All four of us played the fourth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War. I was commander-in-chief for the Royalists, with Adam as the dashing cavalry commander. Jamie commanded for Parliament with Chris leading the infantry.
Summary: At the “Battle of Colchester”, in East Anglia, the Royalists smashed Parliament in 3 game turns. For the first time we saw the use of campaign cards on table and they were pivotal, although in a subtle way.
Strategic Situation
In the second battle of the late round in 1642, Jamie attacked East Anglia.
Phase 1: Game Set up
The mechanics of Populous, Rich and Rebellious influenced most of the game set up.
1.1. Agree game size
With four players we played a big game, with big armies on a big table. Normally we play small games for two player games. But for a change we had the entire group present and we went for a bigger bash.
1.2. Recruit armies
In Populous, Rich and Rebellious, campaign cards influence the orders of battle.
Campaign Cards
Because this was a bigger game I gave each side an additional campaign card.
Parliament drew five cards:
- Detrimental: “Illness in camp: Before the battle remove one Pike+Shot unit from the order of battle”
- Detrimental: “Jealousy in the command structure: For the entire battle one chosen commander must roll 4+ on 1d6 in order to rally resolve”
- Beneficial: “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham): Once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving”
- Parliament: “The ‘Dog-witch’ must die: Negate Royalist card ‘Sergeant-Major-General Boy’. Retain until used”
- Discarded Royalist: “Rupert leads the cavalry: Before the battle add one Horse unit to the order of battle”
The Royalist already had the Dog-Witch card and drew two more:
- Royalist: “Sergeant-Major-General Boy, the ‘Dog-witch’: Once during the battle reduce resolve of one enemy unit by 2 Resolve. Retain until used”
- Beneficial: “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham): Once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving”
- Detrimental: “Desertion is rampant: Before the battle remove one unit [Pike+Shot, Shot, Horse, or Dragoon] from the order of battle”
So Parliament killed ‘Sergeant-Major-General Boy’ before we got to use him. Shame. Perhaps Rupert will get another dog before the end of the campaign.
In terms of orders of battle, Parliament lost a pike+shot unit (illness) and the Royalists lost a shot unit (desertion).
Going into the battle, both sides had a “Sir John Hotham” card to use against the other. In addition Parliament was suffering from “Jealousy in the command structure”.
Orders of Battle
For a big game with two players a side, we started with the big order of battle.
After applying the campaign cards, the two armies were balanced at 17 units.
Royalist Order of Battle
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Parliament Order of Battle
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1.3.A. Determine attacker
The two sides were matched with 17 units so the strategic attacker was also the tactical attacker, in this case Parliament.
We give the tactical attacker the initiative in Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
1.3.B. Game duration
The last game of the year in a four player campaign is played in winter. The game limit was 8 game turns as the weather was fair and there was an early start.
1.4. Place Terrain
As usual we used Terrain Cards. We drew six terrain cards for the 3 x 2 layout needed in a big game.
We got a large wood in our centre zone so swapped it for one of the open areas on the flank. That would give us something to anchor our left flank on.
1.5. Scouting
We still didn’t do scouting. Next time as it gives dragoons more value.
1.6. Deployment
Both armies had the conventional centre and two flanks but there were some oddities.
The first bit was convention. Pike+Shot in the centre.
We had a holding command and put this into the wood on the Royalist left.
That gave a strong cavalry command for Adam on the right wing. Initially they only had a weaker Parliamentarian cavalry command in front of them.
After watching us deploy our last command, Parliament swap their right wing command to their extreme left wing. This gave Jamie a strong cavalry force on the left. But left nothing in front of the Royalist left wing command in the wood.
1.7. Bombardment
Nothing to see here.
Turn 1
As soon as it was the Parliamentary movement, I hit their extreme left wing with the “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham)” card. This card gave us the ability to, “once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving”. I didn’t want them ganging up on Adam so blocked movement on their outside cavalry command.
Otherwise everybody roared ahead. That included my “holding” command. With nothing ahead of them I wanted to get out of the wood and into the flank of the approaching Parliamentary foot.
Tilly’s Very Bad Day encourages charges in game turn 1 so sure enough the approaching cavalry commands charged. That is when Parliament hit us with their “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham)” card. This card canceled our charges. We took the charge at the halt.
Despite receiving the charge stationary, we still managed to win the melee.
And pushed one of the Parliamentary horse units away. That left Adam in a pretty good position with three units lined up against one. Lets see how that played out.
Turn 2
The general advance continued.
My “holding” wing was now moving into out flanking positions on the Parliament’s main body.
The opposing cavalry continued to approach. Adam brought his second line out to protect his flank as Jamie rushed towards him with his extreme left wing command.
Royalist muskets inflicted some casualties amongst the approaching Parliamentary foot.
Then the rear line of Royalist foot interpenetrated the gaps in the front line in what I thought was quite an impressive exchange of lines.
Of course Chris got the shot but didn’t inflict enough to deter me.
I went in with the Royalist foot as the Jamie and Adam’s opposing cavalry charged again.
It was a mixed bag of results, but generally the Royalists had a slightly better outcome.
By this stage the game was very exciting. The Royalist centre (foot) and right (cavalry) commands were heavily engaged with their counter parts. The Parliamentary extreme left, after a slow start, were trying to get on the flank of Adam’s cavalry command. And on the other flank, my “holding” command was rapidly approaching Chris’s exposed flank.
Turn 3
Chris realised he had a problem with his infantry command and started pulling it back. He also turned one of the units towards the threat of my outflanking command on the left.
Royalist musketry routed a unit of Parliamentarian Pike+Shot that was down to one resolve.
Then I closed my grip on the Parliamentary foot.
I had a lot of charges.
My dragoons charged from the flank and routed the Parliamentary foot on the end of the line.
Further along my pike+shot routed and other Parliamentary unit by charging frontally.
On the cavalry flank Jamie advanced as fast as he could, trying to bring his numbers to bear.
Adam let loose with pistols from one unit and they routed a unit of Parliamentarian horse.
Adam then did some clever manoeuvring, pulled the pistoleers out and inserted a fresh unit of horse, ready to charge.
Cavalry of both sides charged.
The Parliamentary dragoons finally routed away from Adam’s horse.
Nearby the outnumbered Parliamentary horse unit also routed. It had survived two turns of melee but fled on the third.
But it wasn’t all one way and a unit of Royalist horse also routed.
Turn 3 saw six Parliamentary routs and one Royalist rout. That is a lot of routs.
There were now big holes in the Parliamentary line and left the field of battle.
Victory for the King.
Conclusions and Observations
Wow. Big battle over in three game turns. That was short and brutal, but strangely satisfying for all of us. I’ll briefly discussion deployment decisions, campaign cards, and big battles.
Deployment decisions
Deployment decisions were critical to the game outcome. I deployed with a strong cavalry flank on my right under Adam, a strong infantry centre of pike+shot, and a very weak command to hold the wood on the left. The left wing command only had a single shot unit, dragoon unit, cannon unit, and commander. I knew it wasn’t going to do anything constructive in the open but such a command was going to be able to contest the wood, particularly as it was on my base edge and a long way from Parliaments starting positions.
Seeing my deployment, the Parliamentary council of command deployed their infantry (Chris) in the centre facing mine. Facing Adam’s big cavalry force, they deployment a weaker cavalry command (Jamie). For the third command, the Parliamentary council had a choice: (1) do the fault deployment of cavalry on each flank or (2) weight their cavalry to face Adam. In a last minute decision Parliament moved their last command from their right flank to the extreme left flank.
This Parliamentary decision gave Jamie two cavalry commands to play with and hence force superiority on that flank. Adam had six units of horse in two lines. On the extreme flank, Jamie had three horse and shot unit. Directly facing Adam were another three horse, a dragoon unit and cannon. Nominally this was a nine units to six. Once again we found a solid concentration of horse to be more potent than a long overlapping line. In my game against Jamie in Wales, I had two spread out commands against Jamie’s consolidated horse command. I had more units but couldn’t bring them to bear effectively, and Jamie cut through the troops in front of him. The same thing happened here and Adam’s more concentrated force cut through the thinly spread troops in front of them.
The deployment chosen by Parliamentary council of command also meant Chris’s infantry command where both outnumbered and had an exposed flank. I started with modest advantage , having 6 pike+shot to Chris’s 5 pike+shot and a shot unit. But the battle winners were my dragoons and shot in the left flank wood, who had nothing in front of them. I quickly abandoned the idea of holding the wood and rapidly marched this command out into a cavalry-free flank and then attacked the Parliament infantry from the rear. Already with superior numbers, and now with an extra unit of shot and dragoons attacking from flank and rear, I really couldn’t lose.
Campaign cards used in battle
Previously the campaign cards have only impacted the orders of battle. That has a big impact, for example, the 18 Royalist to 13 Parliament mismatch in the Battle of Stratton (Game 3).
In this battle the big impact of campaign cards was during the battle.
Parliament had:
- Detrimental: “Jealousy in the command structure: For the entire battle one chosen commander must roll 4+ on 1d6 in order to rally resolve”
- Beneficial: “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham): Once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving”
The Royalists had:
- Beneficial: “Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham): Once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving”
It was the Royalist use of ‘Sir John Hotham’ that made the biggest difference. This delayed the movement of Parliament’s extreme left wing command. So when the two cavalry forces clashed, Adam had local superiority. Parliament did retaliate by using their own ‘Sir John Hotham’ card and prevented Adam’s horse from charging in game turn 1. This allowed Parliament to charge stationary cavaliers, with a momentary advantages, but it wasn’t significant in the overall battle.
The game didn’t last long enough for the ‘Jealousy’ card to come into play. Parliament had allocated it to the extreme left wing command. So, they arrived late and, if the battle had gone longer, they would have been less reliant to weakening resolve.
1 x 4 player game versus 2 x 2 player games
This was a big game in Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Four players with big armies on a big table. We liked it.
So I had quick conversation with the guys on my concept of rounds in Populous, Rich and Rebellious. The early and late rounds allow us to play two small games, each with 2 players, simultaneously side by side. That means we can get an entire round of battles over with in a single club night.
My wargaming crew understood that concept but unanimously voted for playing single bigger game with all players rather than the smaller games in parallel. The consequence is the campaign will be slower to play, but the games will be more interactive and more fun.
In the future I’ll change the Populous, Rich and Rebellious – English Civil War Campaign (PDF) rules to assume a purely linear sequence of play and make rounds an optional rule. I’ll also include big orders of battle for four player games and bigger orders of battle for six player games. That will, in turn, require tweaks to the campaign card rules: +1 card each for a big game; +2 cards each for a bigger game.
| Year + Round | Game | Location | Game Size | Royalist | Parliament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1642 Early | 1 | East Midlands | Small | Adam Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Chris Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender Victory |
| 1642 Early | 2 | Wales | Small | Steven Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Jamie Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
| 1642 Late | 3 | South-East | Small | Adam Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Victory |
Chris Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Defeat |
| 1642 Late | 4 | East Anglia | Large | Steven Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
Jamie Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Where to get Tilly’s Very Bad Day and Populous, Rich and Rebellious
Both are available for download as PDFs:
Tilly’s Very Bad Day (PDF)
Populous, Rich and Rebellious – English Civil War Campaign (PDF)
Enjoying these posts and you seem to be enjoying playing the games too!
Glad to see the honours are even, although Parliamentarian controlled Wales and Royalist East Anglia is a bit odd from a historical point of view!
Neil
The campaign allows us to forge our own version of history. Although I do intend to bring Wales back to the King.