Cavaliers and Roundheads Episode 4 How now King's Cow

November 5th, 1642.  Currently stationed at recently captured Banbury Castle Captain Hewitt has dispatched Sargent Charles Osbury and Mable banks with Plunket and Towne to travel to the market at Wardington to pick up a small herd of cattle from Edmund Bray which were to be used to provision the King's Lifeguard.  The cattle have been paid for but they must be driven back to the castle.  

Upon arrival in Wardington the Royalist party discovered that Edmund Bray had been killed by a troop of Parliamentarian militia and the King's cattle stolen.  Their trail was easy enough to pick up.  They were heading east into a stretch of wooded area.    

    

After tracking the cattle thieves for about an hour they came up on the rear of the Parliamentarian column.  The militia members were having a hard time controlling the herd as they traveled through the wood.  As the Royalist were planning their attack they heard someone shout out "Stop in the name of the Queen!"  It was the Sir Roberte and his party challenging the Roundhead men.  He was apparently still under the delusion that Queen Elizabeth had returned from the grave.     

Mable, Plunket, and Towne took up a position on a hill behind the Parliamentarians and took aim at two of the men trying to catch up to some wayward cows.  Charles waited just behind the hill on his charger ready to join the fight.  

 

Sir Roberte and his party began to argue with the enemy soldiers.  The Roundheads seem both confused and amused at his insistence that Queen Elizabeth was alive and trying to regain the throne.  At first they began laughing at his but when they realized he was serious they fell into formation and raised their muskets.  

  

As the shooting began the Royalists joined the fight picking off the stragglers of the Parliamentarian militia.  

Sir Roberte and his party defiantly charged the green coated soldiers leading the cattle, taking down several of their number.  

As Sargent Osbury charged past a thicket a Parliamentarian marksman hit him in the back, wounding him badly.  

Sir Roberte continued to create havoc among the enemy troops supported by his motley band.  The green coats continued to fall back under his charge trying to find cover.  Though old and addled Sir Roberte was still a fearsome combatant.    

  

Charles spun his horse around and charged the marksman that wounded him discharging his pistol at short range almost exactly as Plunket shot at the man.  Both shots struck the Roundhead and he fell among the scrub.  

The militia scattered in all directions confused as to who was attacking them and from what direction.  A young woman in Sir Roberte's party was shot, causing his squire and another woman to charge the shooter and cut him down in their rage.  

 

Mable Banks ran to help the wounded woman and although she was able to keep her from dying she was challenged by the Knight's followers so she withdrew.  

Sir Roberte charged Charles as he came around a hill giving him a buffet with the handle of his hammer despite that fact that Charles has just shot one of the green coats.  "Stay out of this King's man!" The knight shouted.   

After the last of the Roundheads had been dispatched the Royalists and Sir Roberte's party stood apart from each other once again.  The herd had begun to scatter in every direction during the skirmish and there was a real chance most the herd would be lost.  Charles asked for a temporary truce to prevent this from happening and Sir Roberte agreed.  

With both parties working the herd was once again gathered together.  Charles promised Sir Roberte that if they helped get the cattle back to Banbury castle he would try and find better lodging for the "Queen's" court.  Roberte agreed and the whole host set off together.  

Captain Hewitt was amused by Sir Roberte and his party.  As a reward for helping bring in the herd Hewitt granted the old knight a run down manor outside of Banbury for he and his "Queen" and promised him that he would set up an audience with King Charles to resolve the matter of the two rulers.  The Captain of course had no intention of actually approaching the King about the old man's Queen but Sir Roberte fell for the ruse and was quite pleased.  

Notes:  It's been almost two weeks since we played this game but I've been really busy and unable to Blog.  We've also had another session since that I will also need to get put up.  The details about this game are a bit fuzzy in my mind but this is a pretty fair representation of the events.  I hope to have Sir Roberte show up in the future to cause more mischief for the player characters.  Eventually he will likely go away if he doesn't get himself killed but we shall see what the future holds.    

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.