ADMINISTRACIÓN OBJETIVO:

expeditions in the 1620s to support the Protestant sides. However, a slow burning fuse

was lit in England which would ignite a powder keg that would herald the bloodiest war

in English history. It was almost exclusively fought in England and Scotland. By the time

the wars ended, it is estimated that close to 10% of the entire population was dead.

A

crowned in 1625, he immediately attempted to govern without the support of Parliament. He believed in the divine right of Kings - there was no room for negotiation on this. Charles dabbled in sup- port for various sides in the Thirty Years War but ultimately, starved of revenue to raise armies, he was unable to act in any significant manner. As his reign progressed, he at- tempted to reform and remodel aspects of his Kingdoms (for Charles was the Monarch of the Three Kingdoms – Ireland, England and Scotland). He attempted to enforce Anglicanism as the religion of Scotland, which prompted the outbreak of the Bishops’ Wars in 1639 and 1640. Both ended in defeat and Charles had to recall Parliament to al- low him to raise revenues to pay indemnities to the Scots. Parliament was eager to exact a cost from Charles and im- peached Charles’ two principle supporters, Thomas Went- worth, Earl of Strafford and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. Parliament refused to be quieted and in a sin- gular act of revenge the two were both subsequently ex- ecuted, although Laud not until 1645.

Wentworth’s death was an attempt to appease Parliament, but in fact it hastened the outbreak of armed conflict. The outbreak of rebellion in Ireland in October 1641 – primar- ily caused by fear of Parliament’s actions in defiance of the King – saw rifts occurring throughout England as friends and families split. One side backed the King, claiming he was being hindered and betrayed by Parliament, while the other side supported Parliament, claiming the King wished to rule as a tyrant without any checks on his power. In Janu- ary 1642, Charles attempted to enter Parliament to arrest five representatives and this failed completely. The outcry in London was enormous and Charles fled to the North of England. Following a period of manoeuvre and speeches decrying Parliament, he finally, and rather dramatically, hoisted his standard in Nottingham in August. Parliament had not been idle during this period and so August merely defined what both sides had been doing – raising armies.

All through this, north of the border, the Scots themselves had split, with the army of the Solemn League and Cove- nant allying with Parliament in England and a pro-Royalist army lead by Montrose supporting the King (Charles was of a Scottish royal house after all). There was a series of battles with Montrose fighting an heroic campaign against overwhelming odds, but his reversals in 1644 allowed the Scots to march on York in time to bring a significant number of troops to the field of Marston Moor, thereby defeating Prince Rupert and losing Yorkshire for the King once and for all. By 1649 the mood had changed – the execution of the King by the English Parliament lead many Scots to support Charles II as the legitimate ruler of the land – and Cromwell punished them for it…

A VERY ENGLISH CIVIL WAR

England (and Scotland) had very few military leaders with any real experience apart from those who had served as mercenaries or were part of the few English expeditions in the European wars. It showed during the opening cam- paigns of the war. Far worse was the deplorable state of equipment, with obsolete weapons being dumped into England by the European powers.

The matchlock musket slowly gave way to the firelock or flintlock. Dragoons were making their slow evolution – in this period they were infantry mounted on poor horses to be able to march and deploy faster, never intended to fight as cavalry. Sieges saw the development of petards, delivered by hand to blow gates open or to bring down walls, and even the hand grenade. Some armourers de- veloped ‘bullet proof armour’ which was sold to unsus- pecting officers. Hitting a breastplate with a hammer and claiming it was where a bullet was shot at it presented many a business opportunity without risk of complaint... Tactics were well written about and adopted, but the only real testing ground was in the heat of battle. This lead to two very inexperienced armies clashing in the

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opening engagement at Edgehill, a battle that could have ended the wars there and then, but a failure by both sides saw the war drawn out into nine years of on-off conflict.

GAMING THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR

What makes this war such a fascinating period for gam- ers is the limited size and sheer diversity of the armies, troop types, and personalities involved. Moreover the conflict is exceptionally well documented and so it is very easy to study the wars in detail, to see the armies involved, how they deployed and the tactics used. There’s a good variety of units. For cavalry you have fully armoured cavalry, trotters, lancers, and gallopers. Infantry used the pike and shot system, with armoured and unarmoured pikemen. Some pikemen deliberately shortened their pikes, with disastrous consequences. There were even some units of longbow-equipped arch- ers. Volunteer units were raised by the boroughs of Lon- don to defend Parliament and tribal armies fought for Cornwall. Neither cared much for any other part of the realm. Artillery was seen in full effect for the first time on English soil, and at the end came the birth of the fa- mous red-coated army that England and Britain would deploy across the globe over the coming centuries. The armies themselves were small by any standards and this lends itself to tabletop gaming in a very convenient manner. The New Model Army, if fielded by a gamer in its entirety with a 1:20 ratio, would have roughly 770 infantry, 330 cavalry, 50 dragoons and two guns! This would have been the biggest army fielded in the course of the war and was, in fact, never seen in its entirety. Aside from the principle ‘big battles’, there were a mul- titude of smaller battles, strategic campaigns fought by limited forces and many, many sieges. The leaders that rose and fell were colourful, frightening (to their own troops as often as not), skilled and inept. The Earl of Man-

chester went on campaign with a hearse carrying his cof- fin, just in case! The Earl of Essex had a completely me- diocre military career in the 1620s before rising to hold high command; Cromwell himself narrowly escaped death at Marston Moor when one of his own troopers accidentally shot him in the neck; and Prince Rupert al- ways brought his pet poodle on campaign with him. In order to build your armies you need to look at what you want to game: for the bigger battles the smaller scales will give you a better feel for the scales involved. A few (many?) years ago at Salute there was a display of the Bat- tle of Naseby, in 6mm and in 1:1 scales – the game board was six metres wide!! There are a whole host of figure manufacturers out there from 3mm to 54mm.

Rules wise, there are many sets, some old tried and tested ones such as WRG  Second Edition, DBR, DBM/DBMM, Forlorn Hope, Once Upon a Time in the West Country , and the old Foundry set 1644. Recently there have been a lot of newer rules such as Victory Without Quarter by Clarence Harrison, The Kingdom is Ours by James Daniels, and Ironsides by Howard Whitehouse. I am sure there are many more sets available, often free to download online. The Civil Wars (for there were really three, one after the other) were brutal, savage wars, as civil wars normally are, with little quarter asked for or given, and the civil- ian population suffered enormous privations too – but for all that, this is a fascinating period, one which has had a lasting impact on the future United Kingdom, one which saw Parliament ultimately execute the King, es- tablish the Commonwealth, crush both the Scots and the Irish and also launch the New Model Army into Eu- ropean Wars as well as conquests in the New World. There are colour, variety, huge battles, epic sieges, some mad characters and some brilliant campaigns to be fought, so what are you waiting for – for God, for England, for Parliament and for the King!WS&S

Pike, shotte and horse - ready for battle.

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