Willoughby Field : a scenario for Pike and Shotte

Steve set up this scenario for our latest game.  The action takes place in the summer of 1648.  A mixed Royalist force under Sir Philip Monckton (approximately 500 strong,)had been forced to lead Pontefract as the town could not support both his troops and the Royalist garrison.  Forced to live off the land, the Royalists had moved through North Lincolnshire and eventually captured Lincoln.  There had been little resistance as Parliament had its hands full trying to suppress Royalist risings in the South East of England and South Wales.  This threat needed to be nullified and Sire Edward Rossiter was placed in command of the Parliamentary forces to defend the Midlands.  Trained troops were in short supply and all that was to hand were the locally raised cavalry who were no more than raw levies.  Gathering together what was available (c500 horse), Rossiter headed north arriving at Lincoln to find that the Royalists had already left, moving towards Gainsborough.  Here, Monckton found his progress blocked by c600 horse and dragoons from Yorkshire, so he headed back south west towards Nottingham, hoping to draw reinforcements from the Midlands Royalists. Pursued by Rossiter, Monckton decided to make a stand at Willoughby, about 6 miles from Nottingham.  Rossiter's force was all cavalry, mostly rated as raw.  Monckton had four units of commanded shot which he deployed in support of his cavalry.  A complication for the  Royalists is that they are accompanied by supply wagons which they must get off the field safely.

The starting position, Rossiter's forces nearest the camera

Rossiter needs to attack.  Inflicting heavy casualties on the Royalists would constitute a minor victory, capturing the wagons and inflicting heavy casualties a major victory.  For Monckton he needs to inflict sufficient casualties on the Parliamentarians to dissuade them from pursuing him and preserve his supply wagons.

Rossiter and Hacker ready to attack

Monckton with Byron's foot in support

As you can imagine, with all this cavalry the action was rather confused, with units attacking, falling back and rallying and then attempting to attack again.  To the left of the road, the leading units of Hacker's brigade (on the extreme left) attempted to charge the enemy.  One unit did charge, but misjudged the distance and ended up some way short of its target.  As a result it was shot at by the supporting Royalist musketeers, became disordered and was then charged  by the Royalist horse.  The unit to its right had failed their command test so did not move, but a unit in the second line was able to move forward, but not far enough to support their colleagues.  In the subsequent melee, the Royalists prevailed and the Parliamentary horse routed back, disordering their colleagues who were then hit by the pursuing Royalists.  This second unit also lost heavily and routed, leaving Rossiter to ponder whether just letting the Royalists escape may have been a better option.

First round to Monckton's horse

Rossiter's own brigade and that of White on the right had both failed to move.  White's objective was to drive off Stanhope's horse and then capture the wagons, but his failure to move was not too serious as the Royalist wagon master was slow to get his men and wagons moving.

Hacker's brigade was given a brief respite as the successful Royalist horse had suffered heavy enough casualties to prevent it charging again as it needed to rally.  Before it could do so, one of Hacker's remaining units charged and caught it at the halt. The Royalists managed to hold their ground and gave time for another of Monckton's units to add their weight to the melee.  Hacker had been allocated the reserve horse by Rossiter and he sent one of these into the melee as well.  Rossiter had decided that he needed to drive off Byron's foot to ease the way for his horse.  With no pikemen, the Royalist musketeers were vulnerable to horse, but once again not appreciating the distance to the enemy cost the Parliamentary horse dear.  As they closed the horse took a devastating volley which cooled their ardour.  Nevertheless they managed to come to blows, but they could not break the foot, both sides having to fall back to rally.  This left Rossiter's men vulnerable to a volley from the second of Byron's units which forced them back still further.

Another Royalist success

 Meanwhile, White had at last managed to get his units moving and taken on Stanhope's horse.  Like the action on the other flank, the advantage swung back and forth.  Stanhope's men got the better of the first engagement, but that unit was routed by a second of White's units.  Other units joined in, the mass of swirling horsemen meant that Stanhope's detachment of musketeers were unable to get a clear shot.  While the cavalry melee continued, the Royalist wagons had at last begun to make their ponderous progress towards the road to Loughborough.  White could see his chance of capturing the wagons disappearing and rather than commit his final unit to the melee, he sent it towards the wagons.  Fortunately for the Royalist cause, Stanhope had also retained one unit in reserve and this intercepted the Parliamentarians just as they thought they had the wagons at their mercy.  The Royalist horse saved the day, routing their opponents and removing the threat to the wagons, at least for the moment.

Rossiter was becoming concerned at his losses; already two units from Hacker's brigade had routed and now a third headed back towards Gainsborough.  To make matters worse, the pursuing Royalists had caught one of the reserve units which had failed to deploy into line after moving to the left in column.  A unit from his own brigade had routed, which meant that half his force was now hors de combat.  In addition three of the remaining units were in need of rallying.  On the other side of the hill Monckton was also concerned.  Although his men had fought well, losses had been heavy and the long-running melee which had consumed four units (two from each side) eventually ended in favour of Parliament, resulting in the Royalist participants routing.

Parliamentarian numbers at last prevail

On the Royalist left, Stanhope's force was crumbling.  Worn down by their losses, the Royalist horse were one by one routed.  Stanhope did manage to rally the units, but all were shadows of their former selves.  Fortunately the Royalist musketeers now played their part, firing volleys to rout Parliamentary units already shaken by their combat.  White's men just did not have the strength to break through the thin lines facing them to reach the wagons.

Rossiter was also beginning to accept he would not be able to drive off the forces facing him.  Even if he disposed of the cavalry, he would struggle to displace the commanded shot from behind hedges.  All he could do was to watch the battered Royalist force fall back towards Loughborough though it would be a long time before they would have the strength to take the field again.