The Battle of Montgomery 1644

A refight of the Battle of Montgomery was held the other day at the Grumpy Shed.

The rules were Pike and Shotte.

 The Parliamentarians set themselves up to defend Salt Bridge and hold off the Royalists until their cavalry returned from foraging.

 The Royalists tried to lunch themselves at the Parliamentary lines as quickly as possible but the manoeuvre rolls didn't quite go that way.

 Not a lot of movement on the Royalist right flank.

 Royalist dragoons seemed to be rather content to remain behind the hedges.

 A couple of Parliaments cavalry units, that didn't go off to forage, had a crack at upsetting the Royalist plans.

Royalists grind their way toward the Parliamentarians

Dragoons still unwilling to get into the fight.

 The Royalist left wing attack the Parliamentarians at Salt Bridge. A breakthrough here would make life very hard for the Parliamentarians.

 The foraging party returns and attacks the Royalists right flank.

In the centre, the Royalists struggle to make progress.

King Charles, probably asking why Prince Rupert's troops appear to be helping Parliament!

These guys really like this hedge!

Still the troops around the bridge hold their ground.

The Royalist right is just able to hold on.

 In the centre the Royalists begin to break up. Once the rot sets in it is not long before Royalist troops start to leave the battle. The outnumbered Parliamentarians hold on for the victory!

Thanks to Tim for supplying most of the troops, hosting the game and for the refreshments.

Dismounted Knights

Made up and painted these Perry's Dismounted Knights over the past couple of weeks.

Keeping things simple, 6 have red clothing and 6 have blue, making two units for lion Rampant.

The red knights

The blue knights.

Training for their big day on the battlefield.

 I had a bunch of these arrows floating around on the paint table. I figured they would be useful for something, just had to figure out what.

So I painted them up and based them.

I am using them as battered markers for Lion Rampant.

Harpers Ferry to Sharpsburg and Valley Forge.

While staying at Gettysburg we hired a car and drove around the beautiful country side of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

West Virginia on the far side at Harpers Ferry.

The Potomac River

The Potomac again.

The Battlefield around Sharpsburg

The Dunker Church.

 After stopping in at the visitors centre we drove around the battlefield.

Near the sunken road.

 No trip to the Sharpsburg battlefield would be complete without seeing the famous bridge over Antietam creek known as Burnside's Bridge.

 Very warm and peaceful the day we were there and hard to believe that once this was the scene of some bitter fighting.

I also had plans to visit the Brandywine Battlefield but it was closed for some sort of repair work so instead I hopped on a bus and went out to Valley Forge.

 I spent several hours wandering around taking photos.

This guy was busy explaining about the huts to some visitors.

The artillery park.

A huge monument in the middle of the park.

So that is about it until my next trip over to that side of the world.

Gettysburg

It was a totally unreal feeling overlooking Gettysburg and realising that I was actually there.

I had a fantastic time driving around the battlefield and around the countryside.

Just a few of the many photos below.

Taken from between Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill

Looking back at Cemetery Hill.

Meade's HQ

The Angle.

 Wandering along between The Angle and the Copse of Trees and looking toward where the Rebels started from was a strange feeling.

The trees that where the target for the Confederates on July 3rd.

 It's also quite a long walk retracing the steps of Pickett's Charge when you think of the amount of lead that was flying around that day!

The round tops in the background.

Lieutenant General James Longstreet

Moving through the rocks at Devil's Den.

Devil's Den from Little Round Top

The view from Little Round Top

Trostle farm was important for me to see. Having made a model of it a few years ago, for our 150th anniversary game, I was keen to see it up close.

Near Trostle Farm

The Round Tops.

A covered bridge near the battlefield.

The cyclorama at the visitors centre is well worth a look

 In the town of Gettysburg is this amazing diorama. They do a light show over this layout to explain the battle and then you are free to take a closer look. Thousands of Airfix troops can be found here.

All in all a fantastic time that I will have to do again.