Battle Of Edgehill 1642 - Part 1 Set Up

Another big favourite here at YG is the English Civil War and it's hard to believe that it is over 3 years since this lot last saw the light of day !

Edgehill is of course the first major action in the ECW and many who saw action that day would be getting their first taste of battle. I have decided to break this up into two reports, this the first on will cover the set up and orders of battle whilst the follow up will cover the refight itself.

Information on the Battle is avaliable from a multitude of sources so I don't intend to harp on about the build up but instead give you a wargamers view of setting up the clash.

Parliament Cavalry on the trot

A Word on Rules and the like

Like most periods we are a little off piste when it comes to rules, for the ECW we use a modified version of Forlorn Hope. I "modernised" the basics over 10 years ago and they have worked well ever since.

The figure ratio for the game is approximately 33:1 and that has worked perfectly for this particular battle in terms of figures avaliable and the 12 x 6 table here. One good thing carried over from the original set is that each Infantry unit has a set number of figures and rather than individually counting Pike numbers and Shot numbers the unit is given a ratio of Pike to Musket.

Figures are 28mm from a collection of manufacturers including Perrys, Bicorne, Warlord and Renegade.

Royalist Foot Advancing early in the Battle

Table Set Up and Terrain 

For this I have used the medium of video ! How modern of me. For some reason the sound didn't work on the footage so I have gone for some snazzy subtitles in stead.

I managed to locate a number of maps of the Battle all of which differed in some way. The troop set up seems to be pretty constant but some maps show enclosures, a brook, small woods etc it's difficult to tell what was present on the day and what is a modern interpretation.

However I don't recall reading of the terrain having any massive affect on the Battle so I chose to leave the table relatively sparse and just the the armies get on with it.

Orders of Battle

There is a very good OOB at the link below,

http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/edgehill-campaign/order-of-battle

So the list below is my interpretation of that for the game with the following notes,

1. Forlorn Hope rules have army lists for each year of the war in each theatre, these generate troop morale classes, pike:shot ratios etc by rolling dice, this is how the factors have been determined. So for this stage of the war there are no Veteran Infantry.

2. We rolled particularly well for Ruperts Cavalry but if you don't I would suggest for realisms sake that if you have a "name" unit in a brigade, roll up the entire brigade and allocate the best rolled factor to the best unit.

3. I was unable to find any break down of the total numbers (on the orbat above) other than Rupert having around 1700 Cavalry vs 1300 to his fore. Therefore I have had to estimate the size of the infantry units dividing the numbers present by 33 and then filling up the numbers required in each area with the units in our collection. Our rules need Infantry units at least 16 figures and Cavalry of at least 6, so the eagle eyed will notice the odd unit missing in name from our game, however the men of that unit have been spread across that particular command.

4. Forlorn Hope has a sub morale class of Elite, this can be tagged to any units basic morale and reflects an over confidence not necessarily linked to ability.

Prince Rupert, Standard Bearer and of course his dog "Boy"

The Royalist Army

C in C King Charles LV1
General of Foot Sir Jacob Astley LV2
General of Horse Prince Rupert LV3 (may not use LV to stop pursuits)

Prince Maurice Brig of Horse LV2
Ruperts Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Kings Lifeguard - Raw Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Maurices Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Prince of Wales Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Byrons Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Byrons Horse - Trained Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Ruperts Cavalry 

Charles Gerrard Brig of Foot LV1
Gerrards Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Dyves Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Duttons Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Col Fieldings Brig of Foot LV1
Fieldings Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Lunsfords Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Bolles Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Royalist Foot 

Wentworths Brig of Foot LV1 
Gilbert Gerrards Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Salusburys Foot - Raw - 2 : 3 - 20 Figures
Molyneuxs Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Belasyse Brig of Foot LV1 
Belasyse Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Blagges Foot - Trained - 3 : 2 - 20 Figures
Pennymans Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Nicholas Byron Brig of Foot LV2
Kings Lifeguard - Trained - 1 : 1 - 30 Figures
Lord Generals Foot - Trained - 1 : 2 - 20 Figures
Beaumonts Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures

Royalist left wing

Gen Wilmot Brig of Horse LV2 
Wilmots Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures
Grandisons Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Digby Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Digbys Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Ashtons Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 6 Figures

Independent 
Gentleman Pensioners - Veteran Elite Trotters (Cuirass) - 9 Figures (must remain within 8" of the King and protect his personage)
Legges Firelocks - Trained Skirmishers - 9 Figures
Blue Dragoons - Trained (left flank)
Red Dragoons - Trained (right flank)

Forces of Parliament

The Parliamentary Army

C in C Earl of Essex LV 2
Earl of Bedford - Gen of Horse LV1
Sir John Merrick  - Gen of Foot LV2

Balfours Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Generals Horse - Raw Trotters - 9 Figures
Balfours Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Fieldings Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Brownes Dragoons - Raw Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Parliament right wing

Sir John Meldrum Brig of Foot LV1 
Meldrums Foot - Trained - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Saye and Seles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Constables Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Fairfaxs Foot - Trained - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Robartes Foot - Trained  - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Essex Brig of Foot LV1 
Essex Foot - Trained  - 3:2 - 26 Figures
Chomleys Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Mandevilles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Whartons Foot - Raw  - 2:1 - 24 Figures
2 × Medium Gun - Raw Crews

Parliament Foot and Stapletons Cuirass 

Ballards Brig of Foot LV1 
Lord Generals Foot - Raw - 3:2 - 32 Figures
Brookes Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Ballards Foot - Trained - 2:1 - Trained
Holles Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Stapletons Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Generals Lifeguard (Cuirass) - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Stapleton Cuirass - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Ramseys Cavalry 

Sir James Ramseys Brig of Horse LV1 
Drapers Horse - Raw - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Balfours Horse - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Bedfords Horse - Raw - Trotters - 6 Figures
Mordaunts Horse - Trained - Trotters - 6 Figures
Peterborough Horse - Trained  - Trotters  - 6 Figures

Independent 
Yellow Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (right wing)
Red Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (left wing)

The Yellow Dragoons 

So that's our set up, I'll post up a battle report next week.