The Battle of Cheriton 1644

Friday saw a return to Face to Face gaming in the dungeon. I had earmarked the Battle of Cheriton as one to play when an opportunity came up, so we jumped in with both feet.

There are lots of different maps and descriptions of the battle, none agree on the numbers of troops and there appears some debate exactly which ridges the armies drew up on. The key features are the Cheriton wood which saw fierce skirmishing, the higher ground disrupted by hedges and at some point both armies are on opposing ridges.

Cheriton in our setup. The Royalists on the left under Hopton and the Parliamentary forces on the right under his friend Waller. The standard history has a numerical advantage to Waller, and it seems Hopton didn’t really intend to fight until his infantry foolishly marched off their ridge. At this point Waller seeing his chance swooped and a more general engagement ensued much of the Royalist infantry being badly cut up by Parliamentary cavalry.  I felt I needed to provide for the potential for the Royalists to move off their ridge otherwise it would be an almost impossible battle. In fact without this i doubt a battle would have taken place, the Royalist would just have moved away.

My royalist infantry had to roll at the start to see if they were impetuous enough to move forward , two regiments duly failed their tests and marched off into the valley ! My rule required them to keep moving until fired upon or attacked.

As happened historically I couldn’t just leave the infantry to be wiped out so the Royalist cavalry moves forward to support 

The Parliamentary cannons open fire in the centre

The woods at the time seem to have been fairly light so this would reduce movement and and cavalry bonuses for charging etc….unfortunately the cavalry on my right flank gets drawn into the woods where nobody can really get an advantage 

On the other wing there is a stand off , but seeing a lone cavalry unit in the centre I throw my cavalry forward, high risk but exciting and unpredictable 

Cavalry continue to skirmish in the woods unfortunately the parliamentary forces have a regiment of Cuirassiers who in the woods prove very hard to kill !

Somehow my Royalist cavalry fail to break through and the gamble doesn’t pay off a swirling cavalry battle ensues in the centre whoch can really only go one way 🙁

In for a penny the Royalist infantry in now pushing across the valley to get to grips with the rebels

Unfortunately it is too late and the Royalist cavalry is broken, with my right flank now completely exposed Hopton has no option but to concede the day and salvage as many troops as possible for another day. An entertaining battle, I didn’t roll very well at all failing on one turn to score any hits at all. The Royalists really should have stayed on their ridge but then I don’t think we would have had a battle as the Parliamentary forces probably aren’t strong enough for a frontal assault. Great to get back gaming in the dungeon.

Don’t think I had posted this but Jonathon invited me to play through his Salem Church Battle, we had a lot of fun Sedgwick did a bit better than I had expected !

Finally some nice shots from my holiday 

The Medieval gates into Verdun

Dukes of Burgundy Palace in Dijon 

Armour collection in Turin

Cittadella Viscontea di Piacenza home of the Farnese family for a while and now a series of museums

Castello di San Giorgio, part of the Ducal palace and now also a series of museums

The Sforza Castle in Milan, guess what a series of museums

Arco della Pace in Milan, started by Napoleon when he conquered Italy, but not completed by him so the inscriptions etc are dedicated to the Congress of Vienna after Napoleons downfall.

Amiens Cathederal and a beer 

That’s it for now another game on the table so another game to post in the next few days.

Thanks as always for popping by

Matt ❤️