Weathercash: an ECW scenario

 This small action revolves around the search for a missing Parliamentary pay chest.  The original wagon and escort had been attacked by a Royalist patrol and the officer in charge had sent two trusted men to hide the chest while the rest of the escort occupied the Royalists.  Once the chest had been hidden the two Parliamentary soldiers attempted to make their way to camp.  Unfortunately, they were spotted and although one man escaped, the other was wounded and fell into enemy hands.  Naturally both armies wanted the chest and so each one sends a force to secure the chest which is said to be hidden in the hamlet of Weathercash.

A view of Weathercash, Tunstill's Farm at the top left, Nether Barn in the centre and Allsop's on the right.  Both forces have:

1 Brigade of horse (3 standard regiments, 2 trained 1 raw,  and 1 small trained unit)

1 small trained unit of dragoons

1 standard trained unit of commanded shot

1 wagon and crew for the chest

One extra unit will be added as determined by rolling a d6

1/2. Standard unit of cavalry (trained unless roll was a 1, in which case they are raw

3/4. Small, trained unit of dragoons

5/6 Small trained unit of commanded shot

In the event both commanders rolled a 5/6 so each had an extra unit of commanded shot. The 'intelligence' was that the chest was hidden in a building.  To search a building a unit needed to spend a full move doing nothing else; combat, firing, or even supporting another unit meant that a search could not be carried out.  The location of the chest was designated by the Ace of Spades.  Before the game began, I asked my wife to remove the Jack, Queen, King and Ace of Spades from a pack of cards, shuffle them and then place one card under each building, the fourth card being returned to the pack.  Once a unit had completed one complete turn searching a building, the commander could look at the card.  It would then be replaced under the building ready for the other commander to complete a successful search.

As Royalist commander, I deployed on the table edge on the top right of the photo.  I sent my both commanded shot units towards Allsop's (the nearest dwelling), the dragoons to Tunstill's and placed all the cavalry in the centre in a position to block any Parliamentary cavalry moving past the barn.  The Parliamentarians also sent their commanded shot towards the nearest building, in their case Tunstill's.  Their dragoons moved towards the barn, while the cavalry moved up on both flanks of the dragoons.

At first, both forces moved rather sluggishly, wiith the exception of the Parliamentary dragoons who advanced quickly, reaching the barn and dismounting.  However, they then failed a command test to advance into the building, rather spoiling the effect of their earlier rapid movement.

The first cavalry clash took place in the area between Nether Barn and Allsop's.  Shuttleworth's charged forward and were met by the Royalist Molyneux's regiment.  A tough struggle took place with serious losses on both sides, but when Livesey's regiment added their numbers the Parliamentary cause prospered and Molyneux's were routed.  The brigade commander tried to rally them, but he was swept up in the rout, being carried away in the rush.

Molyneux's rout

Shuttleworth's were shaken by their efforts and before they could recover they were charged by Forbes, the Royalist reserve cavalry.  In a rather one-sided melee Shuttleworth's were routed, flowing through Livesey's, their support.  Forbes' surged forward and caught Livesey's at the halt.  However, Livesey's stood their ground and held the Royalists and were then reinforced by Cunliffe's, the Parliamentary cavalry reserve.  After a prolonged fight, both sides fell back to recover.

A pause to recover

On the Parliamentary left, the commanded shot had now reached Tunstill's, but became disorganised  crossing the hedge and again when entering the building.  The Royalist dragoons had the potential to have reached Tunstill's first, but they had failed their command roll several times and the Parliamentarians were already in the building before the dragoons reached the hedge line.  The dragoons began firing, hoping to disrupt the search, but the second commanded shot  unit approached and fired a volley which inflicted heavy casualties.  The volley was followed up by a charge and the dragoons fell back shaken and disordered.

Meanwhile the Parliamentary dragoons in Nether Barn were fully occupied shooting at the Royalist cavalry and supporting their own cavalry in the melees adjacent to the building.  Their help was particularly useful to Cowburn's regiment, which was under-strength.  They were charged by the full strength Tyldsley's and the support from the dragoons enabled them to survive the onslaught and inflict sufficient casualties to force Tyldsley's to fall back.  Both sides needed to rally, but it was the Parliamentarians who recovered first, aided once again by the dragoons who fired at Tyldsley's and inflicted casualties just as they were rallying.  When Cowburn's charged Tyldsley's quickly dissolved, routing from the field.

Tylsdley's rout

The large cavalry melee on the Parliamentary right had now resumed.  Livesey's regiment was in the process of rallying when they were charged by Clifton's, a small unit, but fresh.  Caught at a disadvantage, the Parliamentary regiment was routed, but behind them, Cunliffe's retained their order and defeated Clifton's who also routed.  They then charged the last remaining Royalist cavalry unit and swept them from the field, though they took heavy casualties in the process.

By now the Royalist large commanded shot  unit had reached Allsop's and carried out a search.  When I looked at the card it was the Jack of Spades, so no chest at Allsop's.  With Parliamentary cavalry in total command of the field there was little hope of reaching Nether Barn to carry out a search there.  In any case the Parliamentary dragoons, no longer needing to support the cavalry, had now carried out a search themselves and Steve knew the result.  With all his troops now moving towards Allsop's, it was clear that he thought that the chest was there.  To avoid bloodshed, my force retreated, leaving Steve to find out the truth: the chest was not at Weathercash, indeed it may never have been there.

This scenario provided an enjoyable evening's gaming, even though neither of us managed to secure the pay chest!