ECW: Braddock Down. 19th January 1643

Braddock Down has been chosen to test the Pike and Shotte rules for the first time. It is a fairly simple battle to play albeit historically very brief. 

Background to the battle

Cornwall had declared for the Royalists with the well disciplined Cornish foot regiments led by the capable Sir Ralph Hopton. Parliamentarians under the overall command of the Earl of Stamford launched an offensive from Devon into Cornwall. A detached force led by the professional Scottish soldier Colonel William Ruthven advanced ahead capturing Liskeard.

A turning point came for Hopton with the capturing in Falmouth of 3 Parliamentarian ships carrying much needed supplies on 17th January 1643. Re-equipped and ammunition stocks replenished, Hopton advanced towards Devon. Ruthven, believing the Royalist force to be a rag-tag bunch of stragglers marched out of Liskeard to intercept him. Ruthven's force was primarily inexperienced Devon Trained Bands who made contact with Hopton at Braddock Down during the morning of 19th January 1643 not realising it was Hopton's main army. 

Table size - 3'9" x 3'9"

Rules - Pike and Shotte

Orders of Battle

ROYALIST

Ralph Hopton Commander in Chief (CR:9.   Traits: Aggressive) 

• 2 units of Horse - Hoptons Buffs

• 2 units of local horse

• 2 units of Dragoons

Foote Command - Sir Bevil Grenville (CR:8)

Grenville's Command (3 x regiments of Cornish)

• 3 units of pike

• 6 small units of musketeers 

• 1 unit of Forlorn Hope 

• 1 light cannon 

Travanion's Command (CR:8) (2 x regiments of Cornish)

• 2 units of pike 

• 4 small units of musketeers 

• 1 light cannon

Godolphin's Command (CR:8) (1 x regiment of local Trained Bands)

• 1 unit of pike 

• 2 small units of musketeers 

PARLIAMENTARIAN

Col. William Ruthven Commander in Chief (CR:8)
(2 x regiments of Devon Trained Bands and 1 x regiment of Cornish militia)

• Devon Trained Bands 2 units of Pike 

• Devon Trained Bands 4 units of Musketeers 

• Cornish militia 1 unit of Pike 

• Cornish militia 2 small units of Musketeers 

Col. Carew (command:8)

• Carews troops of Heavy Horse. 4 units of heavy horse 

• Carews troops of Light Horse. 4 units of light horse 

Sir Shilston Carmedy (CR:7) – arrives turn 4 on Liskeard road.

• 2 Demi-cannon. Heavy cannon 

• 1 Culverin Light cannon. 

• Artillery Train Guards. 1 unit of Musketeer Skirmishers. 
  

UNIT SIZES

A decision was made to continue with the same unit sizes I use in Black Powder. i.e. 36 figures for standard, 24 small and 48 large units for infantry. For ECW units though each unit has a 2 base depth. This reduced unit frontage required adjustments to the horse units - detail of which will follow. 

At this stage of the war the Cornish regiments suffered from a lack of muskets leading to a pike:musket ratio of around 1:1. The army lists in the 'To Kill a King' supplement suggest 1 pike to 1 musket unit. I prefer though to retain both wings of muskets whenever possible and therefore settled on 2 small units per regiment and ideally there should have been a large unit of pike to retain the 1:1 balance. However, the odds against Ruthven, already severe, would have been overwhelming. I also attempted to represent each side as close as possible to what is known to have been present and large pike units for Hopton would have been too many. 

Turning to cavalry units. To more closely correlate with the reduced frontages of foot units, the number of figures were reduced. So a standard cavalry unit is now 18 (double base depth of 3 figures to a base) with 12 as small and 24 large.

The units as represented translates to a figure/man ratio of roughly 1:7.

TERRAIN

There is not a great deal of information on the precise nature of the battlefield but generally believed to be mostly open ground with some hedgerow enclosures. Both sides deployed on high ground but these were gentle slopes not affecting movement or providing any combat advantages. 

RULES

The 'Home, home!' rule from the 'To Kill a King' supplement has been adopted for the Devon Trained Bands. The propensity of trained bands remembering they had an urgent appointment at home when danger surfaced is reflected in this rule.

The odds are heavily stacked against Ruthven but he does have the advantage in cavalry. This could prove crucial for him to have any chance of success.

Hopton himself with his cavalry on the right flank.

On the opposite flank, the two dismounted dragoon units on the left with the Forlorn Hope lining the hedgerow top right.

Hopton's centre.

Turns 1 and 2 involved primarily manoeuvering so I will pick up the action from turn 3.

Turn 3

The first to move off their starting position were the Parliamentarians with Hopton responding.

The first action occurred on the Parliamentarian right flank as Carew launches his heavy cavalry at the Forlorn Hope defending a hedgerow. One cavalry unit was disordered by a volley from the Forlorn Hope on the approach but contact was made. The cavalry easily won the contest inflicting casualties but the Royalists tenaciously fought back holding on for another round of combat.

Turn 4

The Forlorn Hope were destroyed on the 2nd round of combat but the victorious cavalry were in no state to capitalise on their success. They were now disordered and will need to recover.

The dragoons had been inflicting heavy casualties on supporting cavalry units and one such unit was sent to deal with them but failed to make contact.

Musketeers exchange volleys as the foot regiments close in the centre. The Parliamentarians enjoy early success inflicting heavier casualties and disordering many of Hopton's lead units.

Hopton's cavalry charge into the Parliamentarian light cavalry who counter-charge.

The Royalists successfully throw back Ruthven's light cavalry with heavy loss leading to 3 horse regiments becoming shaken.

Carmedy arrives with the train of artillery.

Turn 5

A renewed attack by Hopton's cavalry on the now static shaken light cavalry destroys one regiment and throws another back. To the right of the photo Ruthven himself races across to rally the troops.

Ruthven leaves his foot regiments to act on their own initiative having departed to his left flank cavalry.

Carew orders one of his heavy cavalry units to clear the dragoons from around the house. The dragoons fire off a closing fire volley failing to inflict any casualties before mounting up and evading the charge. The remaining dragoon unit keeps the Parliamentarian cavalry at arms length by disordering them.

Turn 6

A brief moment of success for the Parliamentarian light cavalry as, despite being shaken, the unit on the left successfully repels an attack. However, one of Hopton's own cavalry units throws two light cavalry units back to the high ground in disorder before turning to threaten the rear of the only successful Roundhead unit now joined by Ruthven. 

On the opposite flank the dragoons have finally been expelled from the hedgerow and house, one unit of which has dismounted to continue harassing Carew's heavy cavalry.

Grenville launches his charge but his foot regiments narrowly fail to make contact. The Parliamentarians duly oblige in their turn gaining the charge advantage. 

The Parliamentarian Cornish militia suffer badly at the hands of the superior Cornish Royalists with both musket wings either destroyed or thrown back.

The Royalists hold the line with most combats continuing which does not bode well for the shaky Trained Bands.

An overview at the end of turn 6.

Turn 7

The inevitable demise of the isolated Parliamentarian cavalry unit occurs when Hopton launches a charge on it from the front. As the Roundheads counter-charged they were struck in the rear by a Royalist unit that had seen off their compatriots in the previous turn. Sandwiched between the two led to their utter destruction. 

This resulted in the collapse of the Parliamentarian light cavalry morale with the two surviving units, both shaken and disordered, now leaving the field. Hopton has free reign to sweep his cavalry around the rear of Ruthven's foot regiments in his centre.

On the opposite flank the dragoons fire and evade tactic proved highly successful. Had any failed a command roll to execute this manoeuvre it may have been a different story. As it was one of the Roundhead heavy cavalry units broke under the sustained fire and another fell back disordered. This action prevented the Royalist flank from being turned.

Carew rushed between his units rallying morale and failing to bring any sort of coordinated assault in the Royalist foot regiments. 

In the centre when the end came it was rapid. One after the other, units of Parliamentarian trained bands decided to quit the field having failed to make any impression on the Cornish foot. The single regiment of Cornish militia in the service of Parliament (top of photo) were also defeated.

Every foot unit of Ruthven's command were now shaken or broken with nearly all in the process of retreating from the field. His entire command now broke.

A minor victory for the Roundheads came with the deployment of their artillery. Their one and only round of fire inflicted heavy casualties on a Cornish pike block leaving them shaken.

The collapse of the Parliamentarian centre signalled the end of the game. With just 3 heavy cavalry units and their artillery still in good order there was not prospect of turning this around.

A resounding Royalist victory which will result in Hopton advancing into Devon.

Another tick for the Black Powder family of rules and I intend sticking with Pike and Shotte for the foreseeable future. My aging brain struggles to cope with continually switching between different rulesets although it is not without its challenges. There are subtle differences between these rules and supplements and it is easy to forget some of those. I have created my own QRS in addition to those supplied with the rules as a reminder of those changes which helps.

I am looking at various scenarios to play next which will be a good deal more involved rather than just a clash across a largely clear terrain area and will provide a different test of the rules.