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....

A Day at the Beach - WSuS

Those of you who have read the blog attentively will possibly be aware that I like the odd landing in force sort of scenario. So I was pleasantly surprised when the War of Stuart Succession campaign threw one up early on. The situation is that the French, transported on Spanish ships, are attempting to land in Hampshire, where they are opposed by the local trained bands.

This might sound, to you, unlikely, and I would agree. But the diplomacy which brought this to light was controlled by the dice, and that is what happened. I suppose that we can rationalise it by arguing that Henry IV is probably as interested as the English in who controls the other shore of the Channel, and has no objection to the idea that it should be him. As the French do not have a fleet to speak of (it was mainly concentrated in the Mediterranean and consisted of galleys and, anyway, had been starved of funds since the 1540s) getting an army to England was, of course, a bit of a problem. So the Spanish Armada of Flanders was roped in, using the newly fund friendship between Henri and Isabella.

Almost inevitably, however, the French failed their GOOS roll and the trained bands were called up against them. A few dice rolls determined that the English would oppose a landing on the beaches, rather than defend a port. Given my lack of modelling capacity for siege/landing scenarios, this was probably just as well.

The picture shows the situation just after the start. The Hampshire trained bands are on the left, with their demi-lancers at the front and the infantry poised between the woods. I confess I was in two minds about the English defence, whether to ‘fight them on the beaches’ to coin a phrase, or to hold back and hope to defeat them in the defensive positions.

The French are, of course, at sea. The order of arrival was determined by dice roll, and they were to arrive in two waves. The boats will have to return to their baseline, take on more troops, and return to the beach in order for the full French force to arrive.

The picture above shows, as it were, crunch time. The first wave have hit the beach and are mostly landed. From the right, we have some Swiss pikes with the general, two bases of musketeers, a base of dismounted Millers and some enfants perdu skirmishers. You may have also noted that my hesitations about the best form of English defence have been resolved. The demi-lancers, under the general, are moving up, as are the first-line infantry.

It has to be admitted that the dice rolling on both sides was poor, but it was worse for the French than the English. While the geography of the table and English deployment meant that the French troops on the beach had just about rallied by the time the English arrived, that is about as far as their luck went. The English, too, were a bit slow to get moving, their reserve regiment only starting out halfway through the French assault.

This picture shows the English counter-attack developing. The demi-lancers trotted into the French. This was because, as the English general, I did not want to lose control of them because I thought they would be useful later. You can see that their attack has been wildly successful (did I mention the poor French dice rolling). The Arquebusiers second in from the right have vaporised. The Swiss pike on the extreme right are doubly shaken, and the French general has taken a swim. The only bright spot for the French is that their skirmishers have disrupted the incoming English foot on the left of the shot. You can also see that only half of the French boats have put off to collect the next wave.

The demi-lancers rallied back, and the English foot have moved into the fray. In the centre the dismounted Millers have made short work of a base of English shot, but the pressure on the French is only likely to grow as more foot move up and the demi-lancers are poised for another go. Without a general the French on the beach just cannot get themselves organised on mutually supporting units, not to mention that a third of the initial landing force has vanished.

It did not get much better for the French. One of the demi-lancer bases charged some shot on the beach, and the latter simply fled. To add insult to injury the dismounted Millers, supported by Swiss pike, have just attacked the English trained band pike in flank in the centre. The English have just shrugged this off (a 6-1 dice roll to the English. Did I mention the French dice rolling?). As it happened, this was the last action to take place. The loss of the shot base caused the French morale to go to ‘withdraw’, so they did.

Well, the French invasion has been thoroughly thwarted, and Henri IV’s GOOS score will have dropped rather. Not that he was really envisaged as a major player in the campaign, I admit, and his invasion attempt was a bit of a surprise. Partly, with it, I had hoped to finally get my French Wars of Religion Millers into action. Well, some of them sort of did, but they could have done to have been mounted to get the full effect. The army list, incidentally, calls them ‘cuirassiers’ but I know what I mean. Perhaps that is a hint that the French Wars should be next up.

Still, the campaign continues. James IV is poised in Berwick to march to London, and the complicated naval situation in the Channel has not been resolved by this action. The French army is back in France and the next bit of foreign intervention, should there be any, seems to be up to the Spanish.

Opposed landings can be very interesting wargames, I have found. My track record is rather spotty, though. The Samurai succeeded a couple of times against the Koreans, and the Spanish landed successfully in North Yorkshire in the Armada Abbeys campaign. The Commonwealth failed once and succeeded once landing on Jersey, while Caesar managed it against the British. So it comes out as a fairly balanced sort of game. If the defenders can handle the landing forces piecemeal they have a chance. If not then the organising attackers seem to gain the upper hand. Mind you, they could just have tried to find a quiet beach somewhere to land.