The Battle of Whalley - designers notes

So far we have the details of the terrain and the troops.  In this post I want to look at how to make the game enjoyable without loosing sight of the historical background or deviating too far from the known facts.

The problem with this battle is that it didn't follow the expected script!  Parliament wouldn't win this fight under most sets of rules (including mine).  To try to make the historical outcome possible risks making the game unenjoyable for the Royalist player.  Lets be honest here this isn't a balanced scenario.  The scenario as designed is intended to produce a result similar to reality and pose both sides with the same decision points and problems their historical counterparts faced.

Lets start with the terrain.  The key features are the valley that Sabden Brook flows through.  The impact of this must be depicted as it slows the advancing Royalist scouting party.  In my rules it disrupts their formation too.  I would treat it as soft ground if that is what is required in your rules to create the disruption required.  Next are the stone walls that edge the road after the bridge.  These should give good defence against return fire from the Royalists once the ambush is sprung.  The woods along Sanden Brook should also stay as described.  The rest of the woods are conjectural so they could be reduced in size or effect if you feel they restrict Royalist options too much. One account talks about the Parliamentarian foot sniping at the Royalist main body from hedges so those could be added close the Whalley board edge.

Next are the troops.  It is just possible that Colonel Shuttleworth brought a small piece of artillery to the later stages of the battle.  The Discourse mentions that two or three shots were fired by the artillery "at the tower" the only tower would be that in Whalley and it is difficult to understand why the Royalists would bombard their own positions.  This could be used to justify giving Parliament a piece of artillery, but it isn't mentioned until the action in front of Whalley so it should arrive late in the game.

Alternative scenarios
1.  Derby strikes at once
All of the Royalist forces are free to act from the start.  Tyldesley isn't sent ahead to scout instead the entire force moves forward from Whalley at first light. There are no constraints on the Royalist orders.  Their objective is to exit units of horse and/or Dragons from the Read table edge within three hours of the game start and to have no effective Parliamentarian units left on the table ( effective means able to fight not necessarily routed or destroyed).  Parliament start with all of the listed units from the main scenario on the table at the start including one piece of artillery.  Their objective is to delay the Royalists from exiting the board in the time limit.

This should give a more balanced fight especially if Parliament deploy in a good defensive position.

2.  Shuttleworth pushes his luck
This scenario assumes that Shuttleworth is given a longer warning of Derby's approach and is able to assemble more troops by the end of 19 April.  Bolstered by these additional troops and fresh supplies of  powder and shot he pushes forward under cover of darkness to launch an attack on Derby early on 20 April.

Parliament has two full units of foot in place of the 400 commanded shot from the historical scenario.  These are of 600 men each 2:1 shot to pike, trained and experienced.  These represent the militia of the Blackburn Hundred under Shuttleworth and Starkie.  The Parliamentarian force includes the small gun discussed above.  They are deployed no further forward than one cavalry move towards Whalley from the centre line of the board.  Their objective is to destroy the Royalist force.  Derby starts with all of his forces deployed at Whalley as in optional scenario 1 but with Derby off table as in the historical scenario.  He can enter on a dice roll or on the turn after Parliamentarian forces are sighted by the Royalists.  Royalist forces cannot advance until Parliament's forces are sighted. The Royalists objective is to survive the day.

I haven't run the battle yet so I may revisit this topic with amendments or an after action report in the future.  In the mean time please comment if you have tried the scenarios especially about game balance issues v the historical outcome.  I hope you enjoy the scenario.