Roundway Down Project (2) - getting organised

Part of my figs order arrived for my extra three regiments of horse, I went for Sash & Sabre for a change. I decided to wait for the rest of the order before getting stuck in assenbling and painting. So currently organziing all the bits and pieces ready to put them to one side; have cut all the bases from thick card for the regiment of foot and the three horse regiments while I was at it.

Roundway Down Project (1) - quick list of forces

Just working out some basics for my Roundway Down project. Approx size of armies

Parliament: Horse 2000; Foot 1800; Guns 8; + some dragoons
Royalist: Horse 1800; Foot 2000; Guns 2 light pieces; + some dragoons

Need to get the ratios approx correct; so decided on the following forces:

Royalists:
1. Left - 2 Regiments of horse (18 figs)
2. Centre - 1 Regiment of horse (9 figs),  Galloper Gun, Dragoons
3. Right - 2 Regiments of horse (18 figs)
4. At Devizes - 5 Regiments of Foot.

Parliamentarians:

1. Left - 3 Regiments of horse (27 figs)
2. Centre - 4 Regiments of Foot, 3 guns
3. Right - 3 Regiments of horse (27 figs)
4. To the rear - Dragoons - guarding baggage and watching out for Royalist foot.

After totting up the horse required I am 3 regiments short, figs order to be done shortly - may go for some Sash & Sabre this time.

Planning for Roundway Down 're-fight'

I'm currently planning my re-fight of Roundway Down. Prior to the main battle there was a rearguard action at Rowde plus the siege of Devizes, so may also have a go at staging these too.

Have to paint up one infantry regiment and obtain probably 5 more cavalry regiments. I may look at the army sizes and reduce the cavalry slightly, maintaining the right ratios.

Plenty of reading to do - will check up on accounts in other books to build up a clearer picture of the main battle.

New Regiment of Foot Musters

Finished assembling a new regiment of foot; facncied something slightly different and bought some figs in marching poses -mostly Romanoff, with some Jacdaw and a few Sash and Sabre heads for variety. 

The Battle of Pewsey

The Parliamentarians having raided the villages around Marlborough are headied towards Pewsey. A body of Royalist horse rode to intercept them.

The Royalist horse form up to the north of Pewsey...

The Parliamentarians start to deploy on seeing the body of Royalist horse ...

The Royalists start moving forward to take the initiative ....

The Parliamentarians continue their deployment  ...

The view to their front is disconcerting, the Royalist horse are charging at full tilt ...

The Royalist horse charge into contact ....

The melee continues as both sides feed in more troops of horse, the Parlianentarians are holding their ground....

Boths sides fall back in part to regroup while fresh regiments move forward ....

The melee restarts with the fresh regiments setting to ....

The Royalist get the upper hand and a Parliamentarian regiment routs ...

The Royalists press home their advantage now they outnumber the opposition ....

The Royalist give chase and surround the remaining Parliamentarians ....

---oXo---

A victory for ye Kinge !

A Lull in the fighting ...

Both sides have been 'licking their wounds' after the battle of Hungerford. The royalists have withdrawn their small garrision from Marlborough and have for now decided to consolidate the rest of their positions in the north of Wiltshire. They have setup a number of lookout posts to keep an eye on movements towards the Pewsey vale from the east and south.

The Parliamentarians have been re-inforcing their horse regiments which took heavy casualties at Hungerford, they are considering their next move - perhaps another raid or an attempt move to take Pewsey.

Royalists at Devizes ....

After their defeat at the battle Hungerford in Berkshire, the Royalists re-grouped at Chideford near Hungerford. Hearing of the defeat of the Kings Army at Newbury they decided to march back to Devizes to be in the best position to counter any move by Parliament. (note: have added outline map to above the blog archive)

Sir William de Walloughby watches as his troops enter Devizes

--oXo--

Note: I have updated this post to add link in the above text to Battle of Newbury (as reported on the Blog Lead Gardens)

The Battle of Hungerford

At Hungerford the Parliamentarian army faces the Royalists; they have formed up just to the west of the road to Wantage.

Both sides eyed up the opposition, there was some hesitancy in deciding to move forward; neither side was willing to make the first move.  The battle started in the mid-morning with a desultory exchange of artillery fire.  The commander of horse on the royalist left urges his men forward ...

As the royalist horse move, the parliamentarian cuirassiers start to trot forewards

Meanwhile on the other flank the royalist horse and foot are advancing ....

While the foot exchange vollies the horse get stuck in ...

While the rest of the royalist foot move forewards, the action on their right flank intensifies...

The parliamentarian cuirassiers charge forward, the royalist horse hesitated and failed to counter charge and are pushed back, they are gettting the worst of the melee

The royalist horse break and rout, the cuirassier follow and head off to plunder the baggage train ...

The battle in the centre heats up, the lead royalist regiment is at 'push of pike' with the opposition ..

On the royalist right flank their horse won the melee and pursue the parliamentarian horse ...

The royalist horse are unable to resist the tempting target of the parliamentarian baggage train ...

In the centre the parliamentarian foot have won the melee and the lead royalist foot has routed, as it streams past the supporting regiment the artillery crew loose their nerve and run ...

The cuirassiers have returned and pose a threat to the royalist left, one of the foot regiments forms a shiltron. The rest of the royalist foot refuse to advance and start to edge backwards ...

The royalist horse return only to find themselves having to cover the retreat of royalist foot ...

The royalists retreat leaving the field of battle to the parliamentarians 

-  A Victory for Parliament

Hungerford, early one morning ...

Just to the north of Hungerford the Parliamentarian army faces the Royalists; they have formed up just to the west of the road to Wantage. The Parliamentarians have left a small garrision in Hungerford. Both sides have managed to get their artillerie into position, the officers on both sides prepare their men.

On the Royalist left flank the commander of horse sizes up the opposition; can he beat the Parliamentarian cuirassiers ?

On the march ...

The Royalist army has left its camp near Littlecote and the main body is now marching towards Hungeford ....

Royalist Artillery and Baggage leave Ramsbury

The Royalists having secured the way ahead at Littlecote, now move the last of their forces from Ramsbury towards Hungerford. The artillery train and associated baggage wagons prepare to leave ....

Completed 'oddment' figures ...

Finished painting the figures I showed in the previous post ....

Sorting out some spare bits ...

I recently assembled an officer, ensign and drummer for my next regiment of foot; looking at my box of spare bodies, arms and heads I decided to use up most of the bist to make some extra figs to pose for vignette scenes or on the battlefield. So here they are, I've got to add some filler in a few spots and make a few adjustments then they'll be ready for painting.

Prerparations for the battle of Hungerford continue; I've finished all the unit cards required the next thing is to sort out the battlefield map and unit start postions.

Two regiments of horse finished ..

The two new regiments of horse are now finished and based ready for the upcoming battle of Hungerford ...

Figures are the usual Irregular Miniatures with some Sash & Sabre head swaps, also a couple of Sash & Sabre riders.

Skirmish at Littlecote

The royalists having concentrated their forces at Ramsbury continue their push up the valley towards Hungerford. 

A body of  royalist horse have reached Littlecote house, they caught the small garrison by surprise and pushed them out of the house. Skirmishing continues in the nearby enclosures between  royalist horse (some dismounted) and parliamentarian dragoons who eventually mount up and ride for Hungerford.

to be continued ...

Ready, steady, but not quite go ...

I've finished the rules upgrade and have got back to painting. All ready for the brush, two regiments of horse (9 figs each), plus bases and flags.

Tweaking the Rules ...

For the ECW games so far we've been using Charge yr Pikes! rules with a few markups and minor revisions.

During the last battle in my Wiltshire campaign at Ramsbury we tried out an alternative in the rules for determining casualties from musket firing (by using a casualty hit table); these seemed to 'flow' better than what was in use before. So I'm currently in the process of writing up a set of 'house' ECW rules for our own use including the new method for casualties for melee and firing.

Meanwhile the two regiments of horse required for the 'Battle of Hungerford' have been prepped for paintingand are still waiting to be painted;  I'm busy finishing of a few 18C bits and bobs at the moment.

New Command figs

For the next scenario in the campaign there will be a battle at Hungerford, for this I wanted to be able to have command staff for each wing of horse and the centre foot. I was short a few figs, so I've made up two more command groups, of officer + trumpeter.

[figs Officers: Jacdaw TYW; trumpeters: Irregular Miniatures on Sahs & Sabre horses.]

New regiment of Foot - Green Coats

Another regiment of foot finished, one left to go to reach my target of the army sizes of the Battle of Roundway. This one in green coats, based on the uniform of Earl of Northampton's regiment - should have had a green flag, but I liked the yellow one with the dog on it.

[Figs: Officer and firing musketeers: Jacdaw TYW; Ensign: converted Eureka Planchet character figure;  all the rest Irregular Miniatures with an assortment of heads]

I'm currently painting up a couple of regiments of horse for the next battle in the ECW campaign. So piccies to come when they are done.

Encounter at Ramsbury

After their defeat at Axford the parliamentarians retreated up the valley to their outpost at Ramsbury. Sir Warwick Hunt continued on to Hungerford to find a place for his army to give battle to defend the town; he left his brother Herrick with his Lobsters (cuirassiers) at Ramsbury to hold off royalist advance.

---oXo---

The royalists advance up the valley towards Ramsbury ...

At Ramsbury the parliamentarians have taken up defensive positions by the bridge over the river. Herrick Hunt's Lobsters wait on the side of the river with the most open ground ...

The royalist horse charge impetuously up the valley and are met by the Lobsters ....

The Lobsters hack their way through the first royalist horse regiment and follow up, throwing the rest of the royalist column into confusion ...

The next royalist horse regiment make an attempt to hold off the lobsters and are beaten back with heavy casualties; Herrick Hunt manages to control his regiment and the Lobsters regroup...

While the Lobsters regroup and retire back to Ramsbury the royalist infantry on the other side of the valley exchange some vollies with the defenders....

As the light fades both side draw back, the parliamentarians withdraw towards Hungerford, covering their movement with their horse. The royalists move into Ramsbury in the late evening and make camp and wait for their artillery train to catch up with them, they will need its escort of two regiments of horse if they are to advance further.

to be continued ...