Alford Scenario updated

Alford - 2nd July 1645

We first played this scenario back in September 2019 as one of our regular Saturday night games. I've now come back to it as part of a larger Celtic Fringe project that I am currently involved with. Having done a bit more research and tweaking the units involved the scenario has been updated amd recently been refought. 

Here's a rather potted battle report of the refight....I didn't take any particular notes so please excuse any inaccuracies experienced while writing this up.

For over a month following Montrose's victory at Auldearn another Covenanter force under the command of Major General William Baillie had being trying to bring the Royalists to battle in North Eastern Scotland. On 1 July 1645 Montrose crossed the River Don via the ford at the Boat of Forbes and camped on the high ground round Gallows Hill. The next morning Baillie's army arrived in the Howe of Alford, crossing the Don at the nearby ford at Montgarrie to Find Montrose already deployed on the slopes of Gallows Hill:

 

Montrose's force is mainly made up of Gordons from the Marquis of Huntly's estates, plus some highlanders under MacDonnell of Glengarry and the veteran Irish Brigade. The small reserve consists of a small array of "turncoat" highlanders under Forbes of Skellater and a unit of rabble representing camp followers/baggage guards :



Baillie's army is by comparison a mass of hodden grey - seven regiments of mainly inexperienced pike and musket armed lowland levies and five troops of pistol armed cavalry on poor quality horses (though they could have been lancers as the Coventanters used both types of cavalry)....Baillie is reluctant to engage Montrose but is forced into action by the representatives of the Committee of the Estates. He deploys near the banks of the Don (Just off the table behind the marshy areas in the foreground):



As the attackers the Royalists move first so the Gordon Horse and supporting Irish commanded shot, led by Lord George Gordon on the right and Viscount Aboyne on the left, thunder down the hill and crash into the opposing Covenanter troops of horse, confident of victory as each troop is counted as a small veteran Swedish horse unit:





But the Royalist's plan goes up in smoke as Balcarre's and Halkett's troopers destroy four of the six Gordon horse troops in quick succession...Lord George Gordon is wounded and rides from the field......while Aboyne and his remaining troop eventually pursue one of Halkett's off the table all the way to the Boats of Forbes....opps!?!  

On the hill Montrose has some difficulty motivating the infantry to begin with, but eventually the Gordon infantry move forward, while the Covenant line remains on the defensive amongst the enclosures near the river Don.  On the flanks the surviving Covenant cavalry try to attack the flanks of the advancing infantry after dealing with the remaining troops of Gordon Horse, but they can't inflict enough damage to destroy the infantry:



On the other flank Montrose's young nephew, The Master of Napier, commanding the reserve, was very keen to join battle and advanced intrepidly across the table. His progress was eagerly noted by Balcarre's troopers, who decided to charge into the flank of the rabble rather than face the more daunting prospect of facing William Gordon of Minimore's Regt. While they managed to inflict one hit on the camp followers the other was saved, allowing the rabble to turn and face the cavalry the next turn....



Which they did manage to do, killing the cavalry unit and taking Balcarre's prisoner.

On the other flank Montrose personally led the Strathbogie Regt against the last Covenant cavalry unit, destroying it with shooting and capturing Sir James Halkett alive:



So, as in the actual battle, Baillie's infantry were left to face the bulk of Montrose's remaining forces....Clan MacDonnell swept away Balfour of Burleigh's raw recruits .....



Which was enough to make the Covenant hand over their last two victory medals to give Montrose a very close run victory.

As all four of us playing had at least some Scots connections the game was played in a very jovial atmosphere (Roy does a very good imitation of a Scots camp follower brandishing her griddle pan).

For me it was very good to finally be able to refight one of Montrose's 1644/5 battles using completed armies.....plenty more refights left to do though!

 

Battle of Ballinvegga 18 March 1643

The rebellion in Ireland that had began in October 1641 showed few signs of slowing down in early 1643 as the various factions prepared for another years campaigning.

The Irish Confederates had become a much more organised force since the early days of the rebellion. Under the Confederation of Kilkenny, which was formed in mid 1642, four regional armies were created as the basis of the Confederates armed forces.

One of the regional armies was based in Leinster.  In 1643 this was under the command of Thomas Preston,  an experienced professional soldier. Like several other Irish commanders Preston had entered service in the Spanish army and had served in Europe during the 30 years war before returning to Ireland to take part in the rebellion against Charles 1st's rule.

Charles's rule in Ireland was administered by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Richard Butler, the Marquis of Ormonde. Ormonde was under orders to take action against the Confederate forces in Leinster so in early March 1643 he marched from Dublin with a force of around 4000 men, including a large artillery park. His aim was to take control of the important Confederate garrison town of New Ross, some 120km south of Dublin. New Ross was central to the Confederate's logisitics and supply arrangements for their Leinster Army, so Ormonde hoped to capture as much material as he could to boost his own limited resources.

However, Ormonde's plan did not come to fruition, as although he laid seige to the town and conducted a artillery bombardment the Confederate garrison held on, reinforced by contingents bought in via the River Barrow. 

Aware that Preston was gathering his forces nearby Ormonde decided to return to Dublin. His forces begain the march back to the Irish captial, but on the morning of 18 March 1643, near the small village of Ballinvegga they found the road blocked by Preston's Leinster army of some 6,000 men.    

Paul and I recently played a test game of Bill Linhart's Ballinvegga scenario for our upcoming Irish scenario book we are putting together using  "For King and Parliament" rules, along with our optional Celtic Fringe add-on rules.    

The deployed armies were set up as illustrated below. The smaller Anglo-Irish force must use its artillery to assist in clearing the Confederate forces away from the road exit which the Anglo-Irish must hold in order to continue their return journey to Dublin. To win the larger Confederate force must attempt to capture the Anglo-Irish artillery and prevent any enemy units from holding the road exit for a turn. 

My plan as the Confederate player was to attempt a double envelopment of the Anglo-Irish artillery using my two large infantry brigades and left wing horse while defending the road exit and the centre with the other cavalry brigade. 

However this plan did not develop well when both infantry brigades drew 1's trying to brigade move on the first turn. Only my left wing cavalry, directed by Preston himself were able to advance, while the Anglo-Irish artillery chipped away at the cavalry in the centre. Eventually O'Bryne's foot brigade on the left did advance across the river. The Anglo-Irish right wing horse moved to counter my move, resulting in even honours with one unit of each side being destroyed. Preston had a lucky escape, being hit but only incurring a manly scar from a Anglo-Irish blade during the melee. He quickly sought refuge with O'Bryne's brigade as my victorous cavalry unit pursued its beaten foe right off the board eventually.

The right wing turned into a bit of a Mexican standoff as my raw, pure pike armed militia brigade had no firepower and could not actually charge the Anglo-Irish horse if they wished to, but this turned out to be academic as they only activated in one turn, every other draw being a 1 or a 2! So they never got to advance beyond the river anyway.  Paul's artillery eventually managed to inflict a second disorder on a unit of Irish horse before they expended all their ammunition, which was enough to remove them.

But was on the left that the game was decided. Intent on trying to advance up the hill towards the enemy artillery O'Byrne's infantry was soon confronted by several Anglo-Irish units on three sides. Paul advanced the Lord President's regiment and destroyed one of O'Byrne's pike heavy battalia, while the commander in chief in person and his impressive looking bodyguard also advanced down the road. The real game changer came as Paul managed to rally his pursuing horse (as the brigade commander was present) and then subsiquently triple activate to arrive at the exit point completely unopposed and hold it for a turn. 

The destruction of the foot battalia was also the end of my victory medals, so the Anglo-Irish mirrored the historical result with a well deserved win.  

On to one of the more well-known Irish battles of the period next as we travel to the banks of the Blackwater River where O'Neill's Confederates face Monro's Anglo-Scots at Benburb in 1646.

 

 

 

 

 

Battle of Knocknannus 13 November 1647 - Conclusion

At the end of the first session it was felt that honours were pretty well even. You can find my writeup of the first part of the refight here:   https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2023/11/battle-of-knocknannus-13-november-1647.html

The concluding session of the refight began with the Confederates moving first.....

On the Confederate right wing MacColla's infantry continued to surge forward, with one of the Muster Regiment battalia destroying Needham's battalia after a prolonged fight. Grady's cavalry though still remained unmoving at the top of the hill. 

On the Anglo-Irish right Colonel Roe observes the breakthrough to his left and determines that he must act aggressively against Taaffe's wing. His veterans are keen to fight and the centre battalia salvee charges into their opponents, doing enough damage to disburse them before then wheeling left to attempt to flank the neighbouring enemy battalia. 

Things start to go pear shaped on the Anglo-Irish left flank...... One of Bridges horse units successfully attempts to charge the nearest redshanks unit in the flank, but despite 6 attempts it does not land a single hit. MacColla manages to manuvere them to face the enemy cavalry. To try and support MacColla's infantry Grady's cavalry brigade finally charges spectacularly down the hillside and sweeps both opposing units from the field. Sir William Bridges, the brigade commander is killed in the rout!

Staying on the Anglo-Irish left there is a bit of a Mexican stand off between Bridges last Horse unit and the redshanks, while one of the Munster battalias turns the flank of Grey's remaining battalia which is already fighting another redshanks unit to its front.

On the right Roe's brigade grapples with one of Taaffe's battalias but despite two flanking attacks they are not able to destroy it. Had they done so it would have left Taaffe's wing defeated with no victory medals remaining. Broghill's cavalry sucessfully retired from Confederate shooting range on the extreme right while the remaining horse units on both sides clashed indecisively for the rest of the game.

Back on the Anglo-Irish left wing things continue to go from bad to worse. Having sucessfully blocked the first redshanks unit for a number of turns Grey's last battalia succumbs after being hit in the flank and failing its last save. Meanwhile Craig's brigade looses another battalia as well, forcing Inchiquin to hand over his last three victory medals.  

Game, set and match to the Confederates then, though it would have been interesing if I managed to destroy one more of Taaffe's units on the right wing.

Our quick post game review while packing up did not find anything too unbalanced so I'm happy with the scenario as written.  Thanks to our regular players Roy, Lester and Paul R for the chance to finally play this scenario, even if I did strike my usual "scenario designers curse" and end up on the loosing side...one day it will end :)

I'm keeping the Irish theme for my next War of the Three Kingdoms scenario which will be Benburb, with couple of smaller skirmishes beforehand to determine exactly what turns up to the main battle as O'Neill sent out two delaying forces to impede Monro's long approach march.

I hope you enjoyed the read if you made it this far.     

  

Battle of Knocknannus 13 November 1647 - Part One

Introduction

In the late autumn of 1647, Murrough O'Brien, Baron Inchiquin, commander of the Parliamentary Forces in Munster, raided and burned several Confederate garrison towns in the province, leaving them short of food. These actions saw Inchiquin bestowed with the gaelic nickname of Murchadh na dóiteáin (Murrough the Burner).

On September 20 1647, Inchiquin stormed the iconic Rock of Cashel where a Confederate garrison were quartered. During the taking of the Rock Inchiquin's troops massacred the garrison together with all the Catholic clergy they found there.

The Confederate Munster army was in no position to stop Inchiquin due to deep political divisions amongst their officers who supported a deal to co-operate with the Irish Royalists, and those who were against it. However, in reaction to the looting of the Rock of Cashel and the approaching winter threating famine conditions caused by Inchiquin’s plundering, the Supreme Council of the Confederation finally acted. In a controversial move they replaced Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry as commander of their Munster army with Viscount Taaffe, an English Catholic with little military experience.

Taaffe was ordered to engage Inchiquin in the field, despite the fact that it was very late in the campaigning season. He set up a base of operations in Kanturk, some 25 miles NNW of Cork. Taaffe’s slender standing force was reinforced by three provincial regiments sent by the Confederate’s Supreme Council from other parts of the country, along with some 1500 experienced Highland “redshanks” under the command of his newly appointed Lieutenant General, Sir Alastair MacColla.  

After some manouvering the opposing armies went into camp near Mallow on November 12 1647, with both parties expecting battle to commence the next day.

The Confederate Army

To the south Taaffe chose to deploy defensively on the high ground of the hill of Knocknannus, overlooking the small meandering River Owenbeg, which flowed along the base of the hill. As well as the advantage of the higher ground, some sources suggest that Taaffe may have chosen to deploy there in response to a traditional Irish prophecy which predicted an Anglo-Irish defeat. Taaffe’s deployment would prove disastrous in the actual battle as the steep topography of the hill meant that the two wings of his army were operating completely separately.  

Estimates to the size of the Confederate army vary somewhat, but it consisted of some 7000 foot and 1200 horse, but no artillery. With some Irish officers serving in the Spanish Army prior to the outbreak of war in Ireland the Confederate foot was broadly organised along the lines of the pike-heavy Spanish tercios, with 2 (or more) pikemen to each musketeer. The Irish cavalry was, by 1647, usually conventional troops of horse armed with sword and pistols which fought broadly in the “Swedish” style of charging home. Some native Irish cavalry still fought in looser order armed with lances and/or javelins, but these were a dying breed by the time of the Battle of Knocknannus.  

Inchiquin’s Anglo-Irish

Inchiquin’s army advanced from the north, deploying on a mainly east-west line conforming to the course of the Owenbeg. During the hours leading up to the battle there was an exchange of notes between the two commanders, with Inchiquin inviting Taaffe to come off the hill to fight on more even ground. Unsurprisingly Taaffe declined to do so.

Estimates on the size of Inchiquin’s force vary, but he had considerably less infantry than Taaffe (a maximum of 6000 foot) but a significant advantage in numbers of horse (around 2000) as well as a small artillery park consisting of 2 sakers which had been captured from the rebelling Irish at the Battle of Liscarroll in 1642.

The Parliamentary army in Ireland was recruited from two main sources. Firstly, from amongst the English and Irish living in the various English “plantations” in Ireland which were mostly established during the 16^th Century in eastern and southern Ireland.

To make up sufficient strength to defend their Irish territories Parliament also had to raise regiments in England to serve in Ireland. These were often made up of ex-soldiers whose service in England had ended with the cessation of the English Civil War in 1645-46. The foot was organised quite differently from their Confederate counterparts, with firepower being much more prominent. While pikes were still necessary for defence against horse and opposing pikemen, the ratio of musketeers to pikemen in Anglo-Irish regiments was at least 2 to 1, and in some cases even higher.        

Their cavalry, like their opponents, were armed with sword and a number of pistols and fought largely in the conventional “Swedish” style. Units of horse units raised in England for service in Ireland often bemoaned the smaller sized and generally poorer Irish remounts they had to obtain once they had lost the use of their English horsestock.   

The Refight

Saturday November 13 1647 dawned a clear but cold day, with snow threating. It took till 2pm for the armies to form up and adjust their formations to their commander’s satisfaction.  We recently refought the battle over a couple of weekends using my collection of Pendraken 10mm Scots and Irish forces using our favoured rules for this period, which are of course For King and Parliament. We used some of our house rules covering the Celtic Fringe to help run MacColla's command. 

A picture from the northwest corner of the battlefield, with the two separate Confederate wings on Knocknannus hill to the right, facing Inchiquin's troops which are organised into five brigades, all deployed roughly along the axis of the River Owenbeg. The Anglo-Irish camp is sited in the centre, behind a small wood.

The two Confedrate wings are treated as entirely separate commands in this scenario MacColla commands all his redshanks and the Munster regiments along with Grady's cavalry while Viscount Taaffe commands the remaining Confederate pike heavy infantry battalia and Castleconnell's horse. Some parts of the hill are exteme slopes and are accordingly impassible.    

On the Anglo-Irish right Castleconnell's Confederate cavalry brigade stays on the hill rather than rashly charge downhill to their destruction as they did in the actual battle. Lord Broghill does not hesitate to advance his horse up the hill in an effort to outflank his opponent.  

On the Anglo-Irish left flank the two cavalry brigades stare steely eyed at one another, but do not move, while MacColla's Infantry attempt to manuvere round the steepest slopes of Knocknannus hill in order to close with the waiting Parliamentary regiments below. The Anglo-Irish are content to remain behind the natural defences offered by the river in front of them and to engage the Confederates with their artillery and superior numbers of musketeers once they come into range.

 

Despite the heavy volume of fire from the Anglo-Irish line one of the MacDonnell Redshanks units and two Battalia from the Munster regiment charge home. The highlanders score 3 hits on Grey's hapless battalia, destroying it. Note the number of chits numbering 1 or 2 drawn by the Anglo-Irish commander in these fights! The victorious highlanders have opened the way to the Anglo-Irish camp, they can taste the waiting barrels of booze already!

On the Anglo-Irish right Taaffe's infantry manages to manuvere to their left to cover their cavalry as it clashes with Broghill's brigade, with both sides suffering losses. Meanwhile Roe's experienced infantry brigade advances to engage part of Taaffe's force. They fire furiously as they advance, but without much result on this occassion.

Back on the Anglo-Irish left Bridges's cavalry starts to advance, while Grey's second battalia blocks MacColla's highlanders from advancing further for now. After heavy fighting one of the Confederate's Munster Regiment battalia's succumbs to repeated volleys. 

That marks the end of the first session of the game. I will post the concluding session shortly. Thanks for looking if you read this far :)

 

 

An Audacious Project

H.M.S. Audacious at War 1939 – 45

 

 

 

H.M.S. Audacious is not a name that is well known in WW2 naval history, largely as she is a totally fictitious ship, bought to life to portray the Fleet Air Arm at war in miniature from 1939 to 1945.

Audacious is a half-sister ship of H.M.S. Ark Royal, but with a fully armoured flight deck as found on the slightly later Illustrious class carriers. She will make her presence felt in many of the theatres of war that the RN fought, from the icy seas off Norway in 1940 to the heat of the Pacific in 1945. While in the course of her service she may be damaged and out of action for some time as a result of enemy action, Audacious herself will survive the war to allow her service to be recorded up to the end of 1945.  

She is regarded as the FAA’s ‘cutting edge’ carrier by the Admiralty, operationally trialing many new aircraft and tactics throughout the war before they go to sea with the rest of the fleet.

Throughout her service her air group will consist of 3 main squadrons:

No 839 Fighter Squadron

No 843 TBR Squadron

No 844 TBR Squadron

None of these squadrons were actually commissioned, however their numbering does fall amongst contemporary FAA squadrons which were formed during WW2.

Audacious’s story will be told though the eyes of the CO’s own section in 839 Fighter Squadron, with the other squadrons playing their parts as required. I am using my own simple home baked air combat rules to cover the aerial actions along with Joe Lagan’s “Squadron Forward” from TFL to help fill out the narrative and events between missions.

Rather than using scripted campaign sequences that I have made in the past for the Zero shotai I depicted in Operation C and the Aleutians I will run with Squadron Forward’s mission system, but pick a certain number of missions per campaign that reflect each particular campaign. I will produce my own mission allocation tables for each campaign based on the actual activities that the FAA was involved with during that time.    

The ship’s first commission began at Portsmouth in July 1939, just as Europe is about to plunge into war. She was destined for the Home Fleet initially and after an intense work up she was declared operational, based at Scapa Flow.  Her war began in earnest in early April 1940 when the Germans invaded Norway…..

My initial time line for the various campaigns is as follows:

Time	Campaign	Air Group Composition
April 1940	Norway	Skua/Sea Gladiator/Albacore
July 1940 – March 1941	Force H in the Med	Skua/Fulmar/Albacore
June 1941	Arctic – Petsamo	Fulmar/Albacore
November 1941 – May 1942	Indian Ocean	Sea Hurricane/Albacore
June - August 1942	Med -Operations Vigorous, Pedestal and Torch	Sea Hurricane/Albacore
Early – Mid 1943	Pacific with USN	Corsair/Seafire/Avenger
July 1943	Med - Operation Husky	Seafire
1944 – 45	Indian Ocean/BPF(?)	Corsair/Seafire/Avenger

 

There are also opportunities for the Air Group to participate in operations ashore if Audacious herself is out of action – Home Defence during the Battle of Britain in 1940, Malta and North Africa in 1941 and early 1942 and Ceylon in April 1942.

There’s a fair bit to achieve before the campaign can begin. While I have all the necessary aircraft models most of them still need to be painted up and have decals added. I also need to find some suitable locally available flight bases, I have a couple of ideas but we’ll see where that goes over time.