Sunday 21 March 2010

Even more painting



Yes, as if to overturn my previous post on the lack of progress on the painting front, this week some figures have been completed. The project seems to have crystallised around the creation of some units to represent the forces contesting the occupation of the North West during the first phase of the English Civil War. Following my usual practice I hope to utilise some existing units and simply furnish them with a different flag. For the Royalists I hope to have foot regiments of Gerard, Molyneux and Tyldesley supported by a mixed bag of mounted troops. Parliament will have units raised in the towns in and around Manchester and East Lancashire. These units will also be serving (under different flags) as TYW Swedes and Imperialists, so I hope they don't succumb to having a crisis of identity.
Information on flags seems to be difficult to come by so I will probably be a little 'creative' with them, especially the ones for the cavalry units, which were often at the whim of their commander.




Gerard's Foot



Aspley's Foot



Our battle this week was set on the steppes. The distant lands of the Kingdom of Poland were being swept by Tartars, bent on recruiting the local peasants for the slave trade. Regional light cavalry units had been despatched to escort the populace to a place of safety and the Governor had ordered some regular Polish cavalry units to assist. As the game started the Cossack light cavalry, with two mobile guns in wagons were shepherding their motley collection of peasants towards a distant fort. A unit of Polish dragoons had also arrived to assist, just in time, as Tartar scouts appeared on their left flank. The Cossack commander moved his forces to present a flank to the Tartars and but time for the peasants to make their best speed towards the fort. He was aided considerably by the disorganised and fragmented arrival of the Tartar forces. The initial attack was stalled and this allowed time for the regular Polish cavalry to move forward.
A second, flanking attack was also held and for a time the Polish general thought that the day might be his. However, the constant probing by the Tartars began to create gaps in the Polish lines and once created these gaps proved impossible to close. In a short space of time all available reserves had been committed and still the Tartars probed for the breakthrough. An impetuous attack by the Pancerni and Hussars on the right created the gap that the Tartar Khan had been waiting for and within two moves 6 units of tartars were bearing down on the peasants with only two units to stop them. The artillery of the fort stopped one Tartar unit and the Haiduk foot inflicted casualties on another but enough got through to force the peasants into a tight huddle, ready for rounding up. Just as this was happening, on the far left, the gallant Cossacks and Dragoons were overwhelmed and yet more Tartars moved towards their prize. So the battle ended with the Polish regular cavalry having to hack their way clear of the whirling Tartar cavalry to seek the cover of the fort and leave the peasants to their fate.

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