Home › Forums › Renaissance › Battle of Nantwich 1644: A Polemos ECW Refight
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05/10/2017 at 18:40 #73224WhirlwindParticipant
Please see here http://hereticalgaming.blogspot.com/2017/10/battle-of-nantwich-1644-polemos-ecw.html for details of a refight of the Battle of Nantwich 1644
05/10/2017 at 21:22 #73238Guy FarrishParticipantThanks for posting that.
Really good.
I’ve played Nantwich out a couple of times, both using slightly different set ups from yours but with similar results. In one we started with Byron’s cavalry making the trek round from the wrong side of the Weaver and trying to come in on Fairfax’s rear (which didn’t work in all the mud and lanes and hedges) and the other with him already across but tired and disordered.
I’ve walked round the area (I grew up not too far away) and understanding where everyone was, isn’t helped by the Shropshire Union Canal having been put through the middle of it! – Nantwich itself has also expanded quite a bit recently.
I think Burne has Byron’s foot initially across the road facing North Westish rather than along it (which probably makes the eruption from Nantwich worse for him) but probably doesn’t make too much difference otherwise.
Cheshire normally gets written off as a backwater except for ‘Loyal Chester’ and its potential to bring in English troops from Ireland. It’s actually quite a good place to run a ‘local’ campaign (no doubt for local people) with clubmen, small sieges and passages through to bigger things by Rupert and Fairfax. And of course the Nantwich campaign.
Thanks for stirring up happy memories.
While I am not keen on the bidding system in Polemos rules they seem to have made a pretty good fist of playing this battle out.
06/10/2017 at 00:01 #73244McKinstryParticipantI’m just curious as to whether you’ve tried Baroque and how you feel the two compare. I’ve played both and keep going back and forth as to which one I prefer.
The tree of Life is self pruning.
06/10/2017 at 05:18 #73247WhirlwindParticipantThanks Guy, I’m glad you liked it. I did do some “aerial recce” on Google Maps and as you say, the area towards Nantwich looks much more built up, although the area around Alton still looks quite rural.
I do like the tempo bidding, although sometimes I do wonder whether it is worth the extra faff over a simple DBx die roll.
McKinstry, I have never tried Baroque – I don’t think I have ever seen a game played actually. I have played Basic Impetus and thought it was okay. It is “on the list” though, primarily to try and find a workable system for Lutzen and Breitenfield for the TYW; and even some of the bigger battles of the Second & Third Civil War, Worcester and Dunbar etc.; most ECW rules seem to be pitched at a level where 10,000 a side is a big battle.
06/10/2017 at 06:25 #73248Norm SParticipantExcellent subject for a re-fight. The Polemos rules have given consistently interesting games.
06/10/2017 at 10:08 #73268HwicceeParticipantWhirlwind:
Nice report. We are currently playtesting a set for large ECW and TYW battles. The basis of it is a set for the period 1680-1720 called Twilight of the Sun King – http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/resources/C18/Twilight/ToSK.htm – published by the Pike and Shot society
The ECW/TYW version will be called Twilight of Divine Right: From Defenestration to Restoration and is only for large battles. Most battles of the era are 1 player a side and playable in an afternoon/evening. As a Polemos player you will find many of the classifications are similar for ECW at least – Dutch and Swedish style cavalry, Pike heavy, musket heavy infantry, etc. Obviously the TYW types are often different and also some ECW stuff.
Like Polemos the exact basing doesn’t matter as all measurements are in base widths.
We played Naseby last week which is about 20 units a side. A unit can be 1 or more Polemos bases. We used 2 Polemos bases per units on a 5 foot wide table.
Hopefully the rules and some scenario books will be out next year.
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