ECW Battle of Southam - Impetvs

For the second Battle of Southam refight (see first Battle of Southam BatRep using OHW), the draft version of Basic Impetvs Baroque will be put to the test.  The forces are arrayed as in the first battle that used One-Hour Wargames (see Battle of Southam Setup and Scenario) with the same basic battle plan. 

Initial Deployment

The Parliamentarian Army under Lord Brooke gets the initiative and makes a general advance to begin the battle.  To counter the advance the Earl of Northampton brings forward both cavalry wings.  Counter battery fire is ineffective.

Parliament advances

Northampton grabs the initiative and launches the lead cavalry regiment of each wing into attacks upon the Parliamentarian horse.

Royalist cavalry wings charge

On the Royalist left, Carnarvon charges into the counter charging trotters who discharge their pistols upon contact with no effect.  In the clash, Carnarvon suffers one hit and fails his Cohesion Test falling back into Clarke.  Clarke is disordered in stopping the retreat of Carnarvon.

On the Royalist right, Middleton charges towards the Parliamentarian trotters.  The trotters counter charge discharging their pistols before drawing their swords.  The point blank fire from the Parly horse drop a number of Cavaliers from their saddles.  In the melee, the Cavaliers take more casualties and retreat back upon their supports. Northampton's horse is disordered in backstopping Middleton.  The battle is not opening well for the King.

Royalists recoil

Maintaining the initiative, Northampton rallies all of his cavalry from disorder while the gun opens up against Brooke's guns.  With great precision, the Royalists take one of the Roundhead guns out of action.

Despite the loss of the gun, Brooke's force continues its advance towards the Royalist line.  While Roundhead horse close to within pistol range to discharge their weapons, their fire is ineffective.  Hampden's Foot pours fire into Saville's Dragoons causing some damage.  

Wresting initiative from Northampton, Brooke presses on with heavy fire erupting along his battle line.  Countering the ineffectiveness of the pistol fire, the Parliamentarian musket fire is devastating.  Brooke's foot fires into Northampton's foot causing heavy casualties who now is teetering on elimination.  Hampden's foot unleashes a terrific volley into the dragoons and the outgunned dragons scatter.

Roundhead volleys erupt

View of battle from the left

Northampton's Foot rallies as both Royalist cavalry wings attack.  The lone Royalist gun near the bridge inflicts casualties upon Brooke's advancing foot regiment.

On the right, Middleton's horse obliques left to clear an unobstructed path to the Roundhead cavalry.  With Northampton, himself, leading the charge, his own horse regiment crashes into the opposition.  As the Cavaliers close, the trotters discharge their pistols to no effect.  Contact!

Northampton charges

In the melee, both combatants take casualties but the momentum of Northampton's horse forces the Roundhead horse back. Cavalier pursuit is limited and Northampton cannot catch the fleeing enemy horse. 

Roundhead horse retreat

On the Royalist left, Carnarvon and Clarke pull off a similar maneuver.  That is, Carnarvon obliques left to allow a clear passage of Clarke's fresh horse.  As Clarke closes, the trotters discharge their pistols, disordering the Cavaliers.  In the hand-to-hand clash, the disordered Royalists are repulsed by the steady trotters and fall back suffering heavy casualties.   

Clarke's Horse repulsed

With success on the right and a setback on the left, Northampton takes back the initiative.  Having eliminated one of Brooke's guns, the Royalist artillery shifts its target to Hampden's Foot. Under bombardment, Hampden takes moderate casualties and becomes disordered.

On the right wing, Northampton leads his regiment forward in pursuit of the trotters while Middleton wheels and launches an attack against Hampden's disordered foot.  Being disordered, the trotters cannot counter charge and are thus caught flat footed.  In the crash of man and beast, the trotters take heavy casualties and are thrown back in disorder.  The Roundhead horse is on the verge of scattering. 

Royalist double attack on the right

Not able to penetrate the pikes, Middleton's attack against Hampden comes to naught as both combatants are locked in combat searching for an opening to exploit. 

Middleton vs Hampden

On the Royalist left, Carnarvon attacks.  The trotters take heavy casualties and retreat back to the foot of the hill. With both Parliamentarian cavalry wings in retreat, the center is left exposed to flank attacks.

Carnarvon attacks

Carnarvon victorious on the left

In disarray, both Roundhead horse rally in place while the infantry in the center presses on.  Brooke's Foot with Brooke at the front, charges Northampton's Foot.  Barely clinging to the field even before the Roundhead charge, Northampton's Foot is scattered while Clarke's horse watches on (I should have had Clarke counter charge Brooke in support of Northampton).

Lord Brooke charges Northampton

Destruction of Northampton

In the continuing melee of Hampden vs Middleton in the center,  Hampden's Foot recoils back upon its supports taking casualties and disordering Holles' Foot.

Hampden falls back

Middleton pursues and contacts the weakening Hampden once again.  Still, Hampden remains firm as the Royalist horse search for an opening in the wall of pikes. 

Melee in the middle

With his position crumbling, Lord Brooke manages to hold the initiative.  While the trotters on the Roundhead left retreat to avoid destruction, the trotters on the right make a last ditch effort to stabilize the right.  Unable to counter charge due to disorder, Clarke's horse still succeeds in destroying the remnants of the Parliamentarian cavalry.  Brooke's Foot discharges a volley into Clarke's Horse causing heavy casualties.

Parliamentarian counter attacks

In the center, Hampden's Foot exchanges both ground and men for time as it falls back from Middleton's cavalry threat.  As Hampden falls back, Holles is ,likewise, pushed back and Royalist cavalry follow up to remain in contact.  Finally, Hampden has run out of men and is destroyed in the pursuit.

Hampden continues to give ground

The destruction of Hampden

While Northampton pursues the sole Roundhead cavalry, Middleton pushes on into Holles' disordered Foot regiment.

Lord Brooke's center weakens

The Thin Red Line

As Middleton close on Holles, Northampton's Horse charges the remaining Roundhead horse on the right.  Despite heavy casualties, the trotters choose not to be caught standing still and counter charge.  Unfortunately, with their ranks depleted, the trotters are no match for the Cavaliers and are ridden down.  

Royalist strike

The last clash

With the loss of the second cavalry regiment, Lord Brooke has exceeded his Total Demoralization Value and has lost the battle.

Victory for the King!

Another exciting contest!  Total elapsed game time was about one hour, similar to the duration of the OHW game.  Despite early setbacks on the Royalists' cavalry wings, the Royalists were eventually able to capitalize on their cavalry advantage to clear the flanks and threaten the center.  Roundhead cavalry put their pistoleer tactic to good use on more than one occasion but in the end, shock overcame firepower.  The subtle difference between the Royalist's having a musket to pike ratio of 1:1 vs the Parliamentarian ratio of 2:1 surfaced in play in both volley and melee.  These additional pieces of chrome add much to the feel of an ECW battle.  

To me, Basic Impetvs Baroque produced a much more tactically interesting contest than OHW but I will have more thoughts on those attributes in a later analysis.  One more ruleset to evaluate with this battle; that is my heavily amended Ironsides.