1643 ... somewhere in the west country (a solo DBA encounter)

In late summer 1643, a sizeable force of Sir Ralph Hopton's army surprise Waller's Parliamentarians near a hamlet in Somerset. The Royalists quickly deploy their mounted troops to the open ground on their right wing hoping to strike while Waller's foot struggle out of ground domindated by hedges. Knowing his foot is outnumbered in the centre but certain that his left flank is securely pinned on the hamlet where his dragoons lurk, the Royalist commander quickly takes the initiative on the right and charges the Parliamentarian artillery.

View from the Royalist rear - the cavaliers charge on the right is countered by Parliament's  heavy cuirassiers

The Parliamentarian commander, seeking to buy some time while his remaining shotte deploy to reinforce his beleaguered left, leads his heavy cuirassiers in a daring charge to break the Royalist foot that have rushed in to support the cavaliers. The cavaliers try to ride down the exposed Parliamentarian left but the momentum of their charge is broken at cannon's mouth. In the centre the Royalist foot deploy their pike in depth, and the musketeers steady themselves for the maelstrom of lead that will issue from the cuirassiers wheellocks as they smash into their ranks.

The cavaliers falter as the Parliamentarian heavy cavalry countercharge

The failure of the cavaliers to drive their charge home, coupled with the heavy losses among the Royalist mounted troops from cannon and musket fire, gives the Parliamentarian shotte time to deploy. Encouraged by the arrival of the foot, the horse teams are whipped into the melee and manage to draw the heavy guns back out of danger. But, the undaunted cavaliers wheel around and slam into the flank of the muskets forcing them to turn to meet the charge. The din of battle soars as the 'lobsters' drive into the Royalist foot decimating the front ranks of pike and musket, driving all before them with their commander at the very apex of the charge. Yet, seemingly out of nowhere, remnants of the Royalist mountet troops slam into the left flank of the cuirassiers - both commanders sense the moment of decision has come. Who will carry the day?

The high water mark - remnants of the first Royalist charge strike the exposed left of the
Parliamentarians while the cavalry reserve charges to support them.

Battle rages ... the smoke of musketry blinds those engaged ... the commanders rise in their saddles ... the gods of war roll their dice ...

Bella detesta matribus! (Horace)

Wars, the horror of mothers! The lobsters shrug off the challenge to their flank and decimate the Royalist centre. While in the distance, the hard-pressed Parliamentarian musketeers are savaged by the impetuous charge of the few remaining cavaliers, the remaining foot flee. The Royalist commander rushes to plug the gap in his line ... but the day is lost (4:1).

The Royalist heavy cavalry arrive too late.

Somewhere near Pevensey, 14 October 1066

One of my earliest projects when I began playing DBA was to paint up the armies for a 1066 campaign. Well, in 2011 I finally finished the Normans (the Anglo-Danes being pained many years ago) and this allows me to set in place a new tradition of playing Anglo-Danes vs. Normans each year on the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066.

Tonight, Harold Godwinson's army achieved an even-more epic forced march and met Duke William's force on the road from Pevensey. What happened? Did King Harold II throw the Norman usurper back into the sea? Was the thunderous charge of William's knights too powerful for the exhausted Saxons? Stay tuned ...

DBA-RRR ECW – battlefield terrain

Having painted and based and fought an initial battle with my ECW army for DBA-RRR, I decided it was time to turn the paintbrush to some terrain to get that quintessential English feel to the battlefield. I have a box of resin buildings from the Hovels 15mmm Medieval range sitting around from a bygone period of affluence. Amongst them are some cracking pieces that will add atmosphere to my Civil Wars battles.

• (6M5) Inn of half timber with thatched roof
• (8M5) Bailiffs house, stone walls half timbered with tiled roof.
• (3M5) Stable block in timber with thatched roof.

I have not quite decided how these buildings will fit into DBA-RRR. The could be used as a single built up area (BUA) if mounted appropriately. However, recent experience with other rules in the DBx family has got me thinking. Having played a number of games of DB ACW lately where we have used buildings scattered over the table (4' x 4') as impassible terrain features (with each building representing a hamlet or such at the scale of armies, rather than a single building).

If spaced with appropriate room for elements to move and deploy around them these buildings become very influential on the battlefield: providing shelter from artillery / musket fire; being a great feature to anchor a command's flank on; and at times as a hinderance when forming up into lines of battle. While you have to be careful not to overdo it (no more than 3-4 on a 4' x 4' table), they seem to add to the game rather than detract. Aesthetically as well as providing tactical challenges.

In the ECW context, I am thinking of introducing a similar approach as we have used in DB ACW. To that end I will experiment with the system we have used which is to do away with rules dictating the amount and placement of terrain and have the player who hosts the game set up a table with plausible terrain for an encounter and the guest (who sees the board for the first time the night we play) having the choice of which edge he/she deploys on.

A report on this approach will follow. In the mean time, here are a few pictures of the new buildings (Inn and Bailiffs house only) I took in a flood of sunlight today. Thanks for looking.

The Colonial adventure begins

Somewhat rashly I have purchased a bunch of painted and based british colonial figures. There are 20 bases (40 x 20 mm) or regular infantry in the classic redcoat - possibly best suited to the Zulu campaign. Given the number I have I guess I have the basis of a largish Colonial force - now I need to decide what enemies to put together and start working on the mounted and irregular troops for the Brits.

Tally ho!

For God, Kinge and Parliament!

I have at last completed sufficient elements to field an early English Civil Wars Royalist army for DBA-RRR. I have not gone so far as to research individual units for the colour scheme - rather I have stuck to a more generic approach to the army so far.

Pirate Bears!

I can't resist a bit of fatherly bragging by offering a peek at the first miniature my daughter has painted. She has wanted to paint 'knights' with me for a long time now so I gave her a handful of Eureka Miniatures' wonderful Teddy Bear Pirates for her seventh birthday.

This was her first bear - painted immediately after she opened the parcel. Well done sweetheart!

A sticky swab indeed!

Grab the honey and run!

For God, King and Parliament

My attention is straying away from matters ancient and medieval to pursue my interest in the English Civil Wars. I have early war Parliamentarian and Royalist armies on the painting table. I am planning on using the DBA-RRR rules extension (12 element armies) with plans for expanding the size of the armies in time to allow 'big battle' DBA-RRR with 36 elements a side. There are also Scots and Irish armies to consider in the future - I look forward to getting my hands on some of the Khurasan Miniatures Confederate Irish in the future.

Anyway ... I've decided to take an approach of painting the armies three elements at a time - this way it takes me about three sessions to complete the group to a state where they are game-ready. I'm finding the concept of having completed elements to ponder early in the project is good for morale and keeping me enthusiastic.

The first offering is three mounted elements of my Parliamentary army. For both armies I wanted to achieve the look of troops that have tasted 'the dust of the road' ... dirty, powder-stained buffcoats rather than the pristine armies that we often see painted up. I'm not sure if its worked very well yet ... but maybe by the end of the project I'll have it in hand!

This approach harks back to my experience as a 'Routier' with the Pike and Musket Society in Australia. We went to great lengths to maintain the 'Inescapable Military Feel' (TM) in our encampments through liberal exposure to mud, blood and excrement. I recall one of the primary rules of the society way back when it was founded in the early 1980s was that 'any soldier that is found to be looking cleaner than the Captain was to be made to roll in the dust of the road ... this is the sort of thing going through my head as I paint.

Pikemen next ...