Vales of Lyndhurst: Combat at Clydesdale 1

Overview at beginning of the action, viewer facing west.
London is several miles to the north.

To begin with, I have made a couple of modifications to my previous two postings on the Vales of Lyndhurst topic.  The main one is that the first reference in each comprises a link to the original series, something I intended but forgot during the writing.  At the moment I am also considering starting up a new blog devoted to VoL.  This may depend on the level of interest.  I've made a couple of other minor, cosmetic emendments.

Looking westward along the Royalist line

The first combat in the continued narrative was as much a play-test of a hastily cobbled together fast play game system, based on the grid war games concepts I have been absorbing over the last nearly two years.  The armies were as follows:

Royalist Army:

General Sir Leopold Anders 6SP
2 Footguard Foot Battalions
   @ 5SP = 10SP
8 Fusilier and Foot Battalions
   @4SP =  32SP
2 'Light' Foot Battalions
   @3SP = 6SP
2 Dragoon Guards Regiments
   @5SP = 10SP
2 Heavy Gun Companies
   @3SP = 6SP
2 Medium Gun Companies
   @2SP = 4SP

Number of Units: 19  Median: 10
Units activated per turn:
Die Rolls: 1-2 = 9 units; 3-4 = 10 units; 5-6 = 11 units.
Total strength = 74SP;  Army Exhaustion point = -25SP

Franco-Confederate Army:

Looking westward along the Confederate line

Confederate Corps:

Major-General the Duke of Kent 6SP
6 Foot Battalions
   @ 4SP = 24SP
1 'Light' Battalion
   @ 3SP = 3SP
2 Dragoon Regiments
   @ 4SP = 8SP
1 Medium Gun Company
   @ 2SP = 2SP

Number of Units: 11  Median: 6
Units activated per turn:
Die Rolls:
   1-2 = 5 units; 3-4 = 6 units; 5-6 = 7 units.
Total strength =43SP; 
   Army Exhaustion point = -15SP

French Corps:

Chevalier de Busset 6SP
10 Foot Battalions
   @ 4SP = 40SP
2 Dragoon Regiments
   @ 4SP = 8SP
3 Medium Gun Companies
   @ 2SP = 6SP

Number of Units: 16  Median: 8
Units activated per turn:
Die Rolls: 1-2 = 7 units; 3-4 = 8 units; 5-6 = 9 units.
Total strength = 60SP;  Army Exhaustion point = -20SP

Looking northeastward from behind the French command.
The Chevalier and the Duke seem to be conferring...

Points to note:
1.  The two Franco-Confederate Army commands have been pointed up separately with each contingent dicing separately for unit allocation. 

2. The addition of the 6 SP for the second commander might be seen to confer upon the Allies that much of an edge.  That was not apparent in this first battle.  Possibly this was due to the very slight qualitative edge enjoyed by the Royalists, with two each of Footguards and Horseguards units and the two heavy batteries.

3.  Exhaustion was applied to the Allied commands separately.  If and when one command fell to its 'exhaustion point', the other was still permitted to carry out attacking moves.  The battle was to end when (a) all three commands reached their exhaustion point or (b) one side having reached its exhaustion point, the other chose to break off the action.

4.  The initiative dice rolls were Royalist versus Allies collectively.  It might have been interesting to roll per command, but a bit more cumbersome.

It having been pointed out to me that 8-figure foot units would have looked better - a fair comment - any future battles are likely to feature a different collection of kit, namely, my mid-18th Century Imagi-Nations armies, with smaller plastic figures.  I simply don't have enough 'Marlburian' figures at the moment. The grey-coats are likely to become white-coats!