When I posted a picture in the Viking ship thread this morning I realized I hadn't done an AAR here on the Battle of Inverlochy. I apologize for pasting the same picture again. This is the continuation of using Montrose's 1644/45 campaign to learn to wargame again.
The full blog post can be found here:
https://inredcoatragsattired.com/2016/10/
What follows is the executive summary:
The initial positions (Montrose at lower right and Argyll on his galley at the mouth of the Lochy River).
(https://inredcoatragsattired.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/inverlochy-general-view-of-the-table.jpg?w=800)
The Royalists shift the weight of the attack to the Covenanter left to sever communication with the castle garrison:
(https://inredcoatragsattired.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/inverlochy-move-1.jpg?w=800)
The Royalists are now turning the Covenanter left and Clan MacClean has broken through on the Campbell right.
(https://inredcoatragsattired.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/inverlochy-move-21.jpg?w=800)
As Argyll's continues to hold the center the Covenanters try despartly to stabilize a secondary defensive line against the Royalist attacks on thier flanks.
(https://inredcoatragsattired.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/inverlochy-move-3.jpg?w=800)
MacDonnell's salvo as they charge breaks Argyll's left and ends the battle.
(https://inredcoatragsattired.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/inverlochy-move-41.jpg?w=800)
In the end the Covenanter regulars and their light artillary did better than their historic counter part but the outcome was the same.
This is the final wargame with this style of terrain (goodbye terrycloth surface and hills), wooden tray movements stands (have switched to magnetic with more flocking) and the use of substantial house rules for Baroque.
Baroque is not specifically designed for small historic battles (particularly on the Celtic Fringe) but I am slowly conforming to the the base rules. Fine adjustment in the properties of some of the units was the key. Baroque's play mechanisms and solo playability are too good not to use.
Looks good!
Nice castle too!
Nice, do the Baroque rules generally produce a result within 3 - 4 turns?.
8)
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: Norm on 12 December 2016, 09:53:09 PM
Nice, do the Baroque rules generally produce a result within 3 - 4 turns?.
My experience so far is that things usually resolve in seven or eight turns. I do position some what closer to bring about action quicker.
Four turns was quick. Zippee has discussed elsewhere that if units become disorganized they will degrade quickly (if at the point of attack) and if you cannot reorganize (or withdraw them) it only becomes worse and worse.
Looks great
Thanks for the AAR and have still to find time to give the rules a try out. From a read through they do look good.
Nice set up DGuy....always been intrigued by Montrose and his 1644/5 campaign.
I'm convinced enough to buy a PDF copy of the Baroque rules from Wargames Vault (for around $15) and use your house rules to try out this period.
So much for willpower ;)
Thanks Pierre,
Obviously I am quite taken with Baroque. I am not always sure that it is the best tool for doing Montrose's campaign but it is good for an entire period and I subscribe to the KISS principle when it comes to learning dozens of rules.
I know you and Paul have used V&B (I think) for later Jacobite battles and may investigate it for use after 1700 particularly if it would also work for Battalion level Napoleonics.
Hope you will try out Baroque - we all seem to have limited will power when it comes to our mad pursuit. :)
Quote from: d_Guy on 14 December 2016, 12:21:09 AM
Thanks Pierre,
Obviously I am quite taken with Baroque. I am not always sure that it is the best tool for doing Montrose's campaign but it is good for an entire period and I subscribe to the KISS principle when it comes to learning dozens of rules.
I know you and Paul have used V&B (I think) for later Jacobite battles and may investigate it for use after 1700 particularly if it would also work for Battalion level Napoleonics.
Hope you will try out Baroque - we all seem to have limited will power when it comes to our mad pursuit. :)
Yes we tried the Jacobite V&B variant with the two comprehensive books by Frank Chadwick using cardboard bases for a couple of test games of Prestonpans but were not convinced that it was worth pursuing further. I will now use those bases for some Baroque test games over the holiday break to see how they work.
As I'm still only working part time since the earthquake due to building damage still being repaired I have bought and downloaded a PDF copy of Baroque which should keep me entertained for a while, as well as finishing off some other small projects that I have hiding in the back of my gaming cupboard.
I, and I am sure Pierre as well, heartily recommend V&B for Napoleonics. Standard V&B is Brigade level but the semi-official mods for smaller scales are still available, are simple and work very well.
Forwarded this to a mate who grew up there. He says it's brilliant but you missed the hillock to anchor the right flank! :D
Thanks Lemmy. Yeah, but doubt it would have helped the poor buggers. :)
Quote from: mad lemmey on 14 December 2016, 07:35:58 AM
Forwarded this to a mate who grew up there. He says it's brilliant but you missed the hillock to anchor the right flank! :D
Of course being completely OCD I had to go back and review my notes on Inverlochy. I do this because I am insanely interested in the period and have no one to talk to about it! (Except my bored wife who puts up with for somewhat over a minute at a time! :D)
I never want to give the impression that I know everything - the opposite is the absolute case. I have encountered the former on other forums - opinions that allow for no other possibility - which is why I like it here! I also labor under the extreme difficulty of never having seen the battlefields. Finally my writing style is that of "total assurance" (or "Arogant A**" ) which is not what I mean to convey.
The three contemporary accounts that I work from for Montrose's campaign are Wishart, Ruthven and Spalding and only Ruthven is plausibly considered to have some chance of being an eyewitness. Wishart gives hardly any details on Inverlochy - just his usual Montrose haigiography. Ruthven and Spalding do give some useful detail but only Spalding mentions a terrain feature in relation to the Covenantor deployment. He calls it a "pretty ascent" and has the center placed on it - not the right. Everybody agrees that their left was anchored near the castle so that at least is a known point.
I start with the most excellent battlefield surveys done by Historic Scotland (which they have now placed behind a paywall :( ) and they conjecture a deployment pivoted (relative to the castle) about 45 degrees to left (and therefore well forward) of the position I used. This was done to accommodate current thinking about the direction of Montrose's approach. I use the approach derived from folklore!
(I have a blog post on this subject for the intrepid few that are still reading this :) )
https://inredcoatragsattired.com/2016/09/04/inverlochy-the-approach-march/
Knowing the castle was on the left and guessing Montrose was approaching more from the right I poured over the Topo maps and came up with a slight rise (just west of the existing rail station) as the center position.
So far there are no real archeological finds (that I know of) to support either position (although in my positioning I would happily suggest that the construction of the railyard obscured it).
I did (as most wargamers and model railroader do) some selective compression of the battlefield.
Thanks for the chance to do this, Mad Lemmy, it was wonderful. If your mate reads it, living there, he can probably blow it all apart in a trice - and that would be equally wonderful :)
He grew up there, walked it many times, usually and each morning on the way to school!
D-g, have you tried Google Maps street view? Unfortunately, when I visited "Old" Inverlochy Castle (the "new" one is a 5 star hotel up the road), I didn't do my homework so missed a great opportunity to survey the area in its historical battlefield context. However, I do recall thinking, when wondering where Argyll's galley was, that the Loch must have since silted up considerably in the vicinity of the castle because the river today is not very wide at that point. I also seem to recall a railway line and a "modern" canal / watercourse cutting through the area between the access road and the castle which begs the question, where did the spoil go? For example, the castle almost appeared to be on the same level as the surrounding land - so different from most other castles I've visited. I think there was also a hillock at the entrance to the access road from the main road. Is that the feature discussed and, if so, is it natural or man-made? Nevertheless, considering you've never been there and the battle was fought over 350 years ago, you've done a grand job with your reconstruction. :-bd
Maybe Techno will know? :P
Thanks for those comments and first hand observations of the area. Interesting! The Covenanter left wing was said to be within a pistol shot of the castle which was very useful in placing some constraint on figuring out the position. Google's Terrain view has elevations at 20m intervals which makes the entire area between the Nevis and the Lochy appear flat. I have an OS subscription which gives me maps with 5 or 10m intervals and on them you can pick out the rising ground around the freight yard. The hillock you mention is between the castle and the freight yard. The canal you mention is also present and bisects the rail line near the castle.
Your observation about river silting is certainly born out by the satellite images and made problematic placing Argyll's galley within view of the battle. I do use street view - with wild abandon - and sometimes even YouTube when you can "drive through" as I did for Tippermuir.
Sometime streetview is a bit of a tease - you want to go another 20 feet in a certain direction and you can't!
Of course my interest had to be 17th Britian and Ireland didn't it? I live no more than a two or three hour drive from more than half the battlefields of the eastern theater of the ACW (and speak all the native dialects!) go figure. :)