Marston Moor preview

Here are some shots of Andrew Brentnall's stunning 12mm Marston Moor scenario for For King and Parliament. The table is 15' wide, with over 3,000 miniatures We hope to have this at Partizan and perhaps some other shows, this year as a participation game. The (clickable) photos and italicised text are by Tim Thompson, thanks Tim!

"Last Wednesday I took part in a fabulous refight of Marston Moor put on by Andrew Brentnall using his 10mm troops that many will have seen in pics or at shows. There were (IIRC) some 3,000 figures involved and, very roughly, an absolute ton of units. It was very much what Andrew had in mind doing when he co-wrote "For King And Parliament" with Simon.

Six of us played the game with me being the experienced one and most of the others either having played only a game or two or none at all. Andrew umpired/taught the rules. Once again we could see just how effective the rules are that you can fight such an enormous game with novices and still get to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time.

I commanded the infantry of the forces of Good which were a mixture of Scots and English with commands scattered all over the table. Andrew assures me this is historical but I suspect he was seeing what he could do to wind me up.   😀  To be fair, the Royalist infantry seemed to be similarly mixed up.

Andrew had set the Royalist breakpoint at 40% as standard but decreased the Good guys to 35% (but did not tell us until after it was all over). As is usual in a big game, I can tell you roughly what transpired in my sector but have only the vaguest idea of what happened on the flanks. Suffice to say that the infantry lines ground each other down but at the end of the day I still had a good solid line. The cavalry on my left had gained the upper hand but had taken heavy casualties whilst the cavalry on my left were all but gone. I felt that we were overall getting the advantage when suddenly we ran out of victory medals! Oh no! The Baddies had won. What sort of message was the Lord sending to his faithful servants who had been singing psalms most of the day?

So, a really good game, played in the best of spirits with a lovely lunch supplied.

Many thanks, Andrew, here's to the next one!"  Tim Thompson

Note how Andrew has delineated the Moor in the green, with the cultivated fields in ochre.