Battle at St Leonards 1643

more than 25 years ago I played my first game set in the English Civil war, and it too centred on the capture of a village with a prominent church. This game was in some respects reminiscent of that seminal game.

The Royalists, under my command Began from the north of the battlefield, with a large force of Horse on my right and infantry to my left, I hoped to sweep round the farmland surrounding the village; and outflank the Roundheads.

They (under Gav's command) had two smaller infantry forces either side of the village, and a limited force of cavalry. Their orders were to defend the village in close detail.

My Royalist Horse made a sweep around the flank, forcing the enemy to draw into stand of pike. Meanwhile my infantry began to advance on my left. In the centre the threat of an artillery duel was forestalled by the poor state of the roads.

The Parliament Horse, Heavy on my right and Dragoons on my left, began to counter attack, with some initial success. My infantry on the left however were not swayed by their presence, knowing them as little more than an harassment. Still the Parliamentary guns were advanced too to face us and were giving small fire upon our ranks.


I lost one unit of horse, but routed Gav's heavy Horse in a counterattack. My Horse now attempted to catch the foot unready, but without fortune. On my Left there was the push of Pike as infantry clashed, whilst in the centre my troops finally made progress down the road.

Alas my infantry came out of the battle bloodied and too weary to put up a fight, their greater local numbers proving no help. Now the Dragoons were a true threat to us, and our retreat was in danger of becoming a rout. Still my horse should have offered a glimmer of hope, but at this moment the chose to quit the field in favour of looting the baggage train.

To be honest I write it as a close run thing, but really I was comprehensively beaten by Gav! Fun with Black Powder as ever, but my dice rolling and tactical acumen were sorely lacking on this day.

Elsewhere in the club it was a busy night, currently attendance on a Thursday night is running around the 40 mark! Amongst the other games was Wings of War, simple WW1 Aerial combat with an ingenious card based flight and combat mechanic:

Of course the mainstay of the club is GW games, and in one of those, this unit of Chaos Warriors caught my eye.