Cavaliers and Roundheads Episode 3 Skirmish at the old Manor

 October 28th, 1642.   The Royalist army of King Charles I had just captured Banbury castle with a large stockpile of firearms as well as other provisions.  The problem was they didn't have enough pack animals to carry the goods or pull the carts.  A local loyalist farmer named Rafe Fowler had come to the camp with information useful to the Royalists.  Some Parliamentarians had rounded up several ponies that they were holding at the old ruined Bottomham Manor near Hanwell.  Captain Hewitt immediately dispatched Corporal Charles Osbury, Mable Banks and a small squad of musketeers to capture the ponies. 
 

 After scouting the camp from the North the party of Royalists decided to attack from the South.  Sargent Gryffon, Plunket, Towne, and three other musketeers took up a position on the hill overlooking the improvised corral.  Several Parliamentarians were engaged in target practice while only two guarded the ponies. 
 

Charles had been given a trained cavalry horse after the capture of Banbury and he charged over the hill, overwhelming one of the Roundhead guards. 

The musketeers finished off the other guard with a volley of musket fire.  Mable Banks crouched behind a tree near the musketeers. 

Charles Osbury turned the corner of the ruined manor and fired at the Roundhead musketeer in a green coat wounding him lightly.  The Royalist Musketeers finished the man off with another volley. 

The alarm went up among the Parliamentarians who moved to cover among the ruins.  A troop of Roundheads in red coats took up position near a supply depot while another group in green coats took cover behind a wall. 
   

 Corporal Osbury charged the redcoat position wounding one of them with his pistol.  Their Sargent scrambled over the ruins to engage him. 

Seeing the corporal's bold move the Royalist musketeers used his distraction to move off the hill shooting at the redcoats as they did.  

Mable Banks moved into the ruined foundation of the Manor and began an unusual exchange with the Roundheads in green coats.  Her crossbow shots were answered by volleys  of musket fire but the range and cover made for many missed shots. 

Charles slashed at the Roundhead Sargent with his sword then reared his horse up.  The creature's hooves caved the poor man's head in.
 

The King's musketeers moved up into some cover and brought down the man Corporal Osbury had wounded. 

Meanwhile Plunket and Towne moved over to help Mable with the other enemy unit.  For his trouble Towne was lightly wounded as he climbed over the wall. 

The red coated Roundheads, seeing their Sargent killed, fired on Charles at point blank range wounding him. 

The fight against the green coated Parliamentarians fired recklessly at the Royalists in the Manor ruins but continued to have little luck. 
 

Wounded, the good Corporal retreated to the cover of a crumbling wall under the covering fire of the Royalist musketeers. 

Still in the fight the two remaining red coated Roundheads brought down a Royalist musketeer while tenaciously defending their supply depot. 

Plunket and Towne took up a better position in the Manor ruin and the managed to wound one of the green coats. 

Charles Osbury charged the depot again and brought down another trooper with a pistol shot.  Only one Roundhead remained to guard the supplies but he fought on. 

Sargent Gryffon charged the final red coat with his two remaining musketeers.  The Royalist attacked with his partisan but only lightly injured his opponent. 

As the battle continued the ponies in the makeshift corral began to get spooked.  Mable, along with Plunket and Towne, continued to trade mostly ineffective fire with the green coats. 

 Hoping to end the stalemate the green coats ducked behind the wall they had been using for cover in an attempt to flank Mable's position.

Corporal Osbury noticed the maneuvering Roundheads and spurred his horse into pursuit.  He fired a pistol shot but missed.   

The final red coated soldier fought desperately against the King's men managing to wound Sargent Gryffon in the exchange and stubbornly refusing to surrender.  

 Miss Banks dashed across the open ground and through an opening in the green coats wall to dispatch the wounded soldier. 

The remaining green coats formed a line and fired a volley at Mable but she ducked into cover and all their shots missed again. 

At that point the spooked ponies broke through the weak reinforcement of the corral.  Towne shouted "Corporal the ponies are getting away!"

Charles charged on his horse and cut down and trampled the green coat Sargent.  The Royalists needed to end the fight soon in order to save their prize. 
 

After finally bringing down the last red coat Sargent Gryffon and his musketeers moved into the open and shot down another green coat.  

Mable moved to engage the Parliamentarians but both of the remaining men threw up their hands in surrender. 

Some of the ponies had already started to gallop away and the last four stumbled over the ruined wall in a bid for freedom.  

Corporal Osbury rushed to the aid of Plunket and Towne and the three managed to calm the animals.  Charles then headed off at full tilt after the five that had escaped.    

Fortunately for him they were in the next meadow over grazing.  Charles rounded them up and drove them back to the ruin. 

The supply depot consisted mostly of hard tack and salted pork.  The Royalist raiding party sacked up as much as they could then loaded up the ponies and returned to Banbury castle.  Captain Hewitt was extremely happy with their raid which resulted in only one Royalist casualty.  He promoted Charles to Sargent and increased Mable's pay.  The musketeers were given extra provisions and a better billet inside the castle. 

Notes:  This was much more of a straight up fight with little roleplaying.  I really wanted a more serious session than the last one with a more military campaign feel.  We have only been playing two hour sessions so I plan to alternate between sessions with more RP and sessions with more action.  Unfortunately I had to use cheap plastic horses as proxie ponies but you have to work with what you have.    

Cavaliers and Roundheads (was Blew Cotes) Episode 2 "God Save the Queen!" a D&D 5E Historic Campaign report.

October 26th. 1642 late afternoon in Kineton.  Prince Rupert had captured the remains of the Parliamentarian baggage train on the 25th in the village of Kineton.  Charles Osbury and Mable Banks had been ordered to pack up the remainder of the supplies and meet the rest of the Royalist army at Banbury by Captain Owain Hewitt.  The two along with private soldiers Plunket and Towne had decided to take a little known path through a wooded area instead of the main road to avoid looters and Parliamentarian stragglers. 

Mable Banks was scouting ahead of the Royalist party when she saw a very unusual party being led by an old knight in old fashioned armor.  She tried to hide next to a tree beside the road but a priest among the part spotted her.  "Over there Sir Roberte someone is trying to ambush us," the priest called out.  "In the name of the Queen who goes there?" ask the Knight.  Mable stepped out from her hiding place "I'm not trying to ambush you" Mable explained "I'm just trying to hide from bandits".  "Don't trust here sir she may be a Spanish spy and look she has weapons!" the priest pointed a Mable's poorly concealed crossbow.  "A what spy?" Mable asked confused.   

At that point the rest of the Royalist party came around the bend in the road.  "Look Sir more Spaniards!  We are under attack!" shouted the Priest.  "Wait, no, we're English!" Mable tried to interject.  "For the Queen! Have at them!" the knight shouted.   

Weapons were drawn and the two parties engaged.  "God save Queen Elizabeth and England" the knight shouted as he ran down Towne.  "We're English you mad man and we're for the King!" Charles responded but it was too late.
 

Mable retreated into the woods and shot the Priest wounding him.  "Get her!" the priest shouted and the two women in his party began to give chase.

Alarmed by the commotion the mules broke and began running down the road away from the battle.  The knight turned his armored horse and charged Plunket.

The priest ducked into the wood and ran away from Mable who was fighting for her life against two of the knight's followers.  One of the ruffians shot at her but missed.  

"Spanish scum!" the knight shouted as he dropped Plunket with his hammer.  Things were starting to look bad for the Royalists.  

"Stop this madness we're English fighting for King Charles!" Charles shouted waving his arms at the knight.  Confused the knight halted his rampage.  "Will you yield so we can discuss this?" Sir Roberte asked.  "Yes!  That's what we have been trying to tell you." replied Charles.  "Hold, hold!" the knight shouted.

Obediently the Knights followers held their attacks.  "My lord you can't trust them," the priest objected but he was dismissed.

The priest continued to object as the parties gathered to talk things out.  "Hold your're tong and go tend the wounded." the knight ordered.  Without a word the priest turned and began checking on the wounded of both parties.  Miraculously everyone was still alive.  The priest began binding their wounds.

"We are English.  We are fighting for King Charles of the House of Steward against the forces of Parliament" explained Charles.  "But Queen Elizabeth is alive!  I have seen her.  She has been in the land of the young and she returned to save us from the Spanish invasion.  She told me herself," the knight replied.

Seeing that they were outmatched Mable decided to play along "It certainly is wonderful news that her Majesty is alive and well but where is she?"  "The Queen is in hiding from the invaders," the priest interjected.  "But there is no invasion," Charles explained. "We are in a civil war between the Parliament and the King,"  "If you will let us go we will tell the King about this miracle of Queen Elizabeth's return.  Perhaps she can help him bring peace to the country again." Mable pleaded.  "Perhaps you're right.  Anyway you don't seem like Spaniards to me.  In truth we are very hungry and short on provisions.  Can you spare some of your supplies?" The knight asked.  "Certainly," Charles agreed. 

After sharing the provisions the knight helped the Royalists recover their mules and he agreed to escort them through the wood.  "Tell your king the Queen has returned.  We must restore order to the kingdom." the knight said as he bid them farewell.

Once out of earshot Mable turned to Charles "That priest is manipulating that poor old man and those peasants."  "We'll deal with him," Charles replied.

Back and the camp Charles and Mable explained their short supplies by claiming that some of them were bad.  They also explained that they had a run in with Parliamentarian deserters in the wood.  Captain Hewitt seemed to accept this explanation and commended them on getting most of the supplies through.

Note:  This turned out to be kind of a rough session.  Bad rolls led to the Knight's party really dominating the encounter.  I had figured the knight's party would flee after taking minimal casualties and they would show up later in the campaign and the party would learn more about them.  Instead I had to go deeper into the Knight's senile delusion and the manipulations of the "priest" earlier than I expected.  This game has no fantasy elements but in 17th century England belief in fairies and the like was pretty common still among the less educated.  I'm just glad the party realized that the knight was not in his right mind and decided to surrender.  Also as to my miniature choices I'm trying to get some better minis.  I only have a few ECW figures so I'm using the best proxies I can manage out of my collection and it's not easy to order things from overseas right now with companies shut down.  Hopefully this will change soon.     

Brave Sir Roberte!

I painted this old Games Workshop Empire Knight for our English Civil War campaign.  Sir Roberte here is going to be a senile old knight who believes Queen Elizabeth was reborn in the Land of Youth and has returned to take back her throne.  This delusion is being exploited by a corrupted priest and a band of thugs complete with their "Queen Elizabeth" and her handmaidens. 

Cavaliers and Roundheads (was Blew Cotes) "Raid on the Pleasant Pig" a D&D 5E Historic Campaign report

 October 22nd 1642, Edgcote England.  The Army of King Charles I had set out from Shrewsbury to attack the Earl of Essex's army at Worchester but had then decided to advance towards London.  Quartered in the village of Edgecote many of the King's Welsh troops were without proper weapons.  Captain Owain Hewitt, a pioneer captain in Sir Thomas Lunsford's regiment, had received word of a Parliamentary recruiting station that had been set up at an Inn called "The Pleasant Pig" outside of Banbury.  The innkeeper, Dennis Woode, was a loyalist to the King and had sent a message that the Roundheads had stored a large cache of weapons and munitions in the old stables of his Inn that was guarded by a half a dozen trained band  soldiers.  Captain Hewitt had few resources with many of his pioneer's out gathering provisions and scouting for the enemy so he turned to what few people he had left.  Corporal Charles Osbury and Mable Banks along with private soldiers Plunket, and Towne were assigned the task of stealing the cache and rescuing the Dennis Woode and his wife Ester.
    

Upon arrival at the Pleasant Pig the Royalist party decided to approach from the Northeast but unfortunately a patrol of sentries with mastiffs spotted them.  After chasing them about a hundred yards through the woods the Roundheads discharged their muskets unsuccessfully then turned back to the inn. 

After waiting over an hour the Royalist tried to approach the in this time from the Northwest.  Again they encountered the patrol and the mastiffs caught their sent barking loudly at their position.

Mable Banks attempted to convince them that she needed their aid but as she stepped out from behind a tree she stumbled and her cloak slipped revealing that she was armed.  Using her crossbow she dispatched one of the mastiffs then turned and ran.

Miss Banks was shot by one of the Roundheads as she fled over the hill towards the rest of her party. 

The mastiff that was chasing Miss Banks turned on Towne.  One of the Roundheads drew his backsword and engaged Corporal Osbury but he was cut down.  

The rest of the Parliamentarians had arrived and the two parties exchanged shots.  Towne was struck by a musket ball but remained in the fight.  Corporal Osbury shot one of the Roundheads with a pistol but only lightly wounded him.

The remaining sentry gallantly picked up Miss Banks in an attempt to get her to the safety of the Inn before she died.

Corporal Osbury drew his backsword and dispatched the remaining mastiff that was attacking Towne.

The sentry managed to get Miss Banks to the Inn where the Innkeeper's wife was able to help stabilize her.   

Corporal Osbury picked up the Musket of the Roundhead he ran through and the two parties exchanged a couple of volleys of musket fire.  Two of the Parliamentarians were shot down in the exchange.   

The Roundhead sergeant and the surviving private fled for a more covered position of the stables ducking Royalist fire as they ran.

Despite his gallantry, being loyalist to the King the Innkeeper and stable hand set on the sentry with club and pitchfork.

Taking the hill the Royalist exchanged more fire with the sergeant and private but due to the good cover both parties had no shots struck their targets.

Seeing one of his men in trouble the Roundhead sergeant charged the stable hand cutting him down with his halberd.

Plunket was shot down by the man at the stables.  Osbury and Towne returned fire but missed again.

After another exchange Towne and the Corporal managed to dispatch the musketeer at the stables.  Towne rushed over to tend to Plunket.  

Corporal Osbury moved down the hill and shot the Parliamentarian Sergeant.  The Innkeeper and his wife continued their melee with the last Roundhead.    

Being heavily outnumbered at this point the last Parliamentarian fled down the Road towards Banbury.

Towne managed to stabilize Plunket just before he bled out on the hill.  He then gathered his comrade up and carried him to the safety of the Inn.

Corporal Osbury chased the remaining Roundhead down the Road.  The soldier turned and shot him but only lightly wounded him.

The Parlimentarian soldier continued to flee and it looked like he might get away but Osbury managed to take him down with a long ranged shot.

The Roundhead Sergeant and one of his men managed to survive their wounds. and they were taken captive by the Royalist party.  The Inkeeper helped Corporal Osbury and Towne load the arms and munitions onto a wagon while Plunket and Mable Banks rested.  Though they had all been wounded the Royalist party decided to return to their camp with their prize, prisoners, and the rescued loyalist.

Back in camp at Edgecote Captain Hewitt praised the party for their success.  Being wounded in the skirmish the four Royalist stayed in camp the next day and did not participate in the Battle of Edgehill which resulted in a draw although due to their efforts many Royalist were able to participate in the battle with proper equipment.

Note:  This was the first session for a Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition game I am running for my wife and son.  It is a strict historic game with no magic or fantasy elements because my son is not a big fan of fantasy settings.  We are using just the Fighter and Rogue classes that are appropriate for such a game but they are very flexible with numerous options to create historic style adventurers.  My son is out of school for the quarantine and my wife is working from home so we will be doing some short games to pass the time and perhaps do something educational as well.