ECW – resurrection after 40 years

Things have become bogged down with only one decisive action, the routing if a P&S English regiment in the centre.  There is now a large melee ongoing in the Centre and a cavalry melee on the English Left/Scottish Right.

The Highlanders appear to be running around aimlessly! Some poor decision making there by the officer in charge.

The English Heavy cavalry have recovered their composure and are about to charge down the Covenanter infantry regiments in the next round, while the lone Scottish cavalry is taking on the two English Trotters (i.e. pistol-armed troops) and the outcome of this little battle within the battle could well decide the entire Left wing.

The melees continued across the line. The Artillery proved to be quite useless in these last two turns as they had no legitimate targets (own units too close to the potential targets) and so the placement of these is a useful experience.

There is a possible break in the middle of the English Foot line if the Covenanters can force their way through and with the highlanders coming up behind (finally).

Dice throws this turn were fairly uneventful with only one casualty marker success. Lots of good saving throws. (Another thing to revisit).

So, this turn was a bit of a non-event really!

After two turns of indecisive dice rolls, this one was a massive change. The centre melee was decided (so far) in the Covenanter’s favour with two English foot units routing off the field and the Highlanders moving into position to mop up the stragglers.  They can also swing round to take on the lighter cavalry should their moral hold up.

This did however, open up targets for the artillery, although their shots were off target and caused no problems to anyone.

On the Scottish right the small field guns were able to negotiate themselves onto the flank of the English light cavalry and a succession of good throws decimated two of the squadrons.  The next turn could still go either way, but the advantage now appears to be with the Scots.

On the other wing  things remain unclear, although the English should have some advantage with their Heavy cavalry about to run down the Scottish P&S units, and their Trotters in good position to beat the Scottish force.

The turn ended after only six orders with the second Black die being taken. But those six orders were significant.

In the centre the Covenanters were lucky to get two dice in succession and were able to charge down the routing English regiments and drive them from the field. This ensured that the victory conditions were within touching distance for the Scots as the 7th (i.e. 50%) of the English army was off the field. Heading into the final turn the English needed to hang on to win and the Scots needed only one more victory.

With the quick end to the turn, everything now rests on the dice!

The counter attack on the English Right came to nothing as the Heavy cavalry were unable to bring in their charge against the standing Pikes of the two Covenant regiments.  The other Cavalry melee was fought to a stand still.

MEANWHILE in the center the Scots pushed through and sent another regiment of foot fleeing and the Highlanders charged to the guns in glorious wild style and captured them.

On the Scottish Left the two remaining cavalry units were driven back and decimated with the light guns and routed off the field.

In all of the initial 14 English units (plus 2 artillery) only four remained on the field of battle by the finish.

But the actual result was not important, this run through has given me much to think about, and in principle I think some adaptation of the command dice (being less than the total number of units) has some merit as you have to really think about which are the critical decisions. This is compounded by the use of “End Turn dice” which means nothing is certain.

The moral system needs tweaking and the use of saving throws also might reduce the immediate routing of units. So, lots to contemplate, but a fun few hours.

Now for the pizza and a beer!