HRH, Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) with his entourage
Last night saw the eagerly awaited Battle of Culloden Moor wargame that I have been planning since about 2019. The image above shows the key features of the battlefield.
Slightly off to the left is the marsh (which followers of the blog will see has grown since the posting of the battlefield set up photos last week). The growth of this marsh reflected its importance in slowing down the MacDonalds of Perth's Division on the Jacobite left. This extra marsh was also a homemade one I had made using a pizza box many years ago and I was unwilling to use it unless I had to!
The sunken road is a really important feature and it's point of entry through the Government Army line was the area of the most intense fighting - as also happened in the wargame.
The walled enclosures are also shown, though mine are a little low, as the actual walls were a minimum of 6 feet in height.
Above we see the British Government Forces. The nomenclature is an interesting one, it is a British Army but it contained a large number of Scottish units. One cannot use English vs Scots as it would be incorrect as there were very many English Jacobite supporters and very many Hanoverian supporters who were Scottish. Contrary to popular myth it was not an English vs Scotland battle. Hanoverian vs Stuart is an unwieldy term. The whole naming convention is a minefield, so I will stick to British Government vs Jacobites, though I might lapse at various times!
I have used Stuart Reid's Orders of Battle for most of the units, though I did give the Government Army brigade commanders, using the recent Warlord Games free supplement guide available on their website.
The great joy of using 10mm figures was being able to fit the whole battle on the 8ft by 4ft table with plenty of space between the armies and a decent area for the Culwiniac enclosure on the Jacobite right.
When I first thought about re-fighting Culloden Moor, I didn't know what scale would suit best. It did involve a lot of work number crunching and working out ground scales to get the best overall look and playability. I used 10cm to represent around 100 meters of real ground. I also used 1 figure to represent approximately 10 real soldiers. 10mm figures also seemed to be perfect to use for the ground scale, allowing the most clear to see painted figures, whilst having units with enough men to give a plausible impression of units.
For me the main point of the game is to understand history, to understand what happened and why. Wargaming for me is a means of analysis and see what could have changed history and why things happened the way they did. It is very much an immersive educational experience for me. The game is to put things to the test and see how it could have all changed - this makes it fun!
I used Black Powder rules as I think they are very adaptable and I was going to seriously modify them for this game!
Units of around 300 - 400 men in real life were 'Standard size units. 500 or more were on large bases and were Large units, less 250 and less were Small units, and anything sub 100 men was a tiny unit.
HRH, The Duke of Cumberland
I should mention some of the special rules which I will list here. Most of these are from the Black Powder rules, some from their 'Last Argument of King's supplement' and others are my own which are battle specific. I'll list them here in case they are of interest:
Colonel John Sullivan, Adjutant General, Jacobite Army
In addition I devised the 'Goaded by the Guns' Special Rule:
Goaded by the Guns – On taking a first casualty to gunfire, the Highlander unit throws 1 x D6. If they get a ‘6’ then the unit immediately charges to it’s front using the command dice to establish distance. They will be moving forward disordered and will continue to charge disordered until they contact their enemy when they will fight disordered.
If the unit passes and takes a 2nd artillery casualty then the Highlander Unit will throw 1 x D6. On a 4, 5 or 6 the unit will immediately charge forward. to it’s front using the dice to establish distance. They will be moving forward disordered. and will continue to charge disordered until they contact their enemy when they will fight disordered.
This will continue using the above paragraph rule if more casualties are taken until Shaken status is reached.
There were other special rules too but I don't want to make this report too wordy. One of my favourites though was this:
Lt General Henry Hawley
Commanders (This is a particularly interesting bit for Culloden!)
Both
Prince Charles and the Duke of Cumberland act as Commander in Chiefs, with no
direct units to command but they can re-roll to countermand failed orders. Note that Prince Charles is pretty
ineffective as a Commander (Staff Rating 7).
Maj
Gen Hawley can take command where he sees fit and also countermand failed
orders (but if he fails, Cumberland cannot countermand over him). Hawley can take over the Left Wing
Horse as he did historically.
The
Jacobite Command structure is generally described as ‘Shambolic’ and with good
reason. Col Sullivan acted as the
Executive Officer for the Prince but this was made difficult by the forces of
personality of other aristocratic commanders, particularly Lord Murray who did
not get on with Sullivan or the MacDonald commanders.
As
a result Sullivan can (rather like Hawley) go to where he wishes and issue
commands and re-rolls BUT he cannot issue a command re-roll to a unit
commanded by Lord Murray (who will politely or otherwise tell him to go away).
Lord George Murray
Lord John Drummond
Colonel Sir James MacDonald, Jacobite Cavalry Commander
I do need to add a little bit more:
Movement – use centimetres instead of inches.
Highlanders
do not get a special charge bonus for distance – the ground was boggy and
slowed them down.
Ranges :
Muskets: Max
= 15cm Close is 7.5cm
Artillery: British Artillery hits on a
4+ on a D6
Jacobite Artillery hits
on a 6 on a D6
Short = 20cm
Effective = 40cm
Long = 80cm
Light Coehorn Mortars: Minimum range
10cm
Maximum range 40cm
Maj General William Van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle
Brig General John Mordaunt
Maj General Humphrey Bland
Victory Conditions
British Victory: Jacobites are defeated or/and Bonnie Prince
Charlies is killed. With his death the Jacobite cause dies.
Jacobite Victory: Defeating the Government
Forces. Killing Cumberland will have no impact, the King didn’t like his son
anyway and he had other Generals!
Barrells 4th Foot take an early hit from the Jacobite Artillery
The Battle Refight
Game Turn 1 ('At last!' I hear you say!)
Ian took the part of the Duke of Cumberland. I was to be Bonnie Prince Charlie, though I hoped perhaps to be a little more effective!
The British Government forces won the roll and commenced artillery fire at 600 yards. Lovat's Highlanders took a casualty hit.
Jacobite's return artillery fire at long range and hit Barrell's 4th Foot causing a casualty and disorder.
Lord Murray's Division advances ahead of the Main Jacobite Line
Game Turn 2
British artillery fire destroys a Jacobite 3 pounder at long range with an exceptionally good shot.
Jacobite artillery forgets to fire (Doh!) but there is an advance with Murray's Division making a triple move as seen above. I should mention that we found that Black Powder works much better to Fire and then Move as the sequence of turn. It stops the ridiculous 'move 3 turns and shoot the enemy in the face without itself being fired on' situation as written in the rules!
Lord Murray's men bravely advance to the skirl of pipes
Game Turn 3
The British artillery mass their fire on Appin's exposed regiment as it advances across the field as part of Murray's Division. Coehorn mortars hit at maximum range and the 3 pounder score great success. There are 5 hits and 4 casualties caused. This is too much for Appin's men who are a small unit. They break and flee. Their support to their right, the men of Cameron of Locheil's pass a test to stand seeing their comrades flee.
The Jacobites begin a slow advance across their line. They do not intend to have their attacks go in piecemeal to be shot down.
The Duke of Perth's men advance. The MacDonalds knee deep in marsh doggedly continue despite cannonballs and exhaustion
Lord Drummond's advance in the centre starts to lose cohesion. Maclean and Maclachlan's Regiment become shaken and lag behind
Drummond's advance continues. Lovat's Regiment start to accumulate casualties. Can that large unit keep absorbing hits?
The Atholl Brigade reach the Leanach Enclosure and decide to clamber over
Game Turn 4
The British Artillery score hits on Maclean's and Lovat's men. The British artillery is clearly served by good gunners and the Jacobite commander starts to worry that his already tired and annoyed men (from their failed night march attack!) will not stand the fire long enough to reach the Government lines.
The Government's 64th Highland Battalion on the British far left moves towards the wall of the Culwiniac enclosure.
The Jacobites continue a slow advance along their line. The Macdonalds of the Duke of Perth's Division now encounter the marshland and slowly trudge through. Half of Col Stuart's Lowland Division begin an advance to try to support the faltering Highland Divisions of Murray and Drummond.
Locheil's men get within musket range of the British line!
An overview of the battle. Jacobites are on the right side. Perth's men are in the marsh in the foreground
The 8th and 59th Regiments of Foot prepare to give platoon and first fire
The view of the approaching Drummond's Division still 300 yards or so away
The British cavalry on the left, held ready to unleash
The Jacobite host approaches
The large reserve of Col John Roy Stuart's Lowlanders await their call
Chisholm's Regiment already small, receives a mortar hit in it's centre. Disordered and shaken it fails 4 more save throws which become 'excess'. This will be a deduction of minus 6 (including being hit by artillery on it's saving throw of 2 x D6). It fails. The survivors rout in panic!
Game Turn 5
The British Artillery becomes more effective as the range decreases. Chisholm's Regiment takes a mortar shell in the midst of their Regiment while artillery balls cut paths through their ranks. This is too much for them and they break and flee. Maclean's who are supporting them fall back disordered (the red pipe cleaners represent Shaken units. The white cotton wool clouds represent disorder. Glass red bead counters are to show that a unit's First Fire has been used.).
The first musketry crackles as Barrells 4th Foot deliver platoon fire into Locheil's causing disorder. This gives courage to the 59th Foot who decide to deliver their own bayonet charge on Locheil's but they fail to reach.
Where the sunken road meets the British line is where the main action is happening. The road has given the Highlander's sufficient cover to get close but now the firefight is deadly.
The Jacobites continue their advance. The disorder causing unit's to flinch and require their commanders to push, shout and encourage the men into the storm. The shaken units decide to continue to advance rather than stop and rally, opting to keep going rather than stand and risk more casualties from the guns.
Cameron of Locheil's Regiment take close range platoon fire from two British Regiments
The British Government line is content to stand and put fire down on the Highlanders
The Lowlanders can only watch and wonder what is happening in the smoke ahead
Locheil's Regiment is shaken and disordered from the platoon fire. To their right, the Atholl Brigade is shot to a standstill at bayonet length
Disorder, chaos and confusion as the Highlander's of Drummond's push their advance
Into the deadly cauldron of fire go Drummond's men
Lovat's at the crisis point
Game Turn 6
The British Artillery is firing at short range and rippling musketry joins the cacophony. Casualties stack up along the Jacobite units.
The Jacobites continue to move forward where they can, units firing their muskets in their slow advance, trying to cause damage to the British Government line but losses and disorder make their fire ineffective. No Highlanders are able to organise themselves enough from the chaos to be able to charge. In the meantime their losses ever increase and more red shaken markers appear. Disorder is everywhere.
Trading point blank musketry. Locheil's are at a standstill
An overview. The British cavalry move to shore up in case of breakthroughs
The Duke of Perth's men on the Jacobite left at last emerge from the marsh but take deadly artillery fire at 200 yards
Lady Macintosh's Regiment also reach their zenith still too far from the British line
Game Turn 7
Platoon fire is devastating those Jacobite units who are still standing at close quarters. The point blank fire is deadly. Musketry combined with canister fire is too much for those units left out on a limb as their supports fell back.
Monaltrie's break, Lovat's break, Locheil's break. The Atholl Brigade...the last of Murray's division, look around and see themselves isolated. They can stand no more and flee the battlefield. Murray is not seen but is thought to have gone under the bayonet's of the vengeful British troops who have not forgotten his previous desertion.
With Drummond and Murray's Divisions gone, the writing is on the wall. The Duke of Perth's Division has now got across the marsh but is isolated. The British Government cavalry on behind the Culwiniac enclosure have decided to move inwards towards the battlefield rather than follow the Highland Battalion tearing down the enclosure wall.
The Lowland battalions of Col Stuart's Division, although large in number, see no hope of fairing any better than the Highlanders. They decide to pull back and retreat while they still can.
The battle is over.
Here are a few more pictures of units that haven't featured too much so far:
The Royal Ecossois and Lowland units of Col Stuart
British 10th and 11th Dragoons on the British Left behind the Culwiniac Enclosure
The loyal Highland Battalion breaking down the wall of the Culwiniac Enclosure
Victorious British Government Infantry and Artillery
The crucial point of the main fighting at the Leanach Enclosure/Sunken road from the British side
10th and 11th Dragoons
Uncommitted Lowland Battalions and Jacobite Artillery
In Conclusion
I can honestly say that researching and recreating the battle was such a great experience. Devising the special rules and playing it was just so immersive. I took command of the Jacobites knowing full well the disadvantages that they faced in this battle and it is very hard to see how they could have realistically won. Ian described it as being like a Pickett's charge recreation that we did a good few years ago. It was very much like that. You knew where it was likely to go wrong and without extreme luck or entirely trying to change tactics, the outcome was going to be as per history.
Taking effective artillery fire from 600 yards meant that advancing into it doggedly was the only option. It is a lot of ground to cover while being shot to bits and disordered. Getting past the incoming Platoon volleys at the last hurdle is big ask. In our game the Highland Battalions got to being able to return close range fire, but they did so disordered and shaken. No Jacobite unit was able to carry out a charge in our game.
I wonder what could have happened had the Jacobites moved their Lowlanders to their right and tried to occupy the Culwiniac Enclosure. I expect they would have found themselves holding it but pinned by the British Dragoons skirmishing them, while the Highlanders would be dealt with in the same manner as they were.
I'm looking forward to trying Falkirk and Prestonpans. The British Government forces will be less likely to be able to withstand the proximity of Highlanders, and there will be other key factors to bring into play also.
This really has been a worthwhile project that has rewarded the time I have spent on it. I know that it is something that I will keep revisiting and playing as a larger campaign is now something that I can look forward to doing.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
