The governor of Bristol got a message through to London, assuring Parliament of the second city's continued adherence to the cause of God and Justice.
A group of Puritans made it be known to the Earl of Essex that the citizens of Oxford were discontented with the King's cause and wished to arrive at a Godly peace with their fellow countrymen.
The Covenanting Army under Leven finally arrived, taking Berwick and Alnwick. Newcastle trained his troops to meet the threat, whilst writing urgently to Cavendish and Ethyin to move to support him before he was besieged or overwhelmed by the Scots.
Manchester tidied up the area to the north of London, taking St.Albans and advancing upon Bedford. Rupert left the King's army, taking a force of about 7000 men to take Coventry and then relieve Gloucester. Waller declined to fight to continue the siege and withdrew into the safety of Bristol.
Bedford continued his advance back through the SW of England, taking Dartmoor.
Brereton successfully concluded the siege of Preston and occupied the town.
n.b. There appears to be some discrepancies between the maps, orders of battle and the record of events, so I have omitted the maps until I can sort them out (my campaign diary is the authoritative record).
Game Notes:
A slow month, with Parliament very glad of the huge Scottish reinforcement (18000 Foot, c.2200 Horse) and the taking of Bristol; the King on the other hand was equally pleased with the relief of Gloucester.
The outline of the coming 1644 Spring campaign looks quite clear. Newcastle must hold off or hold out against the Scots until the King can relieve him. One or both of Essex and Manchester must combine with the Scots to defeat the King, but the King is in a better position since he is in the Midlands and they are in the South-East. Fairfax and Brereton, are too small to defeat the King singly but could match him if they could combine...but might they be better off conducting minor control operations in the King's absence and anyway, if Brereton departs, Prince Maurice will simply re-occupy Lancashire. In the South-West, Waller and Bedford are roughly equally matched with Prince Rupert and Hopton. Essex could decisively reinforce Waller or attempt to take Oxford in the King's absence: but failure in the latter would mean a wasted campaign season. The strategic decision in this game are never easy!
No comments:
Post a Comment