Late 17th Century Wargaming Part 6

 A Boyne hangover. On the day after the Battle of the Boyne, James II (Séamus an Chaca, as the Irish called him!) travelled south from Dublin, left his escort at Bray and took ship to France. Byeeeee.

There’s pretty. Lord Clare’s Dragoons move forward to face the Williamite army.

To give my late 17th century collection a test run in Ireland, I decided on a fanciful Battle of Bray, 2 July 1690 (it wasn’t lost on me that the Monday we played was the closest to the anniversary of the Boyne). James still has a sizeable force with him at Bray and a Williamite force under the capable Kirke has rushed south in pursuit. It’s just a what-if. Please ignore the fact that artillery and foot from the banks of the River Boyne couldn’t possibly cover the distance to Bray in the space of a day lol.

The Jacobite forces under Roj Castle have 2 “battalia” of 3 foot regiments, with an attached company of dragoons and a medium gun, and a battalia of 4 squadrons of horse. 

The Williamites under Steve Shann have 3 battalia of foot, with 2 heavy guns and 2 companies of dragoons attached, and a battalia of horse. So they have a 3 to 2 advantage in foot, but the battlefield doesn’t allow them to overlap the Jacobite line.

The Williamite army has their guard battalia facing the regular Jacobite battalia. And they have 2 regular battalia facing the Jacobite battalia containing the 2 Foot Guard battalions. I warned Roj that it may not go his way…!

I’m testing a couple of Black Powder Pike and Shotte special rules with this game:

• The Williamite horse have an extra dice in melee and the special rule Heavy Cavalry +1, meaning that the combat result when they charge is modified in their favour by 1 casualty 
• The Jacobite horse have Ferocious Charge allowing them to reroll failed hits when they charge
• To represent platoon firing, the guard foot on both sides get an extra dice if they fire stationary provided they’re not disordered. It’s arbitrary that I’m applying it to guard foot in this game. Those troops trained to fire by platoons definitely had a larger impact.

Can James II stand firm? By the Glorious Revolution he was no longer demonstrating any backbone…

The Williamites advance. Top photo shows the guards battalia with the horse keeping pace beyond them. Second photo is the centre battalia which is struggling to find elbow room with the (out of shot) left flank battalia containing the French Huguenot regiments.

The third photo shows the Jacobite line waiting. At centre is Eustace’s Foot. Like many of my units for Ireland this is a repurposed unit: a different command base with other bases from Hastings’ Foot for Killiecrankie.

And the bottom photo is the Jacobite gun. The foot beyond it are under fire from the Williamite guns.

The cavalry clash! The extra dice and Heavy Cavalry special rule for the Williamite horse AND oh I forgot to mention, especially their 3+ morale save result in it being all one-way traffic. The Ferocious Charge rerolls don’t seem very useful when counting the squadrons as small units. And the Jacobite horse have a normal 4+ morale save. It’s murderous and it’s only that the squadrons have a small unit stamina of 2 that causes the Williamite cavalry to halt and catch their breath.

The Williamite guard battalia are only within long range of the Jacobite regular battalia, but the platoon firing slowly takes effect until the Jacobites are in all sorts of confusion as the photos show. The Williamite guns playing on the regiment of Purcell (grey coats rather than whiter than white) is starting to tell…

The left flank of the Williamite army isn’t advancing in a tidy fashion, but it is keeping the best of the Jacobite infantry fully engaged. The telling action is all over on the Williamite right.

The Jacobite horse are on the verge of collapse…

Bless. Look at the Jacobite right doing just fine. They’ve even advanced.

The Williamite guard battalia is also doing just fine. And even though the other 2 Williamite battalia aren’t in neat lines, they’re still intact. 

These guys are about to call it a day!

The Jacobite horse have fled the field, leaving the foot’s flank open. 

Wham! With the horse broken and now the regular foot battalia also broken, it’s all over red rover. Convincing Williamite victory!

A few more photos of the positions at the end of the game:

I like how Black Powder Pike and Shotte works for the collection. After this game I need to think about cavalry.  I’m still convinced that the squadron should be the tactical unit, but I need to reconsider the small unit stats I’ve given them. The +3 morale save is a definite no-no. It made the Williamite horse far too powerful. 

I do need to read some accounts of cavalry melees in Ireland to better understand the nature of the opposing cavalry.

The platoon firing worked well. 

Even in victory, Steve found the game less than satisfying. The cavalry just didn’t feel right.  Look at those firing dice! Obscene, Mr Shann!

The next instalment may well be a review of the government army at Killiecrankie, 1689. The entire late 17th century collection is three units away from being completed. Exciting stuff. It’s even grown by 12 units as I embraced refighting actions in Ireland 1689-91. It is, I hope you’ll agree, a thing of beauty!

Thanks for reading.

Your WWG correspondent in Yorkshire 

Chris 😎