20th October 2019 face to face game at Little Gaddesdon

Hi all

Hot on the heels of the scheduled 22nd September WW1 game (sign up here if you havent already https://xoyondo.com/dp/azEsjfrFhKIkNS3) we have an ECW mini campaign using the well tried mechanism of previous ECW games. A taster is will follow.

Please sign up asap here https://xoyondo.com/dp/Y7UDRO2LchZV3Pv to ensure we can allocate meaningful roles to everyone.

Thanks in advance.

Have a great summer.

Steve

It is August 1643.  During the spring the Royalists advanced on various fronts, occupied much of the SW and stormed the major seaport of Bristol.

Summer proved less successful for the King.  A failed siege of Parliamentarian-held Gloucester cost him a lot of men.  His main army has therefore moved N up the River Severn to rendezvous with Vaughan, and draw badly-needed foot from the latter’s local Welsh forces.  This has also enabled him to drive-off local Parliamentarian forces under Brereton, which were threatening Shrewsbury.

The King’s absence so far N has enabled Parliament to counter-attack elsewhere however.  Their main army under the Earl of Essex has just taken Banbury, a key Royalist stronghold, which formerly protected the King’s wartime capital, Oxford.

Another Parliamentarian army under the darling of London, Sir William Waller, has advanced deep into the West Country.  The outnumbered Royalist western army under Hopton has fallen back into loyal Devon to draw additional recruits.

In a further blow for King Charles, the rich counties in East Anglia have formed the Eastern Association, and are raising a third Parliamentarian field army under Manchester.

In better news for the King, there are rumours that his viceroy in Ireland is close to negotiating an armistice with the Catholic Confederate rebels there.  If this be true, the Royalists might be able to bring back veteran troops from Ireland.

There are now two months or so before winter brings an end to major operations for the year.

Here is a more detailed map which shows the garrisons currently maintained by the Royalists (blue) and Parliament (red).

On the day, each player will each be given a larger laminated version of this, which they can mark-up with washable pens to record any changes in possession and the movements of the armies, as far as they know them.

You will see that both sides maintain a large number of garrisons.  These absorb in total many thousands of troops, but are necessary for control of the countryside, the levying of 'taxation' and the drawing of the supplies on which the field armies depend.

There are certain regions where one side is dominant.  Parliament controls London, the south east and East Anglia, whilst the King retains sway over Wales and much of the south west.  Nevertheless control is contested over most of the midlands.

Martin (J)

A note on the various commanders

The game will feature a number of leaders, of greater or lesser importance.  As a player, you will normally take the role of an army commander, but will have the ability to summon forces from more junior regional commanders if you are operating in their area.  Of course they may not always turn-up!  See below…….

Whilst the troops in the main armies will march anywhere, those in the smaller regional forces, and in garrisons, are mainly local men, who have sometimes enlisted to protect their homes.  Their colonels are often local bigwigs.  Some of them will leave their garrisons if so ordered, but won't go very far, and will expect to return to them when current operations are complete.

In terms of quality, these regional forces are not usually as well-trained as the main armies.  They can nevertheless provide a very useful temporary accretion of strength.  

Royalist army commanders

King Charles.  As well as being the monarch, he is the senior Royalist commander.  Has little previous military experience, but seems to be learning from those who have.  So far, seems determined to defend his ‘divine right’ to rule.

Sir Ralph Hopton.  Has had some military experience in the early campaigns of the 30 Years’ War, and proved to be a competent soldier in his spring advance from Cornwall.  A fine old gentleman and close pre-war friend of the Parliamentarian, Waller.

Royalist regional forces

Richard Vaughan.  Regional commander in Wales.  An earl in the Irish peerage, with no military experience.  His main tasks are to defend Wales, and raise additional men to strengthen the Oxford army.

Lord Loughborough.  Regional commander in the Midlands.  Based at Ashby de la Zouche.  Energetic, but notorious in Roundhead circles as a plunderer.  He leads a mixed command of horse and foot, and sometimes operates with the ‘Newarkers’ (see below).

The Newarkers.  Based at the key Royalist fortress of Newark on Trent, their field forces are mainly cavalry.  These troopers have acquired an evil reputation for their widespread rapine and depredations.


Parliamentarian army commanders

The Earl of Essex.  The Parliamentarian generalissimo.  A grandee with a fair amount of military experience, gained in the 30 Years’ War in Europe.  He recently achieved a major success in forcing King Charles to raise the siege of Gloucester.  He has always stood against untrammelled royal power, but does not wish to see the King humbled.  Twice married and twice cuckolded (reputedly).

The Earl of Manchester.  An aristocrat of little military experience,  although he has previously served as a colonel under Essex.  Politically, something of an unknown quantity.

Sir William Waller.  Has had some military experience on the Continent, including a spell in Venetian service.  He won acclaim early in the war for his part in the capture of Portsmouth, and subsequent operations at the head of an army.  A heavy defeat at Roundway Down has not dented his self-confidence, and he remains the favourite of the City of London.

Parliamentarian regional forces

Lord Grey of Groby.  Young regional commander in the Midlands, of no previous military experience.  No lover of the King!  Has has displayed initiative in his current role, and has strong support in Parliament.

Edward Massey.  Regional commander based at Gloucester.  A professional soldier who knows his business.  Played a key role in defending Gloucester during the summer, and is prepared to go on the attack whenever the Royalists take the pressure off him.

Sir William Brereton.  Regional commander in Cheshire and Staffordshire.  An energetic commander, who makes the most of what few resources he has.  Sometimes operates with Parliamentarian forces from Yorkshire (further N off-map).

If you fancy playing a particular army commander, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Martin J

English Civil War Armies

Your army will be mainly composed of foot (infantry) and horse (cavalry).  



The foot were organized in regiments and brigades, with a mixture of pikemen and musketeers.  The ideal, not always attained, was a ratio of 2 musketeers to 1 pikeman.  Rather than distinguishing between these types, we will regarding your foot as a mixture of the two, at least a the campaign level.  

Similarly, your horse actually might include a small number of dragoons.  By 1643 however most dragoons seem to be have been dispersed to garrison service, so for the purposes of this game we are not dealing with these as a separate combat arm.  

Your armies will contain varying proportions of veteran troops, which may be a significant factor in any battle.  The term ‘veteran’ here covers a multitude of sins, including experience, training, motivation, and also having a high proportion of musketeers.  As army commander, you will have an opportunity to train troops in order to improve their quality.

In addition you will also have field artillery.  At this period, the artillery is much less effective in battle than it was to be later.  You may also have access to heavy siege artillery, which is slow-moving but very useful in sieges.  

Parliamentarian commanders will occasionally have the services of brigades from the London Trained Bands.  Although amateur soldiers, they are sometimes better-trained than the cash-starved regular forces.  They also tend to have a full complement of muskets.  Depending on how much the pay of the regulars is in arrears, they may even be better motivated!  However these are part-time soldiers and will refuse to serve for longer than a few weeks.

If you fight a battle, you cannot initially deploy these brigades in the first line.  So there is no question of sacrificing them on the basis that you will not have their services for long anyway.  Not that kriegsspielers would consider such a gamey tactic.  Oh dear me, no  

We have 8-9 so far signed-up for this October game, but can certainly fit more in.  If you are planning to come and have not already done so, please complete the poll here https://xoyondo.com/dp/Y7UDRO2LchZV3Pv

Martin J

Battles

When armies close for battle, the campaign game will pause, and we will fight things out using a tactical module.  The aim is to complete a battle in about 20 minutes, in order to permit a speedy return to the map campaign.  

To this end, the focus is very much on the ‘general’ level of command, and the big decisions.   Players draw up their army’s order of battle, and then fight the battle in 5 stylised rounds.  


Each army is composed mainly of cavalry (horse) and infantry (foot), represented by counters.  Some horse and foot may be designated as veteran.  Only veteran foot can perform certain functions (such as acting as a forlorn hope), and armies with a high proportion of veteran troops of either arm will tend to be both more effective and preserve their cohesion better in combat.

The battlefield is divided into 3 sectors – an infantry centre and two mainly cavalry wings.  Each army will have a player in command in each sector, for a total of 6 players.   Battles actually move faster with more players.

The army commanders involved in the battle will take overall command, and will be supported by their team-mates as subordinates.  Given that the campaign uses weekly turns – and southern Britain is not a large place – news of the battle would have reached players in a different region before the next turn, so involving players from other areas is not a concern. Only the 2 army commanders whose forces were involved will receive full details of the final result however (eg pursuit losses, and the fate of threatened baggage trains).

When drawing-up their order of battle, army commanders will need to take account of the customs and usage of the period.  For example, the more prestigious right wing of horse must be at least as strong as the left.  Umpires will be on hand to assist.


Each  of the 3 sectors of the battlefield is assumed to have a particular type of terrain.  Terrain may influence whether troops are able to perform an action and how successful they are in combat.  There are also areas for placement of reserves and baggage train guards for each army, which are to the rear of the centre (as above).

Battle is a chancy affair.  Of course any dang fool knows that the key to victory in the ECW involved defeating the enemy horse on the wings, potentially enabling a devastating attack on the exposed flank of their foot in the centre.  You will find that things are not so easy in practice however, due to the difficulty of rallying your victorious horse and perhaps also terrain factors.

You can also win the battle by winning the infantry fight and breaking through in the centre.  Will it be Cannae, or Ibera, chaps?

Martin J

PS it looks like 9 for this one at the moment, but we can certainly fit more in.  If you are planning to come and have not already done so, please complete the poll here https://xoyondo.com/dp/Y7UDRO2LchZV3Pv

Martin J

A reminder that the October game is on Sunday 20th, starting at the now usual time of 10.30 am, at the Little Gaddesden Village Hall.
We have 10 players already registered, but could certainly fit more in.  So if you would like to play, please register your interest on the link below
https://xoyondo.com/dp/Y7UDRO2LchZV3Pv

Martin (J)


Here are some more details on the game........

How will the game be run?

We will run the game in weekly turns.  Players will normally represent various army commanders, and will therefore typically be some distance apart.

The aim is to get through five or six months of campaigning.  Given that we start this game in August 1643, armies will go into winter-quarters about half-way through the session. During winter, all players on either side, can talk freely with any other player.  Campaigning will then resume in the spring of 1644.


How fast can I move?

With frequent rest days, your army will normally march no more than 3 towns on the map (see earlier in thread) in a weekly turn, even in good weather.  A purely mounted force can move somewhat faster for a short period, but will be unable to fight effectively if the horses are pushed too hard.  Heavy siege artillery normally only move 2 towns per week.

Only the primary and secondary roads are marked on the map.  You can leave these using more minor roads, but will move much more slowly.  Large rivers can only be crossed easily at bridges, and even then this might easily take a couple of days, depending on the size of your force.  


Logistics and garrisons  

In the ECW, both King and Parliament established a form of taxation in order to support their new armies.  Actually levying the tax was always difficult, but it was important to control a wide area to maximize your chances.  For this reason, large numbers of troops were tied-up in garrisons, which usually included some horse.  

The taxes were levied in cash, food and other materials, but for simplicity we will assume that the currency of our game is measured in how many weeks of supply you have.  Each turn the umpires will tell you how successful you have been in collecting supplies.  

The Royalists were very dependent on raising supplies from the towns they garrisoned, and the surrounding area.  A larger area produced more supplies.

The main Parliamentarian armies also followed this approach, but were also were partly financed by periodic remittances of cash from SE counties and particularly the City of London, a major backer of the Parliamentary cause.  This is an advantage for Parliamentarian armies if they are near London.

Larger towns provide more cash than small ones.  The amount raised may vary widely from week to week, for reasons which are not always clear to you.  

For both sides, troops in garrison can exist on what supplies they find nearby.  Marching armies must take supplies with them however, up to a maximum of 6 weeks.  If you rest your army at one of your own garrisons, you will spend consume a lot less supply, as you can draw on the resources held there instead of using your reserve.

In general horse consumes many more supplies than foot.  There is one further specific issue which relates to horse.  The demands for fodder from large numbers of horse were a major constraint.  Even if money was available, it was very to provide sufficient fodder from more than about 6,000 horse in one place for any length of time.


What can I do each week?

You are operating with relatively inexperienced troops, poorly-trained officers and the almost complete absence of a military staff.  In general, things are only done when you spend your own time making them happen.  Given this, each week you can do only one of the following:

• Campaign Move your army in order to seek battle, threaten enemy garrisons, or to protect any of your own garrisons which may be under threat.  You will be expected to lead them, and you will need to expend supplies in order to support and feed them.

• Siege Spend the current week besieging an enemy garrison.  This may be an active siege, involving bombardment with siege artillery, or even a storm.  Alternatively you might simply blockade the garrison in hopes of wearing down their resistance.  You will need to expend supplies.

• Establish new garrison Garrison and fortify a town you currently occupy.  This allows you to control more territory, and potentially raise more supplies.  This takes a week and does cost supplies, but henceforth the garrison will become self-supporting like any other.

• Improve or repair fortifications Strengthen the defenses of one of your garrisons.  This will costs supplies, representing materials and for feeding and paying the extra labourers you will need to employ.   Assume that improving fortifications for a small town will take a week, and a large one 2 weeks.  Repairs to existing fortifications damaged in a siege may take less.

• Evacuate garrison You may wish to do this if you find the garrison is no longer serving any purpose, or is threatened by an enemy army.  Or you are short of troops!  If you are willing to spend a week, your troops will slight the defenses and destroy any stores before they leave.  This does not cost supplies, but you may face resistance from the garrison commander and/or his troops, some of whom may be inhabitants of the town.  You and your army will need to be there to make it happen!

• Raise troops Attract new recruits by beat of drum, and cajoling local dignitaries, at your current location.  You do not have control of what you will raise, which depends on who turns up, and the attitude of local dignitaries.  If you conquer a new area, there is a better chance of finding lots of new recruits there.  Depending on how many men you raise, this may cost supplies in order to pay the new men an initial bounty, and equip and feed them.   Horse will cost considerably more than foot, but may occasionally turn up with their own horse and equipment, as they tend to be from the better sort of person.

• Train troops This may be a good idea if your army contains a lot of new recruits.  Trained men (represented as 'veterans' on the battlefield) fight more effectively.  You need to be at one of your garrisons to do this, but there is no supply cost, as you are drawing supplies from your existing depots.

• Make detachment You can send a detachment to reinforce a friendly player or regional commander.  Be very cautious about doing this, particularly if they are some way away, as the detachment will be very vulnerable if caught by an enemy army.  Be equally cautious about detaching precious troops who may never be returned!

• Grand Forage This represents putting all your effort into collecting supplies, and the wagons to transport them.  You will need to do this periodically, as you only carry a maximum of 6 weeks supply.  It will be more effective if you are based on a network of your garrisons, as the latter will know the area and what can be extracted from it.

In addition to one of the above actions, you can:  

 summon regional commanders to meet you at a rendezvous you specify.  Ideally this should be near their area of operations.  If they arrive, they will not necessarily bring all of their troops, as they have other, local, responsibilities.  They may also start consuming your supplies!

 Parliamentarian commanders (only) with a LOC to London can request reinforcements.

 send a spy to any point within 5 towns of your current position, and hopefully obtain useful intelligence at the end of the week.  Spying is a dangerous business however, and the spy may not succeed, or even be lost.

There follows an AAR for our last game.  We are indeed fortunate that reflections on the two campaigns were found among HRH King Charles' papers after his untimely death at the hands of his loyal subjects.  They appear in blue............

Martin J


August 1643

The King moved south from Bridgenorth and ordered Vaughan to join him at Tewkesbury with his Welsh recruits.  He then made a grand forage.
[Carolus Rex – I thought about marching east where the large Parliamentary towns of Stafford, Derby and Leicester seemed vulnerable, and I might even catch Manchester’s new army before it had properly formed. However, I was concerned about Hopton’s outnumbered army in the West, and saw a chance to insert myself between Essex and Waller, thus improving Hopton’s position. However, moving further south than Worcester was a mistake, since it put me too far away from Essex to make a sudden strike against his inferior army]

Meanwhile the Parliamentarian Earl of Essex moved from Banbury and summoned the Royalist garrison at Burford, but the latter held fast, ands prepared to withstand a siege.
The King’s spy was captured at Banbury and hung.  An appreciative crowd of all ages looked on.

In the southwest, the Royalist commander Hopton moved east to threaten the port of Channel port of Poole.  

Waller meanwhile was low on troops and even lower on supplies, so he remained at Warminster, and conducted a grand forage.

As the month ended, the Parliamentarian garrison at King’s Lynn declared for the King, and other Royalist sympathisers from elsewhere in Norfolk began to join them.
[Carolus Rex – I now regretted not marching east!]



September

The Parliamentarian Earl of Manchester was ordered to move north to King ’s Lynn with his embryonic new Eastern Association army.  He immediately commenced a blockade of that place, which by now had a strong garrison of 1,500 men.

Vaughan’s troops were eating the King out of house and home, so he sent him back to Wales, but retained the 2,000 best-trained of his newly-raised Welsh foot.  He then advanced on Burford to confront Essex.

The latter was almost out of supplies, and also by now twitchy that he was heavily outnumbered (which he was!).  He therefore pulled back to Banbury.  The King then pursued him, so Essex wisely retreated further through Bichester and then northeast to Newport Pagnell.
 
This opened the route to London, so the King Advanced to Aylesbury.  This put pressure on Parliament, as the London populace was always concerned at any Royalist garrison so near the capital.

Now re-supplied, Essex took the courageous step of leaving London uncovered, and now commenced a long march towards the south-west, taking Burford on the way, at the second attempt.

The King’s new spy was captured on the road.  After due process, his entrails were burnt before his very eyes at St Albans.  Once again there was a good crowd, and excellent pastries were reportedly provided by Mrs Miggins.

With local Royalists now in short-supply, the energetic Parliamentarian local commander Massey, advanced from his base at Gloucester and stormed Cirencester.  Combined with Essex’s advance, this cut off the King’s capital at Oxford from Wales and the south-west.

In the southwest, Hopton stormed Poole, then recruited more men, and also replenished his supplies from a fruitful area.  Meanwhile he sent his spy to assess the strength of Parliamentarian garrisons at Portsmouth and other places.  This threat was effective, as it persuaded Parliament to pull their fleet from the Irish Sea to hopefully prevent any more of the important Channel ports from being lost.

Waller had by now collected supplies and advanced boldly to Bristol, which a spy’s report had indicated was under-garrisoned.  [Carolus Rex – I was not informed of this situation by my lackeys, who consequently suffered the full force of my displeasure] On arrival, he ordered an immediate storm, which succeeded at little cost.  This was a major coup for Parliament, which emboldened the London populace, who ceremonially burned the King in effigy.

(NB although no-one complained, I was probably at fault here, for not having given the Royalists guidance either on the importance of Bristol – the second city in England – or the weakness of the garrison)

October

The King stormed Aylesbury, and then conducted a grand forage.   This was not particularly successful, as he did not control a large area.  He was also suffering from a lack of intelligence, and could not understand why he was experiencing difficulties in recruiting further spies!]

Essex continued moving into the southwest and reached Amesbury before the bad weather curtailed operations.  

At the same time, Hopton attempted to storm the nearby Parliamentarian garrison of Salisbury, but this failed with the loss of 500 men.  

Waller conducted army training, and also made what plans he could to re-garrison Bristol.  He allocated an increased garrison of 2,000 men.  The city is always a difficulty.  It provides a great deal of logistical support to whichever aside holds it, but is very large, so it is difficult to garrison it securely.

By now winter was closing in, and the armies went into winter-quarters , as follows:

King – Oxford
Hopton – Shaftesbury
Essex – St Albans
Waller – Bristol
Manchester – Cambridge
[Carolus Rex – I am not clear how Essex got to St Albans, since he was last heard of in the Cotswolds, and had I heard of him marching east, I would certainly have blocked him. Something for Martin to consider for future iterations, perhaps]

Winter

The result of the late 1643 campaign had offered some encouragement to both sides, and was probably broadly even.

The King had gained Aylesbury, which was a thorn in the side of Parliament, and Hopton’s threats against the Channel ports had drawn Parliament’s fleet away from its patrols in the Irish Sea.  This was potentially of great benefit to the King, as an armistice with the Irish rebels was near agreement, and Royal troops serving in Ireland would soon become available for return to England.

On the other hand, Parliament had re-taken King’s Lynn and eliminated Royalist factions in Norfolk.  They had also captured the major prize of Bristol.

Both teams were now at liberty to deal with diplomatic issues, and also meet face-to-face and plan their campaigns for the spring of 1644.

The King quickly endorsed the ‘Cessation’ of hostilities negotiated by his viceroy in Ireland with the Catholic rebels.  This secured the services of experienced Royal troops, who landed variously in Wales and the south-western counties of England during autumn and early winter.

The plum of additional support by Catholic troops was also dangled before the King, but he did not bite…….no doubt concerned at the likely reaction among his English subjects if he deployed ‘heathen Irish’ troops. [Carolus Rex – correct!]

Parliament at Westminster looked to its own generals to make their recommendations as to whether to make the concessions needed for a Scottish alliance.  With some reluctance, Essex eventually agreed to support the new treaty, which was to secure a Scottish army of over 20,000 much-needed troops.  This involved re-modelling the English Church along Scottish lines, which was not popular with some factions of the army however.  

Recruitment efforts by both sides over winter were disappointing, and likewise training.  Disillusionment and poor logistics limited progress here.
 
In February a Scottish army invaded the north of England.  Although it was much lower in strength than promised, it did have the effect of drawing the attention of the Royalist Northern Army, and meant that the latter would not intervene in the campaign area this spring.  The King’s armies did benefit more directly from the infusion of 12,000 veterans from Ireland, which meant that they achieved an overall superiority in southern England.  5,000 of them were used create a new army under Byron in north Wales and Shropshire to counter the wily Brereton.  The remainder joined Vaughan and Hopton.  
(NB historically, these troops had discipline problems, and some were actually pro-Parliament, so I treated them as recruits for game purposes).



April 1644

The campaigning in 1643 had seen much activity but no major battles.  The spring campaign was to be very different!

The Royalist commander in Wales, Vaughan, had been reinforced by 3,000 troops from Ireland, and the King ordered him to besiege Gloucester [Carolus Rex – using the siege train which had been left in Worcester]

Vaughan had trouble collecting the rest of his scattered troops however, and when eventually he moved on the town, his strength was little greater than Massey’s, which resulted in a stand-off under the town ramparts.

The efforts of Essex and Massey the previous autumn, had left the Royalist Oxford enclave cut-off from Wales and the south west, so none of the Irish reinforcements had yet reached the King.  He nevertheless resolved to act offensively, and considered advancing on Essex at St Albans.  He ruled this out, for fear of facing Manchester as well.  
[Carolus Rex – Actually, I considered marching from Aylesbury through Dunstable to confront Manchester in Cambridge and create havoc in East Anglia. However, I decided there was too great a danger of facing two rebel armies united together, and of being cut off from Hopton and my bases]
(NB this was wise, as Essex had already summoned Manchester to join him.)

The King instead moved on the large Parliamentarian town of Reading.  As so often with large towns, the garrison was inadequate, and it fell to a Royalist storm.

Whilst the King was making arrangements to garrison Reading, Essex and Manchester marched upon him, with 12,000 foot and 5,700 horse.  At this time, the King had only 7,800 foot and 5,100 horse.  In the resulting battle, the King suffered a defeat.  There was no effective pursuit however, and he was able to retreat with most of his army to Oxford.

In the southwest, the Royalist Hopton had already outnumbered Waller, and during winter had been reinforced by troops from Ireland.  He moved directly to attack Waller and the resulting battle near Bristol was a clash of Royalist numbers versus Parliamentarian quality.  Hopton had 12,400 foot and 4,400 horse versus Waller’s 6,400 foot and 2,300 horse.
Hopton won a significant victory in the centre, defeating two lines of Parliamentarian foot.  At a critical moment, Waller himself made a most gallant attempt to stiffen his wavering foot, by seizing a regimental flag and posting himself in the frontline.  Sadly this was to no avail, although – Almighty G*d be praised – he was not wounded.  

Things were more mixed on the cavalry wings however, and the victorious Left Wing Royalist horse were beaten-off by the Parliamentarian baggage train guards.  The Parliamentarian horse managed to hold on the other wing, and such Royalist pursuit as occurred failed to inflict many losses.  So overall Parliamentarian losses were little more than those of Hopton.  It was nevertheless a clear Royalist victory.  Waller’s army had lost its field-artillery, was demoralised, and forced to fall-back east towards the Thames Valley.

So who won?

Historically the war was not won in 1643 or even early 1644 - both sides were still too strong for one defeat to finish them, and it actually took another 2-3 years.
 
As in autumn 1643, the early fighting in 1644 gave encouragement to both sides, and all was still to play for.

[Carolus Rex – Thanks to Martin and the other umpires to running this further ECW campaign, which has inspired me to dust off BATTLES & GENERALS and my other ECW books. There were a few niggles with the rules – including a suspicion that the ‘one action only per turn’ rule was being interpreted more liberally by some umpires, so that garrisons seemed to be inserted from moving armies, for example – but the game was thoroughly enjoyable to play and I look forward to further outings of this campaign system in the future]