Naseby game meets the public at Colours

Posted September 18, 2009 by yesthatphil
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So, the glue dried, the final playtest in Northampton got a thumbs up, and – just about on schedule – I picked up the Naseby Project backing boards from JK on the way down to Newbury.  The project was on its way to its first encounter with the public.Naseby at Colours 09 01

Well, the table looked great, it went up quickly, and there was adequate space behind it for the Battlefields Trust display boards.

In order to concentrate on the build, I had had to divert attention from completing the figures collection – so more to come on that front in the weeks ahead – and had taken up the offer of drawing upon Steve’s Marston Moor figures.  They did the job fine.

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My intention, all along, was to err on the generic side (so appropriate commanders, some appropriate flags, but no attempt to model all the individual regiments – as the ground and figure scales just don’t permit it …).

Steve had very kindly indicated that rebasing or saboting-up the figures would be fine (they were based for his homegrown rules, not Armati) but as we found in the playtests, this is not necessary … Armati is a unit-to-unit game in which the units do not conform (so can be played unit to unit provided they have roughly the same footprint).  It caused no issues.Naseby at Colours 09 07

We had intended to play the game twice each day at Colours, but with so many people stopping by more for a chat than a game, it was most used as a prop for explaining the dynamics of the battle and the work of the Trust.  The afternoon game on each day resulted in the expected victory for Parliament but with some notable variations on the original events.

As ever, it is a mixture of opinion as to whether these deviations represent failings in the scenario settings or a good exploration of what might have happened on the day but for a bit of luck, here, or an unlikely intervention, there.  A bit of both, of course: no scenario is ever perfect, but for the game to be worthwhile, it needs the possibility of exploring the ‘what ifs’.

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SATURDAY GAME

On Saturday, King Charles mobilised the reserve and declined Carnwath’s advice not to go upon his death.  Cromwell’s front line pluckily crashed in, looking to get something against the odds against this very tough unit.  They did a BP on them in a drawn combat, and made the customary Armati roll to ‘kill’ a general.  They achieved the required ‘6’.  Note, wryly, those of you who put on these games at public events, that in a year of development and playtesting, this is the only time Charles has been in combat at Naseby and his unit has taken a hit.  So if it can happen it will happen – Show 1, Game 1, Charles in combat Turn 1 …. Thump! He hits the ground.

Actually, with the extra generals involved in my ECW and other variants, there is now a subsequent die roll (post combat, Breakthroughs and Evades etc.) to see what happened to the fellow – and in Charles’s case, he was not killed, merely downed, and able to recover in the shelter of a friendly unit.  Too late for the Bluecoats and Lifeguards, however, as their response to seeing him downed was to escort him from the field. (We gave them an impromptu ‘Routed Into’ test … and, yes, they rolled a 1) …

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Elsewhere, although the Royalists had done well, they hadn’t quite broken through, and the foot was starting to crumble.  It was game over for the King.  For those interested, the odds of this immediate result on his majesty’s reserve entering combat are almost exactly 100:1!  So – as experienced practitioners know – I should have expected it in the first public game.  I thought it a very pertinent comment on the ‘what if’.  I will write it into the scenario.

SUNDAY GAME

Sunday’s game saw what may be the ‘high watermark’ moment.  I took a picture.Rupert nearly pulls it off!

Rupert has routed most of Ireton’s horse – but (rolling 1s and 2s in tests, has not chased them off the field).  He has turned in on the New Model’s position.  Skippon has had to bring a reserve unit to intervene.  To its right, this has contacted a unit from Rupert’s front line (which is in this unusual position because it has routed the red regiment of foot in a rear contact, rallied and turned round). Its left corner has been charge by the unit Rupert is leading. Unfortunately, Skippon only just got into position (moving this turn), so Rupert’s cavalry has impetus, and he will routed if his foot lose the melee.  (The melee FVs are 6:6 with Rupert and 6:5 against the one to the right).  The two red regiments of foot  have already routed, and the only regiment still standing in this end of the front line has sustained 2 BPs of 4 and faces two units in melee this turn.  If it loses to both, it also routs, and the entire Closter Hill position is undone.  (The melee FVs are 7:5 to the Royalists).   In Armati terms also, this will mean enough key units are broken including some of the foot – so it would be a win for the King.  simple.  What actually happened?

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Fairfax had the initiative and ran the melees from his right.  So the first of the Royalists Ft inflicted to the rightmost enemy (just going out of the picture), not on the teetering one.  The critical unit actually won its melee to the left and inflicted a BP leaving that veteran unit on 4BPs and vulnerable to the (admittedly weak) Dragoons Ireton has gone and fetched in desperation from the hedges.  In the 6:5 melee between Skippon’s wins and breaks the first unit of Royalist cavalry, against Rupert it draws (so takes a BP but does not break).  Both units roll for generals, neither falls.  Rupert dices to break off, but ends up stuck in the protracted melee.  Skippon’s foot have held.  Next turn, Okey’s men charged into the back of the Royalist foot and scrape a win courtesy of Ireton’s +1 for leading them, and that victory is enough to pinch a win for Parliament.  If Rupert had managed to get the initiative, started with his 6:6 against Skippon and won it, the outcome of the whole Civil War might have been different.  At least that’s what our reconstruction told us …  I guess it sometime depends on who tells the story.  At the time the royalist army collapsed, a certain Oliver Cromwell was leading his Ironsides into the centre of the Royalists’ position: it was probably that which will probably go down as having turned the tide …

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A lot of ideas to explore, I think.

Making the Naseby Terrain

Posted September 16, 2009 by yesthatphil
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The Naseby game went well at Colours, and the battlefield looked good.  Many thanks to those visitors who were kind enough to compliment both the idea and how it had turned out.  There was a fair bit of interest, so I thought I’d better do a quick explanation of how the board was built …Naseby build 01I had taken a standard pasting-table, and switched the hinges around so it folds out squarish, rather than long (so 44″x34″ rather than the original 22″x68″, in this case).    The wooden edges on the hinge side (i.e. down the middle) had to be cut down to allow the layout to model the valley between Dust Hill and Closter.  This was a bit of a pain (old fashioned cutting and sanding, I’m afraid) – so lucky you, if your battlefield has a ridge across the middle.

The basic contours were then formed roughly with polystyrene foam off-cuts, glued in as above.Naseby build 02I then covered this valley with a finish of ‘warmalite’ thin wall covering … this is just the same open cell polystyrene stuff, but comes 2mm thick on a (23″ x 30′) roll, and does a good job of flowing over everything.  Note that the everso helpful people in the DIY shop recommended using a premix wallpaper adhesive with it (indeed this is also confirmed on the tub) – but this proved to be as bad as I feared … no tack, no grip and doesn’t really dry.    So I had to resort to my old favourites, Copydex and Elmer’s PVA … (and panic about whether the thing would be dry on time).

But really that’s about the only bit of this ‘how to‘ you need to trial.  You just need to use an adhesive that will grip the polystyrene, and hold it down on your substrate.Naseby build 03As you can see, I had to weigh it all down with box files, books and Slingshot back issues whilst the splodge that the DIY guys recommended slowly dried!  (Don’t be confused by the old newspaper – that is just there to protect the books and magazines from any stray gloop)…Naseby build 04At least waiting for it all to dry gave me plenty of time to carve out Closter Hill (the ridge on which the New Model deployed at Naseby).

I tried to copy theNaseby at Colours 09 06 front edge of the contours shown on Markham’s 1870 plan (page 214 of Foard’s ‘Naseby’), assuming that the back edge on Ireton’s wing would merge into the rise at the back of my battlefield.   The front edge of the feature is roughly highlighted, left.

Many previous projects have taught me the best tools for shaping polystyrene insulation board is a sharp carving knife followed by sandpaper.  It is quick to cut, and ends up smooth.  If you have invested in a hot wire cutter, so much the better, of course, but you might still find the sanding a revelation.

I wanted to make this ridge feature a separately fixed-on item, rather than smoothed in under the warmalite, as it is the area where the Parliamentarian foot will get Armati’s +1 for being stationary on the terrain for the first turn of melee, if charged.  In that sense, it is both part of the landscape of the battlefield and a specific game ‘template’.  So I want it to hit that modelled-in but standing out compromise.  The thickness of the feature and the drop of the valley were measured so that with the finished ridge fixed in place the whole battlefield (-box, as it were) could be closed for transport.Naseby build 05Once the ridge was glued-in and dry, the whole landscape received the normal matchpots, PVA, flock and such like treatment.

My idea was to represent the ridge and furrow effect of the 17th century open field farming on Broad Moor by an earthy base with flocky, static grass ridges (much like the effect beautifully shown in the illustrations to Martin Marix Evans’s  Osprey title) ….  This will need re-doing, as the version finished for Colours was at best OK … The field system is too stark and crude, really.  This is mostly the fault of the nasty, rubbery flock I used (but a redo will tone it all down a bit, I think …).Naseby build 06See what I mean. This is the finished battlefield (and I’m experimenting with dotting about a few loose trees etc.)  Trees, hedges, walls etc. are all to be added on, free-standing, when the battle is set up (but that only takes a few minutes).  Without them on, it all folds up (and still has the pasting-table’s carrying handle to help ..)..Naseby build 07If you look at this end, you can see where the wood has been trimmed back to allow the fall of the valley, and you can see the ends of the join in the ridge feature.  Of course, in transit, all the paint and flocking etc. is protected from scuffing and damage by being closed up inside.  This is by far the easiest and most durable terrain I have taken to a show.

The only other caveat I would add is that the cheap pasting-table I had was the type that uses hardboard surfaces.  These are a bit of a pain as they warp and bend a lot (they are also a bit absorbent when it comes to the gluing fiasco), and if I was doing it from scratch, I’d be tempted by the more expensive and heavier type of table made with plywood surfaces.  Still, most of this was done within an evening, which isn’t too bad for a terrain build …Naseby at Colours 09 05.. and I think with the figures on it, it did a pretty good job of allowing us to recreate the battle.  And the Saturday morning set up was mercifully quick with so much already done as soon as the table is folded open.

NASEBY GAME AT COLOURS 2009

Posted September 10, 2009 by yesthatphil
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COME AND SEE THE NASEBY GAME AT COLOURS   2009 ON THE ‘PIKE & SHOT SOCIETY’ STAND 12TH TO 13TH SEPTEMBER (NEWBURY RACECOURSE)  -  FIND US ON THE TOP FLOOR OF THE SHOW … DOORS OPEN 10.30am

Complete play throughs with narrative following the ideas posted here, and using the variant version of Armati from these pages.  Why not join in and explore in miniature one of the momentous days that shaped English history.

More details on Colours (here …)

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Find out more about the Pike & Shot Society (here …)

ECW at Kelmarsh Festival of History

Posted July 27, 2009 by yesthatphil
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English Heritage hosts a Festival of History at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire every July.  Just over the fields from Naseby, it has a strong English Civil War theme.  Here are some pictures from the ‘Naseby’ reenactors display this weekend.Kelmarsh ECW 01

Light artillery pieces move up to support the troops …

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Cavalry harass the Parliamentarian lines …

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Quite an abundance of stuff on a lovely sunny afternoon (I was fortunate to be there on the Saturday – we were playing Armati at the Stoke Challenge on the Sunday …)…

The general theme of the commentary was that the function of Horse was to harass and stall the enemy’s Foot, and, otherwise to prevent the enemy Horse from doing likewise.  This works fine on the rather symbolic level of a few hundred reenactors … but is it the key to Rupert’s desire to see the Horse and Foot work together?  The first function may work well on campaign and in managing retreat – but in pitched battle the cavalry are pushed to the flanks (presumably the sheer weight of shot – from musket and artillery combined – would be too much) …

More to follow …

Going public

Posted July 8, 2009 by yesthatphil
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Reenactors 01 So, I’ve spent a few evenings since COW loading stuff up here.  It is far from finished, of course (it is a blog, not a website), and I hope that some visitors may help with the task.  My main purpose with the posting side will be to discuss what I’m doing constructing and finishing the miniature armies, explaining some of the nuances of my ECW spin on Armati, and thinking aloud about the warfare of the period and the layout at Naseby in particular.  Meanwhile, as much as I can, I will be loading up material I collect on the relevant pages.

I am particularly keen to get people’s input on the Bibliography page: what do you think are the key book for a project like this?  Foard?  Wanklyn?  Peter Young, maybe? I had a useful chat with Martin Marix Evans this evening (who heads up the Naseby project): he thinks the Osprey campaign series book is a good and up-to-date a guide to his  understanding of the battlefield (though there are some new discoveries yet to be published …)…  if you recommend it, I will look at it.  If you send me some useful details (e.g. by email), I will paste them on to the Bibliography page.

As for figures, I am working in 15mm (so as to deliver a transportable game (about 4×4) that will play in about 2 hours or so, at a show.  The mix will be some authentic units from Naseby and some more generic ‘filler’ (too late to rethink that side, I’m afraid) – and the figures I am using are mostly a mix of old minifigs and new Peter Pig.Naseby development game 01-a

For musings, I am interested in the mechanics of combat and how these translate into the mechanics of the wargame.  In Armati terms, for instance … try cavalry melee, and the hierarchy of sword, pistol, charge and countercharge (who has impetus and what effect the shots might have) and – one of my key ideas from studying the period – how disorder affects the speed at which the combat is resolved.  More to come.

COW 2009

Posted July 5, 2009 by yesthatphil
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Knuston Hall 4th JulyKnuston Hall

Wargames Developments – the Conference of Wargamers.

Saturday morning, we played through a test game of Naseby.  Thanks to everyone who attended.  The game went very well and the kind and supportive comments were much appreciated.

No – well I guess it didn’t go entirely to the historical script.   Rupert took forever to break through Ireton’s cavalry wing, and on the other side, although Cromwell prevailed, old Jacob Astley went back personally and directed a unit of horse to whell left and plug the gap that Langdale’s retreating units were leaving on his flank.

In the centre, things did not go so well for the king.  The New Model’s musketry was better than the shooting odds would have suggested, and the combination of firepower and the slope proved too much on this occasion.  Although the combined tertias caused great damage they had just taken too much shot on the way in, and began to falter.

countering Astley’s timely intervention of the reserve, Fairfax personally joined some of Cromwell’s second line cavalry but was unhorsed in a vigorous action.  It remained to be seen whether this calamity was fatal, and the Parliamentarians, holding the field, were searching the field in the aftermath for their valiant commander.Naseby development game 02

(part completed figures in the test game of the Naseby game due for Colours in September)

And the King?  Well, as the infantry began to fall back in disarray, the players were asked whether his majesty would ‘go upon his death’ (personally commit the last reserves) or endeavour to withdraw what might be salvaged of the army.  The latter course was chosen and the game concluded.

For a complete view of what went on at COW 2009, and plenty of photos, you can do no better than visit Bob Cordery’s Blog by clicking the link Wargame Miscellany …

English Civil War in Miniature

Posted July 1, 2009 by yesthatphil
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Being a place to publish material related to my on-going English Civil War project.

15mm is a scale I enjoy working in. Armati is a much under-rated rules set (that needs an upgrade for its elderly Renaissance sections) – and Naseby is my local battlefield. 2009 is the appeal year for the battlefield. You will find information on all these topics here … and I hope I will be able to support this with lots of inspiring photographs as the figure collection moves towards completion and the Naseby scenario evolves into a series covering the major battle of the period.

The ECW Armati page is a full set of adaptations for playing an updated version of the ECW game published in Advanced Armati. I am grateful to the members of Steve Phenow’s Yahoo Armati Group for all the good ideas they have discussed with regard to the rules system.