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Saturday, April 29, 2023

Battle of Montgomery, 1644

On Wednesday, three players volunteered to take command in a remote game seeing my 30mm ECW collection out for battle.  The Battle of Montgomery in 1644 was on the docket.

Situation
Royalists, under Byron, are besieging Montgomery.  Meldrum has crossed the River Camlads in order to lift the siege and resupply the town and garrison.  Meldrum sends out a foraging party of cavalry to bring in supplies for both his troops and the besieged troops within Montgomery.  Seeing that his command outnumbers Meldrum after Meldrum sent off about 30% of his cavalry, Byron orders an attack to drive the Roundheads into the river.  Camlads is only crossable at Salt Bridge.  Meldrum is outnumbered but expecting his foraging party to be recalled and return at some point in the battle.  Byron is overconfident and does not offer much in personal command for the battle. Lothian's Chelshire foote have sworn to stand and will fight to the death.
Initial deployments
Royalists win if the Parliamentarian Army can be broken before it falls back across the River Camlads to safety.  Parliamentarians win if the Royalists can be broken and the siege lifted.  Parliamentarians gain a minor victory if they can cross back over the River Camlads to safety before their army is broken (but what fun would this victory condition hold if Meldrum runs away at the first sound of battle?).

Armies drawn up for battle.
View looking down the Battle Lines. 

Historically, Meldrum won the battle even though outnumbered.  Several deployment variations are hypothesized.  I choose the deployment will the cavalry massed upon the Royalist left.

Royalists automatically have initiative on the first turn.  Mark and Chris command Byron's Royalists.  Steve takes the helm of the Parliamentarian Army under Meldrum.

Meldrum readies his army for battle.
Byron holds the high ground.
On to battle!

The two armies watch on expectantly, waiting for the first advances of battle.   The wait is not long.

Byron orders Tyldesley's cavalry forward negotiating the hedge to its front.  Almost immediately, one of Fairfax's regiments is upon them.  In a quick, sharp clash, the Roundhead cavalry is driven off.  Casualties are heavy to both.

The cavalry face off on Meldrum's right.
Fairfax strikes!
As both commanders move up their foote, Fairfax keeps the pressure on the Royalist cavalry by charging back into the enemy before they can regroup.  At the hedge, the Royalists are trapped and are cut down before they can escape.  Along the lane, Fairfax charges in, scatters the enemy cavalry to his front, and then launches into pursuit.  Pursuit is stopped cold by a second body of Royalist horse. Fairfax retreats.

Out on the Royalist right, the dragoons come off the hill to take up a position in the rough ground.  Immediately, these dragoons come under pressure from enemy foote.

Foote advance.
Fairfax attacks!
Two Royalist cavalry are destroyed.
With a swirling cavalry battle on the Royalist left seeing the Royalists coming up short, Byron turns his attention to the infantry.  With his dragoons engaged on his far right, Broughton's foote are ordered down from the heights.

Seeing the dragoons overrun and the Royalist right threatened, one regiment swings around to counter enemy advances.  Catching the Roundhead infantry unprepared for an attack from that quarter, the Roundhead infantry is dispatched.

In the center, having let loose a volley into the Parliamentarian infantry to its front moments before, Broughton pitches into the enemy.  Disordered by the volley, the enemy cannot withstand the Royalist attack. It breaks for the rear.  The Parliamentarian left is no more.

Having suffered in the unequal exchanges in the cavalry battle on the Royalist left, success against enemy foot elsewhere looks to be tipping the battle's outcome back toward the Royalists.

Royalists descend the hill
and prepare to attack.
Two of Meldrum's foote are scattered.
Those thoughts are short-lived. Fairfax keeps pressure upon the Royalist cavalry wing routing a third horse regiment.  Only one cavalry regiment remains on the Royalist left.
Destruction of another Royalist horse!
As the Royalists' cavalry wing is destroyed,
Royalist generals look on in horror and dismay.
Having seen off the Roundhead left, Royalist foote turn to face the threat of Myddleton’s late arriving enemy cavalry returning from their foraging exercises.   Byron needs to stabilize his left in case his final horse regiment is seen off.
With their right secure, 
Royalist foote march into the plain.
Byron need not wait long.

Fairfax presses on and over the hedge to engage the sole remaining Royalist horse. Outnumbered, the action is over quickly.  The Royalist cavalry wing is gone.
The last Royalist horse regiment is destroyed.
Fairfax's hard-charging horse!
Royalist foote turn to face a new threat.
Situation when the two armies disengage.
At this point in battle, the Royalists had seen all of their cavalry scattered and the Parliamentarians had lost all of their infantry.  Both armies were hovering close to their Army Breakpoints.  The ultimate outcome could have easily gone either way.

With the Parliamentarian Army outnumbered, Meldrum could gain a minor victory by escaping back over the River Camlads before his army was broken or trapped against the river.  True that the Royalists prevented the siege of Montgomery from being lifted but Meldrum kept a viable army in the field to, perhaps, make another attempt at relieving the siege.  Given those conditions, each army could logically argue that they won a minor victory.  Meldrum could claim victory by not being destroyed.  Byron could declare victory by keeping the siege intact.

I called the battle a draw.

Thanks again to the players for providing a very entertaining game.  Montgomery may return to the field next week in an encore presentation.

54 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading that as one of the ECW games I played was Montgomery. In fact we played it twice, two different sets of rules but in each case the Royalists lost.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the battle account! Montgomery is a battle I have seen on the table a few times, myself.

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  2. That's awesome looking game!
    Best and many success in May!

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  3. Lovely looking battle and a deserved draw for both sides!
    Best Iain

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  4. A draw a fair call I'd say, despite desperately wanting the brave and valiant Round heads to win (no guessing where my sympathies lie!). A nice sized battle too, which is good to see.

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    1. Good! A draw seems a reasonable compromise given the situation. While 8-10 BMUs per army may seem small, it allowed the game to play to conclusion in about three hours and muster meaningful commands for each general.

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  5. Cool looking and very close game. Honours even sounds about right.

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    1. Glad you liked the game, Ray! Honors Even is the correct call.

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  6. Well that was entertaining. Well done Jonathan and players.

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    1. Thanks, Richard! Pleased to see the battle report was entertaining.

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  7. A draw seems fair! The fight certainly seems to reflect what might happen in a real ECW battle. On the basis of the old saw "Royalists wrong but romantic; Parliamentarians right but repulsive" ;-) my brain is with Parliament but my heart with the Royalists so I am happy with a draw. (As a teenager I was long a fan of the dashing Rupert but also of Clarendon and Falkland and other Royalist moderates...)

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    1. David, good that you agree that a draw was a reasonable conclusion to this battle. I see that you are still split on your allegiances to the two parties.

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  8. Yeah it was a right old ding dong of a fight and when our cavalry were destroyed I thought it was pretty much over. Fortunately my foote units were able to exploit a few unguarded flanks and even the odds a bit.

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    1. It was a good fight, alright! I thought it might over too when the Royalist cavalry wing collapsed. Still, it is tough for horse to fight foot frontally. Your Royalists came back to snatch a tie from defeat.

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  9. Great looking game and wonderful report as always, Jon. Montgomery seems to be an ECW favourite, I have played it myself...think I was Royalist and we lost! I may have missed it, but did the missing Parliamentarian cavalry ever return to the fray?
    What rules were you using? The scenario is in a FK&P book but this does not look like a grid based game?

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    1. Thanks, Keith!

      Yes, the missing cavalry returned to the battlefield on Turn 3. You can see those cavalry in the distance after the Parliamentarian foot are defeated.

      Rules are mostly my own doing. I call them A Reign Cut Short.

      No grid for this game!

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  10. Great to see the collection in action Jonathan, it all looks terrific. I really thought the Parliamentarians were going to do it there when they destroyed all that Royalist cavalry, but the Royalists recovered well.

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    1. It is good to see these ECW armies back out onto the gaming table. One benefit to gaming remotely and regularly hosting is that my armies see action much more frequently. Still, I have a number of collections that have yet to see the tabletop in years.

      I thought the Royalists were done for earlier on. Byron saw great success with his infantry to even the battle.

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  11. Great game, Jonathan! The 17th century is my favorite historical period. Your collections are excellent, sir!

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  12. Nice report Jonathan. That’s a big table you have there.

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    1. Thanks! The game table is 12 feet by 6 feet. This battle took up about 7 feet.

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  13. Grand game and report there, the epitome of an ECW clash.

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    1. Thank you, Phil! Epitome of an ECW clash? Perfect!

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  14. Great report, very interesting. I have never refought this particular WotTK clash, I must get around to it.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the report and doubly pleased that it was interesting. Give Montgomery a try!

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  15. Lovely looking battle Jon and a draw seems a fair result.👍

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    1. Thanks! JBM said he had never fought a battle that ended in a draw. Shocking.

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  16. Great battle and I think a draw is a fair result

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    1. Thank you, Neil! I thought a draw a reasonable result.

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  17. Have to agree a draw seems the fairest result. Your ECW collection is a true feast for the eyes Jon!

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    1. Mike! Great to see your return. I have been wondered what became of you. Happy you enjoyed the battle report and good of my armies.

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    2. I know. I sometimes tend to cool off and switch off completely. Takes time but somehow I always find my way back……

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    3. Glad you always find your way back!

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  18. I second the commentary on the outcome. Lovely looking game. A nice break to see a full up pike and shot battle game in a larger scale on the table (as opposed to the more common skirmish/small unit action games, like Pikeman's Lament).

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    1. Thanks, Ed! I prefer fighting entire battles when possible. Skirmish-level ECW combat just does not grab me. Montgomery gets a second run-out on Wednesday with a slightly different cast of characters taking command.

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    2. As I pointed out on another blog (Keith Flints) I really doubt very much skirmish level ECW combat ever actually took place, certainly not between two groups comprising ten pikemen and six musketeers, anyway! Pikemans Lament may be an entertains game ( I haven't played it) but the concept behind it is to enable people who only want to play small games with a few figures, to buy and paint nice ECW figures!

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    3. Sometimes having a small game game with a handful of figures is reason enough.

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  19. While a draw seems fair there’s something about them that is unsatisfying; I’m sure the players will want to rush back and try it again with you super pretty collection. 😀😀

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  20. Another enjoyable game to participate in. Well, except for the fact I lost all the Royalist horse despite outnumbering the Roundheads! Thought we were done for but JBM's foot steamrollered their opposite numbers.

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    1. I thought the situation over for the Royalists too when their cavalry wing evaporated. My hunch is that Roundhead infantry, being outnumbered, may have played too aggressively.

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  21. A lovely looking and lively game…
    ECW has never really appealed to me much…but when I see stuff like this… I feel a movement in the butterfly 🦋

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you! I am surprised that your ECW butterfly has yet to flutter.

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  22. As always, great looking game well reported. Love the arrows!

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  23. I have no sympathy for one of both sides. But I love to see such pike & shot games. You explained the battle very well. But you have done an excellent report too. Besides I like these cavalry charges.

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    1. Very encouraging comments, Andre! Glad you enjoyed the battle report and especially the cavalry charges.

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  24. No-one likes a draw in tabletop'ing. Still, a very exciting back and forth game!

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    1. Then, let’s hope for a decisive conclusion in Wednesday’s rematch!

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  25. Great looking battle JF! Love your big infantry units especially the pic where the Royalist infantry desc!end from the hill- formidable looking.

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    1. Thanks, John! We replayed the scenario on Wednesday. Same result or different?

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