Hopton Heath Play-Through: Introduction & Turn One

THE Battle of Hopton Heath is the third battle in Mike Lambo's solo wargaming book on the English Civil War.

It occurred in March 1643, and both sides were to claim victory, a not unheard of happening in confused fighting in which neither force is routed.

However there was a particularly unusual feature in this battle, namely that the Royalist commander, the Earl of Northampton, was killed.

Accordingly the objective in Lambo's book for the human player, commanding the Parliamentarians, is to kill the earl before 10 turns have passed (this is the only battle in which the book's earl counter is used).

The earl stays in position near the rear of the Royalist position for the whole battle.

He has no offensive capability, but enemy units require 9+ on two throws of the dice to score a hit against him, which would be immediately fatal.

As usual I will write up the battle turn by turn.

Battlefield with the earl in position

The Parliamentarians get two units each of horse, muskets and pikes, but no cannon.

I have to setup first, and one thing I am strongly bearing in mind is that at Braddock Down I failed to take care of my musketeers properly, making them vulnerable to enemy cavalry.

This time I am ordering them to huddle behind the pikes, and I plan to send the horse on a flanking manoeuvre on the left.

Parliamentarians deployed

The Royalists get three units of pikes and two each of horse, muskets and cannons.

The AI's setup is decided by dice throws

I have to say the Parliamentarian task looks daunting, but it should be remembered 'all' that is required is to kill the earl, and he is killed by a single successful attack.

I am pleased the Royalist cavalry have massed on their left flank, away from my musketeers and my cavalry. Another bonus is that the Royalist cannon units are not lined up against any of my units.

There is also a huge gap between the Royalist cavalry and the rest of the army. In the light of this I am revising my battle plan, intending to attack the Royalist cavalry and hopefully continue all the way to the earl.

TURN ONE

My six dice give me a 5, a 4, a 3 and three 1s. This means I can move four units (1-2-3 are move orders), and I swing the horse and pikes to the right.

Tally-ho!

Only one of the Royalist cannon units can fire, and it needs 8+ to hit my nearer pikes, which is exactly what it gets, demoralising my men. The other Royalist artillery can neither fire nor move as the only hex it would want to move to is already occupied.

Both Royalist cavalry units advance towards my forces, but only the right-flank muskets move.

All three pike units advance, but their moves take them obliquely away from the earl.

The earl has a bodyguard of muskets, but otherwise looks somewhat isolated