Takin' The High Road....

 Meanwhile, in Scotland...

With the French dealt with, the Government can concentrate on the Scottish Question. Cumberland has a large mobile army up by the Borders. There are two Jacobite armies operating in the Lowlands. Government Scot units are in the far north east.

The next map moves see Charlie outside Edinburgh; but with Cumberland approaching the Jacobites are wary of assaulting the castle (Councils of War). Instead they move towards Wigtown to join Murray.

While Inverness - the last Jacobite stronghold in Scotland - falls to Government Highland troops, Cumberland moves to block the Jacobite options; these being:

1) To seek battle.

2) To break for the Highlands.

3) To break for the Lowlands. 

While the Jacobites dither, Cumberland moves to Lanark, effectively boxing the Jacobites into Galloway/South Ayre. At another Council of War the Jacobites waver, then vote to seek the enemy - the alternative is to risk being caught on the march. They move on Lanark, and the Government army.

The Battle of Lanark.

The Government army is largely made up of experienced professionals. They are likely to stand on the defensive, but have good guns and cavalry. Any fear of the Highland Charge has been eroded by the Highlanders' lack of success on previous fields.

The Jabobites have a larger army, good guns, but fewer horse, and there are some sound professional Irish regiments, French detachments and a Swedish regiment with the force.  However, many Highland regiments are at half-strength or less, having suffered badly in previous fights, and the rest of the clansmen are largely inexperienced and unblooded. 

This promises to be a hard fight - for both sides. 

What with house emergencies (shower leak, garage door collapse, washing machine breakdown), the heat, family wrangling and a reeactment (Battle of Evesham - where I got a load of new bruises on my shield arm, and hit by three arrows..) I didn't have time to set up a table, so reverted to my old, old system of settling tactical matters with a boardgame. Same solo principles as a table game, using the game tokens from "1745", with a few extras from SPI's Wellington's Victory. Worked very well, and was MUCH quicker.

After a quick barrage I threw my Highlanders at the enemy right, while my slower allies marched on my left.

The enemy first line were mainly in line formation, static and placed on "Overwatch" - not a lot I could do about that - while their guns held fire until they could be guaranteed to do damage to my columns.

My Highlanders crashed in and, despite bad casualties en route, hit the enemy front line. My Centre made little headway, but my Right caused many enemy casualties. My Left, however, was slow (the Irish & Swedish), and didn't manage to engage. 

Also on my Left, the enemy volleys of regiments in line tore apart some of my Highland units and the hand-to-hand did not go our way, sending some of my guys reeling. Not good.

The Irish formed Line, while I tried to reorganise my Centre and right. My Right has a fight with some of the enemy horse; meanwhile, the enemy tried to reorganise their lines. 

Both sides took a breather in the Centre. On my Left there was a firefight between the Irish and Swedes and the enemy Right, including their Highland companies in the woodland.  My men were being whittled away. Then the enemy line on their Left advanced, while their cavalry on their right moved around the woods, threatening my Left flank.  

Again, there was some hard fighting. The enemy Right horse swept away my Swedes (who had already taken casualties from the Highland companies) while their Left horse drove back some on my guys facing them. Prince Charles come forward with the cavalry reserve. 

I threw my men forward in one last charge. 




But the enemy horse on their Right was now scattering my men there, and my own Right had disintegrated. Charlie made off in the face of the Government dragoons. The rest was, as far as the enemy were concerned, just mopping-up. The Irish, surrounded, surrendered. My retreating Highlanders were cut down by the enemy horse. Charlie got away with the cavalry reserve. Game over.

The Prince fled to Stranraer, where, next map move, he would be picked up by friendly ships, and taken back the France. The Rebellion was over..... 

Well, THAT escalated quickly.....

Conclusion

Well, that was an interesting and fun experiment.

The combination of using a board game and tabletop fighting worked really well (again, as with the "1776" game the other year), though this board game had a LOT more chrome and (sometimes fiddly) detail. For those without the time to set up their own "campaign rules" and draw up their own maps this method is a good way into campaigning, I reckon. 

The "Council of War" process worked well again, helping cement a narrative as well as adding some "unknown factors". 

The "French In Kent" interlude, stepping away from the board game, was interesting and fun - made easy with the amazing resources on the Web (old maps and images, topographic sites, distance calculators, Google Earth etc. etc.). We really are spoiled in that regard these days.

Is the game "unwinnable" for the Jacobites (as claimed by some)? Perhaps...
I had a high "French Intervention Level" from reasonably early in the game, the French actually committed big-time, and I still lost (but maybe I'm just a lousy general).

I think the game may only be winnable on points - but that may be a reflection of the reality. Historically there was little or no support for the Jacobites south of the Border (a real pain in the game), and north of the Border the Scots themselves were divided (ditto).

The "What If" scenario - whereby the Jacobites simply secured Scotland and negotiated some kind of independence under the Stuarts  - is fantasy in my book (my arguments being;

A) That's NOT what the Stuarts were after (they wanted the whole UK shooting match) - even if the French did.

B) Once peace on the Continent "broke out" the full weight of the Hanoverian military machine would come back to England, recruit/regroup and swing north; and with Scotland still likely divided (the Lowland bourgeoisie needing the trade freedoms and markets which came with the UK, the Clans divided by local feuds, the "English Gold" factor, the religious divide etc.) I don't see a scrap of paper standing in the way of an invasion.

But there we are..)

A well-worthwhile exercise. What next...?

As always, all queries etc. welcomed and answered....