And they’re off…

My ECW campaign is now up and running so on the eve of the first major battle I thought I’d bring you up to speed on the events to date.

We start as all good ECW campaigns should start - in the summer of 1642. The strategic map shown below highlights the settlements closely associated with a particular faction, blue showing allegiance to the King’s cause and red to that of the Parliament. 

The At Start Campaign map.

The winner of the campaign will be the faction with the most settlement points under their control at the end of 1646. While most settlements are only worth 1, some like London are worth considerably more.

Each game turn represents an entire season and comprises (usually) of strategic map manoeuvre, a d20 determined random event, and a major battle.

In the Summer of 1642 there is no major battle since both sides are still organising themselves but each side gets 8 strategic points to spend on the main map with the Royalists spending them first. 

Here’s how those point spends were explained to the players.

1 Point: Place a garrison in a neutral settlement adjacent and connected by a communication route to one of your own. Change the settlement colour on the map to that of your faction. Using the newly garrisoned location you may repeat this process if you have points remaining. A garrison in a port may place a new garrison in any other port on the map if it is currently neutral.

1 Point: Sack an unfortified enemy controlled settlement adjacent and connected by a communication route to one of n own. Change the colour of the settlement to white. It may not be occupied by the garrison that is sacking it this season – but other adjacent settlements on your side may. A garrison in a port may sack any other garrison in an unfortified port.

2 Points: Lodge 1 point of influence with the Scottish Covenanters. This modifies their chance of them becoming an ally in the war through a random event outcome.

3 Points: Remove the defences of any site you currently occupy or fortify any unfortified site you currently occupy. The map symbol will change to a square.

4 Points: Lay siege to a fortified enemy location adjacent (via communication route) to one of your own garrisoned sites. GM Rolls 1D6 1-3 siege fails. 4-6 Garrison surrenders and you occupy the site with a new garrison. Note laying siege is the only planned way a fortified site may be overthrown. There is a plus 1 die modifier if all communication routes out of the besieged settlement end in one of the besieging army’s garrisons.

Note: A garrisoned location may only perform one action per turn. It cannot sack an enemy site for one point and then spend another point garrisoning it – however – a second site adjacent to the attacked target could use its action to garrison it if strategic points remain.

Special Rules

In the Summer of 1642 the Royalists must choose a new capital from any one site they occupy at the end of that season. Parliament always starts with London as its capital. If a capital is lost during the random events phase or through a direct assault a new one is chosen immediately from whatever other sites the faction controls. Any capitals other than London automatically have a settlement value of 3.

At the end of the Autumn 1642 turn, five Welsh and two Cornish locations may declare for the king (Royalists choice) and be marked with a blue garrison. At the same time five east Anglian locations and two in either Lincolnshire or the South East may declare for the parliament (Parliaments choice) and be marked with red garrisons.

                                    

Winter turns: There are no battles, but each player gets 4 points to spend with the winner of the last major battle spending their points first.

Both factions start the game with several settlements already under their control from which they may expand.

Should Scotland become an ally of either party they will gain 1 extra strategic point per season. If Scotland becomes an ally then the faction benefiting from this alliance must spend at least 1 point per season securing unaligned settlements or sacking enemy ones in the North of the map.

London - is a very special location. Though only partially fortified its sheer size and enormous (potentially hostile) population make any assault almost impossible to undertake. Consequently the usual siege rules do not apply to London, however it is possible to force the city’s surrender if on any single turn all of the immediately connecting settlements are occupied by hostile garrisons.

Pembroke – is an isolated outpost of Parliament in an otherwise hostile nest of Welsh Royalism. Given the small size of the initial garrison there is no prospect of expansion from this site until Summer 1643 onwards.

Portsmouth – because of the duplicity of its governor Portsmouth could be initially controlled by ether faction. GM will determine with 1D6 roll prior to game start. Note it is shown here as under the control of Parliament, which was the eventual outcome.

General – several settlements which are known to have had some degree of pre-existing defences (like Gloucester or Worcester) are not shown as fortified because as of the 1642 game start these were greatly decayed and required extensive work to provide a defensive benefit. Some settlements might also have contained ports which have been omitted here for game balance purposes.

At the end of the Summer the settlement control situation looked like this.

The Royalists started first and with an initial 8 points they blocked easy entry points for any future Scottish incursions in the north, sacked Plymouth (removing its Parliamentary leaning militia) blocked in Hull and established a chain of controlled settlements from Nottingham right down to Bristol. 

Counselled that any newly raised Royalist army would need a sufficient supply of weapons Charles chose to occupy a VERY restive Birmingham with its inherent arms manufacturing capacity. Taking up residence in Aston Hall he created a new de facto capital. 

Birmingham in all its splendour. The courtiers and hangers on who were forced to take lodgings nearby were less enthusiastic about the Kings choice.

For Parliament, the initial strategy was to seal off all approaches to the nations real capital and its natural recruiting grounds in East Anglia. Luckily for them, Lord Goring (who was the governor of Portsmouth, and who had been busily making promises of allegiance to both factions) surrendered the town to General Waller and fled into exile on the continent. Control of this settlement allowed Parliament to seal off access to London from the south west.

At the end of the Summer a roll on the random events table produced an outcome called « Pulpit Power ».

Pulpit power: Fiery preachers animate the masses. Parliamentary forces get 1 extra unit of foote or horse added to their force pool in any single future battle.

I’m tempted to believe that the following broadside distributed in London may also have contributed to the upsurge in Parliamentary recruitment.

This just in…

Moving into Autumn both players were asked to construct an Army for a major battle. Working from a base of 18 points the total available is modified by the season, who is mustering the army, and the influence of any random event outcomes. 

Each factions field army composition can be changed every season but the players do not know when creating them which of the campaigns six battle types they will be facing. 

As it turned out the first major battle will revolve around the Royalist siege of a castle covering an important road junction and Parliaments attempts to relieve the garrison.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the castle and the initial dispositions of the two field forces.

Totally made up (as usual) Dunnington Castle - ancestral seat of Lord Dunning and his wife (currently in residence).

Initial dispositions - more detail to follow

All units and terrain are 2mm scale. Battle rules are my own homebrew mash up of Tricorne and Corporal John which I’m currently calling Noe Quarter - until something better occurs to me. 

Full details of the armies and the battle itself will be in the next post. The winner will get six points to spend on the strategic map and the loser only 3.

Toodelooh.