Battle of Cropredy Bridge: Wargaming Scenario for In Deo Veritas

The following is a wargaming scenario I have created, which may be played with the majority of the armies used in the modified Cheriton scenario.

Battle of Cropredy Bridge

June 29th, 1644

The Royalist offensive through Hampshire having been turned back at the Battle of Cheriton in March 1644, the armies of the Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller coordinate together to defeat the King's main army and to besiege Oxford, perhaps to end the war that very summer. Marching parallel to each other, they capture Reading and Abingdon without a shot as King Charles flees his capital moving rapidly west. Essex and Waller joined chase as far as Chipping Norton, where the two conferred on their next steps. Essex announced his decision to march southwest to relieve the Siege of Lyme Regis, being besieged by Prince Maurice. 

This left Waller with an army only the same strength as the King's own. Most of Waller's army was newly raised the previous autumn, while the King's army represented his veterans from Edgehill and Newbury, Hopton's hard-fighting men from the West, and some Irish regiments which had served for longer than any of them. Waller indeed kept up the chase into Worcestershire as far as Stourbridge, but learned that the King had doubled back into Oxfordshire. Picking up a few reinforcements from local garrisons, Waller returned to the chase. 

Waller caught up to the King's Army north of Banbury, and the two armies faced each other across the Cherwell River on June 29th. Finding Waller's position unassailable, the King continued his march north, sending the Earl of Forth away first with a vanguard, following himself with the main body. The rearguard of 1,000 Horse and 1,000 Foot under the Earl of Cleveland should have followed behind more promptly, but it lingered around the village of Wardington. This allowed the Royalist column to stretch out for more than a mile, and Waller saw an opportunity to gobble up Cleveland's rearguard around the village of Wardington. He dispatched General Middleton with around 1,500 Horse and 2,000 Foot, as well as a number of cannon to attack the Royalist rearguard across Cropredy Bridge, while he followed over Slat Mill Ford with a further 1,000 horse.

The fighting that followed was more a fierce skirmish than a true battle, but it offers some interesting possibilities for wargaming. I present two potential army deployments, one that is more a skirmish, closer to the historical engagement, and the other that offers a more serious battle. The same map is used for both.

Game Map.

Total engaged	Horse	Foot	Guns
Parliamentarian	3,500	5,000	12
Royalist	3,000	6,000	12

Scenario 1: The Skirmish

Both armies are limited to their historical strength.

Parliamentarian Army

Sir William Waller – Commanding

Waller’s Division – Deploys at C

Horse
Waller
Waller	T
Cooke	T

 Middleton’s Division – Deploys B-B

Horse		Foot
Middleton		Potley
Haselrig	T	Waller	T
Vandruske	T	Potley	T
Waller DR	T	Field Artillery	T
		Firelocks*	T

* James Wemyss' Firelocks are a single stand of detached muskets.

 

Parliamentarian Army moves first.

Objective:

Destroy the Royalist rearguard and force the rest of King Charles' army to withdraw.

Royalist Army

King Charles – Commanding

Center – Deploys Y-Y

Center Horse		Center Foot
Lord Wilmot		Col. Thomas Blagge
Lifeguard	V	Lifeguard	V
Wilmot	T	York	T
Field Artillery	T	Bard	V

 

Rear – Deploys X-X

Rear Horse		Rear Foot
Earl of Cleveland		Sir George Lisle
Northampton	V	Lisle	V
Cleveland	V	Thelwall*	V

  * Anthony Thelwall are a stand of detached muskets.

Objective:

Drive Waller's army back west across the Cherwell River.

Scenario 2: Reinforcements

Both armies have access to further reinforcements.

Parliamentarian Army

Main Body - Deploys A-A

Horse		Foot
Livesay		Harrington
Livesay	T	White TB	T
Garrison	R	Yellow TB	T
		Detached Garrisons	R

Royalist Army 

Vanguard – Deploys at Z in march column off-table

Earl of Forth – Lieutenant General

Vanguard Horse		Vanguard Foot
Bennet		Astley
Bennet	T	Hopton	V
Waldegrave	T	Apsley	V

 

Works Cited

Lipscombe, Nick. The English Civil War: An Atlas and Concise History of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639-51. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2020.

Spring, Lawrence. The Campaigns of Sir William Waller, 1642-1645. Warwick, England: Helion & Company, 2019.

Soli Deo Gloria!