ECW Campaign Battle 03: Battle of Barningham

In mid-February 1643, the Marquis of Newcastle, marching south from Hexham on his way to take back Richmond from the Parliamentarians was met by the Fairfaxes on a defensive position on a bare hillside near the village of Barningham.  The Fairfaxes were slightly outnumbered, but felt that the combination of more Horse and a good defensive position would be enough to hold off the Royalist army...

The Forces:

Royalists:

Commander: Newcastle (Poor)

Ethyin (Poor)

Horse: 10 Veteran Horse (S), 1 Veteran Dragoons

Foot: 10 Raw Foot (SH*)

Guns: 3

Parliamentarians:

Commander: F.Fairfax (Poor)**

T.Fairfax (Good)

Horse: 12 Veteran Horse (S***), 8 Raw Horse (S), 2 Raw Dragoons

Foot: 4 Raw Foot (SH)

Guns: 1

 


The Set-Up:

The Parliamentarians on the hill (top) are to the South-East; the Royalists are approaching from the North-West.

F. Fairfax's right wing

And the Parliamentary centre.  All the foot in the front line, with Dragoons (top-left) and Horse (top-right) in reserve.

The Parliamentary left flank

The Royalist left flank

The Royalist Centre - note the large preponderance of foot.  The Marquis of Newcastle is behind his foot and guns.

The Royalist Right.

The Battle:

The Royalists made the running initially, slowly and methodically moving forward their foot and guns to the base of the hill

On both flanks, Fairfax deployed his third line of Horse to extend his flank, hoping to create outflanking opportunities later in the engagement

The Royalists try to exploit their superiority in guns to create some kind of gap in the Parliamentary centre - no luck so far!

The first attack in earnest is made by the Parliamentary Horse.  Thomas Fairfax, sword in hand, leads his troopers into the charge against the end of the Royalist first line of foot...

...and is rewarded with complete success!  The flanking Royalist foot battalia flees, broken...

However, the Royalist Horse counter-charges: one fight (left) is inconclusive, but the Cavaliers on the right rout their Roundhead rivals...

Whilst both sides try to win the advantage in the cavalry flight, Ethyin slips a battalia of Foot around the inner flank of the Parliamentary centre...

The second line of Royalist Foot halt the pursuit of the charging Parliamentary Horse...

And a quick advance-and-volley routs the Roundhead troopers.  Thomas Fairfax is left with a few of his officers wondering what has happened...

The Royalist Horse on the Right reforms first and is winning the next phase of the cavalry combat...

The mini-flank attack on the hill has borne fruit and the flanking battalia of Parliamentary Foot is disordered and pushed back...Ferdinando Fairfax brings up his reserve of Horse to restore the situation.

The front brigade of the Parliamentary Horse has been completely dispersed now...the second line brigade watches from the slopes of the hill (top)

The Royalist Foot's flank attack develops - one of the Parliamentary Foot units breaks and the other is threatened...The Parliamentary Horse must wait for the fleeing foot to clear its front before charging

The wider position at this point in the battle - the Royalist Right is definitely in the ascendant

Hoping to restore the fortunes of the day, Thomas Fairfax orders the second Horse brigade on the Parliamentary Left to charge

And Ferdinando Fairfax orders his Reserve Horse brigade to charge home too

The Royalist Foot bravely hold on and the Parliamentary horse retire in disorder (note the casualty marker behind the nearer base of Horse)

Another troop of Royalist Horse flees to the rear to avoid the Godly wrath of the charging Protestant Horse...

However, the Royalist troopers, attacking at the trot have manged to see off a troop of Parliamentary Horse too (centre)

The Royalist infantry flank attack is progressing very well, routing another battalia of Foot and troop of Horse...it is difficult to see how this attack can be stopped now

Another view of the same (reverse angle)

Despite some pressure, the remaining Parliamentary Foot are holding their own...

Fighting switches to the other flank (the Royalist left); the flank attack has developed, but the Royalists have managed to charge them with success!  The Marquis of Newcastle at the head of his troops leads the ferocious charge and the Parliamentary troopers are wavering...

....and soon two-thirds of them are in headlong rout!

The Royalist Horse on the other flank have finished off the last of their opponents too: the second brigade (foreground) has been committed and routed the last troops of Parliamentary Horse; the last Parliamentary Horse brigade has gone too wide on its flanking movement and despite desperate appeals, has not been able to influence the action

The end approaches for the Parliamentary centre too, as the remorseless Royalist attack continues

Thomas Fairfax (foreground) wonders how the battle, which started off so well, has gone so badly awry...

The position at the end of the battle.  Ferdinando Fairfax used his remaining Veteran Horse and his Dragoons to successfully disengage.

Game Results:
A decisive Royalist victory this, only slightly spoiled by the number of routing troopers that the Fairfaxes managed to rally after the battle - thus the Parliamentary casualties look abnormally light for the size of the defeat.

Royalists: c.700 Foot, c.40 Horse
Parliamentarians: c. 1200 Foot, c.425 Horse, 2 Guns

Game Notes:
A very exciting game this, that could have gone either way - but enough things broke well for the Royalists and their plan turned out to be better.  I think the main bit of luck was the flanking Royalist foot beating off the charge of Fairfax's reserve Horse: that really could have gone either way, and might have stabilized the centre.  I didn't feel I encountered any "mechanical" issues with the rules at all, but I continued to use my modifications which allows firepower to be a little more effective.  When everything gels, these rules do give a good game.
My recent investigations into cavalry tactics paid off and I felt a lot more confident using both sides's Horse to best effect.  Most of the charges worked to a greater or lesser extent, as did the advances to contact when they were most appropriate.  I think that I can offer a further insight, too: the best distance to hold off Swedish-trained cavalry is 3BW.  This tempts the cavalry to charge but if this opportunity is refused and the cavalry merely advances, it allows the other side to just advance to contact with the mild bonus that entails.

Figures as ever by Baccus 6mm.

*From 1643, I have started allowing the Royalists more muskets.  Although in the north, I would guess there is an argument for having all the armies more mixed pike:shot.  I await the comments and corrections of those more knowledgeable than me.
** The King's War game rates Ferdinando Fairfax as a good officer but a poor army commander.
*** From previous comments, I have rated Fairfax's Horse as Swedish-trained rather than Dutch-trained, to allow them the option of charging at the gallop.

ECW Campaign: January 1643

The English Civil War: January 1643

Goring escaped from captivity in Portsmouth and made his way to join Hopton in Cornwall.*

Hull assured Parliament of its continued support for the cause.  Parliamentary supporters in Preston made it known to Brereton, the local Parliamentarian commander, that there was significant support for their cause in the town and an attack coordinated with an uprising would surely give them control of the town.

The Earl of Essex marched East to Newport, to cover the route from Oxford to London.  Essex had considered a direct strike on Oxford, but felt it was more important to position himself to the East of that city first: Oxford was clearly in a position to hold out a while yet.  King Charles continues to lay siege to that place.  Foppington moved to Worcester and began to lay siege to that place, but lost a third of his army to sickness and desertion.

Byron moved to Chichester.  Hopton moved to Bridgewater to threaten both Bedford and Massey.  He left Goring on Dartmoor to watch Waller in Plymouth.

Brereton moved from Manchester to Preston.  Derby tried to intercept him en route but failed.  As promised, an uprising from a section of the town's inhabitants allowed Brereton to seize place in short order, with the garrison surrendering or melting away into the populace.

Newcastle and the Fairfaxes did not move, both sides continuing to train their Horse.  Cavendish  moved from Newcastle to Grimsby to begin recruiting for the Royalists there.

  
The North:

Royalists:
Marquis of Newcastle at Hexham with c.7000
Earl of Forth at York with c.1000
Earl of Derby at Blackburn with c.3000
Cavendish at Grimsby with c.1000

Parliament:
c.1000 at Carlisle
The Fairfaxes at Richmond with c.6000
Brereton at Preston with c.2000
c.1000 at Hull

 The Midlands:

Royalists:
c.1000 at Newark
c.1000 at Chester
c.1000 at Worcester

Parliament:
Foppington with c.2000 besieging Worcester
Wark with c.4000 in The Fens
c.1000 at Nottingham

The South:

Royalists:
King Charles with 15,000 besieging Oxford
c.2000 at Basing
Byron with c.2000 at Chichester
Hopton with c.7000 at Bridgewater
Goring with c.2000 on Dartmoor

Parliament:
Earl of Essex with c.12000 at Newport
c.1000 under siege in Oxford
Stamford with c.4000 in Reading
Hampden with c.4000 in London
Willoughby with c.1000 in Colchester
Massey with c.2000 in Bristol
Bedford with c.7000 at Dorchester

Game Notes:
Another quiet month, as yet again the opportunity to bring a force to battle was missed by the incompetence of the Royalist commander involved!  This had worse consequences for the Royalists this month - the early fall of Preston.  The situation is quite confused and everything can change, but the Parliamentarians have thus far managed to seize an impressive number of strongholds: Carlisle, Preston, Oxford and Reading, plus they have re-captured Gloucester.  So although the Royalist field armies are still strong, it is upon the Royalists to try and leverage that to regain some ground.

*There are no rules for escaped prisoners in The King's War, but there are rules for prisoner exchanges.  However, I had forgotten that Brooke should have been captured at Ettington, so I decided I would make Goring escape to make up for it.