The Battle of Dundoon

I have managed to fight the first battle of my OHW campaign.  As I mentioned in my previous post I have randomly selected 6 scenarios from the book and pre-selected the forces for a Pike and Shot campaign, in particular the English Civil War.  And due to the proliferation of Swordsmen infantry units in the Neil Thomas rules, it had to be Scots (complete with Highlanders) against Parliamentarians.

Scenario 4  - Take the High Ground

Sir Vernon Cottar, Scottish General in the Borders was aware of the threat from the south. Cromwell had been installed as the Lord Protector and Lord Thomas, Lord Lieutenant of the Northern Marches saw an opportunity to deal a blow against the recalcitrant Scots. And so he moved North quickly to take Cottar by surprise, only to find the wily Scot had placed a holding force on the hill not far from the Border town of Dundoon.

The battlefield after the first English move

The aim of this scenario is to hold the hill at the end of the 15th turn, being the hill on which the Scots have placed two infantry regiments.

The two Scottish regiments on the key objective

The English advanced rapidly with the aim of sweeping the Scots advanced guard away and then holding the hill against the rest of Scottish army.  The single English cavalry unit was sent up the road to delay the Scottish advance.

For much of the battle things seemed to go well for the English, although the Scottish advanced guard put up a stiffer resistance than expected, not helped by many of the English units running out of shot (too many low rolls for the ammo check).

A panoramic view of the battlefield as the English sweep across the hill while on the right flank the English cavalry is about to be flanked by some Highlanders

But gradually the main Scottish army arrived at the front and began to turn the tide.  The English cavalry on the right flank were attacked to front and flank and were eventually routed.  On the left flank the greater hand to hand fighting prowess of the second Highlander unit took down an infantry regiment.  And while it in turn was swept away by the English firepower cavalry (reiter) that had swept across the hill, this just gave time for the remaining Scottish infantry regiment to close on the hill and  blow away the two English regiments.

The English reiters are about to strike the Highlanders in the flank.  While they win in the end, the Scottish reiters manage to pull away and shoot down the English horse

The last  act was the final Scottish infantry regiment on the hill holding off the last of the English horse, routing it from the field.

Next, Cottar will move into England to exact his revenge.

This was a scenario which hung in the balance right to the end.  I thought the Parliamentarians were going to win but they were just worn down enough to fail at the end.  Firepower is king in this game and the Parliamentary forces ran out of shot pretty early in the game, while the Scots kept some firepower to the end (luck of the dice).  I thoroughly enjoyed it.