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?
No comments:
Post a Comment