Battle of Selby 1644 - A Polemos ECW Refight

Miniature Wargames issue 84 contained a scenario for the little known Battle of Selby, 11 Apr 1644.  A victory for the Parliamentarians under Thomas Fairfax, it is credited with beginning the train of events which led to Marston Moor and the Royalist loss of the North of England to Parliament.

The scenario is basically an assault on a town in spite of the explicit warning in the Polemos ECW rules that street-fighting scenarios were not supported in its design - naturally since I am a gamer and this is the heretical gaming blog, I felt free to totally ignore this advice. The weakest points in the defence were apparently the gates - I gave these a Defence Value of 1.  The Horse of both sides did charge and fight up and down the streets of Selby apparently, so for this game I allowed this, but ruled that Horse could move no further than 1BW per turn and could only move up the main roads (these roads were artificially widened on the terrain to allow this).  I did allow units to overlap when attacking the gate, but only overlapping infantry would count when fighting in the built-up areas.

Order of Battle:
Parliament:

C-in-C: Fairfax (Good)
2-i-C: Meldrum (Average)

6 bases of Trained Foot (Shot-Heavy)
24 bases of Veteran Horse (Dutch tactics)

The King:

C-in-C: Lord Belasyse (Average)

4 bases of Veteran Foot (Shot-Heavy)
12 base of Trained Horse (Swedish tactics)

Fairfax is trying to capture Selby, Belasyse to hold it - very straightforward.

The Deployment:

A stylized view of Selby; Royalist infantry guard all the "gates" (i.e. road entry points) with the Royalist cavalry inside the town; Fairfax has surrounded the town to enable him to attack on multiple axes

A view towards one of the southern gates; the Ousegate is off to the right

Parliamentary Cavalry approach from the West

And approaching the North Gate

And from the bank of the Ouse, looking South into Selby

 The Battle:

Parliamentary infantry attempt to storm the Ousegate, but without success...

A second infantry assault against the other south gate

Fairfax looks on at the head of some Veteran Horse, hoping to exploit any opportunities

Cavalry attacking infantry in a town?  Worth a try here, perhaps

Musketry erupts around the North Gate

The Parliamentary infantry are repulsed with loss at the south gate

The cavalry attack on Westgate works!  The Royalist infantry are pushed back

However, a smart counter-attack at the south gate routs a unit of Parliamentary infantry

After some further fighting, the Royalist infantry at the Westgate rout

Fairfax leads his troopers to attack the south gate in person, supported by some foot; the Royalist foot becomes shaken and is pushed back

A wider shot shows the progress that Fairfax's troops are making in the south and west quarters

The Parliamentary Horse charge down the road, pushing back the Royalist Horse towards the Abbey and Market Square

The attack on Northgate has been a dismal failure so far, as the attacking infantry are again repulsed with loss

The Royalists are beginning to lose their grip on Ousegate (left); whilst their troops are routing away from the Southgate (right)

A stunning fightback by the Ousegate routs the attacking Parliamentary infantry, despite the losses incurred by the Royalist foot!

Parliamentary Horse advancing from Westgate have caused mass panic and confusion amongst the Royalsit Horse in the centre of the town!

The Royalist infantry at Northgate continue to subject the advancing Parliamentarians to a storm of musketry

The Ousegate is secured and the Royalist foot here are finally routed!

The Royalist Horse around the Market Square is under severe pressure from the veteran Roundhead troopers

Finally the Northgate is taken too!  The brave Royalists are finally routed...

Fairfax fights his way towards the Market Square, the red counters denoting the shaken Royalist cavalry

Having gained the gate, the Parliamentarian infantry push forward towards the Abbey from the North

The Royalist Cavalry under pressure by the boat bridge

Chaos in the town as Royalist cavalry begin to flee in any and all directions

Fairfax on the brink of victory, advancing up the road

Infantry advancing up from Ousegate complete the victory

Game Notes: An interesting game, although one which has perhaps left me with more questions than answers. The game seemed to reflect history quite closely, but was that because of or in spite of the rules I introduced?  It just seems so counter-intuitive to have Horse doing that much in built-up areas, but if the article accompanying the scenario is correct that seems to be the way it was.  From a more mechanical point of view, it also shows what an effect small rules can have - here, allowing overlaps for attacking the gates was allowed and this was a distinct advantage for the Parliamentarians - was it more real to allow this or to forbid this?  And what should the "defence value" of these types of urban areas should be?  The rules suggest that a strong-point like a stone church should be DV3, urban areas and woods DV2, so it seemed sensible to have the gates as DV1 (otherwise there would be no advantage in attacking the gates).  Maybe I should have made the gates DV2 to cavalry?

One thing that I am growing slightly more impatient with in these rules is the interactions between the state of 'Shaken' and the situational and terrain modifiers.  In some terrain actions, troops are described as being shaken when they are in it, and perhaps for the turn after, but then (presumably) automatically rally; but these are combined with separate movement and combat effects. It sometimes isn't quite clear at what point a base becomes eligible to take the terrain penalty.  I think the system would have worked more smoothly if these effects were separated to a greater or lesser degree.  For instance, if crossing terrain, then either have a movement and a combat modifier but get rid of the 'shaken'; or alternatively, just use the 'shaken' result (which brings its own negative combat modifiers anyway).  These cumulative factors create a lot of almost "sure thing" combat results.

For this game, I made the decision that the Royalist Horse had to use charges where possible; the results of the game reinforced my opinion that as written, the Royalist Horse is in for a thin time doing this unless they have a strong advantage in numbers or skill.

Figures by Baccus 6mm, buildings from a wide variety of manufacturers, but mainly from Baccus and Timecast I believe.

Battle of Nantwich 1644 - A Polemos ECW Refight

The Battle of Nantwich was fought on 25 Jan 1644 during the ECW / War of the Three Kingdoms.  Although a moderate-sized action for the First Civil War, it is one of the more famous actions and is still remembered today.  

A scenario for the battle was published back in Miniature Wargames issue 75.

A close-run thing in real-life, with perhaps both commanders making some mistakes, it is an ideal wargames scenario for the period, since the forces engaged were not too large.

For the Polemos ECW rules I use, the orders of battle were as follows:

Royalists:

C-in-C: Byron (Average)

1 x Cavalry Bde: 4 bases of Trained Horse (Swedish tactics)
1 x Cavalry Bde: 3 bases of Trained Horse (S)

General of Foot: Colonel Richard Gibson (Average)
1 x Foot Bde: 3 bases of Veteran Infantry (shot-heavy)
1 x Foot Bde: 3 bases of Raw Infantry (shot-heavy)

2 x bases of Guns

Parliamentarians:

C-in-C: Fairfax (Good)

3 x Cavalry Bdes: 4 bases of Trained Horse (Dutch Tactics)
1 x Cavalry Bde: 3 bases of Trained Horse (D)

The Foot:

Colonel Brereton (Average)
1 x Foot Bde: 2 bases of Trained Infantry (shot-heavy)
1 x Foot Bde: 2 bases of Raw Infantry (mixed)
1 x Foot Bde: 1 base of Trained Infantry (shot-heavy); 1 base of Raw Infantry (mixed)
1 x Foot Bde: 2 bases of Veteran Infantry (shot)

1 x base of Guns

The Scenario:

This scenario is a straight fight as both sides are committed to an attack (although the initial manoeuvering was a lot more complicated than that). 

The hedges aren't considered too thick - only defence value 1 in this scenario (although DV2 might work too).

The Battle:

The battlefield from the South.  Acton is represented by the church, Nantwich is off to the east (bottom-right); note the Royalist cavalry and single battalia of Foot to the right, guarding against a Parliamentary move from Nantwich; and see also the Parliamenary horse opposing them (top-right)

The Royalist Centre on the road at Acton; local infantry to the left, 'Irish' infantry to the right.  The Parliamentary infantry is opposite amongst the fields.  The Parliamentary baggage is at the rear, accompanied by dragoons.

A wider shot, so one can see some of the Royalist cavalry to the west (left) and Parliamentary cavalry (top-left)

View from the West; Byron leads the advance guard of Royalist Horse

 The Battle:

It took quite a while for the battle to get going, but here the Irish infantry advance towards some Parliamentary cannon, overlooked by Fairfax himself (bottom-right); on the right, Parliamentary foot advance supported by Dragoons whilst on the left some Royalist Horse slowly edge forwards

Same shot, but note this time the second base of Irish infantry which has turned to the hedge and threatens the flank of the advancing Roundheads - more of this in the Game Notes.

Byron tries to charge the flank of the advancing Parliamentary Horse but his troopers refuse, becoming disordered in the process

The leading Parliamentary Horse quickly gain the upper-hand over their Royalist opponents, whilst Byron tries to restore some order

Some accurate artillery fire and musketry halt the Irish Regiment's advance a mere 50metres or so in front of the position; the Royalist Horse is stopped by the fire too

Meanwhile, musketeers from the Nantwich garrison advance to try and dislodge the Royalist flanking force

After a see-saw struggle, the Parliamentary forces overcome the Royalists in the centre around the church and capture some guns

Byron restores some order but there are enemies to his front and rear...

One of the Irish battalia manages to advance through the hail of fire and push back the Parliamentary defenders

A firefight between the contesting infantry is inconclusive, but obviously the position is precarious since the centre has been split...

Byron faces one troop of horse to the rear to try and give himself a chance against the much superior parliamentary horse...

He tries to order a charge at this most opportune moment, but yet again his troopers refuse and become shaken!

The fighting on the Nantwich flank is inconclusive and both sides retire

The Irish battalia's advance is crowned with success and glory!  As well as routing a battalia of Parliamentary infantry, they capture the Roundhead guns...and Fairfax himself!  Brereton takes over the forces of Parliament

However this infantry fight is going the other way: Parliamentary infantry have broken through the hedge and the Royalists are recoiling

Byron's troopers are surrounded, defeated and captured.  Only Byron himself escapes!

The end is nigh for the King's army: in the centre another unit of Irish infantry has routed some Parliamentary dragoons, but has been caught in the rear by Parliamentary infantry; the third Irish battalia guarding the road to Nantwich has been routed (top-left)

A daring advance routs some of the Royalist Horse and threatens the remaining Royalist guns

Another Royalist infantry unit goes down, and Colonel Gibson is taken

The Irish infantry routing

Note the centre-right; yet another Royalist infantry unit has been routed (routing in front of the church)

The last Irish unit tries to break-out forwards, but, against the odds, the Parliamentary Horse prevails and pushes the Royalists back...

...which routs!  The Royalist guns have been taken as well, and the Army has practically disintegrated.

Everywhere over the field the Royalists are routed or captured - victory for Parliament!

 Game Notes: A good game this, the scenario works reasonably well.  As ever, lots of the troop ratings are arguable but I don't think there is anything too controversial in there.  One change that could be made would be to delay the entry of the Parliamentary musketeers from Nantwich for a set number of turns rather than rely on tempo point shortfalls to slow them, as I did.  A more ambitious change would be to keep all units in their starting positions but put them all in march column; there is a definite argument for doing this as a closer reflection of some of the confusion that happened on the day rather than assume (as I did) that all the units would just form up and fight from where they were.
What this game did bring home was just how difficult it is to manoeuvre in the ECW in any kind of broken terrain.  I wondered actually if it was a bit too hard, as a result of the physicality of the game - particularly in how hedges and other linear obstacles work.  I feel that they are more disruptive perhaps, since a base cannot be on "both sides at once" as it would be in real life.  It is a noticeable difference between Polemos-type "big base" games and single figure/small element base games.  Terrain still disrupts, but the disruption feels more naturalistic and rarely to quite the same extent.  I wonder if this is a result of making terrain - and terrain rules - too authentic, and perhaps they need to be thought of as just 'areas'.  Polemos of course doesn't ignore this, but I wonder if it, and other rules like it, go far enough.  I think I am getting at there might be a "double-jeopardy" effect, where units are penalized on the table and in the rules for the same effect. Anyway, it felt quite an interesting game, this one.

Figures and terrain by Baccus 6mm.