Battle for Futtock's Mill : ECW Pike & Shotte game

Graham brought along some of his fantastic ECW collection for a game at Writtle today - Futtock's Mill was the game, not one you will find in any history book, I hasten to add !

Graham and I were the Royalist commanders - I had the cavalry on our left wing, Graham the infantry in centre and right wing.

Steve C and Ian R took the roles of the Parliamentarian commanders.

Royalist Brigade Commander stand

Royalist Army Commander stand

Another Brigade Commander - this one a Parliamentarian

as is this chap

The famous Futtock's Mill - objective for both armies

Start lines - the Royalists are in the foreground

View from the other end, Royalists on the right

I had two brigades of cavalry - this one

and this one

opposite me, Steve has a force of cavalry supported by one gun

Graham's Kings Lifeguard of Foote advance

Indeed, Graham's infantry "got a lick on" and rapidly approached the Mill and surroundings

the two Royalist guns were placed with a line of fire right of the Mill.

Here we see the Royalist centre brigade advancing to the hedge line

Bird's eye view of the Mill as the Royalists arrive on the river bank

and they swiftly cross over supported by the guns

so the Mill is firmly in Royalist control already.

  

Belatedly, Ian's Foote advance towards the Mill - he had failed command rolls earlier.

The Parliamentarian commander is thinking of sending their centre cavalry brigade towards their right as we have all our cavalry amassed over on that wing.

His Dragoons have dismounted and entered the marsh far left of the Parliamentarian lines

Now we see Graham has sent his infantry across the hedges to threaten the advanced Parliamentarian foot.

Command change ! The Parliamentarian cavalry in there centre face about and head for our infantry beside the Mill.

Whilst all this is going on, the cavalry out on the wing are having a right old "ding dong"

There is charge and counter charge and the battle swings back and forth - a Royalist unit broke but in the next clash a Parliamentarian one trying to find a way out ends up breaking from the field 

Battle lines approach in the centre

Both sides cavalry commanders are trying to get the upper hand as gaps appear

but Royalist weight of numbers finally tell

as Graham's pikemen surge into the assault

supported by Prince Rupert's regiment

This Parliamentarian cavalry unit is now unsupported

their sister brigade failing to follow up

Crunch - push of pike !

Across the board, Ian's troops are slowly closing on the Mill - his musketeers had amazing fortune firing at the defenders of the Mill, several bullets penetrating the walls to hit the unit inside.

The Royalist cavalry rally for yet another charge

The enemy are disordered after their retreat and their brigade is broken.

Steve's Green Coats pour fire on one of my cavalry brigades, causing them some confusion

Behind them, the Parliamentarian commander tries to steady his lines as the King's regiment threaten them

The Parliamentarian centre cavalry brigade advances in support of their attack against the Mill

Not that the regiments over here give a care, having their own little war going on.

Prepare to receive horse !

The other side of the Mill seems quiet by comparison - the Royalists firmly in control.

The clash of the Red Coats continues in the centre

Now Ian's men get into combat around the Mill

but the Royalists refuse to buckle

A concerted effort by these Parliamentarian foot finds the Mill a difficult nut to crack too 

 The casualty markers show how the Royalist infantry attacks have had an effect

 a sleeve of Shotte has retreated from the Parliamentarian line

A tremendous battle goes on around the Mill.

But despite all thats thrown at them, the Royalists keep possession of the Mill.

The Parliamentarian attack runs out of steam and with casualties high and their right wing exposed by the rout of the cavalry, the battle is ended.

I've just realised - not a single blunder was rolled by either side in this game - quite a rarity ! So no ridiculous events this time out.

Amazing turn out at the club bearing in mind the amount of snow we have had in the last couple of days, seven or more games going on I think - well done to all for making the effort !

Muddy CoC : Chain of Command WWI

Yesterday at the club we tried out the WWI adaptations for Chain of Command as published in the Too Fat Lardies Christmas Special back in 2014.

Mike and Allan prepare to do battle - Mike is putting on his first Germans as Allan has his British hidden in the trenches

The British start with a morale of 9

The Germans are on 8.

A unit of German infantry scramble forwards and get into a shell hole for cover

and a Machine Gun covers them

Allan reveals a Vickers in the trenches which opens fire

and the first unit is deployed in the trenches - these have two Lewis guns

This is the British right of there line - no one showing yet !

Some British heads peer over the trench cautiously

Next on, a German mortar team - nasty !

In trying to get forwards, some German infantry have been hit by the Vickers team

Mike decides its time to commit more men to the attack

Just as well as the front unit has taken a pasting

Its tough going - the next unit takes a hit too

but a double move enables Mike to get some men up to the wire

More British troops show on the line and add their firepower

The smoke marks two of the British deployment points.

Despite enemy fire, the Germans are cutting the wire

Covering fire keeps the Tommies heads down

Small comfort to the men in this shell hole

At last a section of wire has been cut through

The Germans know where the British command post is !

Currently being used by a Stokes mortar team

Most of the British troops are up the other end of the trenches

so Senior Leaders attempt to get them to cover the now vulnerable trench section

Now the wire is cut, the Germans get more men up to throw bombs and charge

 Despite the British laying down some fire

they get in the trenches

Now its going to get nasty

a fierce fight sees the numbers fall on both sides

but some of the Germans have managed to attack the British mortar team in the bunker

Britrish morale has taken a tumble

The battle for the bunker sees both sides suffer - but the British have had one of their deployment points over run which batters the morale again

German mortar and MG fire has kept the British heads down at the other end of the trench - preventing them shifting to the left and assist the point of attack

At this point British morale collapsed and the Germans emerge clear winners

I think Mike and Allan enjoyed this - here's the article which inspired this little game.

Next Sunday, its back to ECW action !