Turn 12 commences with Parliament winning the initiative. Caulfield’s Commanded Shot go first and successfully activate, shooting into Alting’s Elite Troopers who take a casualty but pass their Morale test. Rennell fails his activation. With the initiative now passing to the King’s men, all three fail their activations, despite still having +1 to each roll as Alting himself is still in play. In the chaos of the battle, the King’s men seem to have faltered and thrown away their advantage!
What luck will Turn 13 bring?
Parliament again wins the initiative and again Caulfield’s muskets let loose from the hedgerow and cause Alting a casualty, leaving him on his lonesome. And again, Rennell fails his activation.
The King activates in the order of Alting then Cornell, each of which has only one mini remaining and fails the test. However, as the Non Player Force, the King’s turn does not end with a failed activation and so Tennison takes his test and passes to launch an attack at Rennell’s remaining Forlorn Hope.
It’s a bloody affair, with Rennell losing one mini but magnificent dice rolling causing Tennison the loss of two. Both units pass their Morale test but as he incurred the most casualties, Tennison must pull back.
Turn 14 once again sees Parliament win the initiative. Caulfield’s full complement of muskets open up on the solitary figure of Alting and achieve 7 hits, which takes him out.
With Alting down, both Cornell and Tennison must immediately take Morale tests; Cornell nets a negative result that routs him from the table. With the initiative now passing to the King, Tennison fails his activation.
As “the number of Units on the table has reduced by two to four”, Turn 15 starts with 1xD6 being rolled and as “the result is higher than 3 that signifies the end of the game at which point the Battle is assessed for win, lose or draw.” Both sides had the same orders, which were to “attempt to rout their foe”. With the residue of Tennison’s unit being all that remains for the King, it is a victory for Parliament.
Cheering and shouts of “For Justice and Liberty!” follow Tennison as he leads the departure from the field.
And it’s game over with the final toll as follows:
In TPL casualties reflect the lost, the frightened, the runaways, the wounded and the dead but for the purposes of the Campaign they are also a means of accounting as there is a cost in rebuilding Unit strength (I’ve painted the minis and I’m going to play with them!). Also, the Campaign always rewards the winner of a Battle and will punish any Colonel who exits the table.
Recovery costs (unit Rebuilding Rates) are as follows:
At the end of the first battle, the closing accounts are as follows:
With a financial loss of £132, Parliament leads The King who is carrying a financial loss of £212.
As Parliament wins the Battle it chooses to retain occupation of the locale, for which it leaves Caulfield’s Commanded Shot in garrison. As Units participate in Battles, they will earn a free upgrade in status but thus far in the the Campaign, none of the Units has participated in sufficient Battles so there are no upgrades to record.
The next step in the Campaign is to return to the Gameboard and further develop the storyline up to the next Battle.