Williamites v Jacobites in Ireland. Sort of.

This Tuesday was another chance to play test the latest iteration of the "From Pike to Bayonet" rules. In the absence of a suitable historical scenario that would fit on the table and would allow me to test exactly what I wanted AND also be playable in the evening I set up a fictional encounter between a small force of Williamites (by Boyne campaign standards) and some Jacobites. This featured regular infantry on both sides and no Highlanders or similar. The infantry was a mix of units with only plug bayonets and some with both pike and plug.

We were blessed with an unexpectedly large turnout for the evening. I had six players, Phil, Ian, Chris K, Dave, Jon and Richard. Of these this was the first on-line game for two of them and also their first try of the rules and period.

The forces of King Billy are on the left. They have a small brigade of Dutch infantry, armed in the modern style (plug bayonets and no pikes), some Anglo-Scots infantry, a couple of cavalry units and an artillery piece. They entered the table in column, and were tasked with defeating the Jacobite forces who were masking troops besieging a Protestant stronghold and then exiting the table. 

I know less about the army of James II in Ireland than I need to. In this game they had slightly fewer units, and I used some Anglo Irish units to provide the forces, James' men seeming to dress in red and carry flags recognisable to their opponents.

I sort of lost track of who was playing who, but I think Phil, Chris and Dave were Williamites, and Richard, Jon and Ian were Jacobites.

You should note that at the start of the game neither side knows exactly what their troop quality is. They know the range of possibilities, but not exactly who has what. Hence the four Jacobite infantry battalions were allocated 8 Resolve Markers (you can see the green tabs sticking out of the back of the units). These were 1 x Fearless, 4 x Confident, 2 x Unsteady and 1 x Wavering. These were shuffled blind and then four placed under the units, the remainder being placed to one side unseen. Thus their infantry could be very tough with one Fearless and three Confident units, or possibly really rather unreliable. Values are only revealed when a unit takes a morale test, so as time goes by the commander may be able to deduce what his remaining units may be capable of. On balance in the game the likelihood is that the Jacobites will be slightly poorer quality. In practice that is not a nailed on certainty.

The Williamites went first, and moved off quickly, as befits an army led by Phil. The two infantry brigades adjusted themselves so that when they deployed into line they'd have two lines in the front rank and a support battalion each. The Jacobite artillery opened up to little effect.

For this game I did away with the initiative roll, and alternated play to avoid the chance of a double flip-flop move.

Typically for a Phil-lead army the Williamites headed forwards at a fair clip. With the scenario aim of getting troops off the far side of the table he didn't want to be pinned on his table edge nor let the Jacobites achieve local superiority on the more open left flank.

The first Williamite attack was on the Jacobite left, as Phil charged down the artillery so he could turn the open flank. There was a whole lot not completely satisfactory in this. Should Richard have been able to fire with his infantry to deter them? Was there enough space to get past? What should have been the exact choices available to the charging cavalry after they won the melee? I think in the case of the last question I should have run them off the table edge, and my reluctance to do so was because I don't have firmed up "return to the table" rules even in my head. If I'd deployed the Jacobites further forwards - and I reduced the table depth due to camera use - what followed would have been different.

The Williamites got themselves into line, negotiating the real estate problem. Chris kept his second line in march column to allow him more flexibility. Wise choice. Note the aggressive handling of the artillery near the camera.

Here's the cavalry, revealed as Fearless, rallying on the table edge.

Time for a wide shot. Richard about faces his infantry and volleys the cavalry. The Williamite artillery deploys, as the cavalry on the other wing approach one another tentatively. Ian and Jon have decided to close the gap a bit.

The Jacobite foot are revealed to be Fearless, and their volley seriously discomforts Phil's cavalry. With few other choices, Phil piles into them anyway.

Having chosen to fire at very close range, Richard's infantry don't have time to fix bayonets. Unluckily for them, Phil's cavalry pass their morale test, and press home. Richard has a melee roll disaster - even what with only his Pikes able to contribute to the fight - and Phil gets that blessed single hit he needs to force the required morale check. Richard fails it, and his battalion routs. (BTW Writing it down now I'm not so sure I got this right at the time, as I think against a Fearless unit Phil needed two hits to cause the rout and I can't see how he did so).

On the other side of the table the opposing cavalry charged each other, then rallied back, having taken a hit and some disorder.

Phil's cavalry pursue the Jacobite infantry. A brief discussion ensues about whether pikemen keep their weapons or throw them away in such situations.

A quick look at how things stand across the table. The Jacobite army is close to its breakpoint number. That's because the calculation of army points and the breakpoint level is broken. Another part of the rules that needs to go into the workshop.

Phil rallies his cavalry back, and lets the enemy infantry run. The Williamite artillery is starting to play on the left hand end Jacobite battalion.

I got the game sequence misaligned in the distance, and the Jacobite cavalry launched a frontal charge on the left hand Dutch infantry. Having weighed all of the options after having them explained to him (NB this is Chris' first game) Chris decided to deliver a close range volley and eschew the bayonet. This was a ballsy call, to say the least.

The volley kills the Jacobite General leading the charge, and despite losing the melee Chris' infantry pass their morale test and hold their ground. This forces the Jacobite cavalry to rally back.

The Williamite cavalry immediately launch a charge on the recoiling cavalry. They counter-charge without having time to rally off their Disorder. The resulting melee takes place across the body of Ian's General.

The Jacobite horse is driven back.

The infantry lines close. Phil passes his cavalry around the rear of the Jacobite army.

The firefight starts. No one has the upper hand yet, so they can't close with each other.

The Jacobite cavalry is chased off the edge of the world (the Jacobite army is officially broken at this point, but we played on because, as mentioned above, this mechanism is broken too.)

The Dutch deliver heavy fire, and the quality of the remaining Jacobite foot is gradually revealed.

The Jacobite foot is now encircled, and Phil has his cavalry in position to deliver a charge on the rear of a battalion pinned to the front. They break, and it really is game over for the Jacobites.

I have some work still to do. The exact charge/fix bayonets sequence needs clarification and I may have played it differently during the game. However, I am liking the way it is panning out and the changes needed to differentiate between pike & plug bayonet units, plug bayonet, and socket bayonet units were minimal but had the desired effect. There are some important decision points for players around this area. The variable morale system works as envisaged, so I am pleased with that.

At the request of one of the players we will be replaying the scenario next week, but with some rule changes and the players swapped over. There's been some thoughtful email exchanges on what happened amongst the group members which is encouraging and helpful.

Other thoughts? Six players in a scenario for four worked okay, even with two new players. Player discipline is increasingly important, however, so the umpire can hear orders and keep the game moving on. The important thing is to keep everyone occupied as that reduces the background noise. The use of the chat function is becoming increasingly important, which will be interesting once we go to mixed face to face/Zoom games.