Battle of Rowton Heath 1645

[fred.]

A good looking game, its good to see how some fairly simple terrain can look very effective, and as the others have said, great to see these figures on the table.

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

We really like the FKaP rules too!

Are the lifeguard units, the ones with 2 bases of figures, with 4 blanks on the big sabots? Can I ask why you have chosen to base them this way?

[paulr]

Yes Fred the Lifeguard are on the large sabots

I've based my cuirassiers similarly but with four stands of figures with smaller blanks at the side

They are double depth as they fight as Dutch Horse and we use double depth to differentiate between Swedish and Dutch

We reserve narrower sabots (2 bases wide) for Dragoons, Forlorn Hope and Artillery that get a save for being small targets when shot at

[paulr]

I've post processed the first of my photos, some overview shots of the game



Initial deployment, note that due to the grid being smaller than the sabots (due to us playing on my kitchen table) some troops had to be placed in the back of the grid rather than the front

Pierre the Shy added a couple of extra Victory Coins as objectives for the Covenanters at the end of the table nearest Chester, if the captured both of these they won



The Covenanters advance is slowed by some early 1s



The Royalists respond by advancing Lord Gerrard's Brigade of Horse on their left, but are otherwise restrained



The Covenanters continue their general advance and the battle is opened by a volley from Major General David Leslie's Cheshire Commanded Shot



The Royalist loose their three forward brigades with mixed results:

• On the left Lord Charles Gerrard's Combined Regiment sweeps away one of Major General John Middleton's regiments of Scottish Horse, Major General David Leslie's Cheshire Commanded Shot prove to be sterner stuff
• In the centre Sir William Blakiston's Northumberland Horse are destroyed by the fire from the Lord Kirkudbright's Scottish Horse and their attached Shot, his Durham Horse engage in a swirling melee with MG David Leslie's Scottish Horse
• On the right Major General Sir Marmaduke Langdale's Yorkshire Horse ride down a unit of Cheshire Commanded Shot and a regiment of Cheshire Horse

The Covenanters counter attack:

• One of Major General John Middleton's regiments of Scottish Horse destroyed Lord Charles Gerrard's Combined Regiment or their extreme right
• In the centre both Major General David Leslie and Lieutenant General Michael Jones get a regiment of Horse onto the flank of Major General Sir Marmaduke Langdale's two victorious regiments, both Royalist regiments survive
• On their left the fire from the Earl of Leven and Duke of Argyll's Dutch Cuirassiers is ineffective

The stage is set for the Royalist reserve, the two regiments of Sir William Vaughan's Brigade of Horse crash into the flanks of the Covenanter and Cheshire Horse
The Cheshire Horse are battered but hold

The fate of the day now rests with Sir William Blakiston's blown Durham Horse, they charge a fresh unit of Scottish Horse from Major General John Middleton's Brigade of Horse who break and flee before them

The Royalist had won in the nick of time, several units were about to gallop off towards Whitchurch and the remaining units were all nearly blown

I'll post some action shots when I get a chance to post process them

[mollinary]

Thanks for all these photos Paul, they look fabulous! Really delighted you enjoy
the rules, Simon and I had a blast writing and playtesting them, and it is a real boost to see others sharing our enthusiaam!  Cheers.

[paulr]

Welcome back from Rome

Thank you and Simon for all the effort that has gone into the rules, they give a great game with so much period feel

This was the first time we used Scottish Horse and they fight very differently from other Horse

[fred.]

Yes Fred the Lifeguard are on the large sabots

I've based my cuirassiers similarly but with four stands of figures with smaller blanks at the side

They are double depth as they fight as Dutch Horse and we use double depth to differentiate between Swedish and Dutch

We reserve narrower sabots (2 bases wide) for Dragoons, Forlorn Hope and Artillery that get a save for being small targets when shot at

Interesting. We've gone for 1 40x40mm base per wound of a unit. So our Dutch horse are 3 bases wide, and the Swedish 2 bases wide. But I can see the that going for deeper units would work too.
Our foot battalia are 3 bases wide (120mm), and as with you we have gone for narrower (80mm width) for dragoons, FH and artillery.

The beauty of FKaP is that the basing isn't that important to the game play, its far more about the aesthetic  of how you want the units to look, rather than being critical to the functioning of the rules.

[mollinary]

Welcome back from Rome

Thank you and Simon for all the effort that has gone into the rules, they give a great game with so much period feel

This was the first time we used Scottish Horse and they fight very differently from other Horse

p

Thanks Paul, Rome was brilliant, thoroughly recommended for the Christmas break. Just discovered this podcast from November of some American guys experience with FK&P. It is, of course, positive, or I would not have posted it!     . For those interested, It is at Episode 9 at https://hobbyknockout.podbean.com   I can assure readers, that no money has changed hands!

[paulr]

Fred, the flexibility is one of the many strengths
The above scenario was designed for a 6'x4' table but fitted fairly easily onto my 5'x3' kitchen table by squeezing the grid to 13x12cm

Mollinary, I would love to make it to Rome, at anytime of year

I'll have a listen to the podcast at some point, I'm yet to hear of anyone who has actually played and not enjoyed it
I've heard of a few who haven't played it that point at things like grids...

[pierre the shy]

Interesting. We've gone for 1 40x40mm base per wound of a unit. So our Dutch horse are 3 bases wide, and the Swedish 2 bases wide. But I can see the that going for deeper units would work too.
Our foot battalia are 3 bases wide (120mm), and as with you we have gone for narrower (80mm width) for dragoons, FH and artillery.

The beauty of FKaP is that the basing isn't that important to the game play, its far more about the aesthetic  of how you want the units to look, rather than being critical to the functioning of the rules.

Yes I would agree 100% with that last sentence. Our logic was, as Paul has said, that the Curiassier fight in deep Dutch style so we went with 2 ranks. Even small bodyguard units take up one grid square width so we went for a full sized base for them, even if the actual strength of the Scots bodyguard units were only one or two troops....okay they are largely conjectural but who am I to argue with Stuart Reid and the BCW Regimental Wiki?

Really glad that I pursued my quest to find a really playable set of ECW rules that our regular gaming group would enjoy and found FK&P....Paul R has certainly embraced them with his Cheriton project too  

Now I just need to ween them onto TTS as well.....yes Paul I did buy a copy at the same time as FK&P

[mmcv]

I'd a proper read through of FK&P last night there. Actually helped clear up some  things I'd not been sure on in my TtS!  playthrough as well. Really like the persuit mechanic, it's something I felt lacking from other rules in the period I'd encountered and had been trying to come up with ways to model the behaviour in them, as it's so core to the outcome of the battles. Extra motivation to get enough of the project done to get something on the table!

[Womble67]

Looks good

Take care

Andy

[Edmund2011]

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

I didn't know about them and after reading your report and some reviews of the game in internet I must admit I am interested!! 

I am in a point where my free time for miantures and wargaming is really minimum so I decided to get stick to the current minis and rulesets I have, and I said the "magical words": 'I am not buying any more rulesets' ... but you know what happens next!...  )

FKaP reminds me Philip Sabin's "Strategos" (game that I played briefly) and (according to the internet reviews) Warmaster (the only wargame I play more or less often and that I really like).

What attracts me is the grid zone for playing instead of moving X inches each unit, as that it seems really fast and easy to play.

Also it seems it is a ruleset I can use to play games with my 10mm figures and besides games with my 1/72 figures as basing is irrelevant. Is that correct??

Another good indication for me is that it has good feedback/response by the people of Pendraken forum (not joking here). 

[d_Guy]

Also it seems it is a ruleset I can use to play games with my 10mm figures and besides games with my 1/72 figures as basing is irrelevant. Is that correct??

Yes, almost any basing (and scale) should work with FK&P.  The only limiting factor is the size of the grid box. It needs to be able to hold two units (one behind the other). I use 10mm figures with 4" grid boxes, each unit is on a 3" X 2" stand. Obviously you can adjust the grid to meet your needs.

[Techno]

Excellent !!

(Though my sleepy eyes 'misread' the Marmadukes as Marmalade to start with.... )

Cheers - Phil.

[paulr]

Edmund, definitely a fast play set of rules, but also gives a very good period feel and a lot of tactical subtlety 

They work with any scale and basing as d_Guy says