Once upon a time in Spain

I haven't managed to paint all of the figures for this yet, but I thought I'd do a little set up to see how the Marlburians in Spain would perform. This scenario sees the Allies vigorously pursuing some Bourbon troops of the Toledo Regiment, and a few of the latter, under the able leadership of the grenadier officer Luis Alejandro de Jamon-Empanada, have garrisoned a farmhouse, hoping to hold out.

The Allied commander, cavalry officer Charles Utterlea-Barking, is determined to flush them out with his polyglot force of Dutch, British and Miquelets.

Utterlea-Barking leads forward his cavalry troop, as the British Grenadiers deploy in the background.

Bird's-eye view of the layout. Toledo regiment in the buildings, most of the allies advancing along the road, Miquelets preparing to enter the orchard on the left.

Jamon-Empanada's garrison uses the walls to boost morale.

The Allied column.

The Miquelets

Close up of the defenders.

And so to the game, my first of Pikeman's Lament, and I was interested to see how it would play, having been a  fan of Lion Rampant.

The British grenadiers advanced towards the farm, only to be hit with the first salvo at short range from the Toledo regiment.

The Miquelets advance through the orchard to strike at the flank.

The initial plan was for the cavalry to circle around behind the buildings, jump the wall and attack from the rear, but it took some casualties and I also found it crippling to have my commanding officer too far away from the rest of the troops de to the +1 he affords their activation when within 12".

The grenadiers were hit with a hail of lead and failed their morale roll - admittedly they did roll a 3 on 2d6. The English line infantry moved up in their place.

Between the crossfire generated by the miquelets and the English line, the Toledo regiment began to falter.

And was forced back, wavering. The next unit moved sideways to take its place in the frontline. The Toledo grenadiers also move into position.

Activating on a double 6 the Toledo troops unleash a new 'first salvo'. This is enough to cause the English infantry to rout. Now the Dutch come forward.

They too are forced back by the Bourbon fire.

But they manage to rally and get off a volley. The British horse now stake everything on a death or glory charge into the grenadiers, who have seen off the Miquelets in the orchard.

The grenadiers survive, but only just. Meanwhile the rest of the line infantry are falling back, unable to rally.

Reduced to just himself and a number of broken troops, Jamon-Empanada surrenders. But the Allies don't look like they are in the best shape either!

So an Allied victory, but a close game. In terms of points, the Allies had 24 points to the 14 of the Bourbons, but the activation system meant that the Allied attacks went in piecemeal. The walls gave the Bourbon troops a lot of advantage - especially the Grenadiers who needed to suffer 4 hits at once in order to lose a single figure compared to the Allies in the open only needing to take 2 hits.
I refrained from charging the walls with the cavalry until the Bourbon troops were weakened, but that move still failed. In total, I think the system works well for the period, and I certainly had an enjoyable game, but the unequal points for this scenario are a must.

It will be interesting to see how the rules work for the English Civil War. Those armies won't be ready until next year, so I won't get to find out for a while, but I've been thinking about how to turn them into a large battle ruleset by grouping 2 shot and a pike unit into a regiment that activates on a single roll. Plenty of time to think about it, but it appeals to me as I've yet to find any English Civil War rules that I'm actually happy with.

Nate