Braddock Down 1643

Ruthvin unwilling to await the arrival of the Earl of Stamford's reinforcements has marched out to meet Hopton's Royalists at Braddock Down. He hopes to defeat Hopton and claim the victory for himself and sets up his force across the road to Liskeard with a high hedgerow concealing part of his force.

Hopton outnumbers the Parliamentarians in terms of infantry, however his horse are few in numbers. He hopes their elan as Gallopers will carry the day and secure the Westcountry for the King.

Ruthvin's Parliamentarians
Centre -  3 trained and 1 Raw unit of foot. 1 Unit of Horse
Left Wing - 2 units of Horse
Right Wing - 3 units of Horse
A unit of medium artillery is on route from Liskeard as reinforcements.

Hoptons Royalists
Centre - 1 veteran and four units of foot. 1 unit of Gallopers
Left Wing - two units of gallopers
Right Wing - one unit of gallopers and 1 unit of dragoons

Parliamentarians eye up the Westcountrymen across the Downs

Ruthvin's Centre line up behind the hedgerow with their flanks
protected by the cavalry

Hopton sends his Dragoons through the woods to threaten Parliaments
left flank, as the main body (skirted by Cavalry) advance across the down

Hopton detaches a Forlorn Hope hoping to draw the Roundheads
from behind the hedgerow

The Royalist Dragoons and Forlorn Hope open fire

The Dragoons open fire on Roundhead Horse

Royalist foot add their firepower to the flank attack and although
Roundhead Cavalrymen are unseated, the Roundhead cavalry
commander retains control of his men.

And sends his men crashing down the hill hoping to drive off
the Royalist flank attack. The Dragoons fail to evade and a swirling
melee develops which results in both sides grinding each other down.

The Royalist Cavalry wing pays the price of failing to
Countercharge and in the ensuing melee their commander
is killed forcing further disorder on the Royalists

The Cavalry skirmish continues and whilst the Dragoons drive off
half of the Roundhead horse, their supporting cavalry is pushed by
the remaining Roundheads.

The Royalist Centre and Left Flank approach the foot
of the downs leading to Liskeard

The Royalist left flank clashes with Roundhead Cavalry with mixed results.
Maybe they miscalculated the grade of the down losing their impetus?

Roundhead Cavalry on the right flank rout the Royalist Cavalry whilst
re-engaging the dragoons. A Royalist foot unit turns to protect the exposed flank.

The Royalist centre engages their enemy, but devestating volleys and
a cavalry charge by the Parliamentarians soon has the Westcountrymen
in a pickle.

The battle in the centre hots up and the Westcountrymen
come off much, much worse......

The Royalist assault begins to unfold as their right flank collapses
and the centre begins to crumble under intense fire from the hedges

The Royalist centre breaks and Roundhead Cavalry routs a unit of foot

Hopton withdraws his centre, but it is all a little late.
Even a unit of Royalist foot chasing off an exhausted Roundhead
Cavalry unit does little to lift the Westcountrymen's spirit.

Roundhead Cavalry rout the Dragoons

And on the other flank Royalist horse flee under the watchful
eye of the Roundhead Commander on the right flank.

Hopton's withdrawal, pursued by the remaining Roundhead Cavalry.

The game resulted in an emphatic win for Parliament helped by the gradient of the hill and an awful lot of extreme dice roll differences.

The extreme dice roll differences aside, on reflection the downs should have been graded as gentle and not conferring any uphill bonuses which negates impetus.

I would also make the playing area smaller depth wise - or at least start the Royalist much closer to the Parliamentarian line as a lot of the game was wasted trying to move across the table to get within musketry range.

All of that said it was still an enjoyable game (at least it was for the Parliamentarians!)