Wednesday 15 February 2012

Hoggerton Moor 1643 [Hypothetical]: Part V - Parliamentarian Highs and Woes

Mine was now a remote action (bottom left in the picture below), distanced from the main event (top right in the picture below) where the dim of battle was reaching a mighty climax:


Meanwhile my Shot tried to shoot some four legs, but suffered bizarre consequences (see below). Instead of knocking them off their horses I "skittered" them away behind my flank. An unsavory prospect for the following turn.

Note: DBR rule mechanism, I shot and rolled low (poor), the defender unable to shoot back rolled high (good) which gave the defender follow up/advance movement of the dice difference in bases, hence the gallop away by the horse in the way they were facing (away from my shot, which I guess seems quite reasonable in the circumstances). I must give DBR credit where credit is due.  


There ensued a frightening and confused melee to the flank of my Pike and Shot as the Royalist "hand-to-hand" Pistols suddenly fancied their chances (see below):


Despite being supported by Pike a stand of my shot were ridden down, but with combat success in DBR comes the danger of being enveloped by the mass of infantry. The victorious horse found themselves in deadly peril (see below):


The Royalist horse now had its flank exposed and their comrades were not on hand to counter the infantry "closing the door" by locking them in a 'zone of control'. The outcome was a fatal roll of the dice (see below):


'Piecemeal attacks' inevitably have but one outcome (see below) as my command scored its first Royalist kill of the day:


For all the joy of my solitary success there were bigger fish being fried in the center of the battlefield (see below):


The Royalist Pike were 'bloodied' but had 'got in'. They had pushed back the Parliamentarian Shot protecting our artillery and were about to strip the middle with a deadly wheel, who says the Phalanx has had its day, this one is alive and kicking.

Despite being outnumbered and inferior quality it was now "do-or-die" time for the Parliamentarian Right Wing of Horse to attempt to 'save the day'. All they needed was a good set of dice ...

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