A clash of Pike n Shotte Part 1

So to game time. Thankfully we were only 1 player short, so just a little shuffle on the Parlaimentarian side. The game began with the Royalists camped upon a hill between the villages of Newton Bog and Upper Twot. They had been pursued by a larger Parliamentarian force while trying to link up with Prince Rupert. The dawn broke to find the Parliamentarians upon the field.  Riders were frantically dispatched to bring Rupert to the field while they tried to hold the high ground.

Newcastle organises the defence

Copley and Fairfax advance

Leslie and Lawson bring up the infantry

Cromwell looks to probe the right of the Royalist position

Royalist infantry pour devastating fire from the woods

Mackworth secures the Royalist left

Parlaimentarians struggle to get their infantry into position

Langdale's horse finally get moving

Tillier with Rupert's infantry finally arrives upon the field

Copley's horse have taken a terrible pounding with 2 regiments routed from the field

Ashton's infantry begin their advance on Newcastle's foot

Fairfax urges Ashton's foot on, into a hail of musketry and cannon fire

Langdale and Cromwell come to grips 

Ashton begins his assault

Lamplugh's battalion is swept from the filed leaving a rather large gap in the center

So the game is in the balance. On the Royalist right, Byron and now Rupert have arrived with a large body of horse. Lawson and Crawford have moved to try and block their attempts to reinforce Newcastle.

In the Centre, Leslie has brought up his brigade of infantry and numerous guns to support Ashton's assault across the stream. Meanwhile over on the Royalist left, Goring is keeping a watchful gaze on the remains of Copley and Fairfax's horse while covering Mackworth as he begins to realign his infantry to support the centre.

The game is on a knife edge and can go either way. If Rupert can get his horse onto the field before Leslie can box him in, he can create havoc among the exposed Parlaimentarian infantry. He needs to be quick as Newcastle is heavily outnumbered in infantry and cannon and under severe pressure.