The Rolling English Countryside

 ‘I like the set-up for that battle,’ the Estimable Mrs P. remarked. ‘Rolling English countryside. Who is it between?’

‘Arbella Stuart and the Bedfordshire trained bands. Arbella is marching on London.’

‘I thought the Spanish got there in the last battle.’

‘Yes, but this is going on at the same time. Roughly.’

So there you have it, in summary. The army of Arbella Start is still advancing south on London, this time facing the Bedfordshire trained bands, having failed her GOOS roll this move. I confess to approaching this action with some caution, because the armies are mirror images of each other, more or less, and the margins of success and failure are, consequently, it seems, fairly narrow. Not only this, but the terrain rolls gave a fairly narrow frontage for the armies with only limited outflanking opportunities, at least on the face of it.

After some thought and messing about, the armies were deployed. On the near side of the field, the woods in the centre end at a stream which runs along the entire edge. What you cannot see is that the blue coated Bedfordshire infantry on the near left are actually deployed on the lower slopes of a hill. Aside from that the Bedfordshire have thrown their light cavalry forward in the hope of disrupting Arbella’s infantry, while filling the gap between the rough going on this side and that on the far side.

As the attacker, I was a bit dubious about this setup. I had a slight cavalry advantage – 2 demi-lancers against a demi-lancer and a light horse, but there was not really the room to deploy them. The alternative seemed to be an infantry slog with roughly equal numbers in the middle. I was not too impressed by that idea, but it seemed to be the only alternative.

A few moves in, and a bit of command ineptitude has opened a slight possibility for the Bedfordshires. Arbella’s central infantry block is in danger of out-marching its supports and being flanked on the far side, where a company of trained bands are angling in to catch them in flank. On such things, and the timing of them, battles can be settled. However, Arbella’s general has already dashed to the front lines to try to exert some control. The lady herself, note, is presently leading her own lifeguard (the blue coats to the right). She has no command powers herself, however, but she does inspire any troops she is attached to with a +1 in close combat.

The general’s energetic ordering of people around paid off. On the far side, the potential flankers have been forced back in line by approaching infantry under his direct command. Meanwhile, Arbella’s left flank infantry are in combat, reasonably successfully so far, and the Queen’s Lifeguards have started to move up as well, to provide some back-up in what otherwise looks like a fairly even infantry fight.

It got predictably messy, as the shot above suggests. Some of the fights have been even, some have swayed from one side to the other. On the far side, however, you can see that the troops led by Arbella’s general have managed to rout the opposition musketeers (fleeing top centre left, with the yellow ochre marker) and then, under the general’s direct orders, turned in and flanked the pikemen who have just spectacularly failed their combat dice roll and have vaporised.

Remarkably, the Bedfordshire men shrugged off the sudden loss of their left flank and carried on. As Arbella’s men tried to reorganise on their right, the Bedfordshire trained bands surged forwards again, possibly inspired by the sight of their general leading the demi-lancers towards the fray. On the other hand, you can also see the Bedfordshire light horse being hammered by some of Arbella’s musketeers, and that all of the infantry formations are beginning to break up a bit.

The end, when it came, was quite sudden. The Bedfordshire central blue-coated pikemen attacked some of Arbella’s musketeers and routed them, but were then taken in flank by Arbella’s general and his red-coated pikemen, who routed the blue coats. Meanwhile, on the near side, the Bedfordshire general has used some valuable tempo to rescue his light horse (who have moved back into the bottom left of the picture). However, Arbella’s white coat pikemen have just taken some Bedfordshire white coat musketeers in flank and routed them – they are fleeing centre left – while in the centre some more Bedfordshire pike are in deep trouble.

The arriving Bedfordshire general might have stabilised the situation, but he did not get the chance. The morale rolls kicked in. Arbella’s men rolled poorly, but survived. The trained bands rolled even more poorly and got a rout result. Looking at the situation, I can hardly blame them. The centre is about to collapse, the left has already gone, and only the unengaged right is looking secure. The arrival of the infantry reserves and demi-lancers might stave off the inevitable, but Arbella’s lifeguard is arriving, and it probably will not be long before her demi-lancers (who have not moved all game, incidentally) arrive to administer coups de grace all round. Going home seems like an excellent idea.

As I have said elsewhere, that was nasty, brutish and short. When an infantry battle is in front of us, we can expect a bit of a slog. That was more or less the case. The Bedfordshire trained bands did try to take advantage of some early confusion in Arbella’s ranks, but that was quickly overcome by the intervention of the general, whose continued presence in the infantry ranks meant that they could respond more quickly and the Bedfordshires.

I think the general’s mixing it at the front led to the victory here. It gave Arbella’s infantry just that edge that they needed to work flanks and pick up on weaknesses in the opposition. If the demi-lancers had arrived a bit sooner, things might have been different, but the trained band’s position collapsed within a couple of moves, so it is hardly surprising they were caught flat hoofed.

Still, in campaign terms, Arbella’s GOOS score has increased again, and she is still on track for London. However, a glance at the diplomatic table suggests she is in alliance with Isabella’s Spanish, who are already there. This is going to take a bit of thinking about….

The Battle of London 1603

The War of the Stuart Succession continues. Arbella Stuart has moved into Bedfordshire, but the trained bands have rallied against her. Meanwhile, the victorious Spanish have moved into Middlesex from Kent, where the trained bands have rallied in the defence of London. So, this game week, there are two wargames to be had. I decided to start with the Spanish.

The photograph shows the setup. The Spanish are to the left, with their mounted arm fully restored. You cannot see the hills in the picture. On the extreme left of the rearmost Spanish foot, there is a ridge running to behind the Spanish cavalry. Out of shot to the right, in the near corner, is another hill, which will become important.

The Spanish plan was to hold their centre and left with the infantry, and outflank the English on the right with their much larger heavy cavalry force, supported, as necessary, by the skirmishers (deployed in the march initially). The English plan was to use their infantry superiority to crush the Spanish before the flank attack materialised.

The wargame had no sooner started than it was interrupted by an intruder. She did not, admittedly, leap onto the table (she is getting a bit old and stiff for that) or proffer any tactical advice, but she came to sit in the sun she knew would be in the room and, I would like to think, for some company. She snoozed under the general’s chair for a few minutes before retiring to her igloo (also in the sun) next door. The cat does not much like being photographed, so I took the opportunity for a snapshot.

So, back to the wargame. The plans developed, as you would expect. The English have been forced to divert some infantry and their demi-lancers (under the general) to block the flanking activities of the Spanish heavy cavalry. Those gentlemen have arrived on the hill on the left front corner of the table and deployed. Meanwhile, on the other flank, the light horse are exchanging pleasantries, and the English have started to advance their infantry.

The Spanish general carefully husbanded his infantry resources, attempting to maximise the musketry period. Both sides played a careful game on the English left as well, with the Spanish cavalry attempting to find flanks to work, while the English were trying to block them and get the infantry close enough to give their opponents some hot lead. It turned into a game of cat and mouse, mostly to the English advantage, because they had the general there to control things.

Above, you can see the shooting breaking out to the left of the picture. The light horse have both been withdrawn damaged, but the Spanish skirmishers are now shooting at English foot from the rear flank, from the town. To the right of the shot, the Spanish gendarmes have set off again, trying to outflank the English demi-lancers. It is a matter of tempo points at the moment on this flank. The English general can always respond, while the Spanish have to rely on a supply of points from their general, who is with the foot.

There was furious fighting on the Spanish left and centre, and, as you can see, in what should have been a fairly even chances action, the English have come off far worse. Three of their bases are fleeing, and another one, of pike, has simply been surrounded and destroyed. The English rolls were not bad; they just got worn down. The final, humiliating coup de grace on some musketeers (the blue coats with the ochre counter to the left) was delivered by the Spanish skirmishers.

On the right of the shot the English foot are pressing the Spanish demi-lancers very hard. Unfortunately for them, the latest English morale throw was ‘fall back’, which means that their flank cover – the English demi-lancers – have uncovered their flank.

The English flank open to the Spanish gendarmes was predictably disastrous, as shown. The gendarmes hit the flank of the shot, who did not even stick around to fight but fled immediately, and swept the pike and general away with them. This did not do English morale any good at all, as you might suspect. In the centre, the Spanish foot is reorganising after defeating the initial English onrush and will, doubtless, shortly be assaulting the remaining English foot.

The English morale roll was actually quite a good one, so they did not rout, but they did get to a withdraw status, and so they did. However, with Spanish cavalry across their line of retreat, I suspect that the trained bands would probably simply decide that going home is probably a good idea. London, it would seem, is now under Spanish control.

That was an interesting battle, I felt. Both sides made extensive use of their generals to get troops where they were needed, as they operated on different parts of the battlefield, both interventions were significant. The English flank guard infantry played a major role in delaying the Spanish flank attack, but paid the price for going onto the offensive while their flank was being uncovered by their supports. In the centre, the Spanish general’s extra tempo enabled him to organise the surrounding of a successful English pike stand, and also to keep the Spanish foot moving back and forward to engage the advancing English.

The role of the Spanish skirmishers was interesting and quite amusing. Eventually, they hit a base of arquebusiers, which was already on -2 on the combat dice, and managed to rout them. I think this might be a first in my wargaming – foot skirmishers are quite weak in these rules. They have their uses, however and can flank the enemy or keep them under fire and unable to rally.

So, now Isabella of Austria has London and, if she manages to roll favourably, her forces will be augmented by the English navy in the Thames and the army in Dublin. On the other hand, Arbella Stuart is in Bedfordshire, and if she overcomes the trained bands, London will be open to her. On a third hand, Isabella and Arbella are on very friendly terms with each other, so perhaps they will come to a ladies' agreement over the throne….  

A View to a Hill

No sooner have the French been seen off from the Hampshire coast, but the Kent trained bands (Kentish train bands or trained bands of Kent?) get called out to repel the Spanish from their shores. As you may surmise, we are back in 1603 and the War of Stuart Succession. If you have not been following this (and if not, why not?) A quick summary will have to suffice. After the death of Elizabeth I, her council split over who was to succeed her. A number of candidates attempted to step into the void – James VI of Scotland, Arbella Stuart, Edward Seymour, and Isabella of Austria, governor of the Low Countries.

As recounted in the last few posts, James got a bloody nose in Northumberland, the French were repulsed from the coast of Hampshire, Arbella defeated the Leicestershire trained bands and has now moved, unopposed, into Northamptonshire, while the Spanish defeated the Dutch at sea. Now, as they say, read on.

Isabella got another initiative roll in the next week and decided on a military move. As the Spanish and Flanders fleets now control the Channel, with the exception of the orderless English fleet off the Thames, attempting a landing in Kent seemed to be an eminently sensible undertaking, albeit with the caveat that such undertakings are hazardous. However, if she want to make an impact on the English succession, Isabella needs, not exactly skin in the game, but an army to prosecute her claim.

As is normal, Isabella failed her GOOS roll. The only one that has succeeded all campaign so far is Arbella’s in Northamptonshire. The Kent trained bands were duly roused to oppose the landing. The terrain I rolled up was a bit complex, and I ignored the stream that was supposed to run across the English rear. I was fortunate; it made no difference to the outcome.

The picture shows the battlefield. The Spanish will, of course, arrive from the left-hand side in boats. The English are arrayed on the wooded ridge to the right, with some infantry and the light horse thrown forward. There are other woods, rough going, and marshes around, plus a fishing village on the far side from the camera. Most importantly, and invisible on the shot, there is a hill just off the beach beyond the patch of rough going towards the left foreground.

I had the usual defender’s dilemma in such scenarios: attack the landers before they get organised, or adopt a strong defensive position and wait. I was in two minds here. When the French landed, the English demi-lancers made a great mess of them. Here, I only have one base of demi-lancers, and the ridge is a strong position. History will show, however, that I could not resist attacking the landers on the beach.

As the attacker, I tried to learn from the French debacle and focus my efforts on a particular sector of the beach. Given my lack of cavalry (all dismounted), I decided to focus on seizing the invisible hill by the sea, in the hope that it would give some protection against the English cavalry as my troops formed up.

As advertised, as the English, I decided not to sit back, but the light horse have got stuck in, and the demi-lancers are arriving, followed by some of the infantry. In the foreground, the Spanish gendarmes, dismounted, and the general are forming up on the hill while the skirmishers are starting to move up. More Spanish troops, some arquebusiers, have just hit the beach, while more troops are arriving. In the middle of the sea section, some Spanish boats have been redirected from landing at the village to support the troops on the hill.

It got a bit fraught on the hill. The demi-lancers, after a hiccup, charged home up the hill, accompanied by the general, into the Spanish dismounted gendarmes, along with their general. This was a pretty close match-up, as it happened, and the fighting was prolonged and bitter, with the Spanish yielding ground slowly but surely.

More Spanish were arriving on the beach, but the gendarmes were being heavily battered on the hill. The shot above shows them only a recoil result away from breaking. However, the Spanish have support from the skirmishers and the disorganised arquebusiers, while the demi-lancers are on their own except for the light horse, who are trying to keep Spanish units pinned on the beach. Nevertheless, it looked really dubious for the Spanish. I was more or less resigned to another failed invasion.

The Spanish, however, got some lucky breaks. Firstly, they got a good combat roll against the demi-lancers, which caused a recoil. As the demi-lancers had bases in contact on the flank, that was that for them. Ouch. The general, however, survived and joined the nearest infantry unit. However, the English morale slumped at this as the army wavered, giving the Spanish vital breathing space. On the other hand, one of the bases of sword and buckler men was steadfastly refusing to get out of their boats!

The Spanish were not quite out of the woods, however. Led by their general, the infantry attacked up the hill. The Spanish had just managed to get a base of pike up there to support the gendarmes, and the disorganised arquebusiers were still in the offing, as were the skirmishers. On the far side, nearer the village, a base of Spanish pike attacked some English arquebusiers and caused them to flee, and were then attacked by some trained band pike.

The shot, dismounted gendarmes, and pike managed to see off the attacking English on the hill, and the pike on the far side were starting to push back the English there, while more Spanish formed up on the beach, with even more about to land. This was all too much for the English, who lost their heroic general on the hill along with the infantry. The Kentish trained bands melted away. The Spanish had arrived.

That was actually pretty close, although the result does not show it. As mentioned, the dismounted gendarmes were within a combat phase of breaking, but managed to get a single hit on the demi-lancers, which was enough. The English did well up to that point, and hardly rolled a successful dice thereafter. The English general was a hero, pretty well involved in every combat there was.

Maybe the English should have waited. The infantry, which did get involved, was supposed to flank a Spanish attack up the ridge on which the English had deployed, but I used them to follow the cavalry up. Perhaps the larger infantry formation on the ridge should have been the one to move up, but that would have disrupted the defensive position. I did not move the infantry off the ridge until it was clear that the decisive action was going to be on the hill by the beach.

Speculation aside, this is the second victory for Isabella, and the Spanish are in Kent. The road to London is open and, once in London and declared Queen, Isabella can order the English army and navy about. On the other hand, Arbella and James might have other opinions, while what Edward Seymour is up to is anyone’s guess (actually, he keeps failing his initiative roll, but that is the campaign master’s secret).

Arbella in Leicestershire

As you might have noted, week six of the War of Stuart Succession has been rather busy. There was James VI losing to the Northumberland trained bands, and then the Spanish fleet beating and dispersing the Dutch in the Channel, off Dover. Now the third action looms, Arbella Stuart, with her Derbyshire levies, against the Leicestershire trained bands, called out against her.

From the fact that Arbella is being opposed, you would rightly deduce that she failed her GOOS roll. In fact, I do not think that anyone has made one so far. On the other hand, fate dealt her a bit of a kinder hand with the troops. I had decided that trained band armies would dice for the cavalry, a 1-3 on a D6 giving a base of light horse, a 4-6 a base of demi-lancers. Arbella got a brace of demi-lancers, while the trained bands got one of each.

I also decided to give Arbella a lifeguard, of blue-coated infantry, and decided that if they were in close combat with her attached, they would get +1 on the dice. Arbella has no other effect except to inspire her lifeguard to fight for her honour. She also has to employ a general. After all, even Elizabeth I never actually commanded her armies.

For reasons I cannot quite account for, I rolled up a rather damp, cramped, terrain. This was not to either side’s advantage, I thought, so set it up and deployed. Both sides were on a rather narrow front between the stream and the river, and also had to avoid marshes and enclosures.

The set up is above. Arbella is on the left. You can just make out the lady herself attached to the rearmost foot unit, her own lifeguards. The plan was to anchor the far side infantry at the corner of the field and use the smaller infantry units and demi-lancers, nearest the camera, to outflank the enemy. The Leicestershire lads decided to stake it all on an advance by the infantry in two blocks, with the flank covered by the light horse (by the marsh) and the demi-lancers in reserve. I was by no means convinced by either plan because the battlefield, or the usable part of it anyway, was so narrow. But sometimes, in wargaming as in the real world, you just have to get on with it.

The plans evolved. The Leicestershire light horse deployed against the demi-lancers and held them up in the approved manner, but they ran foul of the red coated Derbyshire musketeers, who hit them hard in a single volley and caused them to retire behind the marsh. There they remained, shaken, for the rest of the day despite all efforts to rally them. The Leicestershire dice rolls were like that.

The withdrawal of the light horse meant that Arbella’s plan could proceed as the Leicestershire men advanced. The demi-lancers could threaten the flank of the central infantry battalion, while the formation on the far side could be countered by the Derbyshire men in the same array. The smaller infantry formations were under the direct control of the general (front) and Arbella (rear). This gave the Derbyshire men some flexibility, already seen by the red coats in seeing off the enemy light horse and then retiring before getting hit by the oncoming infantry.

It started to look a little like the last battle with the Scots as the front Leicestershire regiment attempted to make contact. There is a lot of musketry going on in the above picture, although not much of it has been effective. But the lead Leicestershire regiment is potentially heading into a difficult situation, although the rear formation is arriving to take up some of the slack, and the demi-lancers are moving up to threaten and prevent a flank attack by Arbella’s lancers.

The infantry battle was predictably messy and complicated. Above, you can see that the red coats, with help from a base of demi-lancers, have seen off the Leicestershire musketeers nearest the camera. In the centre and on Arbella’s left, the firefight has intensified to the advantage of Derbyshire. One base of shot on the far side has been badly hit. This is not to Leicestershire's advantage.

Disaster ensued for the Leicestershire trained bands. In the centre, the pike have been flanked and routed by Arbella’s lifeguards and the red coats, led by the general. The Nottinghamshire demi-lancers have reformed after disposing of the musketeers and are facing off their Leicestershire equivalents. The dice were not with Leicestershire on this – twice their demi-lancers refused to charge.

On the far side (Arbella’s left), the infantry battle is definitely going against Leicestershire. The foot are shaken and giving ground. This was due mostly to poor combat dice rather than anything tactical. Arbella got the tempo and attacked, but the results were more spectacular than I expected.

As you might expect, the end was not far away. While Arbella’s centre reformed under the protection of the demi-lancers, the left started demolishing their opponents. The pike fled after another poor round of combat, while the musketeers on the far side have been routed by ranged fire from Arbella’s shot. I think I mentioned poor dice rolling. The nearside musketeers are also in dire straits and probably will not last another turn. All things considered, it was hardly a surprise when the Leicestershire boys decided enough was enough and the whole army routed.

That, as they say, was a success for Arbella and her forces. It was not really as one-sided as the above narrative might make it seem, but it was more one-sided than it could have been. I am not sure, really, I made that many mistakes, or even that getting the Leicestershire demi-lancers to charge would have made a huge difference to the outcome. Nevertheless, Arbella is now a real contender for the throne.

The next week, Arbella moved into Northamptonshire and was hailed as Queen (a passed GOOS roll), while the Low Countries Spanish attempted a landing in Kent. At present, the two main contenders are Arbella and Isabella. Is Elizabeth to be succeeded by another lady?

The (Coal) Pits

The War of the Stuart Succession is still ongoing, obviously. While the Dutch have been defeated in the Channel, the Scots are advancing south. James VI’s orders to his army are to advance as far as London. Unfortunately for him, he is currently being opposed by the Northumberland trained bands.

The area around Newcastle was, of course, home to the nascent coal mining industry. In the Polemos ECW rules, there is a scenario which pits the Scots against the Royalists on the outskirts of Newcastle, where one of the hazards is the existence of coal pits. These are not the mines of the later era with industrial level machinery, but the original bell-shaped pits, sunk onto the coal seam with the stuff dug out by hand, loaded onto carts and away to Newcastle to be shipped south to London to heat the citizens’ homes. If I recall correctly, some of the unrest in London in the earlier parts of the Civil War were because the coal trade was interrupted, Newcastle being in the hands of the Royalists until it was taken by the Scots in October 1644. There were simply not enough trees around for the Londoners to find alternative heating.

Anyway, in a moment of inspiration a few years ago, probably about the time I finished painting my ECW Scots collection, I made some Seventeenth Century coal mines, using real coal (anthracite) from our multi-fuel burner (no, really, we have one, and a veritable boon it is too, considering the price of heating oil out here in the sticks) and the 6 mm wargamer’s standard go-to for stones, cat litter, generously donated by the resident feline (and unused, I should add). Copious applications of glue and paint meant that I had to paint the coal black, which rather defeated the original purpose, and the scenario never got played. The coal pits stayed in my terrain repository, occasionally looking reproachfully at me.

Still, they got their opportunity. As I rolled up the terrain for the Northumbrian escapade, the coal pits wandered into my mind, and I decided that any rough going would be constituted by them. As the English had decided to go for dense terrain, I got five pieces of rough ground. As I only have four coal pits and did not feel like making another, I lived with it.

The terrain and initial deployments are above. The ground is quite hilly, and the English have deployed infantry companies on both flanks, where they are fairly safe from the Scottish demi-lancers. I actually thought about this quite hard, because often deployment to the flanks means that the flow of battle isolates these troops, and so they are effectively removed from play. Still, I thought it was worth the risk, given the narrowness of the terrain between the hills, wood and rough going. The coal pits, by the way, are to the right behind the English lines.

As James VI, I was a bit grumpy about the terrain, but decided to get on with it. The infantry would advance in the centre, covered by the light horse, while I would try to thread the demi-lancers through the gap between the wood and hill on the far side, to isolate the English on the hill and also to threaten the flank of the main army. The English plan was essentially one of defence in depth, hoping for effective local counter-attacks and, possibly, moving the troops on the hill into flanking areas.

As shown above, the plans developed. On the far side, the English on the hill have disrupted the Scottish cavalry. One base has been halted by musketry, while the other is passing through the defile behind the wood. In the centre, the English light horse have been forced back, taking shelter behind their infantry, while the Scots first regiment of foot pushes on. The second regiment has started to move to support them. On the near side, the English on the hill are gently moving to outflank the Scottish light horse. However, this was approximately peak Scot.

A few moves later, and the Scots are struggling a bit. On the far side, the demi-lancers have been attacked downhill in flank by the English pike supported by the shot. They lost the combat (almost inevitably) and are no more. In the centre, the Scottish foot are pressing on, disrupted by English musketry, while the Scottish light horse are starting to suffer from their counterparts now, albeit the latter are supported by the flanking English shot.

It has to be admitted that the Scots dice rolling was appalling. One base down, they managed to roll a ‘fall back’ army morale, which disrupted things even more, and their tempo rolling was poor throughout the game. James spent most of his time using his personal tempo to get things moving at all. It also meant that he was on the front line for most of the game.

The front Scottish foot was forced to pivot right to face the flanking English force, while, unfortunately for the Scots, the English centre got moving against them. Meanwhile, the English light horse has disposed of one of their opponents and is now focusing on the remaining Scottish light horse. In the subsequent exchanges of musketry, the Scots came second, which left their foremost pike exposed. It was duly flanked by the English centre and attacked in front by the flanking English pike. It did not end well for the Scots.

The final positions are above. The central Scottish pike have vaporised, their shot shaken, including James (who survived). In other news, the final base of the Scottish light horse has fled, leaving the Scottish rear open to harassment by the English borderers. Another poor roll for morale meant that the Scots, having had enough, fled.

That was quite a short but interesting battle. The tactical problems for both sides were significant, but I made more mistakes for James than the trained bands – the loss of the base of cavalry to a pike ambush was probably my mistake; they need not have pushed on. On the other hand, the English were lucky – they held the tempo during most of the game, and their outflanking infantry were decisive.

In the campaign, James has suffered a major setback. While he already has a new army in Edinburgh, it will be some weeks before it can head south and, we we have seen, a week is a long time in a succession struggle. A lot depends on whether Arbella Stuart overcomes the Leicestershire trained bands and continues her march on London and, of course, what the Spanish decide to do next.

Rules on the Fly – WsuS At Sea

Over the decades I have been running campaigns, I have noticed a few things. One of these is the need to be fairly comprehensively prepared for any combination of troops, activities and actions that might arise. Campaigns can be rather surprising in this respect. In the VMCW, for example, I spent quite a lot of time on non-Mogul wargaming, which was not what I expected. On the other hand, in the Machiavelli campaign, I expected some naval action but got none. It keeps me on my toes, I suppose.

Now, the next move in the War of Stuart Succession threw up three wargames. James VI against the Northumberland trained bands, Arbella Stuart against the Leicestershire trained bands, and, most surprisingly, the Spanish attacking the Dutch in Dover (the sea area, not the port). Um. OK, that will need some thinking about. Actually, there are two Spanish fleets and one Dutch fleet in the area, which means, using my usual rule of thumb, one and a half fleets against one, or 18 ships against 12. I have been at sea before (although I am a landlubber, and perfectly happy as such, thank you), and I do have some rules for naval combat. Somewhere.

A frantic search of my rules file and some whinging to the Estimable Mrs P. yielded a single page of Renaissance Naval Wargame Rules. Somewhere to start, agreed, but I was sure I had a slightly more detailed set. A search of my laptop yielded a more sophisticated rule set, but I still wanted to add a bit more flavour. So I set about adding fleet organisations, fireships and a minimal order rule. This pushed the rule set to four pages of A4. A good place to start, I thought.

Naval battles are, of course, notorious for lacking much terrain. I rolled a pair of D6 and got a double six, so I decided that there would be a shoal in the middle of the table. Further dice rolls established that the Dutch would be coming from one side, while the Spanish were arriving from two different directions. The organisation was that the fleets were in squadrons of 6 or so ships, and the only orders were to ‘support the flagship’, so each squadron had a designated flagship, the biggest and meanest available in my Armada fleets.

The initial dispositions are above. The Dutch are in the near left-hand corner, while the Spanish squadrons are to the right and on the far side. Assorted unrated vessels are around as well, providing communication, scouting, and generally getting in the way. The game started at 6 AM (2 bells of the morning watch, I believe). The wind is northerly, blowing from left to right of the picture, force 5, so a moderate breeze (sailors are given to understatement on such things, I think), and the weather was light rain. The wind direction and strength did not change during the game. The weather improved after 8 AM, however, to fair.

Land battles can be complex affairs. Sea battles are the same, only more so, I suspect. The Dutch clearly have a tactical problem with foes to bow and quarter. However, in the latter case, they have the advantage of the weather gauge. So I had to make a decision as to what to do with the fleet. If I took on the weaker Spanish to the front, I was open to the flank, but if I turned the whole fleet to run down on the stronger Spanish, I risked some potentially battered ships having to face the second Spanish squadron without the wind. So splitting the Dutch seemed like a logical thing to do.

The picture shows the Dutch fleet splitting into two. The aim is to batter the three ships of the westward Spanish column to the right with the five ships of the Dutch squadron. Meanwhile, the other Dutch squadron will batter the northward column of weaker Spanish, avoiding the heavier ships in the other column. Seems like a plan…

Obviously, I omitted to plan for the Spanish responding to the Dutch moves, however hampered they were by the wind. The target column of Spanish has turned to engage the approaching Dutch, while, as advertised, the unrated ships are getting in the way as targets and attempting to engage each other. As we shall see, the unrated ships ended up having a separate battle among themselves, and the ships of the line (insofar as there were any in 1603) engaged each other.

There was actually quite a lot of frantic rule rewriting and inventing going on. My neatly printed out four pages of rules were getting scribbles and scrawls all over. I invented the smoke rule, which means dicing for each smoke bank from a broadside to see if it dissipates. I changed the combat rules to make them simpler. I added firing factors. I shamelessly stole bits from Paul Hague’s book to keep things moving. And so on…

It is probably a bit simple to show some shots of the action rather than try to describe what happened. There was a lot going on, and I had to steal/write rules for breaking a line, minimum moves, ships fouling each other and so on.

In this sequence, you can see the middle and nearest Spanish columns manoeuvring to intercept the Dutch and, in the final shot, smashing through the line. Poor dice rolling meant that not much damage was inflicted, but the tactical situation does not favour the Dutch. In the bottom left corner, the unrated ships are having a running fight. In the top right, the cannon duel is hotting up, and visibility is rapidly dropping.

Surprisingly, the above shows more or less the end of the action. In the bottom left corner, the fight between the unrated ships has finished with the Dutch cromster damaged and down to half speed. It will be forced to strike. In the top left, the Dutch squadron has sailed between the two Spanish ones and is paying the price. While the flagship is unscathed, the others are suffering. The next two ships are damaged, and the one after that has been boarded from the galleas and surrendered. One of the others will also be forced to strike as well. On the right of the shot, a running fight has developed between the Spanish first column and the front of the Dutch. The participants are disappearing in the smoke clouds. Behind them, however, the rearmost Dutch ship as been boarded and struck. The next in line has been broadsided again by the Spanish flagship and sheared off. Unfortunately, it has run foul of the next ship along and caused that vessel considerable damage. This has been compounded by the next Spanish vessel, which turned north before the Dutch line and broadsided it, inflicting more damage. The Dutch 5^th rate is crippled and sinking. The ship that ran it foul has not struck but is stuck, so it will not have a lot of choice, unless it decides to get pounded to bits by the Spanish 5^th rates.

That was a lot of fun as a game, and also has given me some head scratching to do in the campaign. The Dutch must retreat, so they will have to go into Thames, I think, but that is where the English fleet is, which is without orders. On the other hand, with the level of damage, they might disperse and make port as best they can.

That Podcast

 For those of you who missed it, the podcast of my interview with Steve from The Company of Makers is available here.

It is probably best if you shut your eyes while listening to avoid my pale and pasty features....