Meeting at Bourne Vale - a BCW scenario

 My last BCW scenario was one of the most viewed pages to date so I thought that a second one may prove popular.  This is another early war action set in early 1643.  It's a tight battlefield about 1,000 - 1,500 yards square, so little chance of subtlety here, this is a case of line 'em up and let 'em roll.

The battlefield, lets call the bottom of the sketch 'South'

The battlefield - Bourne's Vale 1643
The battlefield consists of a shallow valley between two low ridges dropping towards boggy ground to the bottom of the table.  The contours would be about 10 foot changes in level if on a map so shallow hills giving some advantages for being uphill but not much else.  The boggy ground should be considered disordering and difficult for horse and foot and impassable for artillery.  The village (Higher Bourne) is a small hamlet of timber framed, wattle and daub, thatched cottages so not much protection from artillery fire.  Lower Bourne has presumably sunk into the bog years ago!

The forces
The Royalists deploy on the left of the map, south of the road and no more than 200 yards from the table edge.  The Parliamentarians deploy on the right also south of the road and no more than  200 yards from the table edge.

Royalist
The Royalists outnumber their opponents having the following troops:

1 x troop of 400 Dragoons - Trained and experienced.
1 x Squadron of 400 Horse - Trained and experienced.
1 x Squadron of 600 Horse - Trained and raw.
1 x Battalia of 600 clubmen - Untrained and raw.
1,000 pikemen Trained and raw
2,000 musketeers Trained and raw
2 light guns Robinettes or similar

The Royalist player may decide how to organise his pike and shot into units see the special rules below.

All Royalist foot are deployed in dutch style 12 ranks deep.  Horse are using Swedish tactics and deploy 3 deep.

They are commanded by Sir Henry Rawlinson a trusted commander with an ability of 4, (meaning he can command 4 units/subordinates directly). He is supported by:

Colonel Arkwright (able to command Foot) trusted and with an ability of 3
Colonel Peaseman (able to command Foot) trusted and ability of 2
Major Southam (able to command Horse and Dragoons) trusted and ability of 2
Captain Walker (able to command Horse) accepted and witha an ability of 2

The guns are commanded by the Gun captains and fall under Rawlinson's direct control

Royalist special rules - you may decide how to allocate the pike and musket into units but must have at least 5 battalia none of which may be below 400 men.  You may draw out a forelorn hope of shot or dismounted dragoons which may deploy an additional 100 yards onto the table if a named commander is with them.  Clubmen count as 1:5 shot to melee weapons and only have arquebus not musket (to represent older or poorly maintained firearms).  In melee they do not count as pike armed but as improvised weapons.

Parliament
Parliament has the following forces:

2 x Squadrons of 300 Horse - Trained and experienced
a further 900 horse - Trained and raw
2 x battalia of 600 foot 2:1 shot to pike - trained and experienced
1 x battalia of 700 foot 5:2 shot to pike - part trained and experienced
1 x Battalia of 600 foot 2:1 shot to pike part trained and raw.
1 x light gun Robinette or similar

All parliamentarian units are using Dutch tactics. They may decide how to organise the 900 horse into units.  See the special rules below.

They are commanded by Colonel James an accepted commander and ability 3.  He is supported by:

Colonel Humble (able to command Horse and foot)accepted and ability 3
Major Ferris (able to command Horse) trusted and ability 3
Captain Carter (able to command Horse and Foot) trusted and ability 2

An accepted commander can add a positive factor to a reaction test while a trusted commander has more of an effect (in my rules +2 as against +1)

Parliament special rules - of the 900 horse yo may divide these as you wish to provide two or three bodies but none of them may be over 500 or less than 150 in strength.

Command special rule
The named officers are able to have more units allocated to their commands then the ability factor.  however, in any given turn they cannot issue more changes of orders to units under their command than their ability value.

Background information
This is a meeting engagement Colonel James expected to meet poorly trained local levies who were assembling at a Royalist muster and is surprised to find a balanced all arms force coming towards him.  He is unable to evade them and there is no better site to stand and fight than this.  In turn Sir Henry having intelligence of Colonel James' movements considered this to be his best chance of defeating the enemy before additional Parliament troops are sent to the area he set out towards the enemy with the intention of bringing them to battle.  He was hoping for a larger advantage in numbers and quality than he actually has.  Both sides objective is to destroy the others ability to fight by breaking the forces facing them.  Its pretty much a traditional slugfest but with some doubt about the ability of either side to land a killing blow!