A fun ECW Baroque game

Last week we managed to grab a game fighting a 15mm ECW battle using the Baroque rule set, which I have already stated in previous blog posts I find to be a excellent set of rules. This time out I took command of the Royalists led by Ruppert and my dad took the role of the parliamentary army led by Mr Cromwell. Our deployments when revealed showed our armies pretty much deployed like for like, my main cavalry body led by Ruppert himself faced off against Oliver Cromwells Ironsides, this in itself should be a tasty clash of cavalry. 

In the centre I had deployed the better of my infantry commands which included the tough Cornish unit and had given these men the task of smashing the parliament centre, my plans suffered early set back as the Cornish unit took a right battering from some seriously impressive musket fire, this really did knock the stuffing out my main fighting unit.

My dad had grabbed the inititive and grabbed the high ground with his infantry command, my command facing this was made up up of mostly raw troops so I decided against a full on frontal attack and engaged in some musketry fire, the hope was that ruperts cavalry command would beat the Ironsides and turn the parliament flank

I was heavily outnumbered by the parliament cavalry on my left flank so I opted to hold the hill just to cover my centre as they engaged the Parliment infantry, fortunately for me my dad had some difficulty redeploying these cavalry due the the hedgerows and couldn't get them involved until later in the game, however his Dragoons proved a real pain as they advanced in front of my cavalry and peppered them with musket fire, my cavalry had little choice but to stand and take it.

Both our centre lines advanced towards each other and engaged in a fire fight for a few rounds, both sides were taking casualties but I was getting the better of this fire fight.

Ruppert and his cavalry made short work of the Ironsides as my dad once again failed spectacularly with his dice rolling when using a cavalry command (becoming a common theme). With Cromwells command broken Rupert now turned his attention to the infantry command on the hill, however a couple of units of his cavalry had got themselves a little impetus in the face of the Parliamentary cavalry routing and had pursued them so they were now out of command and to far away to influence the game any further. 

Back in the centre the Roundhead lines started to thin as a unit of pike and musket broke, in return my Dragoons were routed from the ruined church area

I pushed my infantry command foward in the centre as I could now see the parliamentary cavalry on my left flank starting to get into a position to turn my flank,  one last shot from my muskets caused enough disorder for my pike to charge into the shaken ranks of the Parliment pike.

The combat lasted for a few rounds as a role of destiny from my dad saved the day, however the parliment centre was been pushed further back

The last of the Ironsides cavalry was swept away as Rupert himself led the charge ( Cromwell joined intothe fray to, and if memory serves me correctly He might have been killed in this melee). Ruperts cavalry over ran and were now completely threatening the Parliment infantry.

The Parliment resistance finally give in the centre as my pike now turned the flank on the Parliment centre. My dads second cavalry command had finally got into action and quickly they broke my cavalry command which had been holding my flank under the constant fire from the Dragoons.

I pushed my infantry command foward to attack the hill now that Ruppert had his cavalry in position to charge the Parliment pike in both the rear and the flank, however the Parliment pike were veteran troops and were refusing to give any ground despite the danger they faced.

The game at this stage had reached its time limit just as my dads Roundheads were on the verge of collapse. I was not quite able to completely rout the Parliment army but we were both in agreement that I was winning the game and was awarded a minor victory. The big turning point of the game had been the ease with which Ruperts command had bettered Cromwells Ironsides and this definetly had swung the game into my favour. Great game again and once again the rules made for a fun satisfying afternoon of gaming 😄