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.
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.
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.
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’.
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) …
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 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?
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 …
A lot of ideas to explore, I think.
I 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.
I 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).
As 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)…
At 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).
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.
Once the ridge was glued-in and dry, the whole landscape received the normal matchpots, PVA, flock and such like treatment.
See 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 ..)..
If 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.
.. 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.
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.
