The Jacobite Rebellion (cont'd)

Manoeuvres and Marching:

With late Autumn Charlie heads up to Berwick*, but it is all too clear that, with the troops from Ireland landing at Kirkbright and George moving his men to Edinburgh, the Government now has a major force, far too large to be tackled, blocking access to the Highlands. 

Next move George, leaving a large force at Edinburgh, sends part of his now large army to Falkirk, joining up with the force from Ireland and further blocking any moves northwards by Charles's army. Meanwhile, in the far north, more clans loyal to the Government are rapidly raising companies and Glasgow raises a loyalist regiment to bolster the Government garrison there. 

In the English Midlands more Government militia are being raised, and in Dutch Flanders Cumberland and more English and Scots redcoats are awaiting embarkation. Old man Wade moves up to York.

With French help only coming in dribs and drabs, the Jacobite are in a pickle. Some seven Highland regiments are stranded in the western isles, blocked by the constant presence of the Royal Navy's men of war patrolling the waters.

Other Highlander forces are scattered in the north east of Scotland awaiting a leader and though Atholl moves up to Fort William to gather the Highland units being recruited along the west coast mainland there, and Cromarty tries to do the same further north, this is a slow process, and with winter coming attrition may be an issue. 

With an enemy army too big to be tackled northwards, Charles's army moves south again, reaching Richmond (Yorks) in November, then pulling back to Teeside. 

[*As previously; player “decisions” are made by Councils of War and ad hoc decision tests for isolated leaders. Even my own side do not do exactly what I (Murray) want. The Council procedures have been covered elsewhere. An example of an ad hoc decision test would be (pic. Right click and "open as new tab" to enlarge.]

November and December sees the armies of both sides bed down in winter quarters to avoid Attrition, with the only action being the sending of leaders to collect stray units to consolidate. Charles remains in Teeside, the Government army in Scotland concentrates to spend the winter in Edinburgh. With sufficient forces in the north, and with Cumberland only across the north Sea, King George takes ship for England, leaving matters in the hands of his generals, 

Meanwhile reinforcements for both sides are building up on the other side of the Channel and North Sea. The French now commit several of their own regiments under Richelieu (translation: allowing them to sit near the Channel ports), so Nassau receives orders to get his six Dutch regiments home – and they, along with all Dutch ships, cease to be part of the Government force. 

On the plus side for the Jacobites the French threat both keeps Government forces in the south of England and pulls Royal Navy ships southwards – opening up access to the Western Isles.. 

As might be expected, activity in the wintertime is limited. In Scotland, as the year draws to a close, both sides try to gather their scattered Highland units. In England the Government commanders try to consolidate their equally scattered militia regiments. On the Continent the reinforcements for both sides are still building up, with Hessian regiments arriving at the Dutch ports to support George's government army.

However, to the Jacobite Council it is clear that time is NOT on their side, and the arrival of the French uncertain. It is decided to move south and try to smash Wade's army, operating in the Midlands, in the hope that doing so will prompt French action and allow a rendezvous with French allies from the Channel Ports and Flanders. But there is, for the latter plan, a fly in the ointment; the build up of Royal Navy squadrons in the Channel and North Sea. 

The French are out!!!

Come January Cope moves to Stirling, as Argyle and Lingonier are sent to gather loyal Government Highlanders in the south west of Highland Scotland. 

Suddenly the French decide to bite the bullet.. In January a large French fleet leaves the Channel Ports to confront the British Royal Navy. The fleets meet.

[How to fight this out...?  The board game has, of course, a simple Naval Combat table, but this battle will be critical, and part of me would like to make more of a meal of it.. But I don't have any period/near period ships models, and the game's naval units are MUCH less detailed than the land ones (which are individually named with variable individual unit strengths) making any “How many ships and of what type” assessment impossible without further, detailed research into the navy's of the period. Hmm.....

So I thought I'll nick an idea from another boardgame “Remember The Maine” and did a “line of battle” dice game.. Both sides line up their "ships" and there is a dice throw; a draw or +/- result of less than a differential of +2 means nothing. A plus 2 removes one SP from the loser.] 

The French fleet takes losses. ANY loss of shipping is bad for the Jacobite cause, and, as the battle swings against them, and in accordance to French Naval Doctrine of keeping a fleet in being, the French pull away, back to port.

[I did do a CRT result out of curiosity: the French lost two tokens, one of which was captured, so slightly worse, but the above process was more interesting.] 

February, and the Jacobite army in England swings north to Newcastle again, to join up with reinforcements arrived from Flanders. 

The Jacobite Council dithers...

The army spends the rest of the month resting here, as their leaders discuss what to do next. Despite Murray's insistence that they need to strike at either Wade of Cumberland before they join forces the Council wavers.

[The usual "Council of War" system being employed.]

In Scotland Cromarty gathers clan regiments from the isles, while Athol pushes up the north east coast – dislodging Huske (previously despatched north to gather the Government clansmen together), who sends several Government Highland companies by ship to join Cope, who has left Stirling and pushed up the east coast towards Aberdeen, gobbling up the isolated Jacobite Lowland regiments there, while Huske himself pulls back to Tongue.

In England Cumberland marches to Scarborough (awaiting reinforcements?) but Wade does not move from Leicester to join him. 

March, and the French will still not venture onto the Channel. 

Cope takes Aberdeen. There are now no locations in Scotland below the Highland Line in Jacobite hands, and the forts along the Great Glen still have their Government garrisons in place (since their heavy losses at Stirling, Inverness and Carlisle the Jacobites seem to have no stomach for assaulting fortifications).

Meanwhile, at Newcastle Murray at LAST persuades the Council to act. The Jacobites push south to meet Cumberland's smaller army in the vicinity of Scarborough.

For reasons best known to Cumberland (perhaps he fears losing face, or being harassed if he pulled away, or losing contact with the eastern ports – and reinforcements from Flanders if he fell back?) he decides to stand.(Me, I'd have pulled back towards the Midlands to meet Wade, but the Dice have ruled, so....)

The Battle of Scarborough (prep.).

Were I Cumberland this NOT the place to fight a battle. Hunkering down in the ruined castle or the town is out (a trap). There ARE steep slopes (almost escarpments) to the south west, and the wooded protuberance of Oliver's Mount, but only an idiot would assault those I reckon, so Murray would likely occupy the town, then pull back rather than do so. Perhaps the rising ground in the vicinity of Falsgrave (where the old road from Whitby/Scalby comes south, then east) might be better, but flanks are likely to be exposed..   

Advancing to meet the enemy through the reasonably flat, open land (according to the maps seen thus far) to the north of the immediate Scarborough area seems foolish. However, the slopes above Scalby Beck look promising in places - and perhaps not daunting enough to put off an an enemy (?), but they look wooded and scrubby, as do the slopes by the old ECW star fort. Possible C&C issues...

Or there are the slopes near Peasholm beck, one flank refused, one protected by the little low-land/sea girt peninsular there (?). 

Decision time; I'm going to stick Cumberland on a reasonably gentle slope, using the Falsgrave area as a basis for the game table. Watch this space.