This is the flyer we handed out at the show:

 

 

     SESWC DEMO GAME  

 

          INVERKEITHING 1651

 

 

 

This small battle was fought where the Forth Bridges now touch the northern shore of the Firth of Forth, just north of Edinburgh. It followed an amphibious crossing of the estuary by Cromwell’s New Model Army, and pitted Cromwell’s troops against a hastily assembled force of Scottish Covenanters, fighting for Charles II.

 

In the battle the Scottish cavalry charged their English counterparts, but after some initial success they were repulsed. Then it was the New Model Army’s turn to attack. The veteran regiments advanced on the Scottish positions and after a brief fight they drove the Covenanting militia from the field. Sir Hector Maclean’s Highland regiment stood and died in an attempt to cover the rout, but when the New Model cavalry were unleashed the surviving Scots were harried until their army disintegrated.

 

 

 

We’ve chosen to refight this small battle (fought with around 4,000 men a side) using Very Civile Actions, a free rules system available from the Web. The rules are really designed for small engagements of less than 2,000 men a side, but we decided to push the envelope!

 

Very Civile Actions is an English Civil War adaptation of the Perfect Captain’s Spanish Fury: Actions rules system, designed for company and battalion level games set in the late 16th century. If you want to try them out for yourself then you’ll need to download both sets.

 

 The rules work on a “you go – I go” principle, with each player taking turns to move and fight with a unit. We’ve increased the movement distances given in the rules by 50% (as the original set was designed for 15mm figures), but we’ve kept the ranges the same. Firing and Melee factors are printed on handy cards – one for each troop type, and the combat systems are simple, fast and fun.

 

To download the rules, visit   www.perfectcaptain.50megs.com/captain.html    

 

We also invite you to visit the South-East Scotland Wargame Club website;         www.SESWC.org

 

 

 

 

If you want a little more, this is the text we stuck up on the display boards, giving more background, and the Order of Battle;

 

 

In 1651 a small battle which helped seal the fate of Scotland for a decade

 was fought  where the Forth Bridges now touch the Fife shore.

 

 

After their defeat at the Battle of Dunbar (September 1650) the Scottish Covenanters retreated to Stirling to lick their wounds, while Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army occupied Edinburgh.

 

Throughout the Spring and early Summer of 1651 the two armies faced each other outside Stirling, with neither side willing or able to launch a frontal attack against the other. By this stage the Covenanters had accepted the young Charles II as their new monarch, and so they fought under the royal standard. Cromwell’s men of course represented the Republican Commonwealth. 

 

To break the deadlock Cromwell ordered General John Lambert to launch an amphibious invasion of Fife. Lambert’s subordinate Colonel Overton led the assault by landing his brigade near North Queensferry. The Republican bridgehead was reinforced over the coming days, until by Sunday 20th July Lambert had some 4,500 men at his disposal, including veteran regiments of New Model horse and foot.

 

The Covenanters responded by sending General Holbourne to seal off the bridgehead, and by Sunday morning the General’s mixed force of 4,000 horse and foot were deployed on Casteland Hill near Inverkeithing, just north of Lambert’s position on the Ferry Hills.

 

Holbourne knew the limitations of his small army, whose raw foot regiments were of doubtful quality. He decided to pull back, the manoeuvre screened by his more experienced cavalry. However, the commander of the Covenanter cavalry decided the best way to screen the army was to launch an all-out attack.

 

The Covenant horse thundered towards the waiting New Model cavalry, and battle was joined…  The Battle of Inverkeithing had begun.

 

 

 

What happened in the real battle?

 

 

The Scottish cavalry led by Sir John Brown of Fordell crashed into the New Model horse on both flanks of the English Republican army. At first the Covenanters had the best of the fighting, but then Lambert ordered in his cavalry reserves, and within a quarter of an hour the Scottish horse were swept from the field.

 

General Lambert then gave the signal which sent Overton’s New Model foot forward, advancing directly against the Covenanter foot drawn up in front of Casteland Hill. The result was never in much doubt. After a brief fight the bulk of the Scottish militia broke and fled, leaving Sir Hector Maclean’s Highland regiment to fight on alone.

 

Despite their bravery on the field the Macleans could do nothing to turn the tide of battle, and instead they died almost to a man. Lambert then launched his cavalry against the fleeing remnants of the Covenanter army, which was harried all the way to Dunfermline.

 

The Covenanters lost almost 2,000 men that day, either on the battlefield or in the pursuit which followed, while another 1,400 Scots were captured. For their part the New Model Army lost less than 200 men in the battle – a butcher’s bill and a victory which Cromwell later described as “an unspeakable mercy”.

 

 

 

Today the battlefield lies beneath the northern approaches to the Forth Road and Rail Bridges, although as you pass you can still see Casteland Hill and the Ferry Hills, where the two rival armies formed up for battle more than 350 years ago, during the blood-soaked summer of 1651.

 

 

 

Finally, here are the Orders of Battle;

 

 

The Rival Armies    

 

Figure Scale is 1:20

 

The Covenanters          Commander: Maj. Gen. James Holbourne

 

The Foot

·        Maj. Gen. James Holbourne's Regiment of Foot      (40 figures)

·        The Laird of Buchanan's Regiment of Foot              (40 figures)

·        The Master of Grey's Regiment of Foot                    (40 figures)

·        Sir Hector Maclean of Duart's Highland Regiment   (24 figures)

·        Col. Harry Barclay's "Burntisland Regiment” (det.) (16 figures)

 

The Horse

·        Sir John Browne's Horse             (8 figures)

·        Earl of Balcarres' Horse               (8 figures)

·        Sir Walter Scott's Horse               (8 figures)

·        Col. Charles Arnott's Horse         (8 figures)

·        Lord Brechin's Horse                   (8 figures)

·        Col. Augustine's Moss Troopers  (8 figures)

  

 

 

The New Model Army   Commander: Maj. Gen. John Lambert

 

The Foot

·        Col. William Daniel's Regiment                       (48 figures)

·        Maj. Gen. John Lambert's Regiment                (48 figures)

·        Col. Francis West's Regiment                          (48 figures)

·        Col. Edmund Syler's Regiment                        (40 figures)

 

The Horse

·        Maj. Gen. John Lambert's Horse        (16 figures)

·        Col. John Okey's Horse                      (16 figures)

·        Col. Leonard Lytcott's Horse             (16 figures)

 

          Supported by a gun battery on an outwork of the Ferry Hills Sconce