Campaign notes

The rules in use will be Pike & Shotte.

Army sized 500 Points (so that it will be easy for new players and some older ones to paint up their armies)

Army selection restrictions 1. No Dramatis Personae in the army. 2. New model army only selectable from beginning of May. 3. 500 points max per army 4. Army lists in rule book only a. Royalists b. Early Parliamentarian c. New Model Army (May) d. Montrose Scots e. Covenant Scots 5. Army lists can be changed from week to week.

Start

Draw cards to find starting locations of generals so that support for both sides can be pinned down to locations. If a battle is fought in a county that was a starting county for a General, and it falls in to the opponent’s hands, then they will be very embarrassed as their baggage, ladies and followers managed to escape before their doom was complete. Generals fight on. They may even try to get their home county back!

Games

Players pair off and roll for initiative. Players that win initiative can chose where to attack from any friendly county in to any neutral or hostile county. This doesn’t need to be from their starting position and can be from any where in the country that is friendly to them. Their paired off opponent can defend from the county attacked in to, or from an adjoining friendly county.

If players would like larger battles then 2 friendly Generals can join in on one attack and will be paired against 2 opposing Generals. The 500 points each points total still applies.

To add a bit of spice and “fog of war” to each game, Generals can ask for support from one friendly county nearby. That county will provide extra troops from garrisons or sympathetic gentry in the area.

The extra troops will be randomly selected by the draw of a playing card…

Red 2-5  Shot small Red 6-9   Shot normal Black 2-5  Pike small Black 6-9   Pike normal 10   Commanded Shot normal Jack or Queen  Cavalry (Gallopers for Royalists, Cavalry for Parliamentarians) normal King    Cavalry small (as above) Ace    Canon Light Red Joker   Canon Medium Black Joker  Horde of Clubmen or Highlanders for Scots armies

These troops are only available to non Historical games and will be only for the one game, and then they will return to the garrison or home towns.

Game set up.

The player that turns up first, “has stolen the march” on his opponent and has been able to choose the site of the battle. He can set up the terrain as he wishes. If the opponent hasn’t turned up by 5 minutes after the time he has finished setting up then the first player has the choice of side to set up his troops. If the opponent turns up while still setting up or within 5 minutes of finishing setup then roll for deployment, with the side that had stolen the march getting +1 to his die roll. Highest roll gets choice of deployment side.

The game rules for winning the battles are as per the rule book. The winning General will take control of the county the battle was fought in.

The map on the web site will be updated weekly to show how the campaign is going. Red counties will be Royalist Blue will be Parliament.

Historical games

Historical games will be provided when a club game takes place in a county where there was a battle in the year that the game is at in the campaign. Historical scenarios will stipulate troops that are in use and terrain and deployment.

Historical games are not obligatory and will be offered and accepted/declined before they players see the sides involved in the battle. Historical scenarios will not be balanced and may seem like an up hill battle, and probably will be to one side or the other.

Administration

The first game of the campaign will be held on Wednesday 3rd of April and will be Edgehill. If there are excessive numbers of players for this game and we have the troops and space we may do two games the same. The second week in April will be games based in 1642, the last 2 weeks will be battles in 1643. The last Sunday of April is booked and I am proposing to re-fight the battle of Newbury 1643.

The first 2 Weeks in May will be battles from 1644 and New Model Army Armies will now be available for the Parliamentarian Generals to choose from. The third and fourth weeks will be from 1645. The fifth Wednesday of May will be a re-fight of Marston Moor. With the same provisos as the Edgehill battle.

The aim is to have fun, and to beat the Roundheads this time!