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Saturday, August 24, 2024

Cheriton: Freitag vs Davies

Nearly ten days ago, Peter and I sat down for the second of our two, paired refights of Cheriton.  In that first game, Peter hosted the game from his table in Melbourne.  Peter's battle report can be read here.  Using Peter's rules, I took command of the Royalist Army and came away with victory.  In today's battle, we turn the tables on both rules and host.  I host the game from Spokane with Peter Zooming in from Australia.  We will be using my rules and Peter will be commanding Waller's Army.  In an interesting twist, Peter, of grid-based gaming fame, plays his version of the Cheriton battle on an open table.  My version of Cheriton is played out on a hex-based grid system.  The battlefield and army dispositions are illustrated in the map below:

Cheriton Battlefield and Army Positions
Peter wrote up a superb accounting of this battle.  His version of battle along with his thoughts and battle plans can be found at Battle of Cheriton 1644-Remote Game Rematch on his blog.
Peter looking on from afar
 at his pair of webcam views of the battlefield.
Since Peter recounted the tale so well, I provide a captioned pictorial of the action to augment Peter's report.


Waller's Army deploys along the South Spur anchored
on Cheriton Woods on the right and Cheriton on the left. 
Hopton's Army deploys opposite to South Spur
with Lord Forth on the right
.
Both armies step off toward the enemy's line.
Waller marches down from the heights to engage the enemy.
The two armies seem intent on reaching
 the hedge-lined lane to their fronts, first!
Hopton's yellowcoats outmarch the enemy to the hedge.
Waller's dragoons work their way into Cheriton Woods.
If the yellowcoats advance, the dragoons will be on their flank!
Hopton reaches the hedge row first.
Now, let Waller come to him!
Waller sends Haselrigge's horse forward on the left.
View from Hopton's left...
as Potley's infantry cautiously close the range.
Haselrigge's cavalry charges forward.
Countercharged, the Cavaliers are driven off.
Roundhead cavalry fall back to reform
 behind the safety of more of Haselrigge's cavalry.
Seeing his right weakened by Roundhead cavalry charges,
Hopton orders Stuart's cavalry to move to cover the right flank.
Waller's artillery drives the yellowcoats back from the hedge. 
As Bard's greycoated foot crosses the hedge to attack the dragoons,
Potley drives a redcoated regiment back from the hedge in the center.
The dragoons cannot stand under such pressure and recoil.
Now outnumbering Lisle's cavalry on the enemy right,
Haselrigge sends two cavalry brigades forward.
Leading the charge, Haselrigge scatters the enemy horse.
Cavalier cavalry not destroyed in this clash
 fall back toward the center to reform.
As infantry are locked into a firefight in the center,
Balfour brings his Roundhead cavalry over to the left
to reinforce Haselrigge's success.
With the supporting cavalry to his right vanquished,
Bard puts the hedge between his infantry and the enemy. 
Assuming the hedge offers a protective barrier,
 Royalist bluecoats are surprised when attacked.
Led by Potley, Waller's bluecoats crash into Paulet's bluecoats.
Unable to stop Potley with a crippling volley,
the Roundheads crash into the Royalists. 
In a lengthy push of pike, the Royalist foot is scattered.
Roundhhead bluecoats drive the redcoats back in disorder.
Potley's infantry has effectively cut the Royalist army in two.
Has he over-extended himself?
Hopton thinks that the isolated infantry may have.
Two Royalist foot turn to deal with this intruder
while one of Stuart's horse shores up the right.
Balfour sees an opportunity and attacks!
Bypassing Stuart, Balfour crosses the hedge
and rams into one of the redcoats in flank.
The redcoats scatter.
In a series of cavalry charges and countercharges,
first Potley's bluecoats are destroyed, then Balfour's horse scatters.
The Royalist center is devoid of enemy troops.   
Despite Roundhead losses to the north of the hedgerow,
 Waller continues the fight.
Balfour's horse takes on an enemy gun and destroys it
before recalling back to the safety of the spur. 
On the opposites end of the battlefield,
another of Balfour's horse drives off a wavering Royalist.
With those two losses, Hopton's will to fight evaporates.  Even though Waller's Army has been worn down to near exhaustion from its efforts, Hopton's Army can take no more.  This battle is over.  Waller sees victory!

Congratulations to Peter for a well-played game and a well-deserved victory on the battlefield.  Cheriton was a challenging battle for Hopton and I hope it provided sufficient challenge to Waller.

Having played two, two-player games at the head of the Royalist Army, both games ended in a similar fashion.  That is, Waller concentrated enough cavalry against the Royalist right to first overwhelm and then destroy that wing before turning inward.

Early on, I figured that advancing to and deploying along the east-west hedgerow would offer a solid defensive position.  Hopton did manage to reach this obstacle first, forcing Waller to batter his army trying to assault the position.  While this tactic initially showed promise, Parliamentarian cavalry turned the position and made defending this line untenable.  Once the Royalist right was vanquished, I suspect that the writing of this tale was already on the wall.

Great job, Peter, and thank you for countering every short-lived success I saw.  One of these days, I may actually win a battle on my table.  After many games, one conclusion we both reached is that we tend to see victory on enemy ground but rarely see victory on our home turf.  I need to work on that!

There!  I think I am all caught up on battle reports.

48 comments:

  1. Another superb encounter at Cheriton. A brutal affair for both sides

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  2. I suspect Hopton needs a lot of luck to win, however skillful the player.
    Neil

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    1. With me at the helm as Hopton against to wily opponents, luck is what I need!

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  3. There is quite a lot of cavalry in this Cheriton scenario so I suppose it is almost inevitable that a flank will get turned once one side's cavalry prevails over the other, particularly if they concentrate the cavalry on a flank as happened here. It seems quite a deceptively tricky scenario.

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    1. You make a good read of the situation, Lawrence. With a constricted battlefield, overpowering one of the flanks is likely the trigger to collapse. this has been the situation I faced in both of my one-on-one battles. As Hopton, I need to come up with a plan to counter these cunning roundhead ploys. I may make a call for rematches...

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  4. With Cheriton Woods on one flank, there really isn't much of a role for cavalry there, and as you have written Jon, the inevitable result is most if not all of the mounted arm end up on the other side of the field.
    Another great game...it would be interesting to see what happened if Waller just sat on the heights and waited for the Royalists to assault him.

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    1. Waller has been willing to take the fight to Hopton in both of these encounters. If Waller stands pat, I reckon Hopton fares even worse. You are correct in that Cheriton is not good cavalry country although in the historical battle, there were cavalry clashes on the heath.

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  5. Smashing looking game and entertaining account. Good use of cavalry seemed to be key to unlocking this encounter.

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    1. Thanks, Richard! Hopton needs to make better use of his cavalry.

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  6. Lovely game, and I can commiserate with the overabundance of opponents winning... I seldom defeat my sons no matter the system!

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    1. Thanks, Greg! A common theme in these 1-1 remote games seems to be that he who hosts loses.

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  7. Seems like for this battle at least there is actually a winning formula for the Parliamentary forces to follow. Hopton definitely has the harder job, but I think there is still a way for him to win - which may not depend on seizing that southern ridge by direct assault.

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    1. Can test two theories at once; Mark can try his luck with the losing side and you can host where you always lose and play the winning side….
      Solid scientific method that. 😀

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    2. Good idea! The risk is that I rarely succeed against Mark no matter how the odds are stacked.

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  8. It’s great to see the pictures from your games Jon. As a participant I cannot get the full benefit of seeing the figures.
    Well done Peter. That was a very successful strategy.
    Chris/Nundanket

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    1. Chris, I don’t know what to do about webcam picture quality. I could bring the cameras down closer to the action and figures but then players would lose the ‘big picture.’ We could give that a try but cameras would be moving frequently to highlight one particular part of the battlefield. In one recent game in which you could attend, both Mark and Tony remarked how clear the picture was. We laughed that maybe your connection was the problem!

      Peter is a cagey player…

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  9. Thank you for the game. The game felt very close as Waller's army pretty much exhausted all of its units in making its attacks and I was relieved to see Hopton's defence evaporate at the end.

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    1. You’re welcome! I enjoyed our Home and Away series very much. I think the outcome was not as close as you claim!

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  10. Another great looking game and report Jonathan.

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  11. Cracking looking game Jon and an enjoyable report, as others have said it seems a hard game to win for Hopton.

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    1. Thanks, Donnie! Well, this one proves a hard one for ME to win. Others may have varying results.

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  12. Another beauty in this series Jonathan. By serendipity, I had read Peter's accounts of your two games before any of your reports.
    Are there more Cheritons to come, or are you moving to another battle in your 'world series wargaming'?! :)
    Whichever it is, I look forward to seeing and reading about it.
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks, James! Peter got his battle account published much quickly than did I. I would like to see more Cheritons out on the table before I pack the armies away.

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  13. Wonderful looking battle Jon, your ECW collection is spectacular 👍

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  14. A big old hard slog there, two great accounts of the unfolding action accompanied by some fine illustrative graphics.

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    1. Your encouragement much appreciated, Phil! It was a hard slog but harder for Horton.

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  15. Another lovely looking game and it sounds like fun whatever the result! I vote for another go with you taking Wallers role and Mark Hopton's, that should even things up!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you, Iain! Yes, swapping sides with Mark might just provide the challenge needed.

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  16. Nice symmetry: you "visit" on an open table game and come away with the win, and you host a on a gridded table and come away with the...not win. If only the world were in such balance! A splendid spectacle, regardless of outcomes. Thanks for the report!

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    1. Nice symmetry, for sure. I wonder if some of this symmetry is driven by our goal to be good hosts?

      Glad you enjoyed the BatRep, Ed! Thank you.

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  17. That's a nice looking game Jon. My own ECW battle has not turned up yet but I still hold out hope.

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    1. Thank you, George! Your battle will hit the table soon.

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  18. Another great game there Jon and plenty of eye-candy too:).

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  19. Another enjoyable AAR of and excellent looking and sounding game Jonathan….
    I waited util today…when I knew I would have time to myself… to sit down in the garden with a cup of tea and have good read… it was well worth the wait 😁

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Happy to see that you were not disappointed! The game was good fun even in defeat.

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  20. Excellent refight! I'm always surprised to see horse charging into pike&shot blocks.

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    1. Thank you! I do not recall cavalry charging pike frontally in this game. While not a recommended tactic, it does have a small chance of success.

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  21. Quite the effort, Jonathan! It certainly doesn't make decisions easy, with pikes and hedges getting in the way of the Arme Blanche ! Not quite the fearsome firefights of later years, it's interesting to see how different rules, players, runs of luck affect the results. The photos are very useful, thanks again for a good AAR.

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    1. There are many factors working g against Horton seeing success on this congested battlefield including my wily opponent. Glad you enjoyed the battle report!

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