Julians Birthday Bash - 28mm ECW "For King & Parliament" - Battle of Bisham Abbey

Today, Mark, John, Barry, Rick and I joined Julian at his place for a game of FK&P followed by a rather glorious luncheon, to mark the occasion of our hosts birthday on Tuesday 26 Nov - not sure which one, somewhere between 65 and 70! Absent were Chris and Paul.

When trying to find a copy of the (fictional) scenario that comes in an FK&P campaign book, I noticed that our online blogging buddy Peter has already fought and reported on this scenario here:  https://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2023/02/big-bash-at-bisham-abbey.html

We must have had fun, as I became so engrossed, I only took a few pictures - which is quite rare for me, as regular readers will attest! Anyway, here we go!

A couple of views of the battlefield, the attacking Royalists (played here mainly by Warlord SYW Swedes) at the top above and right below. Mark, John and I were the Parliamentarians, facing Barry, Julian and Rick respectively. Rick and John had all cavalry commands, the rest of us infantry.

Julian had set out the units prior to our arrival - the Parliamentarians were almost all my venerable old Front Rank figures, bought and painted around thirty years ago!

The Parliamentarian cavalry...

.... and their commander

Julians Swedes are more recent recruits.

Barry, commanding the Royalist right wing, gets up close and personal with Mark on our left.

The Parliamentarian cavalry attempt to deploy as their Royalist counterparts hold back, waiting to see what develops.

John and I obviously both missed about half the game - the bit where his cavalry advanced, charged Rick, were repulsed and then overwhelmed and destroyed! Fortunately for John, the Royalists had a second cavalry command, that had been intended for Paul to take charge of - so he changed sides and became Ricka ally, rather than his adversary - feels more like WotR than ECW!!

When next we rejoin the action, John is merrily charging his erstwhile colleagues in the Parliamentarian artillery (this actually did not matter as they had expended all their shot and were just dead weight by this stage anyway!) It took him two attempts with four cards per turn to actually finish off the gunners!

Meanwhile my infantry had "popped" one of the Royalist infantry units and killed a Royalist general - hurrah.

Barry and Mark engaged in CQB along the hedgerows.

Johns' cavalry piled into the flank of my infantry - 5 cards to zip, he got two hits, and I saved one - so the orange unit is shaken - not too bad given their circumstances

Barry had lost one unit earlier (the first loss in the game, in fact) but has now inflicted the same on Mark

But with the army points sitting at 2 for the Royalists and 5 for the Parliamentarians, I broke another one of Julians infantry units, and then also killed a second general - and that, ladies and gentlemen, was a win for the forces of liberty and enlightenment!

Rick was very upset, given the Royalist cavalry were in a perfect situation to roll up the Parliamentarian line from the flank - ah well, never mind! 😂😃

The battle decided, we repaired to the dining room and partook of a very nice array of charcuterie, fresh breads and cheeses, accompanied by three very nice French red wines supplied by John, Mark and yours truly. The conviviality over the dining table extended for a couple of hours, and we departed for home around 4pm - a most excellent way to spend a Sunday!

Thanks for visiting and special thanks for anyone who comments, I appreciate the extra effort!