digby whilst Wilmott continues to fall back.

In the centre three Royalist regiments of foot charge,

Fenton charges Saye, Fielding charges Roberts and Pennyman charges Mandeville

Dutton reforms his regiment and Charles Gerard’s regiment advances and fires on Cholmley with no effect.

In the melee the Royalist foot do well, Mandeville is forced back by Pennyman.

Fielding and Roberts both inflict casualties although Roberts attached light gun is destroyed

Finton’s regiment is bounced by Saye and forced to retreat disordered.

On the Royalist right drama unfolds as Rupert leads his regiment in an attack on Holles foot regiment, with only half of their musketeers attached ( the others had been detached to support the cavalry and had fled) and failing to form stand of pike Rupert men hit home and inflicted 4 casualties causing Holles men to break and flee the field. In a break through move Rupert leads his men forward in an attempt to repeat the success on Lord Generals regiment, on this occasion both sides inflicted casualties and Rupert men were forced to retreat.

The regiment now had blown horses and would have to retire.

Brooke’s regiment fired on Prince Maurice and inflicted casualties.

As the time moved towards 4pm the Royalist cause appeared to be in the ascendancy although the first line of Royalist foot had taken many casualties and were becoming exposed.

4pm On the Royalist left flank Astons horse charges Saye’s foot to prevent him from attacking Fintons regiment which has suffered heavy casualties and is trying to reform. Aston doesn’t caus any casualties but forces Saye to retreat disordered 12”!  Aston follows through and hits Balfour but again fails to cause casualties and receives one in return causing him to retreat.

In the centre most of the first line Royalist regiments look to reform although Fielding charges Roberts although causing casualties Roberts regiment holds its ground causing Fielding to fall back, likewise Dutton charges Cholmley’s foot again no casualties are caused but Cholmley is forced to retreat.

On the Royalist right flank Rupert seeks to retire his cavalry to rest and reform. Ushers dragoons continue their private battle with Ballards detached musketeers and forces them to retreat from the battlefield.

In response Parliament seeks to hold its lines and apply pressure where it can, Wardlawe’s dragoons on Parlaimenta right causes the Roayalist dragoons to fall back and the reserve cavalry troops,( including Essex’s lifeguard) moves toward their left flank in an effort to prevent the Royalist horse threatening the infantry

The clock moves on and some lethargy seems to strike the Kings army.

On the Kings left Astons horse reforms but their dragoons are driven from the field by the intense fire from the Parliamentarian dragoons.

In the centre Duttons regiment fires on Whartons causing them to retreat but Dutton is now out of ammunition

Fielding falls back battered and Finton who also has heavy casualties fails to rally off a hit.

Fairfax’s regiment has advanced and fired on Digby’s horse causing them to retreat and Sayes regiment after reforming starts to advance back towards the centre.

At 4.20 the King only receives 4 activation chits on his left Wilmott continues to rally and Digbys horse comes under fire from the Parliamentarian dragoons who have redeployed in the enclosures and are posing a serials threat to the Royalist cavalry.

In the centre the out of ammo Dutton charges Cholmley’s regiment both inflict casualties on each other but Dutton is forced to retire disordered.

Pennyman fires at Mandeville to no effect and is now also out of ammunition.

Gerard and Brooke’s engage in melee and Gerard is forced back. The Parliamentarian artillery now makes its presence felt again firing on the battered Fielding causing the regiment to retreat further.

On the Royalist right flank Rupert can see he needs to buy time and apply pressure on the enemy he moves and joins the Prince of Wales regiment and charges what’s left of the Parliamentarian cavalry and inflicts one hit in reply the cavalry including the Cuirassiers inflict a casualty and causes the Royalists to retreat but more importantly Rupert is wounded. A quick check and he suffers a light wound and will be out of action for 30 minutes.

The loss of Rupert at a critical time will put a strain on the Royalist army as they need to try and rally off hits on their infantry.

4.30pm 

On the Royalist left Wilmott seeks to bring all his horse together and continue to reform and rest.

As he does so the Parliamentarian dragoons in the enclosures fires on Digbys horse causing them to retreat.

The King has ordered Salisburys regiment to clear the enclosures of those annoying dragoons!

In the centre Pennyman out of ammunition charges Mandeville in an attempt to stall the Parliamentarian foot, Mandeville takes two hits and breaks. Essex’s infantry regiment is on the slope  behind Mandeville. The regiment holds firm and is now facing Pennyman.

Dyves charges Brooke’s regiment in order to take pressure off the disordered Royalist foot, unfortunately Brooke’s repulses Dyve and inflicts two hits.

On the Royalist right flank Ramsey with the remaining 3 troops of Parliamentarian horse charges the just reformed Rupert horse and inflicts 3 hits taking one in return!

During Parliaments turn cracks start to appear in the Royalist forces, the artillery fires on Fielding and breaks the regiment!

Essex’s foot charges downhill into Pennyman and inflicts 4 hits driving them back, Brooke charges into the disordered Dyves and inflicts 3 hits and Cholmley charges into Dutton inflicting 2 hits and driving him back.

Certainly Parliament this round was in the ascendancy inflicting multiple casualties on a number of Royalist regiments bringing a number of them close to breaking.

4.40-5.00pm the King continues to struggle with activation chits. Salisbury’s regiment on the left flank fails to charge the dragoons but the battle takes a dramatic twist in the centre

Under fire from Saye and Balfour, Bolles regiment of foot breaks, Essex’s regiment of foot charges again into Pennyman inflicts 3 hits and breaks them,

Wharton and the Lord Generals regiment fires on Dyves regiment the casualties are sufficient to break the regiment and the artillery fires on Fintons regiment the artillery fire rips through the regiment and causes them to break. With four regiments breaking over two bounds it Brough the Royalist casualties beyond the break point!

The Royalist forces had 63 BP out of 63 and Parliamentarians 48 out of 56, so close . In the last few bounds the Parliamentarians managed to shield their regiments who had sustained high casualties whilst the Royalists had three or four consecutive bounds where they did not receive many activation chits with the result the King couldn’t pull back the forward regiments and replace them with fresh regiments.

The army break point was set at 40% of total points with a troop of horse being 1 and a regiment of foot being 6 or 7 etc.

Certainly a cracking game and very close. Points to consider for me and the rules, there is nothing in the rules re the effect of friendly units breaking, I cobbled together shaking 1 or 2 dice with a flag meaning the unit becomes disordered. Two flags disordered and retreats but I think this can be developed further for different quality troops.

Also I can’t decide if I should have a regiment break if it is forced to retreat too far one flag on the dice equates to 4” and a standard infantry move is 8” if three flags are rolled and none are cancelled through support or generals should they break? To be considered.

A few smaller games to tweak the rules a bit more I think! And maybe later in the year Marston Moor 🤣

More than happy with the rules though I don’t think I will be trying any others.

Hope it’s not been too long a report but recorded for posterity 🤣

Battle of Edgehill part 1

 So today we managed to get  8 bounds played which effectively takes us to around 3.30 game time.

Before I give a summary of the events so far I just thought I’d summarise some of the tweaks I’ve made to Tony’s rules.

Activation chits. I’ve made both commanders competent which means they will generate a d4+an average dice worth of chits each go. Because it’s a large game I’ve added that each cavalry commander generates one chit for their use ( Rupert generates 2)

Tony uses 1 hit per base  loss, for infantry I use 2 hits. In this battle it’s suggested the Parliamentarian regiments were larger but fought in a deeper formation so effectively had the same frontage. Royalist regiments of foot take 6 hits before being removed, Parliamentarian take 7. They lose a combat dice per 2 hits.

It’s also suggested the Royalist foot later in the battle suffered from shortage of powder and shot and that may be one reason they gave ground and the Parliamentarian foot gained the upper hand. To reflect this after the third round of fire Royalist foot shake a d10 - a 9 or 0 they’re out of ammo next bound it’s a 8,9,0  and the following bound 7,8,9,0. It stays at this level.

Troops that retreat are disordered and take a bound and a command to reform - lose a combat dice if they fire or melee disordered.

Cavalry can perform two charges and then horses are blown and can then take no offensive action. They can defend with-1 combat dice. They can recover by being stationary and unengaged in combat for 3 bounds!

So let battle commence.

Reports suggest that although Essex was waiting for reinforcements and therefore had no urgency to engage in combat it was his artillery that opened the battle, so to kick off the battle I allowed the two Parliamentarian heavy/medium guns to fire before the first bound, the gunners had obviously found their range and with their first shots targeted Belles foot regiment and destroyed their attached light gun and inflicted a hit!

So at 2.00 pm the battle started. Royalist gained 7 activation chits. Cavalry on both flanks advanced as did the dragoons on both flanks, the Royalist heavy guns opened fire on Mandevilles foot inflicting a hit.

The Parliamentarians only gained 5 activation chits but chose a wait and see approach, their artillery fired on Bolles again inflicting a further hit and the dismounted dragoons on their right advanced through the marshy ground in the hope of threatening the Royalist cavalry.

2.10pm Royalists threw well gaining 8 activation chits, the dragoons on the right dismount as do the dragoons on the left.The front line infantry regiments advance but the Royalist cavalry stood? The Royalist player was being cautious hoping to put pressure on the enemy dragoons and musketeers before unleashing them

The Royalist artillery fired but to no effect.

The Parliamentarian gained 7 activation chits

Their artillery again targeted poor Bolles foot regiment and scored a further 2 hits they were feeling pain for sure.

Their first line of Infantry also advanced towards the Royalist foot.

2.20pm Royalists gained 7 activation chits and still had 3 in their pool their dragoons on the right flank fired causing Ballards detached musketeers to retreat.

Prince of Wales cavalry start to enter the enclosures on the Royalist right which slows them down.

Rupert and Maurice’s horse advance to within charge range of the Parliamentarian horse as they do so 3 troops of Wallers horse in the Parlaimentarian lines advance, remove their sashes and declare for the King and join Maurice’s horse ( in real life it was one possibly two troops did this we threw a d3 and scored a 6!)

Bolles regiment of foot reeling from the artillery fire managed to rally off one hit.

On the Royalist left Wilmott’s front line of cavalry also advance to within charge range, the dragoons fail to cause any casualties on the enemy.

2.30 pm Royalists gain 8 activation chits and all he’ll let loose, Royalists dragoons Usher on the right fire and miss.  On this flank Rupert, Maurice and the turncoats charge.

On the left flank Wilmott likewise charges the three regiments of Parliamentarian horse.

Bolles seeks to rally off another hit but fails.

In terms of the melees on the left flank Caernarvon’s horse is held by Balfour but inflicts 4 hits and receives one.

Wilmott destroys Lord Generals horse and loses two troops horse of horse in pursuit, they make a breakthrough move and advances towards Fairfax.

Grandison only inflicts one hit on Fielding but causes him to retreat in disorder and he manages to halt right on the board edge, in a breakthrough move he attacks Fairfax’s foot and causes a hit and forces him to retreat.

On the right flank the 3 troops of turncoats attacked Ramsay’s horse inflicting 1 hit in the fight back Ramsay destroyed the turncoats.

Prince Maurice attacks Waller inflicting 2 hits and forcing him to retreat, in the follow up Maurice destroyed  Wallers troops. One troop of Maurice’s regiment was lost in pursuit.

Prince Rupert horse hit Goodwin and inflicted 4 hits and caused him to retreat, in the breakthrough move Ruperts men charged Holle’s regiment of foot inflicting one hit, in the fight back Holles men inflicted a hit on Ruperts horse.

Suddenly Essex saw both his flanks under severe threat and he needs to try and salvage something to apply pressure and buy some time to recover.

On the left flank Ramsay attacks the Kings lifeguard causing them to retreat and in the breakthrough move he attacks Byron’s cavalry in the Royalist second line inflicting 2 hits and receiving one. 

Brooke’s regiment of foot advances and fires on Maurice’s horse inflicting one hit and causing him to retreat disordered.

Goodwin rallies and reforms his troops on the base line.

Bedford advances with two troops of reserve horse from the hill towards Prince Maurice.

Holles remains nagged with Rupert .

On the right flank Fielding reforms his horse 

Fairfax fires a disordered volley to no effect and Balfour engages with Caernarvon inflicting a hit and causing him to retreat disordered 

2.40/2.50pm 

Suddenly the Royalists were struggling for activation with only 4 being allocated the King needed to to use his reserve pool to ensure pressure was maintained.

Rupert continues to attack Holles foot but with little effect he causes one hit but in retaliation Holles forces Ruperts horse to retreat in disorder.

The Prince of Wales regiment eventually has made its way through the enclosures and charges across the last one into the Parliamentarian horse it inflicts one hit but causes the enemy to retreat off the board, the regiment loses two troops in pursuit.

Byron continues his fight with Ramsay causing casualties and forcing a retreat he follows up but fails to rout Ramsay just causing a further retreat.

On the left flank Grandison  charges Fielding but gets the worst of it and is forced to retreat disordered. In the centre the Royalist front line Infantry have advanced and exchange fire with the Parliamentarian foot casualties are inflicted but nothing serious occurs.

In response during the parliamentarian turn Ballards detached muskets fire on Prince of Wales causing it to retreat disordered. Bedford joins Sandys regiment and charges Byron’s horse both sides exchanging hits

On the right flank Fielding charges the disordered Garndison causing him to retreat in the follow up both sides take hits.

In the Infantry exchanges in the centre casualties are caused and Duttons regiment of foot is forced to retreat disordered.

The 3pm turn saw action take place all along the field of battle, on the Royalist left only 3 troops of Parliamentarian horse remain, however all of Wilmott’s first line regiments were blown and Digby and Aston were some way behind. Again on the right flank there was very little left of the Parliamentarian horse although there are 4 troops of horse in reserve in the centre, Rupert doesn’t wish to launch another attack with his regiment as yet as this would mean horses would be blown and out of action.

In the centre the foot regiments continue to trade fire but some Royalists regiments are becoming concerned ammunition is running

Part two will follow over the weekend.