Friend Rob and I are working our way through the Siege of Norchester campaign pack for For King & Parliament. This was the seventh scenario of the twelve presented in the pack, and I went into it a mere two Victory Coins behind Rob.

Mundaydean Lane is a “catch the pigeon” scenario where the Royalists have to escort a coach carrying a VIP passenger off their opposite table’s edge.

The left-to-right hedges on the table neatly divided the field into three separate areas, each of which ended up being fought as almost a separate battle.

Cavalry Clash on the Left

On the left hand side of the battlefield, the Parliamentarian Borders Horse, mounted on their flea-ridden nags, clashed with a brigade of Royalist Swedish horse.

Unbelievably, rather than being ridden right over, the Borders Horse held their own, and the two sides just about cancelled each other out.

In the end, one unit of Borders Horse pursued a broken Royalist unit almost into a position where they might turn and threaten the Cavalier rear - where the target coach was lurking - but the Royalists had a small unit of horse held back just for this eventuality.

Here’s a chronological gallery of the action on the left:

Cavalry Clash on the Right

The geography also sectioned off a cavalry clash on tghe right hand side of the field. Here a brigade of Parliamentarian Dutch horse squared off against a brigade of Royalist Swedish horse: this would be the brute force of the Roundheads versus the more agile Cavaliers.

The Parliamentarians took the initiative and headed straight for the enemy: their aim being to dash them from the field before curving to the left to chase down the “pigeon”.

Unfortunately, the initial clash did not go well for the Parliamentarian “Puritan Horse”, and they soon found themselves well on the back foot (hoof?) in a brutal, close-quarters melee.

Nothing went right for them…even including an attempt to pull back from the central fight resulting in an Ace being drawn.

The Royalists duly punched through the middle of the Parliamentarian line and soon it became obvious that the Cavaliers had won that wing. Things were not looking good!

The Centre

In the centre of the field, the Royalist infantry proved initially reluctant to move forward: particularly the brigade to the (Royalist) left.

This allowed the Parliamentarians to get forward and form a firm battle line well up towards the enemy lines. The Roundheads even had time to get their Border Reivers into a position where they could use the wooded terrain to their advantage.

In theory, on the left hand side of the infantry fight, I should have been able to get an advantage: my troops overlapping the enemy. Unfortunately, however, the veteran Royalist foot were having none of that, and I soon found myself under some pressure there.

Likewise, when the two lines did clash, despite a wild Highland Charge from the Reivers, I just couldn’t seem to tip the balance in my favour: things just weren’t working for me today!

My infantry began to give way and soon my last victory medal departed and the day was to the Royalists.

Conclusion

Well that had been a thumping defeat for the Roundheads. Having started the day only two medals behind in the campaign as a whole, I was now twelve behind overall!

Lots of work to do in the last five games of Norchester, something to reflect on as my troops sat watching the “pigeon” sail through their lines!