Royalist dragoons on patrol....

Both sides are gathering their forces to gain control of Wiltshire.  Sir Warwick Hunt for Parliament in Sarisbury in the south and Sir William de Willoughby in Wallingborough in the north.

Sir William has re-formed his dragoons and they are now out on patrol .....

---oXo---

I'm currently re-organising my ECW collection; trying to get more flexible unit sizing for battles and smaller skirmish games. 

One problem I have is the basing scheme I used; the scatter material has lost its colour - and is rather dull; so as part of the rework is static grass for all bases - the first done is the dragoons and they look much better.

The horse regiments will be 12 figures strong, and two of the regiments will be based as singles to be used in skirmish games; the foot regiments will be increased in size - still finalising the size and basing.

Back at Pokesay ....

Sir William de Willoughby had reached safety at Wallingford, once he had ensured the local area was secure he had ridden round northern Wiltshire checking the state of the garrisons under his control and returned to Pokesay.

News from southern Wiltshire and Hampshire was not good. Sarisbury and Winchester with its nearby garrison of Bishops Waltham had fallen to Parliament; Basing house is still held for the King.  The main focus of the war in the south seems to have shifted north towards Berkshire.

Sir Warwick Hunt, for Parliament, has returned to Sarisbury to use it as a base to move north - however he currently has few troops at his disposal.

Sir William discusses matters with his brother while walking in the courtyard of Pokesay castle ...

Sir William heads for home ...

After Cheriton the Royalist forces had been scattered - most of the horse remaining had gone north with Hopton and Forth to Oxford; of the poor foot, most had either surrendered or been cut down - however some had made it to Winchester and sought refuge in the castle and city.

There were Parliamentarian horse patrols all over the place; Sir William de Willoughby with what was left of his regiment of horse and dragoons plus a few stragglers had decided to return home to northern Wiltshire - they went by the back ways to the south of Winchester....

before turning northward to make for Hungerford, Sir William sent a couple of riders ahead to Salisbury to warn the garrison there and order them to fall back north to Devizes.

Waller was driving the royalists out of Hampshire; most of the army was on it ways to Winchester, part had been detached to root out the remaining garrisons - Bishops Waltham was put under siege.

The Battle of Cheriton

Game report appropriately posted 370 years since the day of the actual battle (29th of March 1644).

The royalists make the first move by attacking the wood, the dragoons move forward and exchange fire with the defenders ....

 The royalist dragoons are in the wood and pushing the opposition back

 While wood is secured, the royalist foot start their advance, supported my a forward movement of some horse on their flank....

 The parliamentarians react - Haselrig charges the royalist horse with his 'lobsters' ...

While the melee is in progress Lord Forth orders royalist horse to attack the parliamentarian horse on the common ...

 Haselrig's lobsters rout the royalist horse ....

 While Haselrig get his lobsters under control, the engagement between the horse on the common intensifies ....

 The parliamentarians have beaten the royalists back leaving the royalist infantry flank exposed ....

 Waller orders the parlimentarian infantry forward, while Haselrig has rallied his lobsters and is positioned to attack the royalist foot with Bard's regiment forming a schiltron ....

 The parliamentarians led by Sir Warwick Hunt attack the wood, the royalist foot tries to withdraw in some sort of order...

 The parlimentarian horse on the other flank have charged and are being held .....

 Hopton's regiment tries to protect the withdrawal ...

 The royalist horse having seen off the parliamentarian horse, are ordered to cover the retreat by Sir William de Willoughby ......

 The resolve of the royalist foot crumbles and they rout off the field .....Haslerig attacks Bard's regiment as they break ranks to flee ......

A victory for Parliament ....

Cheriton - opposing forces take up their positions .....

On the right Lord Forth's royalist cavalry can see the opposing parliamentarian cavalry commanded by Haselrig who are deployed in front of Cheriton village.

In the centre Lord Hoption looks across the valley to see Waller in command of the main body of parliamentarian foot...

 On the left Sir William de Willoughby is tasked to protect the flank and clear the wood with help from Appleyards regiment of foot.

 The parliamentarian foot in the wood - ready for action.

 In command of the parliamentarian right behind the wood is Sir Warwick Hunt ....

both sides prepare for battle  - who will make the first move ?

to be continued

Preparation for Cheriton

While the two armies are doing their 'historical' manouvers I've been getting the gaming table ready for the re-fight of Cheriton. I've managed to get the key features in place - the wood on the left and the hedged common in front of Cheriton (represented by two low relief buildings).

 

 Next thing to do is to fit in both of the delpoyed armies ... time to get the soldiers out to play ...

A scout from Waller's army checks the lie of the land ...

 

Royalists Muster at Tictchbourne

Lord Hopton has called a muster of his forces at Titchbourne (to the west of Winchester, south of Alresford).

Some troops are already there and set up camp, others are arriving - officers are marshalling the troops, counting numbers and assigning places to camp ........