Battle of Rowton Heath 1645

[pierre the shy]

This as a "What if" version of the battle where Poyntz's New Model Army force is replaced by the Covenanters, purely an excuse to get the Scots on the table really.

On the 13th September 1645, after a long march from the north of England a large mounted Covenant force under Major General David Leslie surprised the small but hitherto undefeated force of the King's Lieutenant in Scotland at Philiphaugh in the Scottish borders. The Marquis of Montrose's forces fought with great valour, but even their elan could not overcome Leslie's superior numbers. Montrose managed to escape with a fraction of his force but was unable to put another army in the field, effectively ending Royalist hopes of holding Scotland. Those that were unable to flee, including many camp followers, mainly from amongst the Irish brigade, surrendered on being granted quarter but were then put to the sword.
   
A few days later and the Covenant ruling body, the Committee of the Estates, received messengers from London asking for urgent military assistance in besieging Chester, where the King himself was  thought to be trapped. Only local forces from the Cheshire Association were available to march to assist the besieging force as the main body of the New Model Army was itself besieging another Royalist force under Prince Rupert in Bristol in the south west of England.

Prominent members of the Committee soon agreed that help should be dispatched at once, the prize of the King himself would be of inestimable value to the Scots faction's demands in dealing with the English Parliamentary faction. The nearest assistance that could be sent was Leslie's cavalry force. Representatives of the Committee, including the dour Marquis of Argyle and the Earl of Leven hurried south and marched with Leslie at a great pace towards Whitchurch, a dozen miles south of Chester. There, early on the 24th September, they would rendezvous with Lieutenant General Michael Jones's force of Cheshire Association troops and march on Chester......

By July 1645 the Civil War in England was definitely not going in the King's favour. The last substantial Royalist field army had met Parliament's New Model Army at Naseby and had been comprehensively defeated. At the beginning of August 1645, Charles left Raglan with some 2,500 men, marching northwards along the Welsh border in the hope of rallying more Royalists to his cause in the north of England and perhaps joining up with then dominant forces of his Lieutenant in Scotland, the Marquis of Montrose. In the meantime however, Prince Rupert had been forced to surrender Bristol, leaving Chester as the only port still held by the Royalists where it would be possible to land the reinforcements that Charles was awaiting from Ireland, which he hoped could save him from ultimate defeat.
Early on 20 September 1645, a New Model Army force led by Colonel Grey, began a fresh assault on Chester. The King sent a messenger to the Governor of Chester, Lord John Byron, promising help within 24 hours, and set out to his assistance. The Royalist plan was two-fold, and in the event too complicated. The King aimed both to stiffen the resistance of the garrison and, if possible, trap the besiegers (about 500 Horse and 1,500 Foot) in the suburbs before they could retreat to their fortified forward base at Tarvin.

Charles had in all about 3,000 Horse at his disposal. They consisted of his own Lifeguard (about 200 men), the Northern Horse under Sir Marmaduke Langdale (1,500) Lord Gerrard's Brigade, mainly troops from South Wales and the Border (700), and Sir William Vaughan's Brigade, including some units which had fought at Naseby (700). The King's brigade commanders were all experienced and capable officers, and many of their men had considerable combat experience, but all regiments
were understrength. Morale tended to be brittle, and there was a good deal of ill-feeling between the Royalist generals. The lack of Foot was also to prove a serious disadvantage.

In order to carry out his objective the King divided his forces. He, and his Lieutenant General of Horse, Lord Gerard, with their Lifeguards and Herbert Price's Regiment (about 500 men in all) rode up the east bank of the River Dee and into Chester, in order to organise a sortie with the aid of the garrison, and take the besiegers, whom they expected to retreat, in the rear. Meanwhile the bulk of the Horse, about 2,500 under Major General Langdale were to cross the Dee at Holt Bridge, march across country and then swing north-west along the main Whitchurch-Chester road and take the besiegers in flank as they attempted to withdraw.

By dawn on the 24th, the first stage of their march completed, Langdale's men were snatching some much-needed rest on Milner's Heath, about 5 miles south east of Chester while they awaited the Parliamentary relief force that was rumoured to be marching north.... 

The initial set up, Covenanters closest to the camera - Note the infamous NZ pom poms marking dash (green) and ammo (grey) for each unit. We played on Paul's kitchen table so the grid was a bit tighter than the supposed 6 x 4 table.  My plan was to use the commanded musketeers to shoot in my Horse against the superior Royalist Horse, but this had mixed results....



As the attackers the Covenanters, with the Cheshire Association troops on the left wing, advanced and soon met the Royalists. Captain Daniels' commanded musketeers open fire......and miss 


The Royalist reserve deploys to its left and charges the Musketeers and MG Middleton's Horse...the foot holds, taking a single hit, but Middleton's men not able to match the veteran Royalist horse and take two hits, destroying them. MG Middleton rides off unharmed to join Balcarres' Horse while the Royalist cavalry goes into pursuit mode (yellow pom pom).


On the Royalist right things are not going well for my Cheshire lads, with the commanded musketeers and Col Jones's Horse both swept aside by the Royalist Horse (two more units with yelow pompoms). My reserve of two small lifeguard units moves up to plug the gap.


Later on the Royalist left MG Middleton leads the Earl of Balcarres' Horse against the pursuing Royalists and in turn manages to destroy them  , while the musketeers continue their own fight besside them, (probably wishing they hadn't left their pike armed mates behind...)


However in the middle things are not going well for the Covenanters, As I try to flank the pursuing units the royalist reserve hovers in the background. I manage to kill one of the pursuing units but in turn my units are flanked, giving the pursuers 2 x chits which destroys both my units.


Finally on the Royalist right my Dutch style cuirassiers fire in the Royalists before them, lots of smoke but not much else happens. In the background you can see the large cavalry melee going on.


So at the end of the game an 11 - 4 victory to the Royalists, and the King escapes capture...for now.

Hope you enjoyed that.....I probably should have been a bit more conservative with my musketeer's deployment but it did get the Scots on the table which was one of my aims for putting this together. 

[mmcv]

Looks like a cracking game!  Enjoyed the background to it as well.

Out of interest, how do you do your hedges? Will be needing to start making a load myself soon and yours look the part.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Cool game.

[Norm]

Nicely written up and presented game. It really is nice to see those figures in action.

[Techno]

Great stuff.

Cheers - Phil

[Steve J]

Great to see these units in action, plus some great background info on the lead up to the battle .

[paulr]

Pierre has been very generous, the Royalists only managed to destroy one of his flanked units and victory was snatched by an already blown unit of Royalist horse that managed to draw high cards

The Royalists were about to run out of troops as over half were either lost of charging off in pursuit

If I had not managed to destroy two units that turn the battle would have slipped away from me

I'll post some more pictures and a few more comments once I get a chance to post-process them

Thanks again Pierre for an interesting, challenging and fun game

Looks like a cracking game!  Enjoyed the background to it as well.

Out of interest, how do you do your hedges? Will be needing to start making a load myself soon and yours look the part.

I use 'ice block sticks' for the base. As I normally use a 15cm grid I cut two down to 10cm and another into two 4.5cm lengths. Gluing these together gives a double thickness stick 14.5cm long. I roughly bevel the top edge and paint.

I then glue on clump foliage (Woodland Scenics Light Green), soak in dilute PVA and then highlight (Vallejo 806 German Yellow). Then they get flocked and varnished.

I've added paths or gates to a few to add variety.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

This one is reasonably local to me. I have had a few beers in a pub which was used as a mortuary after the battle.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Cheerful atmosphere then?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Yes, no it aint 'aunted

[mmcv]

I use 'ice block sticks' for the base. As I normally use a 15cm grid I cut two down to 10cm and another into two 4.5cm lengths. Gluing these together gives a double thickness stick 14.5cm long. I roughly bevel the top edge and paint.

I then glue on clump foliage (Woodland Scenics Light Green), soak in dilute PVA and then highlight (Vallejo 806 German Yellow). Then they get flocked and varnished.

I've added paths or gates to a few to add variety.

Thanks for the tips!

[d_Guy]

 
Really enjoyed your narrative Pierre and the creative historical twist!
Nice battle set-up as well.
Incidently have you looked at Fyvie (1644)? A good deal of scope for playing with history AND a chance to use Argyll’s Lifeguard Again)!

[pierre the shy]

Pierre has been very generous, the Royalists only managed to destroy one of his flanked units and victory was snatched by an already blown unit of Royalist horse that managed to draw high cards

Well as one discovers through researching these battles the sources do not always agree exactly on what happened.... it was was 300+ years ago after all 

I have not looked at Fyvie closely DGuy but it seems pretty indeterminate as to who turned up and where exactly the battle was? I'd need to wait a while for that one as I won't have any more Scots finished till mid 2019, but I will look at the scenario that you have on your blog.

Overall I was pleased about how the scenario ran, (except purhaps for the outcome  ) Next time the Covenanters appear hopefully they will be confronting the forces of the King's Lieutenant in Scotland......but first we have "a bit of a dust up" between Waller, Forth and Hopton south of the border to play out.     

[Edmund2011]

Great table and figures! What rules have you used?

[pierre the shy]

Great table and figures! What rules have you used?

Thanks. We use For King and Parliament rules and find they work really well for the period.