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| Overall view of the start positions. The lack of Royalist artillery would be critical. |
The Triple Line
Being a Report of the late battle between the Forces of His Majesty and the Provincial Rebels
Recently, I have been reading Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, with the idea of having a few small battles with my 54's and trying out various rule sets. In an earlier post, Keith Flint's Honours of War (published by Osprey) was tried at Huzzah 2018. This time I am trying a variation of Charge! that I found posted on Keith's blog (listed on Der Resin Kavalier as one I follow). Stuart Asquith, a pioneer of war gaming modified the original to meet his current needs of more limited space, something with which I am quite familiar. I modified them somewhat more, and the following battle report presented takes a scenario from Neil's book, but using Charge!The game lasted 8 turns, and the end result was decisive. To begin with, Neil's book has a chapter on solo play, something I had to revert as I am on a summer hiatus from my local club, Old Colony Wargamers which was useful. Armies are chosen based on a random die roll. In this scenario, the Blue Army (Provincial Rebels) had 6 units. The King's forces had 4.
Based on the roll, Blue (Rebels) had 3 infantry units, 1 skirmisher unit, and 2 guns. Red (Royalists) on the other hand had 3 infantry units and 1 Skirmisher. The Royalist lack of artillery would be a major factor in the game. The British ( and some of the Rebel) staring positions are shown below:
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| Looking toward the British line, the main attack prepares. |
Even though the Provincials had to start south of the river, they were aggressive from the beginning. Unfortunately (for the King's forces) according to the scenario conditions,the Royalists could not move until the rebels got within 6 inches of them. I interpreted that as the trigger for all the British forces. As the rebels advanced, casualties on both sides began to mount. A bloody exchange of musketry and artillery marked the Rebel advance. One gun battery was particularly effective.
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| The initial fight at the bridge saw the destruction of the Provincial Light Infantry. |
Among the modifications I made was a morale trigger when the unit reached fifty-percent (for those of you familiar with CLS, this was called a "CE or "combat effectiveness" check). Both sides passed, at least the first time, although the Rebel skirmishers eventually dies to a man. With each additional casualty, checks were made, and inevitably, the failures began to occur. First the royals, then the rebels. But more on that next time, including some notes on the forces involved. (Franconians??)
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| Rebels surge across the bridge as the British fall back. |
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| The British morale breaks. Now it is up to their Franconian allies to stop the enemy. |
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| The Provincial start to break. The last Rebel unit crosses the bridge as the Franconians advance. |