Battle of Rowde 1643.

I took last night's battle straight out of March Wargames Illustrated magazine,but enhanced it a bit,with lots of units and a few twists in the scenario !
Dave was in charge of the Royalists and Paul was in charge of the Parliamentarians,whilst I was referee.

These two photo's show the initial troop dispositions and the scenario.Paul received reinforcements on move 2 at point B and Dave received reinforcements on move 4,from down the road,and move 6 from behind the gun position-as a further "twist",Paul's ammunition waggon(on the road) blew up on move number 1,and scattered his escorting cavalry for two moves!!!-he called me an awfully rude name!!!

Dave's camp(!!!!) with casualties coming in already,and the game hasn't even started yet!!

This shows Paul's magnificent advance from the woods,heading towards the stream-impressive or what?

He might be smiling now,but he wasn't smiling 14 moves later!!(note burning ammo. waggon on road,and scattered cavalry in field!)

Dave's first lot of reinforcements arriving from Rowde-he placed them in a good position behind the hedges,and kept his cavalry in reserve for a couple of moves,until Paul's fierce cavalry attack in the centre,forced him to send them to help.

This shows the first of many cavalry encounters over the stream,both commanders sending troops to help out where and when needed.

As mentioned,the cavalry battle just grew and grew!-with neither side gaining any real advantage,Paul's mass of advancing infantry were stopped in their tracks!!

With nowhere to go,until the cavalry melee sorted itself out,the Parliamentarian infantry were forced into idleness-Dave looks very serious-or is that wind??-however on the far right of the picture,Paul and Dave are about to come into contact with some infantry-hurrah!!

The infantry melee about to take place-Paul lost!! But back in the centre,a couple of Royalist cavalry units have routed and Paul moved some infantry forward over the stream-is this the break-through he needed?

Well,it would have been,if Dave hadn't marched two white-coated regiments onto his flank and proceeded to give him"what for" with musket fire!!
In the background,Paul's cavalry are now suffering,and Dave's better morale and fighting points are beginning to tell.

In the far right background,you can see Dave's reserve cavalry have forced Paul's infantry into "square"-but he cunningly by-passed the squares and is making for Paul's rear(oh dear,what have I said!!!)
This was the game-winning move,with his cavalry beaten and his forward infantry isolated,it was only a matter of time before he was forced to surrender!!

This was another great game,played with fantastic spirit by both commanders-well done lads.

Final photo,showing Paul's isolated brigade,and his cavalry being driven back across the stream.
Roll on Thursday,Paul has requested a Marlburian game,and who am I to turn down his request?
The vast majority of the figures used in this game are from Warrior Miniatures.