The Battle of Cheriton, Hopton vs Waller

Last Monday, four players logged in to refight the 1644 Battle of Cheriton remotely.  Players in attendance were Chris and David B. as Parliamentarians and Mark and David C. as Royalists.  In pre-battle possibilities, Waller (Chris) opted not to push a unit of commanded shot into Cheriton Woods.  Hopton (Mark) chose to follow suit.  Each army would add one more regiment of foot to the battle line in lieu of having the commanded shot. 

Waller's Army is drawn up along the high ground on the South Spur with Haselrigge's cavalry wing holding the left.  Opposing Waller sees Hopton's Army augmented by Lord Forth.  With Cheriton Woods and numerous hedge-lined lanes, this would pose difficult ground to fight over.

Army dispositions and initial deployments.

As the battle opens, Waller is content to hold his position on the South Spur.  Hopton has no such luxury.  He must bring the fight to the enemy.

Waller waits on the South Spur...

with Haselrigge's Lobsters supporting the left.

Hopton's Army deployed for battle.

Hopton prepares for battle...

before setting his army in to motion.

The hedge-lined lanes tend to funnel Hopton's attack.  Crossing the heavy hedges takes time.  As Hopton advances, Waller pushes one of his guns down off the South Spur.  Haselrigge's Left Wing advances to counter enemy movements.  On Waller's Right, Balfour's dragoons work their way through Cheriton woods.  In one of the early dramatic moments in battle, Haselrigge sends in one brigade of horse charging toward the enemy.  Forth orders one of his horse units to countercharge.  Rather than head off toward the enemy, Forth's horse break for the rear!  With many of Hopton's foot now lining the east-west hedged lane, Haselrigge pulls back his cavalry out of small arms' range. 

Waller puts his left into motion.

Hedges constrain and channel Hopton's advance.

Haselrigge retires his cavalry out of musket range.

Having overcome the hedges to his front, Hopton's foot drive on to the enemy still positioned upon South Spur.  The yellow coats are the first to reach the enemy line overrunning the gun and then pushing back the Roundhead foot to their front.  Now upon the spur, themselves, the yellow coats are counterattacked vigorously by two bodies of enemy foot.  The odds and pressure against the yellow coats are too much.  Like a wave crashing against a rocky shore, the Royalist foot is broken apart but the yellow coats take down one of Waller's regiments in the fight.

Waller holds the high ground...

but Hopton wants that ground too!

In the clash, the yellow coats are destroyed
but a Roundhead regiment is lost as well.

In the center, Hopton sends two foot regiments against the heights.  The leading red coated foot overruns the isolated gun followed up by a well-delivered volley up the slopes and into the enemy.  The musketry is too hot.  The Roundhead regiment in purple falls back from the exchange.  Having split his cavalry command, Stuart sends two of his three horse brigades over to support the attack in the center and to counter Haselrigge's horse.  Seeing this redeployment, Balfour sends two of his three horse brigades over to the left to support Haselrigge.  

Attack in the center...

and send the enemy back with a volley!

In the background, Royalist cavalry moving up on the right.

Stuart leads his remaining cavalry brigade forward on the left to support Hopton's blue coats.  A storm seems to be brewing on the Royalist Right as both armies bring up more cavalry to contest the ground.  Hopton continues to push his foot forward.  Many of his regiments have reached the foot of the spur.

While Hopton's blue coats advance on the South Spur...

Stuart leads his cavalry up in support.

Royalists press on toward the heights.

Can Hopton take the high ground?

On the Parliamentarian Left, the pressure continues to build until the valve finally bursts.  Mayhem is unleashed!  In a series of charges, counter charges, and pursuits, cavalry fight vigorously in an attempt to gain the upper hand.  While the Roundheads come out victorious in some of the clashes, the Royalist's dominate in others.  Haselrigge's lobsters are put to flight on the extreme left while Balfour's horse set off in pursuit of Stuart's retreating horse.  Commands are intermingled and horsemen find the enemy all around!  Chaos!  

Cavalry actions on the left.

Pursuit!

Bard's foot covering the cavalry retreat.

Bard standing like a stonewall.

With the cavalry battle swirling away on the Roundhead Left, Hopton pushes the enemy back as his blue coats advance up onto the spur.  After about four and a half hours of play and the ticks on the Breakpoint Clock showing neither has gained the upper hand, a short deliberation declares the battle a draw.  A reasonable result, I think.  Both armies fought hard but neither held an advantage with respect to breaking the other.

Very exciting battle with the quartet of players giving as well as they took.  Congratulations to all for a most enjoyable game.

Now, all had played these rules before but that was a long time ago.  Those earlier games were played out on an open field.  For this game, rules were translated to playing on a hex grid with units taking up two hexes each.  As expected, there was some confusion with the double hexes and the difficulty in crossing the numerous hedges on the battlefield.  Besides some confusion and errors, the game played well and produced another interesting contest. 

With Cheriton still on table, I expect to replay this battle a few more times.  Then, with rules still fresh in mind, perhaps moving on to a different ECW battle is in the cards.  We will see comes what may.

Thanks again, for a great game, guys!