Game: Battle of Cheriton, 1644, The

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T21:11:19+00:00

Cheriton - Southeast-edge of Map closeup - with GMT-label

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T21:09:21+00:00

Cheriton - Southwest-edge of Map closeup - with Name Index

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T21:06:52+00:00

Cheriton - NW-edge of Map closeup

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T18:23:57+00:00

Cheriton - NE-edge of Map closeup - with Tables

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T18:20:39+00:00

Cheriton Module - Main Magazin Cover Inside

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521tiger — 2008-08-10T17:58:33+00:00

Cheriton - Main Article page

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tac_ope_tokyo — 2008-02-19T14:51:04+00:00

Cheriton.

Thread: Re: Newsflash: Royalist commander loses head

sdiberar — 2007-10-12T13:30:18+00:00

I was misled by the lack of double-sized HI and the few pieces needed.
In retrospect, something with less terrain might have helped.

Thread: Re: Newsflash: Royalist commander loses head

jormungandr — 2007-10-11T22:19:04+00:00

Good gawd, you started with Cheriton? Talk about picking a hard battle to start with!

The game should speed up as you get familiar with it - I can play even the larger ones in 4 hours or less.

Thread: Re: Newsflash: Royalist commander loses head

dr glaze et al — 2007-10-11T17:05:30+00:00

The terrain makes this one intersting if you ask me.

Firsty, artillery is for most purposes useless. It can't be limbered and moved. It starts in the far rear. The preponderance of the hedge-lined roads means you can't sight anyone until they blunder through a hedge right in front of the guns.

Then there's the fact that formations get scattered a step every time they enter a hedge-lined road. So you have to generally stay in "open formation" to avoid the scattering over the terrain. But you have to try to form up when you enter a quadrant and engage the enemy. A lot of time spent in "Make Ready" and "Receive Charge" orders and commanders racing along the front trying to repair the lines.

The other interesting bit occurrs when melees erupt. Victorious attackers who advance INTO the hedges lose formation (again), so things fall apart really quickly when someone calls for a charge.

All in all I found it a great low-density scenario to learn the basics, we had a hoot!

Thread: Newsflash: Royalist commander loses head

sdiberar — 2007-10-11T16:00:24+00:00

(republished from my WNW geeklist)

On the Table: From Ben Hull's Musket and Pike Battle Series, the Battle of Cheriton from the English Civil War, published in GMT's C3i magazine, issue #17.

Neither Doktor Glaze nor I are fully prepared as we would like for this one, although for once he is more prepared than I am. He takes Parliament with it's advantage in cavalry numbers.

The field is criss-crossed with hedge-lined roads, which break up sightlines very effectively, and also hinder sweeping movements. The Cheriton Woods dominate the Royalist left. Parliament expects a cavalry sweep around the left of the woods, but instead I keep them back as a reserve, except the infantry which mans the hedge to the right of the woods. My center marches immediately to the top of the "angle" in the center, again taking cover in the hedge.

Waller's center immediately charges across the ridge while his left wing cavalry negotiate the series of hedges on the Royalist right. In the first of the ungodly number of extreme die rolls (mostly his way), the Parliament infantry smash into my left wing infantry, which immediately takes off -- to make matters worse, my army commander is killed on the second turn in the fighting. A reaction charge against the disordered infantry is bloodily repulsed, and I am down 30 points already.

He fails to change his Charge orders and the rest of his line runs into my center in the hedge. My reaction salvo fire is good and the bodies begin to pile up. He declines close combat, but with a minimum of +1 up and down the line, I engage him. The die rolls are once again freaky and three of my units flee, leaving one to advance automatically in between two of his. "Nott goode" as they say in jolly olde Englande.

We called it after three turns, with my center in tatters and his cavalry ready to burst out of the hedges on the left flank (I had refused my right flank, ready for a countercharge). We may continue the scenario, but with my army commander already dead (along with a cavalry unit) his lead could be insurmountable. Given the terrain, offensive options are bleak, especially against his numerous cavalry.

We had to stop play quite often to check the rulebook, and we had some questions that couldn't be answered. I had a hard time finding what I was looking for. It's a testament to the design, however, that we really enjoyed ourselves despite the creeping pace of play and the several-markers-per-unit physical systems.

Me: (6) Played three turns of this as an introduction to the system. Very much rules consultation in doing so. Far fiddlier than I would normally stand, but for some reason the "big picture" of the system draws me in, especially the orders mechanics. I expect my rating to go up.

Doktor Glaze: (7) My introduction to the system, and despite myself I'm drawn into it. The manually-intensive chit management slows down the game. Morale, casualties, formation, and often ammo tracked for each unit. To say "fiddly" would be understating the problems.
However Musket & Pike has some great stuff that make it worth the hassle. First, the guys do their own thing sometimes. Much like the video game Lemmings, the soldiers have a mind of their own. If you fail to change their orders, well, sometimes they just keep charging until they disintegrate. Or refuse to charge until they're good and ready. When you most need it.
Melees are always chaotic and often catastrophic for both sides. Some of your guys break through, others retreat, some get worn down, and everyone loses cohesion. Your job is just to do what you can to keep everything from sinking better than the other commander.
Cheriton is a good condensed scenario: it practically excludes artillery. It focuses heavily on terrain effects and managing your formations. Also few units on the map. Highly recommended to learn the game.

Thread: Re: Yellow LI in Cheriton woods

benhull — 2007-09-23T20:56:06+00:00

Loodlood wrote:
If I choose Cheriton woods option 2 (of the revised set up rules) and place the four LI units in the woods within two hexes of 2417, they will automatically start out of command (unless I place wing commander Potley also in the woods but that doesn't make a lot of sense). Under rule 5.4.3 of the MPBS rules version 4.0, if I activate my center wing, I will have to move them as quickly as possible to my wing commander and therefore give up my starting position in the woods. Is this correct?

The most logical approach is to use the "garrison" rule that appears in "Under the Lily Banners" and "Gustav Adolf the Great" where the units remain in command as long as they stay in the setup area (within 2 hexes of 2417). Once they leave their post, normal line of command applies.

Thanks

Thread: Yellow LI in Cheriton woods

Loodlood — 2007-09-23T16:53:31+00:00

If I choose Cheriton woods option 2 (of the revised set up rules) and place the four LI units in the woods within two hexes of 2417, they will automatically start out of command (unless I place wing commander Potley also in the woods but that doesn't make a lot of sense). Under rule 5.4.3 of the MPBS rules version 4.0, if I activate my center wing, I will have to move them as quickly as possible to my wing commander and therefore give up my starting position in the woods. Is this correct?

Thread: Hedge-lined roads

icheyne — 2006-09-01T09:59:31+00:00

You cannot move along hedge-lined roads without taking formation hits.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1055978

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Desaix — 2006-06-08T10:53:21+00:00

Cover

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pierfederico — 2006-02-23T11:01:45+00:00