GAJO Games

Our mega game for August used the Pike & Shotte rules, and covered the First Battle of Newbury during the English Civil War. The background ot the battle is as follows.

After a series of Royalist victories, King Charles had laid siege to Gloucester. The Parliamentarians mustered their only remaining field army, under the Earl of Essex, which marched toward Gloucester and managed to raise the siege.

Essex’s Army was now isolated, and he began a retreat toward London. Charles pursued him, and then managed to cut off his path near Newbury, forcing a battle. Essex launched a surprise dawn assault on the Royalist position, and a series of confusing back and forth advances led to the near encirclement of the Parliamentarians, but a strong stand by the London Trained Bands held out until nightfall.

This allowed the Parliamentary army to escape, and return to their base of London.

We had 8 players on the day. The fighting was heavy right from the start, with the Royalist forces struggling to position themselves to block the Parliamentary advance. The fighting in the center was back and forth, while in the north near Newbury the forces struggled to engage through poor command rolls.

The battle was in doubt for some time, but a gap on the Royalist left saw a large force of Parliamentarians penetrate the line, negating the Royalist blocking position and giving the Parliamentarians a victory. Great fun!