ECW Battle of Southam - OHW

Southam Initial Deployments

The first set of rules up for the Battle of Southam (see Battle of Southam Setup) comparison is Neil Thomas' One-Hour Wargames (see OHW Review).  The ECW variant posted on the AMWGroups Yahoo Group will be in effect for this replay. When referring to cavalry in the published variant, the descriptors of "Royalist" and "Parliamentarian" have been swapped.  Parliamentarian forces under Lord Brooke will always be the First Player.

The battle begins with Brooke advancing his trotters on both wings down from the heights in order to protect the advance of the foot.  The two regiments of foot on Brooke's left step off.  Roundhead guns open fire, targeting Royalist horse.  Royalist horse sustain five hits.  Royalists target the leading foot regiment and inflict four hits.  Orange arrows signify Parliamentarian movement, Blue arrows signify Royalist movements, and white arrows denote shooting.

Battle begins

Northampton responds by sending his two cavalry wings forward to meet the enemy horse.  Royalist guns inflicts four hits on the exposed foot.

Royalist horse advance

Brooke's guns change targets from the lead horse regiment to the lone Royalist foot regiment.  Both guns draw blood, inflicting six hits total.  Brooke's trotters on both wings fire into the Royalist horse.  Leading Royalist horse regiments each suffer three hits.  Trotters on the right wing run out of ammo.  Brooke's infantry come down from the heights and into the valley.

Heavy Parly fire

To reduce casualties from fire, both Royalist cavalry wings charge home into Parly horse.  Royalist guns target the lead Parly foot.  Artillery fire has no effect.

Royalist horse charge

In the clash of swords on both wings, the Parly trotters suffer.  The trotters on the left, hit by the charging left wing, takes four hits while the trotters on right take eight hits.  Trotters on the right witness more than 50% of their effectives go down. 

Cavalry clash of on both wings

Cavalry clash!

Parly foot advance

Brooke's guns switch bombardment back to the Royalist gun.  The Royalist gun takes heavy casualties (seven hits) but one of Brooke's guns goes silent due to lack of ammunition.  With cavalry clashing on its left, the leading Parly foot regiment wheels into the melee. Casualties mount in the Royalist ranks as the melees on both flanks swirl in desperation.

Well positioned Parly guns bombard

To relieve pressure on the outnumbered Royalist horse on the right, the trailing horse regiment charges into the Roundhead foot.  Royalist guns fire into the advancing Parly foot.  The purple bannered foot suffers four hits.

Royalists respond

Clash escalates on the Royalist right

In the three melees, Roundhead trotters take heavy casualties.  The trotters now have nine and twelve hits each and are approaching breakpoints of 15.  Not giving up, the Roundheads counterattack.  Having sustained heavy casualties from both artillery and melee, the Royalist horse on the left is destroyed by the trotters.  Casualties, likewise, mount on the Royalist right.

Melees rage on both wings

Royalist artillery continues bombarding the lead foot while the second supporting Royalist horse charges into the weakened trotter on the Royalist left.

Battle for control of the left

In the clash of horse and man, both of Brooke's horse are broken and scatter.  Royalist cavalry on the right wheel to threaten the foot.

Parly cavalry destroyed!

With one flank open and the other in jeopardy, artillery and musketry combine to hopefully stop Royalist cavalry from storming the heights.  Taking fire from two sources, the Royalist horse on the left take eight hits.  In the continuing pike vs horse melee on the right, the Royalist horse is approaching its breaking point with twelve hits.

Heavy fire from Roundhead forces

Undaunted by the heavy casualties, the remaining left wing Royalist horse charges up the hill and into the guns.  For now, the guns hold.

Into the guns!

With both flanks collapsing, Brooke presses on, deep into Royalist positions in the center.  While Parly musketry is getting too hot for the Royalist gun, Roundhead infantry charge into the Royalist foot.  

Brooke counters in the center

Push of pike

In the exchange, Royalists lose both the guns and a horse regiment.  The threat to the Brooke's left has dissipated.  Casualties rise rapidly in the infantry scrum near the bridge.

Royalist gun and horse are lost

On the heights, Royalist horse is not making much progress against the two Roundhead guns.  In the valley, Royalist dragoons pour heavy fire into the foot but run out of ammo in so doing.  Royalist foot gain the upper hand in the push of pike and scatter the Roundhead infantry.  Severely weakened by their exertions, the Royalist foot falls to musketry from the Roundhead foot astride the road.

Parly foot destroyed

Royalist foot destroyed

Facing two Roundhead foot, the remaining Royalist dragoons charge into the badly mauled foot standing astride the road.  Teetering on destruction, one little shove is all it takes to destroy the Roundhead foot.  Finally, on the heights, the Royalist cavalry goes down.

Dragoons lead a desperate charge

Roundhead foot bear down on the dragoons

With the Parly artillery immobile, only two active units remain on the field.  Having taken heavy casualties, the Royalist dragoons turn and charge into the remaining Parly foot in an attempt to hold the field.

The last clash

On the brink of destruction itself with fourteen hits, the lone remaining Roundhead foot regiment finished off the Royalist dragoons.

Parliament Victory

Parliament is victorious but only just!

While a typical game lasts 15 turns, this engagement took 12 turns to decide.  It was a close contest, for sure.  The outcome came down to the last melee with a Roundhead foot only one hit away from destruction being able to eliminate the badly damaged dragoons. 

That came down to a nail biter and the last roll!  The game played quickly and almost certainly took less than one hour to complete.  The inclusion of artillery in the variant was a good addition but there remain a few changes I may consider.  First to address is the interaction between artillery and attacking cavalry (or infantry).  Even attacking uphill, the Royalist horse ought to have been able to either overcome or at least break off.  Once stuck in, units may not break off the melee.  Perhaps cavalry ought to be able to perform such a maneuver and call off when engaged in hand-to-hand combat?

Units can rack up hits at an almost alarming rate.  With no interpenetration allowed, Royalists may have been better served to field their horse abreast rather than in tandem.  Still, lots to think about and I now have a good feel for Thomas' OHW rules.  Next OHW game may actually witness some tactical finesse.  More analysis to follow on OHW.  

The next game in the series will move up the complexity scale with my introduction of Impetvs Basic Baroque.