Adam and Chris played the 11th 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 probably the best game yet, Parliament thoroughly crushed the Royalist defenders in Wales.
Strategic Situation
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 two players we played a small game, with small armies on a small table.
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
Adam (Royalist) drew four campaign cards, one Beneficial, two Detrimental, and one Parliament (ignored).
- [Beneficial] Foot abandon pikes for muskets: Before the battle add one Shot unit to the order of battle
- [Detrimental] Army pay delayed: 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
- [Parliament] Nags for Parliament: Before the battle add one Dragoon unit to the order of battle
Chris (Parliament) dew one campaign card (should have been two), but it was Royalist so ignored.
- [Royalist] Dashing Horse: Before the battle add one Horse unit to the order of battle
Orders of Battle
For a small game with a player a side, we started with the small order of battle.
After applying the campaign cards, both sides had 14 units.
Royalist Order of Battle
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Parliament Order of Battle
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1.3.A. Determine attacker
Both sides had 14 units so the Strategic Attacker (Parliament) was also the Tactical Attacker.
We give the tactical attacker the initiative in Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
1.3.B. Game duration
10 game turns for Autumn, fair weather and early start.
Weather modifier: Roll 1d6 for the weather on the day of battle:
1.4. Place Terrain
Adam drew Terrain Cards with a medium wood and medium town, both on the flanks.
1.5. Scouting
We still didn’t do scouting. Next time as it gives dragoons more value.
1.6. Deployment
The two armies were pretty symmetrical. Both had a cavlary wing on the right, infantry in the centre and a shot/dragoon wing on the left, with the latter anchored on difficult terrain. Both deployed from the centre to the left with little on their right flank. The only meaningful difference was Adam had his Royalist Right Wing echeloned to the rear.
This is the line up.
On the Royalist Right.
In the Centre.
On the Royalist Left
1.7. Bombardment
The guns roared, but nothing happened, as usual.
Turn 1
Chris quickly occupied the town.
While Adam consolidated his control of the wood on the far side.
Still more or less symmetrical.
Turn 2
To Adam and my surprise, Chris turned his Right Wing horse by 90 degrees.
As a result of that, Adam moved his guys near the wood forward.
And on the far flank the guns roared some more.
Turn 3
Chris’s Right Wing horse rode behind his centre.
The armies were no longer symmetrical. Chris’s plan was fairly obvious. Ride his Right Wing over to the left and then have a go. What would Adam do to prevent this happening?
Turn 4
Chris’s horse kept going. He wasn’t doing this the fastest way possible, what with 90 degree turns and then moving straight ahead. I wasn’t sure if this was deliberate or not.
Turn 5
Chris’s Right Wing formed up to the rear of both the Centre and Left Wing.
With Chris’s shot coming out of the town, and his Right Wing a long way to the rear, Adam saw an opportunity and went for it.
Ride up and charge Horse into Shot in the open. Should have been a done deal.
But Adam’s horse bounced.
Turn 6
And that was the signal for Chris to attack. All of the Parliamentary army (guns excluded) surged forward. Adam’s horse started pulling back in front of them.
Turn 7
The Parliamentary army advanced as fas as possible as the Royalist horse withdrew as fast as possible. Eventually the Royalists would be trapped by the table edge.
Adam discovered he could shoot his Horse then pull back out of charge reach. A practice he quiet liked.
Meanwhile the two centres came into contact, with Adam’s infantry approaching from the left.
The fighting began.
And it didn’t go Adam’s way.
On the right Chris’s foot caught some of Adam’s cavalry, with an indecisive result.
Turn 8
Again the Parliamentarians roared forward everywhere.
They took some losses in the centre where Royalist firepower routed a Pike+Shot unit.
The battle was now definitely skewed on the diagonal.
And then Chris’s forces crashed into the Royalist Right Wing, inflicting two routs.
Suddenly the royalist line was looking thin.
Turn 9
Now both armies tried to win on their left.
The Royalists bounced on their left.
A melee in the centre looked decidedly in Parliament’s favour. Two Pike+Shot with a Commander versus one Horse. But Chris rolled badly with six misses and had to rally back.
But the the finale was fought nearly. Chris lost a Horse unit in rout, but it managed to kill the opposing Commander.
That was game over with a Parliamentary win.
Conclusions and Observations
Okay, so we (the Royalist team) lost Wales. That is a pity. Earlier in the campaign we had to work quite hard to capture the region and now we’d have to do it again. In terms of regions the strategic situation has tipped back in favour of Parliament. The traitors. Parliament has seven regions and the Royalists six. But there isn’t much in it as the Royalists control both capitals. The Thames Valley is firmly for the King and any battles fought there will be difficult for Parliament.
Because of the mistake in 1643, when the Royalists got Strategic Initiative twice in a row, Parliament will get to attack twice in 1644. Where will they go next?
The game was a well deserved victory for Chris. The redeployment of his Right Wing Horse ended up being a distraction, preventing Adam from reinforcing his own exposed Right Wing cavalry. That meant Adam’s Horse were facing two full commands. They were destroyed once Parliament trapped them against the table edge. Masterful.
The redeployment exposed Chris’s army to some risk as it left a lot of Royalist troops without opponents. But Adam couldn’t bring his own counter attack to bear fast enough.
Chris and I also talked about timing. He probably launched his attack at the very last possible moment to ensure victory by Game Turn 10. Okay, he got lucky and killed a Royalist general in turn 9, but without that he would have been trying to knock out Royalist units right to the time limit. And it could have gone the other way. All it needed is for one Royalist unit to fight gloriously (i.e not die) and Chris’s time would have run out. But the proof is in the pudding and he did it.
Occasionally in Tilly’s Very Bad Day we get complicated contact situations. Where a line of units on each side and contacting in irregular ways. There are multiple ways to resolve these situations, but we always go for the simplest and try to match up units 1-2-1 along the line. The photos shows how we did this in a four on three line up. We fought the melees 1, 2 and 3, but other combinations were possible.
| 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 | Small | Adam Strategic Defender Tactical Attacker Victory |
Chris Strategic Attacker Tactical Defender Defeat |
| 9 | 1644 Early | South-East | Large | Adam Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Defeat |
Chris Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Victory |
| 10 | 1644 Late | South-East | Small | Adam Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Victory |
Chris Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Defeat |
| 11 | 1645 Early | Wales | Small | Adam Strategic Defender Tactical Defender Defeat |
Chris Strategic Attacker Tactical Attacker Victory |
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)