"1644 Battle of Montgomery -- AAR" Topic

We played this battle on Sunday . . . and my opponent has already managed to post an AAR (After Action Report) . . . and, as usual, click or double-click on Murdock's blog photos for a larger view:

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We played with 28mm figures on an 8' x 5' table using the "Warr Without an Enemie" rules from the Wyre Forest Gamers:

wfgamers.org.uk/WWAE.htm

-- Jeff

Interesting little battle. We played it out at the club (Wyre Forest) a couple of years ago, when we were planning to put it on as a demonstration game at the Alumwell Show to coincide with the release of WWAE rules. As in your game, the Royalist cavalry swept away the Parliamentary left wing, but they went charging off the table in pursuit and, by the time they could regroup, Parliamentary foragers had returned and the Royalist foot were very much on the backfoot.
It will be interesting to see how it goes with Pike and Shotte (Black Powder variant). Another group that I game with use P+S for all of our ECW games and find they play out pretty well. We sometimes use commander values based on historical performance, as in the Montgomery scenario for example, but have had some fun games where the commanders were random, depending on D6 throws.

For those interested, the scenario details are here:

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Our hope is to try it again this coming Sunday using "Pike & Shotte" with the Wargames Designs Infantry suggestions (combined P&S units instead of separate pike and shot):

link

By the way, the triangular numbers on Murdock's photos are for the game turn.

-- Jeff

Nicely done – it is a good little battle and you even get to include Offa's !

edit- well I never, bleeped for Offa's thingy – let's call it a ditch…

It was a fun game. The infantry held out for as long as they could before they finally collapsed under pressure from the returning Parlimentarian cavalry.

In preparation for our next game I have been doing a little reading. It turns out though, that the WWAE scenrio lay out is a little different than the Partizan Press scenario which it is based on. The Parlimentarian reserves have switched table edges: in the PP scenario they come on from the eastern edge whereas in the WWAE scenario they come on from the western edge. As their return is speculative as it is, you could have them come on from anywhere really and having them come on from the eastern edge early could be a real disaster for the Royalist cavalry.

In reality the Royalist foot advanced across the field, attacked the Parlimentarian foot and had them backed against the river before they rallied and drive the Royalists off. In the WWAE scenario that is unlikely to happen as the returning cavalry are most like to hit the Royalist foot before they even reach the parlimentarian lines.

Wow! There is a shocker. I have played this scenario three times and always assumed they would come on from behind the Parliamentary position, on the other side of the river from the bridge! I obviously need to read the stuff more carefully. Although Parliament won all three of my refights, I think they would do even better with the reinforcements coming on from the east!

Mollinary

Sorry you are right about the scenario. I have corrected it now.

Wow, Rob, what a good catch! Well done, my friend . . . uh, except if we now correct that for Sunday's re-fight, I think that my cav will be in a host of trouble (they do outnumber me 24 stands to 20) as they will now be on both my front and flank.

But thinking about it your catch makes much more sense. This way Fairfax's first squadrons will hit from the front and his second squadrons from the flank . . . instead of on the other end of the battlefield well out of command.

Hmmm, should I revoke my "good catch" now? . . . No, it was a good catch, sir. And at least you will be able to have fun with your foot, eh?

-- Jeff

I think that my cav will be in a host of trouble (they do outnumber me 24 stands to 20) as they will now be on both my front and flank.

Yes I agree… but it might explain how the Royalist foot would have been able to advance to the Parlimentarian lines without being hindered by enemy reinforcements. The PP scenario also dictates how the cavalry arrives (in three lines one behind the other) and having them arrive too early in the game would certainly make it almost impossible for the Royalists. PP suggests rolling a D6 with the reserves arriving on a roll under the current turn. So on turn 3, a roll of 1 or 2 would herald the arrival of the reserves. I don't recall off hand how it works in the WWAE rules.

Jeff of SaxeBearstein,

Nice to see the enjoyment you from the scenario, and that the cavalry reinforcements were corrected. Hope you enjoy the rest of the ECW Scenarios from my books.

Hopefully I can get Vol.5 off to edit by this Autumn (just two more scenarios to playtest).

Regards,
Bob G

Bob G.,

I have all four of the scenario books plus the Campaign vol. 1 . . . and enjoy reading them all. I do need to point out that it was my gaming buddy, Rob (Codsticker), who spotted the (now corrected) flaw in the Wyre Forest scenario.

Anyway, we finally have enough figures to play with so we are actually just beginning our ECW adventures. . . . And I expect that we will be playing more of your scenarios.

-- Jeff

Nice to see the enjoyment you from the scenario, and that the cavalry reinforcements were corrected. Hope you enjoy the rest of the ECW Scenarios from my books.

Hopefully I can get Vol.5 off to edit by this Autumn (just two more scenarios to playtest).

Regards,
Bob G

I love the books- excellent gaming resources.