Back to the Front

The Western Front that is for some dog fighting shenanigans.  I haven't dragged out my air combat rules for a while and still had some rule additions to play test to cover out of plane maneuvers (which is not where a pilot falls out of his aircraft).  No, what they are manoeuvres where the aircraft climbs or dives as part of it's movement.  Last time out was a 1916 scenario with Eindeckers v a DH2 and a Sopwith Strutter.  I'm more than happy with the basic movement and combat rules so no changes are needed there.  It was the use of aerobatics that had been causing the problems.  Having had time for my ideas to simmer I think I have a workable solution but need to test it with aircraft whose wings won't fall off at the mere hint of a hammerhead turn!  So it's off to 1918 for this one for some SE5A v Fokker DVII/Albatros DVa action (well I need at least one 'plane where the wings may fall off I suppose).

The assembled cast - no signs of any wings coming off yet!

Most WW1 dogfights had very little in the way of out of plane elements to them and especially in the early part of the war, were mostly rate of turn contests.  Hence the term dogfights as apparently this is what dogs actually do while trying to get to the back of the other dog to bite without being bitten.  Snoopy aside most dogs are not really up for boom and zoom tactics. Max Immelmann started to change that with his use of the famous turn named after him which was more of a 'wingover' in today's terminology than the half loop and roll out that is called an Immelmann today.

The out of plane rules create a maneuver move which requires a number of movement points to execute and finishes with the 'plane in a different position, height and facing than a normal move using the in plane rules would be able to do.  They can allow a 'plane to cover less horizontal distance without shedding speed (or at least not too much speed) to prevent overshoots or to turn into an opponent to obtain a firing position quickly.  Some are high stress moves which will need a check on the damage table. Fortunately I only need a limited number of these maneuvers as WW1 aeroplanes didn't have the power for many of the basic combat maneuvers we see in WW2 and later air combat.  These will include:

• Hammerhead turn (High Stress)
• Left and right side slips
• High and low Yo Yo
• Displacement rolls and Barrel rolls (High Stress)
• Half loop and roll out (modern Immelmann turn) (High Stress)
• Full Loop

Scouts will have a some or all of these special moves available to them.  I don't envisage any high stress maneuvers being available for two seaters or multi engine craft with a couple of exceptions such as the Bristol Fighter.  So for example early war scouts will have side slips and possibly Yo Yos available while a late war type like a Fokker DVII will have all of them.

As a bonus a fellow member of the Sealed Knot has some WW1 Heroics and Ros Aircraft he doesn't want and is letting me have them.  From what he has said there are about 25 of them in reasonable condition although one or two will need a bit of TLC.   Nothing some plasticard and superglue can't fix.

So onto the scenario.  Nothing too complicated just straight air supremacy for this one.  Two flights of scouts contesting the airspace.  Last man standing wins.   One the British side a pair of SE5a Scouts and for the Germans a Fokker DVII and an Albatros DVa.  Both enter the table at 6.000 feet plus 1D6 x 1,000 feet flying towards each other neither side has spotted the other at the start of turn one.

The aircraft models are from Heroics and Ros (the Albatros) and Irregular (the others).  As always the Irregular castings look a lot better when painted and are easy to assemble.  The H&R are trickier to build as they have more parts (seven in total for the Albatros) but they are stunning little castings.  There are some other 6mm manufacturers out there but I haven't had any samples of their wares cross my painting desk yet

Chocks away chaps.

The battle of Billington Moor 798AD - The scenario

Following on from my post 'Do I do any actual wargaming' I mentioned re fighting Billington Moor to the MNGers and they seem interested.  Phil has 15mm DBA troops including Anglo-Saxons and Pre-Feudal Scots so we may be able to do something in 15mm rather than in 6mm.  Which means I now need to look into the numbers and make up of the forces with a view to having a couple of commands a side.  So big battle DBA (BBDBA) is looking favourite for this one.  The rules are DBA 3.0

Rather than getting too hung up on numbers I have decided to focus on the number of elements required and then amend the battlefield layout to suit.  Using BBDBA would normally give 36 elements drawn from the DBA lists with min-max numbers multiplied by three.  Each side is then divided into three commands of no less than 6 elements.  While DBA doesn't stipulate a maximum size for any of the command a bit of basic math tells me that it cant be larger than 24 elements and that this is probably going to be an issue for PIP allocations if a 24 element command is chosen. For this refight I am creating modified army lists to reflect the slightly different compositions of the two sides but sticking with the overall number of elements.

These lists are:

Middle Anglo-Saxon (Alderman Wada's Rebels)

• 2 x Generals (4Bd) one representing Wada as CinC
• 1 x General (Sp)
• 2 x Hird (4Bd)
• 1 x Fyrd (Sp) in effect a third poorer quality Hird unit
• 24 x Fyrd (Sp) or (7Hd) For each 2 x Sp selected 1 x 7Hd must be selected
• 3 x Archers or Scouts Ps or Fyrd (Sp)
• 3 x Archers or Scouts (Ps)
• 3 camps which can be massed together at one point (or the village may be considered the joint camp)

Middle Anglo-Saxons (King Eardwulf's Royal Army)

• 3 x Generals (4Bd) the King, Alderman Eardbehrt (Herbert). Herbert's son
• 6 x Hird (4Bd)
• 21 x Fyrd (Sp)
• 3 x Fyrd (7Hd)
• 3 x Scouts (Ps)
• 3 x camps which must be placed one per command (the king's camp counts as a double loss if captured)

As an aside I am currently having serious problems on my PC with posting photos between windows and blogger.  It seems to be an issue with memory overflow but I can't seem to get to the bottom of it.  The second I click the insert button on the blog the PC crashes and I find myself looking at the dreaded blue screen of death!  All pictures posted over the last half a dozen posts have been shipped out to my smartphone posted to the blog from there before I  return to the PC to ensure they are exactly  where I want them.  It isn't really an issue when its a photo as those are generally on my smartphone anyway.  Where it does become an issue is where I have created a map in a graphics program as that won't easily transfer to the phone.  Thus it was with the map for Billington Moor!

Scenic Ribblesdale.  The top of the map is North.  The village is 'Old Langho'  Billington is roughly south of there.

It would be probably accurate to add some scrubby woods in a thin band along the banks of the head waters of the streams as a scenic item but I wouldn't give any terrain effect to them.  The banks of the Ribble and Calder were probably not wooded.  At least not in this location.

The map is divided up into one foot squares.  The idea is that the defender is able to choose which 3' by 3' area to fight over by choosing the nine adjacent squares which will make up the battlefield.  No matter which area is chosen Wada's troops are the defenders and will deploy on the east side and Eardwulf will be the attacker and deploy on the west.  The Rivers Ribble and Calder are tested for passability separately to each other.  The standard DBA check is amended so that it is only paltry on a throw of 1, a 2, 3 or 4 makes it slow going and 5 or 6 makes it a slow crossing with effects as per DBA 3.0.  all other streams are 50:50 chance to be either paltry or slow going (DBA scores of 1-4 with no chance of the worst result of a 5-6 arising) The Roman road counts as a track (its not been properly re-surfaced since the late 4th Century after all).  The solid green is a steep hill and the green dotted areas are boggy ground.

If any one plays this out under DBA or any other rules I'd be interested in your feedback.

Project management.....what project management

If you have been following this blog you will have worked out that I have a lot of wargaming irons in the fire, WW1 dogfight rules, the 2mm ECW rules project, the ECW in Lancashire project, the Dark Age campaign idea I have wanted to run for about 30 years the list goes on.  One thing this blog has been good for since I resurrected it is stopping my grasshopper mind from jumping from idea to idea without ever really finishing anything.

So to make sure things progress I have listed them in order of proposed completion.  It turns out that the voice in my head (you know the one; it's the one who looks at the Baccus 6mm catalogue and murmurs 'ohhh shiney' to my wallet) does do some project management.  I have decided that in order of likely completion I will focus on:

1. The WW1 dogfight rules
2. The 2mm ECW rules
3. The ECW in Lancashire
4. The Dark Ages campaign (796AD - whenever it ends)
5. Operation Seelowe in Yorkshire

Interspersed with this will be some painting and modelling.  Lots of 6mm stuff in the painting queue and I NEED more Heroics and Ros WW1 aircraft.  Oh and playing some games.  Lets see if this blog can keep me on target.

The Great Civil War in Lancashire - researching for a campaign

I started doing some research about 10 days ago, which is why I haven't blogged so far in December.  I have pretty much settled on a map using point to point movement.  Each location will have an initial recruitment value and a replacements value.  This became feasible when I came across population estimates derived from Heath Tax records from 1662.

The hearth tax was an 17th century tax on wealth based upon the idea that the more fireplaces or stoves a household had the wealthier it must be.  It was first implemented after the Restoration.  Fortunately the National Archives holds the records for Lancashire from 1662.  They are at file ref E179/250/11 if anyone wants to take a look at them.  Sadly they have not yet been converted to a digital document so at some stage I need to visit the archives at Kew to obtain additional details. 

I came across these from B G Blackwood's 'The Lancashire Gentry in the Great Rebellion 1642 - 1660' (Chetham Society 1978) which I found parts of on line.  Blackwood used the Hearth Tax records to estimate the population of each of the Lancashire Hundreds and the larger towns within them, by assuming 4.5 people per household.  How he settled on a multiplier of 4.5 I have no idea, but as it derives from his university thesis I'm happy to accept that there was some logic behind it.  He further assumes that 20 years after the start of hostilities the population in Lancashire would have recovered from the deaths of the wars.  I'm happy to accept that theory as well if only due to the fact that no other equivalent records exist.  What he didn't do was publish his results for the smaller townships such as Garstang or Clitheroe which is why I'm planning a trip to the National Archives at Kew next time I'm in London.

Anyway that, coupled with the militia returns for 1639 (summarised  in Stephen Bull's book which I mentioned in the last post I published) gives me a start on the figures for estimating potential manpower.  The raw data is that the population of Lancashire was in the very close order of 150,000 with just under 17,000 living in communities of 1,000 people or more.  That breaks down as follows:

Hundred	Population
Salford	48,451.0
Blackburn	21,330.0
West Derby	31,207.0
Leyland	10,656.0
Amounderness	17,667.0
Lonsdale	21,357.0
	150,668.0

 
The major town's populations run between Manchester at 3,690 down to Lancaster at 949 souls.

So that's manpower and recruitment estimates in hand and if I look at the rest of the Hearth Tax data I should be able to set a threshold for the minimum size of township to represent on the map.  My default for that is likely to be 250 souls.  Adding any vital defensive sites and magazines mentioned in Broxup or Bull should fill out the rest of the map locations.  A bit of editing to ensure that the locations represented are spaced by travel time and the map is about there bar the art work which will probably be based on John Speed's map from 1610.

More next time on the supply, training and events generation system.

BCW Campaign Ideas

The Jolly Broom Man asked in a comment if I had any plans for running a BCW campaign.  A county level campaign set in Lancashire is an idea I have been playing with ever since I read Ernest Broxup's The Great Civil War in Lancashire for the first time over 30 years ago.  Two things came to mind, firstly I'm from Lancashire and secondly the war in Lancashire was reasonably free of outside influences.  There are only really two interventions that had any impact.  The first being when Prince Rupert marched through the county on his way to York in 1644 and the second being the Preston Campaign in 1648.  Other than that external events only really acted to draw Royalist forces away from the county or provided peripheral support in the southern part of the county.  Stephen Bull's excellent work on the war in Lancashire 'A General Plague of Madness - The Civil Wars in Lancashire' rekindled the idea recently.

Having seen both JBM's campaign and also JWH's (on his blog Heretical Wargaming) I started to think about how it might be done.  Both of these fine campaigns use pre-existing board games to provide the campaign maps.  I wouldn't have that luxury but fortunately I do have access some maps which are close in time to the 1640's on the Lancashire C. C.archives site.  I can see the advantage of point to point movement rather than than areas or free movement and think I can knock something up (er...I mean lovingly craft, honest).  I'm thinking of the locations being of three types Fortified houses like Latham House or Houghton Tower, large towns and other fortified locations (or sites where fortifications could be built such as the Pennine passes.  I'm also thinking of having some form of recruitment option based upon the location and the side doing the recruiting so Parliament would have lower chance of recruits in Wigan than in Bolton for example.    Some sites would also have magazines or arsenals as sites of initial supply of arms and ammunition or storage at a latter stage of the game.

Forces will be derived from the known numbers of combatants detailed in the sources.  I would probably have some events cards or tables to show the limited influence of outside events.  Mainly to pull forces out of the county or to introduce reenforcements and supplies.

Last but not least I may break the playing period up into 1642 -43, only or let the clock run right the way through the First Civil War.  Historically after The Battle of Whalley in April 1643 it was all over bar the mopping up until Rupert overthrew everything again in 1644, after which it was simply a case of Parliament consolidating again.  The jury is out on that point for the moment.

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.

The battle of Whalley part 3 the troops.

The forces engaged at Whalley will never be fully known and numbers quoted in the sources vary enormously.  What is clear is that Parliament were outnumbered by a significant amount.  Sources vary between 10:1 to 4:1 in favour of the Royalists.  The Parliamentarians may have been short of powder and shot too.  Their Forces were not all on the field at the start as some appear to have been arriving from Padiham while others seem to have been preparing to retreat in the face of the Royalist numbers.  Only the shot seem to have been up for a fight and even then perhaps only because initially they were not facing the whole Royalist force.

On the other hand the Royalists main numbers lay in their clubmen who were inexperienced, untrained and according to some accounts only stayed in the field because there were mounted men behind then threatening them with swords and loaded pistols!  The initial encounter at Sabden Brook only included a small part of their forces as the main body was waiting at Whalley.  The Earl of Derby and his senior officers don't appear to have been with the main body, but further back in Whalley itself.

Lets start with the period accounts.  The battle was fought on 20 April 1643 numbers detailed from prior to that date may not have been available by the time of the battle.  As a result I am only going to look at information for around a month before that date.

Parliament Forces
The Discourse tells us that on the 19th Parliament's forces were dispersed and short of powder and shot. But that Colonel Shuttleworth sent out a call for them to assemble "with their best weapons".  By the early morning of 20th April Colonel Shuttleworth had been joined by Colonel Starkie at Padiham (about 4 miles to the east of Sabden Brook).  Some Captains, with their men, were sent to scout towards Whalley "as far as Read".  We know that this force included Musketeers as these were the men who insisted on standing to fight.

On hearing the ambush sprung many others "came up" so additional troops must have been in supporting distance.  This included a Lieutenant Marsden who seems to have encouraged the troops in hot pursuit of the fleeing Royalists.  The discourse glosses over the rest of fight implying that the main body of Royalists broke and ran when the fleeing men came down the hill to Whalley.  Although there are some clues that there must have been some fighting as a piece of artillery had time to fire three shots.

The true relation gives more detail of troops it claims that two troops of horse were at Dunkenhalgh Hall (at Clayton le Moors) which withdrew to Padiham on hearing of the Royalist advance.  The Parliamentarian forces at Padiham are described as "60 Horse, and some 400 foot, not above five hundred I am sure at the first". This account also includes "some few clubmen".  "At the first" suggests additional forces were coming in and this is supported by the statement that an additional 150 horse met them at Read Bank.  It also mentions a Captain Ashton as being present.

Lancashire Vale of Anchor states that Parliament's forces were 200 - 300 shot and 80 - 100 horse.  It goes on to tell us that initially there were only 100 shot at Read.

Broxup gives the numbers being 500 foot plus the horse as above.

All accounts suggest that Parliament scouted forward beyond Read towards Whaley but retired once the true size of Derby's forces became apparent.

Royalist Forces
The Discourse states that the Earl of Derby called his soldiers and Clubmen to Preston along with a piece of artillery and advanced up the line of the River Ribble.  By the 19th he appears to have reached Whalley.  Mr Tydesley (later Sir Thomas Tydesley) is sent to scout towards Padiham on the morning of the 20th.  This force included horse and some foot as it is reported that Parliament took prisoner "divers"... (meaning many)... "Foot Clubmen".

The True relation states that the Royalist force consisted of The Earl of Derby, Lord Molyneux, Sir Gilbert Hoghton and Colonel Tydesley and all the chief Catholics of the county, with "eleven  troops of Horse, 700 foot and infinite of clubmen, in all conceived to be 5,000".   It goes on to state that after the ambush at Sabden Brook Parliament took 40 prisoners, some horse and 60 muskets.  The capture of muskets suggest foot or dragoons as being present with Tydesley's scouting force.  If we assume an average strength of 50 per troop that gives 550 horse.

Broxup pulls together all of the sources available to him and tells us that on 13 March Derby had assembled 3,000 clubmen for the march against Lancaster.  so that gives some indication of the numbers that could be raised.  He also states that Tyldesley came from York with 600 foot armed 50:50 pike to shot.  This unit of foot may have been from Newcastle's army and have had some combat experience, but equally may have been freshly raised men.  Either way they don't seem to have fared any better than the rest of Derby's forces at Whalley.  All sources place Tyldesley with the Royalist advance scouting party

Suggested forces for the refight

Royalists
Advanced Scouting party
Thomas Tyldesley -average commander
1 unit of 150 Horse - experienced but untrained.
1 unit of 100 dragoons  - raw, trained

Main body
Commander in Chief-  The Earl of Derby. He should be brave but not effective as a commander. Starts off table - see special rules below.
Sir Gilbert Hoghton - average commander. Place as required with the main body
Lord Molyneux - average commander. Place as required with the main body

1 x 600 foot 50:50 pike to shot. Experienced and trained.
5 x 600 clubmen (improvised weapons including some muskets) inexperienced, untrained and unwilling (in my rules this means that they are the worst troops possible)
1 x of 150 horse experienced and trained
1 x 150 horse experienced and trained
1 x light gun (Robinette or similar size)

Special rules
The scouting party deploys along the road between the centre line of the long edge of the table and the turn to Ashterley. They must have orders to make a rapid advance along the Whalley to Read road.  Under my home brew rules orders have three components movement rate, target and action on reaching the target. The Dragoons may not dismount until attacked.  So Tyldesley would have orders of "fast advance, along the road to the far table edge, hold on arrival.

The main body must deploy north of the Calder in any formation desired but no further forward than level with the point where the R Calder exits the south of the table.  Split into two or three commands and assign to commanders (except Tyldesley) as required. Clubmen may be merged into larger bodies in an attempt to make them a more robust fighting force! The main body is under initial orders to hold and cannot take any action or change orders until attacked by Parliamentarian forces or Retreating troops from Read reach them.

The Earl of Derby starts off table at Whalley and only enters when

1. Retreating troops from Sabden Brook are sighted by the forces at Whalley.
2. After 1 hour game time on a di roll.  Roll 1D6 each turn on the first roll only a 1 will release him on the second a 1 or 2 on the third a 1- 3 until on turn 6 he automatically arrives.

On arrival he is placed on the road leading from Whalley to Read at the table edge.  He cannot move further on the turn of arrival.   He cannot issue any new orders until he is free to move.
3. Orders
Parliament
This is a more difficult deployment to arrive at as numbers are low and vary between the accounts.  To allow flexibility and prevent the Royalists having certainty as to where the initial ambush will be sprung, Parliament's shot are in hidden deployment. They may be in any of the woods on the Read side of Sabden Brook or behind the Stone walls that line the road after it crosses the brook.

Advance Party
1 x 400 Foot (shot only) experienced, trained and elite.
1 x 100 horse inexperienced, trained
1 x 150 horse inexperienced, trained.

Captain Ashherton - good commander
Captain F good commander

Deployed to the East of Sanden Brook.  The Horse must be within 1 full move of the East table edge deployed as one command under Captain Assherton.  Captain F commands the Shot.

Reserve
1 x 200 Clubmen inexperienced, untrained.

Colonel Shuttleworth commander in chief Average commander
Colonel Starkie average commander
Lt Marsden - average but rash commander

Speculative reserve troops
All we know for certain is that more troops came in.  These may have been the Clubmen and the second body of horse.  However, we know Shuttleworth called in all available troops, so additional men may have been available.  If we need to place more forces at Parliament's disposal I suggest the following.

1 x light artillery - experienced and trained
1 x 150 horse - experienced, untrained
1 x 200 Clubmen - inexperienced, untrained

Special rules
Reserve (and/or Speculative reserves) enter the table one hour after the ambush is first sprung.  The two Colonels arrive with the reserves.  Lt Marsden arrives 15 minutes after the ambush is sprung.  he can use his command abilities only to get Parliament troops to take aggressive action.

As an option you might want to enforce a limited number of shots for the ambush force.  The true telation suggests that they had little powder until they could loot from the routing Royalist scouting party.

In the last part I will post any last minute thoughts on the scenario and any additional suggestions for altenative versions of the refight.

The Battle of Whalley 1643 part 2

A couple of posts back I copied the text of a period account of the Battle of Whalley.  At the time I suggested that I would try putting a game together.  Well, I haven't had the game yet but I have created the scenario for it.

To create the scenario I needed to find some additional sources on the battle to try to fill out some extra background details.  Luckily, most of the original sources are available online or through Amazon now.  Not that there is much of it.  The main sources are "A discourse of the warr in Lancashire" which was the source of the description I posted before.  That is available through the Chetham Society via Amazon as a Kindle download.  Next are Tracts relating to Military Matters in Lancashire which forms vol 2 of the Chetham Miscellanies also found as a Kindle download.  Both of these are OCR scanned copies converted to text which does  create a number of errors but these are easy to spot as they usually come out as nonsense words or as symbols.

The tracts have two documents of note "A True Relation of a great and Wonderful Victory obtained by Captain Ashton and the Parliament's Forces against the Earl of Derby at Whalley in Lancashire" and "Lancashires Valley of Achor".  As Kindle downloads both the discourse and the tracts both cost around £5.00 which is good value even with the OCR issue.  The internet archive.org provided a copy of Broxup's Great Civil war in Lancashire as a free document.  Again there are some OCR scanning errors but overall it is legible.  As a bonus Broxup cites all of his source material which is useful.

I would like to read the Letters of the Countess of Derby and Henrietta Maria's Letter book as these have some references to other troop movements at the time of the battle.  Bull's Civil war in Lancashire is my next purchase as it draws on a Grattan's Lord Derby's Catholic Army which I don't have.

So what do we gain from the sources?  Details of the site of the battle are pretty clear The discourse places the initial contact as being at Read Head "above the house of Mr Nowell of Read"  Mr Nowell being Roger Nowell of Read Hall.  The Royalists were first sighted "mounting out of a hollow dingle betwixt Ashterly and Reed Head" (the discourse).  The bulk of the Royalist forces were drawn up in a body apparently on the North side of the Calder at Whalley (according to the Discourse) "in a bodie as to receive an enemie".  The Dingle is almost certainly the small steep sided cutting through which Sabden Brook runs and there is still a farm above the brook now called Easterly.  We are also told by the discourse that following the ambush Tydesley fled and mistook his way passing into the lane that leads to Ashterley and then down via Portfield to Whalley.  All of these locations can be identified on the modern OS map.  Parliaments musketeers were hidden behind the stone walls on either side of the highway between Whalley and Padiham.  This would have been Read Old Road as the current main road is an 18th century turnpike.

After the initial ambush there was a running fight from close to where Read Old Road crosses Sabden Brook at Read Old Bridge.  The ambush described in the Discourse occurred on the east side of the brook.  The pursuit followed down to the outskirts of Whalley where the rest of Derby's forces were drawn up.  This was presumably along (or close by) the line of the road down to Whalley.  At Whalley the pursuing musketeers fired upon Derby's forces from the hedges (a true relation) and his forces broke and ran. They crossed the Calder and headed back towards Ribchester turning and standing occasionally. This wasn't the volley and chase suggested by the Discourse but a four stage action.

1. Royalists scout towards Read and are ambushed.
2. The pursuit towards Whalley
3. The action at Whalley itself
4. The fighting withdrawal towards Ribchester

I propose to re-fight the first three stages in this scenario.

Setting the table up
Using 2mm figures and a 1mm to the yard/metre (the difference is notional at 2mm level) I will be using 4 boards 1220mm by 606 mm. as shown below this is enough to cover the ambush, the pursuit and the fight at Whalley.

General layout of the battle field with contours

The woods (The green areas) have been taken from the 18th century map of Lancashire held on Lancashire County Counsel's website.  There is no guarantee they existed in 1643 or were as large as shown if they did.  The woods along the bank of Sabden Brook were probably there and like now would have been a narrow band of scrubby open woodland.  I would depict all other woods as being fairly open as well, sufficient to screen sight lines and disrupt formations.  I haven't included any hill markers or contours as everyone seems to portray hills differently.  The key features are the valley through which Sabden Brook runs.  This is steep sided, narrow with a flat bottom and prone to being boggy.  It's about 100 yards wide at most and probably around 60 feet (say 20 meters) deep.  On the Read side of the Brook the ground climbs with the highest ground being towards the top right area of the map.  On the Whalley side of the map there is a plateau above Ashterley running back towards the large woods between the road junctions.  This is higher at the top of the map and drops towards the bottom.  Other wise the land trends downwards towards Whalley and the R Calder.  Take a look at the OS map for details.  Other terrain should be stone walls for the ambush on either side of the highway from the Bridge (at least on the Read side).  Possible some stone walls denoting the grounds of Read Hall.  And some hedges around Whalley.

Next post will provide details (such as we know) of the troops numbers, make up and morale states.