Wednesday 27 May 2020

Roundway Down Scenario published


Roundway Down was a really unusual and exciting battle in which a modestly-sized Royalist force, entirely of cavalry, launched a desperate uphill charge against a superior Parliamentarian army. Incredibly, they prevailed – perhaps you can, too!

The Battle of Roundway Down Scenario is a digital file, designed for the TtS! For King and Parliament English Civil War rules, but adaptable for use with other rule systems, too. It is a medium-sized battle with only 21 units. It will suit two to four players.

A sample page from the booklet

The 12 page Scenario PDF includes a brief account of the campaign and the battle, reconstructed orders of battle for both sides, deployment diagrams and photos. It can either be viewed on a tablet, or printed out and bound. 


Separately available is a  booklet of  Roundway Down unit cards, designed by Ian Notter (below). There are cards for all the officers and units that we have been able to identify as present at the battle. These can be printed out on card, and used, in conjunction with the For King and Parliament rules and Roundway scenario, to re-fight the battle.


You can buy the Roundway Down scenario and unit cards (and others, including Edgehill, Montgomery and Stow-on-the-Wold) here.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

Sir Jacob Astley


Sir Jacob Astley, Sergeant-Major-General of the Royalist foot, is one of my favourite characters of the Civil War. 

He neatly book-ending the war with two fabulous quotations. At Edgehill, the first major battle of the Civil War, there was his famous battle prayer:
"O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not thou forget me." He followed this promptly with the order "March on, boys!"
At the last pitched battle of the first Civil War, Stow-on-the-Wold, he surrendered to the Parliamentarians with the words:
"Well, boys, you have done your work, now you may go and play - if you don't fall out among yourselves."
What a man!

The model is a lovely Bicorne. I think I bought him on eBay; his drummer and fifer were painted by Chris Meacham. The base is one of my circular command bases with a scalloped edge.