15mm English Civil War. The rules used were a set of computer moderated rules capable of covering most periods of warfare with organised units (I'm afraid I cant recall the particular set, sorry folks). As such it mean't no dice throwing and a slightly divorced sense of control of ones' troops. The effect being pretty much to put you squarely in the shoes of the general; giving commands and hoping to see the results you desired.
One advantage of the computer moderation was that the reactions to combat and casualties were more varied than many rule sets allowed for, and that you never know for sure how badly any unit is faring, you had to use a degree of judgement to try and guess; though it seemed that three melees in a row was the limit for most units.
Anyhow, I pitched my Parliamentarians onto the field, for their first battle in some 6 years, I've been working on a Royalist force to face them for a few months now...
My deployment was entirely conventional with for regiments in front and two in reserve, guns on the hills and horse to the flanks. My opponent used the hill to his centre for an artillery laager whilst his foot and horse divided to each side of it.
My infantry proved aggressive, I ordered an advance and they went to assault orders against my will, they intended closing with the weaker Royalist foot. On the Flanks the Royalist horse made all efforts to charge.
On my left this resulted in our both losing a troop of horse and both having one on the enemy flank. I decided to go for the Royalist infantry, whilst my opponent decided to try to return and catch my horse; I think I made the right decision, I can't speak for his, but he couldn't catch me...
On the right I prepared for the worst, getting reserves into Hedgehog formation. However my Curassier armoured 'Lobsters' were able to fend off and destry successive attacks by the enemy. In the end they were eliminated as a fighting force but the right flank was safe for most of the battle thereafter.
On the left My horse hit unprepared foot in the flank, and scattered them; by now they were exhausted though I would soon choose to withdraw them, whilst the Infantry closed.
The Trained Band charged the Royalists, as the rest of my infantry closed. Some Royalist horse returned to threaten my right, But broke on my Hedgehog formation.
After two rounds of combat in the centre the trained band withdrew, having routed their opponents...
At the same time Southwarks' foot rolled up one battery from the hill in the centre; the King now looked dangerously exposed.
The centre carried on up the hill and captured the entire Royalist armoury; at this point the King 'bottled it' and was escorted away by his surviving horse.
Parliament took the field of battle for the glory of God and true government. The computer stats, showed both sides fairly even in terms of losses, with about 65% of our horse left, 90-95% of our infantry. The real difference was in the loss of all the Royalist guns, and the fact that Parliaments' infantry had attacked aggressively from the very start. Despite being diceless, I found I pretty darned enjoyable; and that's quite important!
Ah, a brilliant blog you got here!
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