We had a full house for the eighth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War.
Summary: In the “Battle of Romford”, the Royalists successfully defended London against a Parliamentary army approaching from the north-east.
Strategic Situation
The last game saw the Royalists capture the Lower Thames Valley. Parliament wanted it back.
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.
1.2. Recruit armies
In Populous, Rich and Rebellious, campaign cards influence the orders of battle.
Campaign Cards
Jamie drew four campaign cards, one Parliament, two Beneficial, and one Royalist (discarded).
- [Parliament] The Assessment” – Parliament’s excise tax: Before the battle add one Pike+Shot unit to the order of battle
- [Beneficial] Experienced officer: For the entire battle increase one chosen commander’s to hit in melee from 4-6 to 3-6
- [Beneficial] Spectacularly bad judgement (Sir John Hotham): Once during the battle prevent all units in one enemy command from moving
- [Royalist] Veterans rally to the King: Before the battle add one Pike+Shot unit to the order of battle
Because of the advantageous position of defending the Lower Thames Valley, I got got five campaign cards. Two were Royalist, two were beneficial and one Parliament (discarded).
- [Royalist] “The Contribution” – King’s excise tax: Before the battle add one Pike+Shot unit to the order of battle
- [Royalist] Nags for the King: Before the battle add one Dragoon unit to the order of battle
- [Beneficial] John Hurry – Brave & skilful but lax political principles: For the entire battle increase one chosen commander’s to hit in melee from 4-6 to 3-6. Retain until deserts to victorious enemy
- [Beneficial] Carlo Fantom – Impervious to bullets: Once during the battle one Horse unit ignores the result of shooting
- [Parliament] Cromwell’s Ironsides: Before the battle add one Horse unit to the order of battle
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 the Royalists got a 21 units, compared to the Parliamentary array of 20 units.
We then organised them into commands. We, the Royalists, put all our pike+shot and shot into the centre. The two small wings were balanced with three horse and a dragoon unit. John Hurray took command of the left wing.
Parliament went for an asymmetric line up. Most of the pike+shot were in the centre. The right wing had four horse. The left wing had only two horse, but had both shot, the dragoons, two pike+shot, all under the “Experienced officer”. This was the big attacking wing.
Royalist Order of Battle
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Parliament Order of Battle
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1.3.A. Determine attacker
The Royalists had 21 units to Parliament’s 20 units. So although Parliament was the strategic attacker, they became the tactical defender.
We give the tactical attacker, in this case the Royalists, the initiative in Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
1.3.B. Game duration
A fair winters day but the battle started at noon. So 7 games turns rather than the normal 10 in a game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
1.4. Place Terrain
Given it was a 6’x4′ table, Jamie chose six Terrain Cards. Enclosed fields, rough ground and a stream. The defenders had the option to swap the rough ground in the centre for an open flank card, but elected to rotate the stream instead. This left the stream running through the middle of the Royalist deployment zone.
1.5. Scouting
We still didn’t do scouting. Next time as it gives dragoons more value.
1.6. Deployment
The two armies placed their centres first. Then parliament placed their right wing, followed by the Royalist left wing. Adam and I had pre-agreed that where ever Parliament put their left wing, we’d put our final command on the opposite flank. So our “right wing” because the “extreme left wing”. This gave us cavalry superiority on the left. However Parliament battle line extend way past our own right. We would use the rough ground as the anchor point for that flank.
1.7. Bombardment
Nothing happened.
Turn 1
We were attacking right, so we advanced everywhere. Crucially this gave us control of the rough ground.
But Parliament was also attacking so they advanced everywhere.
Parliament’s left wing was advancing as fast as possible. The plan was for the horse to cross the stream, turn along the bank, eliminate the Royalist guns and then recross the stream to attack the Royalist rear.
Jamie brought his shot and dragoons towards the rough ground.
It is Tilly’s Very Bad Day so of course there were charges in game turn 1.
But Chris played his “Sir John Hotham” campaign card to prevent the Royalist extreme left wing from charging.
And then, on game turn 1 no less, John Hurray becomes a casualty. Again. Glorious but unlucky. So one of Adam’s horse commands would fight without a commander for the remainder of the battle.
Turn 2
The Royalist advanced on the left with the Parliamentarian horse trying to get out of their way.
But Parliamentary shooting – by cannon and musket – routed a Royalist horse unit.
Lots of shooting in the centre but nothing notable.
And on the right, Parliaments envelopment of the rough ground continued. The Parliamentary horse on the extreme right of the photo were racing for the stream – they hoped to intervene elsewhere.
Only one charge and nothing spectacular.
Turn 3
On the right the experienced officer led a charge by the Parliamentarian dragoons into the rough ground. The dragoons bounced.
A charge by Parliamentarian pike+shot in the centre also bounced.
But the charges on the left were less forgiving. One parliamentary horse unit was routed and another rallied back.
Turn 4
Now scared of the Parliamentary guns, Adam used his Carlo Fantom card to make some of his horse on the left impervious to shooting.
Nearby the Royalist dragoons routed a horse unit.
And the Royalist shot firing out of the rough ground on the right routed Parliamentary shot.
I saw an opportunity for a charge in the centre, checked with the guys to see if it was allowed, rolled the dice and routed the opposing pike+shot.
Turn 5
Carlo Fantom had obviously got bored and wandered off because that pesky Parliamentarian gun routed another horse unit.
And the Parliamentarian outflanking movement had finding got to striking range of the Royalist guns. A charge to contact and they are gone.
But on the other side of the steam the Parliamentarian charges were ineffective.
Similarly the experienced officer’s second charge with the dragoons into the rough ground. Splat. Nothing happened.
But my pike+shot were smelling blood and another charge caused a rout.
Adam’s horse also scored a rout.
And that was enough for a win. The battle line had swung with both sides attacking on their left.
But Parliament was not going to crack the rough ground any time soon and their own left and centre had crumbled.
Conclusions and Observations
The battle was big and bold. Both sides tried to win. Parliament wanted to hold on the right and in the centre. This was to enable an attack on their left, towards and around the rough ground. We, the Royalist team, wanted to use the rough ground and stream to anchor our right flank and attack with both horse commands on the left.
Stream
Jamie and Chris made a key terrain choice at the beginning of the game. They could have moved the rough ground out of the centre of the table by either rotating that terrain card or by swapping it with an open terrain card on the flank. But they left the rough ground alone and rotated the stream so it ran the length of the table, through the Royalist deployment zone. In other game systems that might have forced the attacker to fight across the river, but in Tilly’s Very Bad Day the deployment zones are very deep to encourage the players to get into the action rather than manoeuvre needlessly. So rotating the stream terrain card just mean we deployed between stream and the centre of the table. A forward deployment suits us as we wanted to attack.
Rough ground
More significantly, that terrain card decision left the Royalists with control of the rough ground in the centre. We agreed to make this a strongpoint to hold the flank while we won else where. In contrast, the Parliament commanders saw the rough ground as a weakness to exploit. The game showed that “strongpoint” was more accurate.
Jamie and Chris thought they had an advantage because they had numerical advantage and a good commander. The numerical advantage was because they had two shot, dragoons and a commander versus our two shot. And their commander was an “experienced officer”, hitting on 3-6 rather than the normal 4-6. But these advantages never really manifested. They didn’t get more than one unit fighting at a time and although the experienced commander went into combat a couple of times, he charged with the dragoons, which was his most fragile unit.
What Jamie and Chris had forgotten was that “Units, regardless of their unit type, roll one less die when shooting at Dragoons or Shot in difficult terrain”. This meant the defenders won the shooting battle.
Game duration
This game had the shortest game duration of any we’ve played. It was winter and we rolled that that battle started at noon. So a eight game turn gave dropped to a seven game turn game. As the tactical attackers, Adam and I didn’t have long to win. Admitted Jamie and Chris made this easier because they also attacked and both armies slammed together and the game was over in five game turns
The Parliamentarian defenders could have played a more cautious game and let us some to them. That would have given them the chance to win on game duration rather than outright victory. But they gambled on the big win and that bet went against them.
Strategic Attacker and Tactical Defender
The way the campaign works is the strategic attacker chooses where they will attack. The assumption is they will choose and advantageous position, one where they will gain more campaign cards than the strategic defender. Generally that is true, but none the less several of our games have ended up with the strategic attacker having the smaller army and hence becoming the tactical defender. I’m okay with this as one option, but perhaps it happens too often in the campaign. I’m not worried enough about this to do something about it for the current campaign but for the future I think I’ll give the strategic attacker bonus campaign cards, perhaps 1 or 2, so they are more likely to end up with a bigger army and more likely to be tactical attacker.
Battle narrative
All of these factors provided what I think is a rather compelling narrative for the start of the battle …
London having fallen in autumn 1643, the Parliament commanders felt they could not dally and counter attacked into the Lower Thames Valley in winter. Ironically many Londoners rallied to the King and the Royalist commander found himself with a slight tactical advantage in numbers and he decided to attack. The Royalists woke early on a fine but cold day, crossed the stream separating the two armies, and attacked the Parliamentarians who meanwhile had formed up for battle. Seeing the Parliamentary deployment, the Royalists moved their right wing along the back of the army to extend their extreme left wing. Crossing the stream had taken all morning and the battle commenced at noon with both armies attacking on their left wings. The Royalists attacked with two horse commands supported by the foot in the centre. Parliament attacked in and around the rough ground protecting the Royalist right flank.
Campaign so far
| Game | Year + Round | Location | Game Size | Royalist | Parliament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1642 Early | East Midlands | Small | Adam Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Chris Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender Victory |
| 2 | 1642 Early | Wales | Small | Steven Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Jamie Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
| 3 | 1642 Late | South-East | Small | Adam Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Victory |
Chris Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Defeat |
| 4 | 1642 Late | East Anglia | Large | Steven Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
Jamie Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
| 5 | 1643 Early | Upper Thames Valley | Small | Adam Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
Chris Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
| 6 | 1643 Early | Wales | Small | Steven Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender Victory |
Jamie Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Defeat |
| 7 | 1643 Late | Lower Thames Valley | Small | Adam Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender Victory |
Chris Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Defeat |
| 8 | 1643 Late | Lower Thames Valley | Large | Steven Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Victory |
Jamie Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender 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)