Well, we have finally made it to the big one, Culloden in April 1746, but first there is the small matter of Littleferry, which was fought the day before.
Prince Charlie was concentrating his army at Inverness and had sent the Earl of Cromartie north to look for supplies. This force was marching back south towards Littleferry when it was ambushed by loyal Scots forces (mainly Sutherlands under Ensign Mackay) and attacked in the rear. This was a tiny engagement, a few hundred men on each side, so in 2mm is actually over-represented, figure wise.
Battlefield from the south. Descriptions of it are a bit vague but I've put the river on to represent the shore of Loch Fleet which is in the Jacobite rear with Littleferry as the town with their baggage. There should be some hills on the right, from whence the Sutherlanders came.
The Jacobites have six units of (surprised) Claymores and are nearest the camera facing north. The Sutherlands have two Elite Muskets (Independant Companies) and three normal muskets (local militia). The two Elites are on the British right. I didn't mark them, but they have different flags to the line units.
Claymores against muskets doesn't bode well in the absence of any Jacobite advantages.
The British are attacking and engage with one of their Elites on the left, which is indecisive. The Jacobites attack the line unit on the right are are shot down by musket fire. This was a better matchup, but the muskets are still hitting on 4+.
Both flanks engage again, and this time the Hanoverian Elites mow down some Highlanders.
More carnage among the Highlanders, no government losses so far. The routers are piling up in the Loch (where irl many of them drowned trying to escape).
The Highlanders finally manage to rout one of the muskets, but another steps up to take its place. On the left more Highlanders are mown down. Not looking good now, and the Scots fail to rally.
Last round and a complete wipeout of the Scots, which was the historical result. Charles had to make do without both these troops and their supplies at Culloden the following day. The Earl of Cromartie was captured after the battle and put on trial for High Treason (and amazingly escaped execution).
Well, lets give that another go and see if it is as onesided as it seems.
Well, in a shock development the Highlanders manage to rout one of the Elites in turn 1! But lose a unit themselves. Reserves move up.
The Sutherlands are obviously not feeling it today. Another one heads for the rear, but so does another Jacobite. The Sutherlands still have one Elite left in the centre so that is where they focus their energy (as it hits a Claymore on 3+ and gets to fire first).
And suddenly things aren't looking too good for the Jacobites. Two more of them head for the rear, no losses to the Sutherlands.
The Scots do manage to rally one unit though, who moves up to fill the gap. It doesn't help as the Elites blow a big hole in the Jacobite centre.
And then we are back where we were in the previous game, with lots of Highlanders fleeing across the Loch or surrendering. I think that fairly amply demonstrates that melee infantry in this period don't really stand a chance against muskets, unless they have some sort of terrain or morale advantage, which is as it should be.
Righto, onto Culloden, which was fought the day after Littleferry and followed a catastrophic attempt by the Jacobites to make a night attack on the Duke of Cumberlands position. The attack fell into confusion in the darkness and Charles' army fell back before making contact and left the army exhausted and demoralised the following day.
The field of Culloden (near Inverness), view from the east. The Jacobites are drawn up in the west between two enclosures (which I've marked with walled farms) and with a river in their right rear. The front line is Claymores, the one on the left is Elite the rest normal to reflect demoralisation. Normally I'd swap 'Elite' for 'Disciplined' but as the Jacobite attack in this battle was an act of desperation I've left them as Elite. Their second line are two musket units, one of which is Elite (The Royal Ecossaise) - the Elites have white and yellow flags. Prince Charles is in the rear with the baggage.
Cumberland is nearest the camera with an all arms force, artillery and two Elite muskets in the front line and Cavalry (Dragoons) and a line musket in reserve. The Jacobites are attacking in this scenario.
The action opens on the left, as it did historically. The first round of fire is ineffective but the Jacobites attack here too and rout the guns. It is a much more favourable matchup here than charging those elite muskets.
The next round is pretty brutal, two of the Claymores are routed and the Jacobite muskets move up to fill the gaps (The Royal Scots are on the left).
The Royals and their opponents suffer mutual annihilation! The Dragoons fill the gap, as they did historically.
But the Jacobites have got the bit between their teeth now and win both the fights on each flank. Cumberland fails to rally and Charles Stuart is the winner. History is reversed! Bonnie Prince Charlie has beaten the Hanoverians.
Well that was exciting, time to try again.
This time Cumberland routs the Jacbobite right in the first round, the Royals fill the gap.
A very bloody turn sees Cumberland rout both the left and right Jacobite flanks, the Royal Scots take out one of the Elite musketeers as well though. The British artillery are doing a very fine job!
The Scots rally their line muskets and this time it is Cumberland who loses a unit. The artillery hang on but the other Elite in the centre is routed and the Dragoons go in.
The battle is suddenly going 'oblique' - each side routs the others right flank. No-one has any reserves any more now.
Mutual flank attacks rout the centre of both sides.
The last Jacobite musket needs a 4+ to hit the British artillery, and gets to fire first as it is a flank attack. They duly roll a 5 and it is game over for Cumberland. If they had missed, the artillery would have returned the favour with their own flank attack.
Another Jacobite win but that was actually very close. The Culloden scenario is very interesting in terms of the troop and types and matchups and seems very well balanced. One change to try would be to make the Elite Claymore into a Disciplined Claymore instead.
I really enjoyed that series of games, it really brought the Jacobite Rebellion to life and each of the scenarios captured the essence of each engagement with its own unique flavour. I know this sort of thing is too lightweight for a lot of peoples tastes, but for me it very much met the AHGC mission of 'Bringing history to life'. I'm looking forward to trying out more games in the series, particularly those I can link into a mini campaign, or at least historically sequential in the real campaign setting. I must get some more 2mm bits and pieces as well, now that the Irregular 2mm range is available again. It makes dong these sorts of things so easy, without having to paint loads of larger scale soldiers who are lucky to get used more than once.
No comments:
Post a Comment