Lee Brimmicombe-Wood  - Jan 2, 2009 11:27 am (#26009 Total: 26010)  
Chief Game Designer, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Codemasters 
	 
Unhappy King Charles!

Just finished up a 5 hour session with Tim Collier this afternoon. Oh!
What a session! It was one of those games where everything happened. 

I was Charles Stuart again and Tim took command of those men of the
meaner sort. Things started well for Parliament, with lots of use of Ops
cards to sew up control of the Midlands. Hopton was hard-pressed in the
South against both Waller and Bedford. I had to send Rupert down to
help. It took many rolls, but Rupert reduced Gloucester and had an
attempt at taking Bristol that forced Essex, not for the first time, to
dart out from London and raise the siege. 

Because of tussles with Waller in the Bristol area, I could do little to
stop Bedford's small army taking the southwest. Also Roland Laugharne
turned up to threaten Wales. Only in the North was it relatively
peaceful. It took a while before Charles turfed Lord Fairfax out of
Wakefield. 

My power base was starting to look very fragile, but slowly, around the
beginning of 1644, I began to turn things around. Sir John Byron managed
to seal off Laugharne in his peninsula. Once Gloucester had gone it was
possible to start winning back the Midlands. Nottingham fell to Rupert's
blockade. 

Then the Queen arrived in Newcastle, where the Earl was building a
substantial army. A critical moment came when the Solemn League card
dropped into my hand along with a pile of Campaign and ops cards. So I
deliberately played the Solemn League early, forcing the Covenanters
onto the map. I then campaigned to join Newcastle and the King's armies
at Thirsk, so reuniting the King and Queen (who decided to travel with
the army). Then the mighty host crossed the Pennines to fall on the
Scots in Kendal. With all my Veterans the strengths were 13 to 7. Bad
Royalist dice saved the Scots from a rout, but they were badly hurt by
having to retreat through enemy PC markers. The King was then able to
launch Newcastle off in pursuit and they finally crushed the Scots Army
in Carlisle, through a combination of battle and retreat. Even though
Callander stood waiting in the wings, the loss of the entire first wave
of Covenanter brigades in one game turn secured the North. 

However, as this happened, Lord Wilmot in the South opened the gates of
Oxford to admit Parliament. If would be a grim day if ever the King
caught up with that traitor. This threatened to unhinge the South. Also
Blake had declared for the king, damn him. 

However, things began to slip back my way. Two consecutive 'minus' naval
chits (the Privateers and Dunkirkers had come out to harry the Navy)
gave the King the Naval advantage. Hopton could blockade and siege
Bristol without any negative modifiers. With Waller dispersed by Rupert
and Essex too weak to challenge from his base in London, I'd marched
Maurice down to Oxford with the siege train and had established lines. I
reckoned I had a chance of taking at least one, and possibly both,
supply fortresses. 

And then in Late 1644, disaster struck. In the North Scarborough had
changed hands thanks to the Hothams, though Black Tom Fairfax soon took
it back. The King, with the Queen, had foolishly pursued Fairfax, who
had withdrawn to Hull. But while the monarch lingered outside the
Scarborough defences, half his force deserted him. This was the moment
that Black Tom came out and caught the King before he could withdraw. 

If I dispersed I would save the King, but the Queen (now gravid and
unable to move) would be captured. I should have dispersed, but had
forgotten the surrender rule and so I foolishly elected to fight the
battle. It was an even fight: Fairfax's two brigades against the veteran
Lifeguards. But the day did not go well. Tom Fairfax did enough to win
the field and when the Lifeguards were lost, so was the King. He
surrendered to Fairfax and the war was over. 

All in all a very exciting game. Had it gone on longer the Royalists
would have probably had the edge. But I made the romantic mistake of
taking the Queen on campaign, and then sending the King out on a mission
that sapped his strength to dangerous levels. Finally, I simply forgot
the rules and so exposed the King to surrender. You are all now
permitted to point and laugh at me. 

But oh! What a glorious campaign. Smashing the Scots thoroughly and with
two sieges close to success, I had done well. Only I was then undone by
my own silly error. 

This is a game that will get a lot of play.