Around mid-October I had the chance to get together with the usual suspects and try out a new battleground of sorts, for me at least. My buddy Ed has recently been doing a bunch of work and painting around the Jacobite Rebellion and some of the history and battles of that conflict.
As always, the research and extra work that Ed puts into his projects shines through...the numbers of well painted figures that he brings to bear combined with some top notch scratch built terrain combined with extensive historical research always with a much higher appreciation of the era and battlespace that I'm bleeding 1's over.
The Battle of Prestonpans
From the British end of the table, the picture below is Ed's vision of the battlespace...
The strong British centre composed of experienced Grenadiers.
The British right flank, anchored by the guns of the Royal Artillery...able to fire ball or canister...the canister proved fairly effective in reducing pressure on the right, the ball proved annoying but not overly effective.
The local militia troops, not overly high quality but willing to march forth for the King...of England.
The overall battle was fought at two different paces...on the British left, the Scottish horde pushed forward, charging hard to get into hand-to-hand contact. The British had the advantage in long range, but the Scots excelled at close combat...axes, swords, and Scottish pluck would soon put a lot of pressure to bear on the British left.
Conversely, the British right was quite orderly...the British took the time to establish themselves in a proper firing line, while the Scottish similarly took care to advance in column of route and then break into advance order once they were closer to the Brits.
On the British left, the situation quickly took a rather dire tone...the Scots were doing an excellent job of getting in close and putting hard steel to British skulls...various formations were taking having morale reductions and taking casualties.
On the right, the artillery struck first blood and put some serious hurt on the Scottish front rank reducing their numbers nicely...the canister rounds proved very effective and caused some morale disruptions...I think this was a high water mark for the British contingent...
fighting from the left flank is starting to interfere with the right rank actions...die rolls are not going well, the militia and main regiment on the right are suffering serious morale issues from casualties...
in the distance, the French intervention card comes up...they begin a very slow advance towards the battlefield. Because the troops are in close combat and arcs of fire are getting tight, the Royal Artillery cannot put any more canister fire into the Scots...they adjust fire, switch to ball due to range, and try to get some long range tags onto the French...
The right flank is having some serious difficulties...the strong Grenadier centre stands tall...
and after some very bitter fighting...is greatly reduced in strength...for most of the game, the Scots had a very good grip on the British left and made consistent, steady progress on the right flank...although the French intervened, they had little influence on the overall battle.
The main strengths of the Scots definitely laid with their close combat ability and clan/warband structure that allowed for more leadership at lower levels proved critical and allowed for more movement on the battlefield. Funny enough, the greatest achievement for the British came through a chance event when it was revealed that the Colonel...who was ill and billeted in another town away from the fighting...turned out to be 'okay'...it had the effect of ensuring that the Scottish cavalry could not intervene on the left flank...every time a British soldier fell, a skull was crushed, another regiment was routed...it was all okay, cause thank God the Colonel was okay...
the glorious dead...Scottish and British casualties...although I must admit I think those were mostly British troops...
