PB01 English Civil War Paper Battles
Download available at www.WargamesVault.comPrice: $10.00
Free sample counter sheet and instructions available on the Paper Armies page.
The basic set includes a variety of:
* dragoons
* generals
* foote including various musket & pike types
* horse including light and heavy types
* artillery including light, medium and heavy guns
* casualties
* rural buildings
* hedges & trees
* roads and streams
The Battle of Whalley - April 1643 View from the Royalist Side
The figures and terrain are highly stylised and to no particular scale. Individual figure height varies from unit to unit – the only constant is a base size of 60mm by 40mm for the fighting units.
The Battle of Whalley - View from behind the Parliamentarian Position as the pikemen of Tyldesleys Regiment (Royalist) advance
The viewing perspective also varies from unit to unit and both sides of the counters carry an identical image. This is mainly for aesthetic reasons – the excess blank paper can be neatly trimmed from each counter, which enhances the look of the game considerably.
The facing of the counter is shown by a pattern of chevrons on the unit “front” and by a solid block of colour on the units rear with a brief identifying label such as “Muskets” or “Pike”.
Parliamentarian Dragoons line the hedgrow on the armies left flank
In general the troops depicted can be used for either side in the conflict and any labels I have assigned to them are for identifying purposes only. You can mark each side by any means you wish – the simplest would be to print the Royalist and Parliamentarian units on different coloured paper.
Reverse view of the Parliamentarian Dragoons position
I prefer to mark the counters bases with the small printed flags included in the set – red for the Royalists and orange for Parliament. If you choose to use the officer counters for your units you could instead colour the standards to show ownership.
A sharp volley from Breretons Regiment (Parliamentarian)
It is intended that this set be used (with some imagination and adaptation) with any set of wargaming rules that is element based. My own favourite is The Perfect Captains excellent "Very Civile Actions"
available from their website.
Another good place for browsing for interesting rules is at the Free Wargame Rules website.
I’m sure with a little ingenuity you could also use it with rule systems that are based on individual figure strength by assigning values to each counter and using markers to keep track of individual casualties.
The Parliamentarian right flank - dismounted Royalist dragoons advance on Shuttleworth's Musket divisions
So far only English Royalist and Parliamentarian armies are covered – if this set proves popular I hope a later expansion will cover Scottish and Irish armies of the conflicts.
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