Edgehill Redux

Having only played two turns of the scenario on a small table, I decided to reset and play on my larger table. I played the game solo. Baroque set manages solo play well. I rolled randomly for which command got ordered first unless it was an obvious choice. If there was any doubt about whether to react or not, or which reaction to make, random dice solved the decision making. The scenario gives Parliament a strong center but weak flanks and the opposite was true for the Royalists.

Turn one saw the Parliament center advance and the Royalist wings advanced. The Dragoons faced off in the hedgerows and battled for supremacy. 

Royalist Gallopers charge early and drive off a unit of Reiters

Desultory fire in the center on turn 1

Turn 2 - Rupert rolls boxcars on his command roll and upgrades to Charismatic. This happened to all the Royalist commanders and one of the Parliament generals. No snake eyes were rolled. The Royalists advanced on their left with the horse but lost the duel in the hedgerows. The Parliament Dragoons would be a thorn in the side of this flank for the King. 

On the other flank. The Parliament troops were faring better. They advanced and fired with their Reiters and then charged the weakened Gallopers with thier Cuirassier unit and drove them back. The slow Cuirassier failed to followup. The Royalist Dragoons kept their opposites at bay amongst the hedge rows, preventing a serious collapse on the Royalist left.

The Parliament infantry advanced in the center hoping to come to grips with the less experienced Royalist foot. Long range shots were exchanged and a few units were disordered. The Royalist foot advanced on the right to support their victorious horse.

View from Parliament center

View from Parliament left - Rupert's Gallopers on the verge of breaking through

Turn 3 - The Parliament foot are forced to turn their flank to prevent being rolled up by the Royalist horse. The same is true on the other flank for the Royalists as the send reinforcements to prevent the Cuirassier from exploiting their success. Both flanks are showing wear with units routing and withdrawing on both sides. The Parliament foot's hopes of engaging the center are stalled as they start to take damage and roll crap to rally.

Cuirassier press ahead

Another charge for the Cuirassier

 Cuirassier rout another horse unit

Parliament foot stalled in the centre

 Elite horse flank a pike and shot unit

 Aftermath

 Highwater mark for Parliament on the right

Turn 4 - Things were looking dicey for the Parliamentarians. They elite Royalist Gallopers were able to press ahead and take out a second infantry unit with the help of a supporting foot unit. The Cuirassier were devastated by a volley from the Dragoons and had to fall back. The Reiters avenged them by blasting a pike and shot unit, routing them. With the retreat now cut off by Royalist horse and mounting casualties, Parliament troops withdrew from the field.

Gallopers rout an battered pike and shot unit

 Press of pike in the center

 Cuirassier fall back

 The battered flank of Parliament

 Endgame

It was a good game with a quick result. The game can be very decisive if you flub your morale rolls. Even one hit can cause a rout. I still find myself flipping through the rules a lot but should do better next time.