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Sunday, August 11, 2024

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!

67 comments:

  1. A great game Jon, and a damned close run thing all round. It’d be great to play it again from the other side, and tbh any other ECW battles you can come up with!

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    1. Thank you, Mark! Always great to have you at the table. We will play it again, I am sure.

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  2. Sounds like a very exciting game. Cheriton from memory was dominated by the terrain.
    It makes me want to get on with the 18mm ECW project....
    If only I hadn't sold my ECW Royalists all those years ago!
    Neil

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    1. Neil, I thought the game very exciting. You should have heard the groans and laughter when DC's cavalry decided to bolt to the rear than countercharge. Priceless!

      Get on with your 18mm ECW project!

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  3. Great looking battle as always Jonathan!

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  4. A great looking game Jon, it was a very close run thing!

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    1. Thank you, Ray! Perhaps a battle to challenge the Rejects?

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  5. ‘Twas a good game Jon. Thank you. I made a couple of mistakes in this, and had I not, things could have turned out differently. I think the overall plan was sound, I just buggered up the execution.
    Thanks too, to my colleague Dave B and opponents Dave C and Mark. Truly a ‘warr without an enemy’
    Chris

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    1. You're welcome! I like that this was "warre without an enemy". So true!

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    2. It's a good quote from old William Waller.
      I'd like to make it clear that Mark and I didn't serve together in Germany fighting the Emperor for the Winter Queen.* We're not that old.
      * though it sounds like a great idea for a TV series

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    3. Good to confirm that Mark and you were not collaborators.

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    4. cheers Chris, I guess we could have done better - I was too cautious in general, and moving the guns was a bit of a mistake! But we held 'em, just about..

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  6. A fine game there and the confused cavalry melee towards the end sounded right for the period. A draw seems a fair result as each side could not quite gain that decisive advantage.

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    1. A draw seemed a fair result if we were not going to press on for another turn or two. Both commanders thought their commands were moving toward becoming spent so this was a good stopping point. With the rules refreshed memory after so many Basic Impetvs games, next battle will (hopefully) run more quickly and smoothly. Multi-unit cavalry clashes are always fun and somewhat unpredictable.

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  7. The photos of your tabletop definitely gives an impression of a close and at times chaotic game.

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  8. Lovely stuff Jonathan, I had been looking forward to this game and it looks great. The battlefield does look very difficult for cavalry to operate upon.

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    1. Thank you, Lawrence! The battlefield is difficult for both horse and foot to operate effectively.

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  9. Great looking game as always Jonathan.
    Sometimes I think it is better if the players are unfamiliar with the terrain rules as this makes it slightly more realistic.
    I would guess that neither of the generals in the real battle would understand exactly how long it would take to get through the hedges.

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    1. Thanks, Ben! Good point about the variable effects of terrain on movement. I want to keep things simple so that terrain effects are fixed. I have played games in which the effects of a terrain piece was unknown until entered. That worked well to introduce variability.

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  10. Great looking game and a very hard fought one, I think a draw was a fair result as both sides battled hard.

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    1. Thanks, Donnie! The players all agreed that a draw was a reasonable and suitable result.

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  11. Great to see your lovely ECW collection gracing the table John, and the game certainly went down to the wire too - always a good sign of a well-balanced scenario. Have you already played your one-on-one Cheriton with Peter from Az - I did a quick check in case I had missed it - although I realise that you play SO MANY games nowadays, you may not actually have time to do an AAR on all of them!

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    1. Thanks, Keith! My Home-and-Away series with Peter has only seen the “Away” game on Peter’s table. You can see his battle report his blog. My “Home” game is scheduled for this Thursday (Friday in Australia).

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    2. Ah, OK, good....I will check back in a few days then Jon!

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    3. More like next week. I have games Wednesday and Thursday this week and battle reporting will likely fall behind.

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  12. Great to see your ECW collection. The battles between Waller and Hopton are some of the best. Cheriton is on my list to fight

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    1. Neil, getting the ECW collection back out onto the table is good for me too! Cheriton poses an interesting situation.

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  13. A fine looking game and collection of toys. Swirling cavalry action is perhaps the epitome of an ECW battle?

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    1. Thank you, Phil! A cavalry battle on the Royalist Right was in play here.

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  14. It's always a pleasure to see the Pike&Shot period played. Very nice small battle. The Royalists performed well facing difficult terrain. Great work!

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    1. Cheriton may be a smaller-sized battle and compact but there were still about a dozen units per army. I think that a good size especially for a remote game.

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  15. Great report. What rules are you using?

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    1. Thanks, Kim! Rules are of my own doing. The fellas are always very kind to let me bring my own work to the gaming table.

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    2. HAve you tried this battle with Twilight of Divine Right rules? I believe you've posted about using Twilight of Soldier Kings for SYW battles so am curious how the rules for the earlier period would compare with yours. (I'm getting ready to try an ECW battle with them in mid September so would enjoy seeing an ECW battle report.

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    3. No, I have not, Chris. Actually I have only played a couple of games of ToDR and they did not go down well.

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  16. That does look good Jonathan, hope to get an ECW game here later in the month.

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  17. The terrain looks really good in this battle. I think the little more variety adds to the presentation. While the ECW is not the best CW at least this battle has someone named Stuart leading cavalry. 😁

    I see Keith took my top commentor spot. I knew it was coming. Reminds me when I dated a model in college, I knew I wouldn't keep her.

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    1. Thanks, Stew! Presentation is helped when the battle is not fought in an arid part of the world. Yes, Keith regained top spot but I expect you to be back on top at least until your Winter Blogging Break.

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    2. That depends. I watched first place sway to and fro between the two of us for about a week, but looks like I have put in a bit of a spurt in the last few days.....and opened up a small lead!

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  18. Great looking ECW battle, Jonathan! Makes me miss my figures! :(

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  19. Splendid looking game and a decent result, hedges are a big feature of lots of ECW battles, I have to agree that Hoptons phrase War without an enemy is very apt for this conflict! Just for Stew's info, there's a whole pack of Stuarts on the royalist side!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you, Iain! Hedges are a big feature in many ECW battles and their presence can really channel the direction of battle especially here where the lanes are lined with them.

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    2. Lol...like the Stuart's pun Iain!

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  20. Many thanks Jon, that was a great game and a joy to take part in! I think your report is probably a bit kind to us, we Roundheads didn't have the best day! Dave's catastrophic cavalry countercharge ( backwards at full speed!) was a missed opportunity perhaps, but I was actually trying to be 'in character' as stolid Parliamentary horsemen, not going off madly in pursuit. I suspect I should have gone for the pursuit, created mayhem on the Royalist flank and threatened to 'roll up' their foot..
    The hedges and two-hex units did indeed make it quite challenging to manouevre, and that felt right for the period formations. I also love the large figures, they look great! Thanks again, quite a game, and that's a 'yes' if a re-match is offered...

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    1. David, you are most welcome! DC's breaking toward the rear instead of forward into your horse was a highlight, for sure. Of course, it would be DC and his suspect dice that would provide comic relief. You could have pursued but your horsemen may have refused to obey as well. Such is war!

      Glad you enjoyed the game and felt that the hexes and two-hex units made the contest seem believable. It was good fun and I would enjoy seeing you all back at the table for a rematch.

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  21. A lovely looking game Jonathan nice to see the ECW on the table!

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you, Christopher! It is good to have the ECW back out!

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  22. How did I miss this one? Not much to say not already covered.

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  23. Good looking game! The hedges really are a problem in this battle particularly but in so many battles of the war. The two hex units did seem to make manoeuvring realistically difficult. I have a plan for a campaign in Worcestershire to get my 15mm ECW onto the table when I'm healthy again.

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    1. Thanks, Brian! The hedges were a real problem in this game and I claim that the hedges were even more critical in Game #2 played on Wednesday. I thought the two-hex unit footprint worked well especially in making for a lot of tight spaces. I hope you are back on your feet soon.

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  24. Smashing looking game and, as usual, an entertaining report. Thank you.

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  25. Splendid armies, game and report, John. Just when I was thinking AWI was the way to go for my own wargaming, you've tempted me towards ECW again! :-) So glad to see the Royalists were not trounced as in the real battle; can't help having a strong residual fondness for them (as Yeatman and Sellers said, Royalists wrong but romantic, Parliamentarians right but repulsive... ;-)).

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    1. Thanks, David! Glad you enjoyed both the report and seeing my collection. Stay tuned for seeing the Royalists trounced on the field of battle.

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  26. Sorry, Jon. Autocomplete did John and not Jon; happens too often, I'm afraid... :-(

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  27. Yes, have seen that report and will comment - but not sure yet what to say! 8-[

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    1. Offer your condolences for my poor performance?

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    2. "Poor performance" seems a bit harsh! Just the "fortunes of war", perhaps? And the great thing with wargaming (ratehr than war) is that you can another chance to win! :-)

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