Battle of "The Sconce" 1644.

Last night,Brian,Graham and I had an English Civil War game which turned out to be one of the best E.C.W. games we've had in a long time.
Brian and Graham commanded the Parliamentarians,whilst I took sole command of the Royalists.

This is the scenario and map which we worked off,all troops were in positions as shown at the start of the game.

This shows the table before any movement,Graham's red-coated brigade is still in column moving on the right of the hills.The ship had a gun on board but only had two shots.

Brian was given the objective of capturing "the Sconce",and Graham was tasked with capturing the Port,so no conferring was necessary,and away they went!This shows their initial moves,both attacking with alarming speed!!

I had decided that my "high water mark" would be the road,so moved my White Coats cautiously forward,supported by my cavalry,out of shot but to my left-Brian is coming on in grand style,but his infantry "appear" to be moving to my right,and avoiding "the Sconce".I was wondering if I should move troops to counter Brian's move,but decided against it,which proved  a good decision!

The "swine!!",Brian has swung his attack against "the Sconce" whilst Graham's troops have opened fire on Portsby,they are both putting me under pressure.I have moved my cavalry close to the hedges,to counter Graham's cavalry,who are moving in the centre of this photo.

Graham is too close for comfort now!!-he has driven my Dragoons away from the hedges,and his superior fire power is beginning to tell in Portsby itself!!

Brian is attacking "The Sconce",and a fire-fight is taking place on my far left.Just out of shot,Graham has moved his cavalry to face mine-this is posing a threat,but I am confident that he won't charge,and his move is a "bluff".

WRONG!!-Graham did charge,catching me "on the hop"-my troops at the hedges had to go into defensive formation,which subjected them to musket fire from Graham's infantry on the other side of the hedge-woe is me!!
Brian is attacking "the sconce" in great numbers now,I had better watch what I am about!!

The position in Portsby is untenable,my morale is suffering,and eventually Graham swept into the town,driving my defenders back,he is also doing well in the cavalry melee,and has broken through the hedges-what else could go wrong??

Well,back at "the sconce"Brian is just about to break in after a fierce fire-fight,which so weakened my troops,that a morale test forced them back.On the far left,in desperation,I am sending my elite cavalry forward against Brian's,in the hope that I can stem his forward momentum!!

I did!!-hurrah,but all along the line my troops are retiring,"the sconce" has been captured and the town is in Parliamentarian hands........

One last photo,showing the state of the Royalists,with nothing left to fight for,the Parliamentarians were declared the winners!-well done to Brian and Graham.
This was a good game and far from easy for the Parliamentarian army-I was in a good defensive position,and in hindsight,I should have reinforced the town early on in the game,but hey ho!! there's always another time.
Roll on Thursday,we'll probably be playing in the morning because Graham has asked for a game through the day,as he has got some time off work this week,and you never know,we might have another game at night as well-it's great being retired you know!!