The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only
Game Type : Graphical Wargame
Authors : Joe Sherwood Taylor & Helmut Watson (Woof)
Standalone Release(s) : 1984: ENGLISH CIVIL WAR, Red Shift, £7.95
Compilation Release(s) : 1988: THE WAR PACK, Lothlorien/Paxman, £9.95
Stated compatibility : Electron
Actual compatibility : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128
Supplier : RED SHIFT, 12C Manor Road, Stoke Newington, LONDON N16 5SA
Disc compatibility : CDFS E00, DFS E00
Instructions
"Draw Your Trusty Sword And Lead Your Gallant Cavalrymen Against The Enemy Musketeers... Or will you be hit in the flank by the enemy Pikemen or decimated by his artillery? You make the decisions! Refight the battles of the Civil War in this exciting, highly graphical and absorbing game for two players. Players : 2. Scale : Regiment to Regiment. Playing time : 1 hour +"
Introduction
This is a game of strategy for two players. The game is played in turns. Each turn is made up of a MOVEMENT/FIRING phase followed by a HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT phase.
Each player has 11 units and a sconce (fort). The sconce, naturally enough, remains stationary throughout the game, but the 11 units can all be moved. The composition of the 11 units varies depending on which historical period you choose. For all three historical periods, the 11 units are made up of a mixture of Musketeers on Foot, Pikemen on Foot, Cavalrymen and Artillery units.
Before the game actually starts you have to decide how many woods you want. It is best to enter a small number for your first few games. Deployment of your units means putting them in their starting positions. Each player starts off with nearly half of the television screen, either to the right or to the left. It is within this area that you can deploy your units.
Once both sets of units have been deployed, the game can begin. The side that moves first is determined randomly by the computer. Each unit has a pre-determined number of moves and turns. A move is moving the unit from the square it is in to an adjacent square. As you can see, each unit is FACING in a particular direction, as shown by the arrows in the bottom left-hand corner. If you want a unit to move in another direction then you have to turn it first. Musketeer units can fire as well as move and turn. If you move a unit then its permissible number of moves is reduced by one. If you turn a unit, its number of turns is reduced. If you fire a Musketeer or Artillery unit, its number of moves is reduced by one. When these factors are reduced to zero, you can do nothing more with that unit until your next movement phase, when it will receive a new allowance.
When the attacking player (the player whose turn it is) has finished moving, turning and firing his units the computer checks for HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT. This occurs when any attacking unit is FACING and ADJACENT TO a defending unit. If that defending unit is also facing the attacking unit then it fights back inflicting casualties in return. Sometimes the defending unit will be nearly facing the attacking unit. Where this occurs the computer will give the defending player the option of turning his units so that they can fight back against one of their attackers.
How To Win
The object of the game is to destroy or capture the enemy sconce, of to reduce your opponents will to fight to such an extent as to force him to concede the battle.
Volume
After you have finished loading the programme, the prompt "VOLUME?" appears. Type in a number from 0 to 15 followed by <RETURN>. 0 will give you no sound a tall; 15 will make the sound effects as loud as possible.
Army Types
When the prompt 'Army Types' appears, press the '1', '2' or '3' key. The key that you decide to press corresponds to the following army types:
'1': This choice represents armies from the early part of the 17th Century, and reflects the armies put into the field at the beginning of the English Civil War. Generals relied heavily on slow pike-armed footmen and fast, manoeuverable cavalry. Muskets and cannons were expensive and unreliable and were not present in huge numbers. Hand-to-hand combat was the order of the day.
ARMY COMPOSITION = MUSKET ................... 2
PIKE ..................... 5
CAVALRY .................. 3
ARTILLERY ................ 1
'2': This choice represents the majority of English Civil War armies of the mid-17th Century. Large numbers of horses were more difficult to obtain reducing the number of cavalrymen. Muskets and cannons became more widely available but the 'push of pike' could still carry the day.
ARMY COMPOSITION = MUSKET ................... 3
PIKE ..................... 3
CAVALRY .................. 3
ARTILLERY ................ 2
'3': This choice represents the armies as they were developing towards the end of the 17th Century and the Age of Marlborough. Muskets were proving their effectiveness when used in large numbers and the pike became very much a defensive weapon.
ARMY COMPOSITION = MUSKET ................... 4
PIKE ..................... 2
CAVALRY .................. 3
ARTILLERY ................ 2
Woods
When the prompt "How much wood" appears, you should type in a number from 0 to 9. 0 means no wood at all and 9 means you will be fighting in a forest. The computer will adjust the number you type in to make the amount of woods on the battlefield less predictable. So even if you press 0, a small amount of wood may appear. Woods are represented by tree symbols.
Woods are a hindrance to both movement and firing. You cannot move any unit into a square which has a tree symbol on it. You can fire muskets through woods but to little effect. Artillery units can fire at woods and destroy them. This is not very realistic but adds significantly to the game. Units can move into squares which have had all their wood symbols destroyed, and fire through them normally.
The Battlefield
The battlefield is divided into squares which are staggered like the bricks in a brick wall; any unit can therefore move in any of six directions. If, at most times during the game, you press 'g', a grid will be drawn showing you precisely how the battlefield is divided up. Press any key to remove the grid. At the edge of the TV screen some of the squares are only half on the battlefield. No unit may enter these.
Deployment
The player who deploys his units first is decided randomly by the computer. The other player should leave the room so that he/she can deploy his/her units secretly. As mentioned above, each player deploys his/her units in either the left or right half of the screen. No player may deploy a unit in a square which contains a wood symbol or another unit. Remember to be careful in deciding where to place your sconce. At any time during deployment a player may press 'g' to create the grid
showing the squares. Press any key to remove the grid.
Deployment is achieved by moving a flashing cursor across the screen using the cursor keys. The computer will not allow you to move the cursor outside your deployment area. If you wish to postpone the unit to be deployed, press the Space Bar. This will flip you on to the next unit. You can keep on flipping through if you wish, until you find the unit that you wish to deploy. When you are satisfied that you wish to deploy the unit indicated in the square indicated by the FLASHING CURSOR, press the <RETURN> key.
When the first player has finished deploying all of his units, the computer will take his/her units off the screen. The other player can now come back into the room and deploy his units. The first player need not leave the room because he has already committed his forces. The second player deploys his/her unit using the same keys as the first player, but in the opposite half of the battlefield.
When the second player has finished deploying his units, the computer will reveal both armies, and play can then commence. The computer decides who goes first. If the writing at the bottom of the screen is on RED it is Parliament's go; if on BLUE it is the turn of the Royalists.
At the bottom of the screen you can see the number of MOVES/SHOTS and the number of TURNS left for the current unit (See Figure 2). The starting values of the different units types are as follows:-
Moves/shots Turns
MUSKET 2 2
PIKE 2 2
CAVALRY 4 3
ARTILLERY 2 1
Every time a unit MOVES or FIRES, its MOVES/SHOTS number is reduced by one. When the number reaches 0, that unit may not MOVE or FIRE again until it is your next MOVEMENT/FIRING phase. Every time a unit TURNS left or right, its TURNS number is reduced by one. When the number reaches 0, that unit may not TURN again until it is your next MOVEMENT/FIRING phase. When a unit has zero MOVE/SHOTS left and zero TURNS left the computer will beep at you to tell you that you may do nothing more with this unit until it is your next MOVEMENT/FIRING phase. Press the Space Bar and the unit is ignored for the rest of this MOVEMENT phase, and you will be moved on to your next unit.
Pressing the <RETURN> key will force the computer to ignore the currently selected unit until your next MOVEMENT/FIRING phase. So press this key ONLY when you are sure that you do not want to do anything more with this unit. When you decide that you do not wish to move ANY more units, press the <RETURN> key for each of your units which has any MOVES/SHOTS or TURNS left. The computer will then move you on to HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT.
Hand-To-Hand Combat
In this section the player whose turn it is is referred to as the attacking player and his/her units as the attacking units. The other player is the defending player and his/her units are the defending units.
HAND-TO-HAND combat occurs when any attacking unit is FACING and ADJACENT to any defending unit. More than one attacking unit can attack the same defending unit. If the defending unit is FACING the attacking unit it will automatically be able to fight back. If it is NEARLY facing the attacker (in other words, if it only requires one TURN to make it face the attacking unit), the defending player will be asked "Turn to face?". The defending player should enter Y or N depending on his decision. If the defending player enters Y then his unit will turn to face the attacking unit and will fight back at that unit. If a defending unit is attacked by more than one unit, the defending player may be asked more than once if he wishes to turn his unit to face. However, the defending player can only enter Y once in respect of any single unit. He/she should remember that it might not always be to his/her advantage
to turn to face. For example, to do so might leave another attacking unit attacking that unit in the rear. This gives an extra advantage to attacking units and should be avoided at all cost by the defending player.
The computer scans through all the attacking units to check whether HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is taking place, and then checks the defending units. However, so that neither side has an unfair advantage, the COMBAT STRENGTHS of all units are calculated simultaneously. So, even if a defending unit is wiped out during HAND-TO-HAND combat, the computer remembers what its previous strength was and allows it to fight back with that strength.
Once the computer has found a valid attack, it point it out by drawing a square around the defending unit and a flashing square around the attacking unit. It will tell you the COMBAT FACTOR that the attack is to be made with, and asks you to press a key. Press any key. The computer then calculates the casualties, removes them, and moves on to the next area of combat. When all combat is resolved, the other player will be able to move and fire his units, and so on.
The way the computer works out the COMBAT FACTOR is quite complicated but here are some important guidelines. The computer looks to see which type of unit if facing which:
- CAVALRY is very effective against MUSKET or ARTILLERY
- PIKE is effective against everything except ARTILLERY
- MUSKET are only any good against ARTILLERY
- ARTILLERY are pathetic in HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT. They should never be thrown into an attack, but kept well defended by other units
- PIKE and CAVALRY units receive a BONUS if they have moved immediately before attacking. This represents the impetus gained from charging home on the victim. You do not get this BONUS for merely turning to face
- ANY unit attacking from behind receive a BONUS
- ANY unit attacking from DIRECTLY behind receives a LARGE BONUS!
The COMBAT FACTOR is multiplied by the number of men in the unit. The larger the COMBAT FACTOR and the larger the number of men you have left in a unit, the better chance you have of inflicting large numbers of casualties. But success is not guaranteed as a random element is also involved.
Attacking The Enemy Fort
This is handled in precisely the same way as attacking any other enemy unit except that the COMBAT FACTOR is always 2 whatever the circumstances.
Winning
To win, you must either force your opponent to concede; wipe out his/her army to the last man; or destroy his/her sconce (only about two-thirds of it need actually be destroyed in order to win).
The VICTOR is then informed of how well he/she did.
Points Scored Type of Victory
0-25 Pyrrhic victory (go back to APOCALYPSE!)
26-75 A close battle (you had more than your fair share of
luck!)
76-125 A tactical victory (could do better)
126-150 A decisive victory (need a new opponent?)
151+ Whitewash (your opponent didn't turn up)
Causes Of The War
James I, the father of Charles I, was brought up as a Presbyterian, and when he came to the throne the people of both England and Scotland welcomed him for the changes they thought he would bring now that the two countries were under one King. They were adly disappointed; James refused to support the Protestant cause in Europe, and even made a point of being nice to Spain, England's traditional Catholic enemy.
Parliament, which was mainly protestant, disapproved but could not do a lot during James' reign.
When Charles came to the throne in 1625, Parliament tried to take some of the control of the country out of his hands. As Charles thought it was God's will that he should rule, this did not go down too well with him, and his solution to the problem was to rule without the help of a Parliament for eleven years.
It was Parliament's job to vote on the amount of taxes that should be paid to the King. During the eleven years when Parliament was not in existence, Charles had no regular source of income, and England's financial situation grew steadily worse, despite that fact that he forced people to lend him money and focibly sold Crown Offices or Baronetcies to anyone who had enough money to buy one. If you had enough
money but didn't want to buy one, you paid the same amount as a fine.
Another method of raising funds was called Ship Money - the Monarch had the right to raise funds with which to build warships, and Charles exercised this right, but did not use the money to build ships!
Eventually Charles' sources of income no longer provided enough money and he was forced to call a Parliament. Before anything else they declared Ship Money illegal, then pressed for religious and monetary reforms. Charles found it impossible to work with Parliament because he believed God meant him to rule alone.
In 1659 Charles forcefully introduced a new prayer-book and the Scots rebelled. Charles raised an army to put down the rebellion - but the men were unwilling to fight and were defeated. Parliament forced Charles to compromise with them more and more, until in 1642 when they raised an army to defeat a rebellion in Ireland, and it was clear that the army might just as well be used to fight the King's men in England.
Organisation
Most of the armies at the beginning of the Civil War were commanded by professional soldiers, English or European, who had learned their trade fighting in wars on the continent. The fighting men were generally volunteers, pressed men or tenants on the land of someone whom the King or Parliament had appointed to raise a Regiment. Some landowners even raised and equipped a regiment at their own expense, to fight for the side they supported.
In theory someone who raised a regiment would be given enough money to equip it with weaponry and lothing (doublet, breeches, shirts, stockings, shoes, some sort of headgear, and frequently armour), and buy food and pay the men, but often men would fight in their own clothes; if they were lucky with a uniform coat and a weapon pillaged from a body, or a cudgel or pitchfork. Cavalrymen tended to be better equipped than foot soldiers, but this was not always the case. Frequently all the men went unpaid for long periods of time, but the pay, when it did come, was better than that of a farm worker, and life, if more hazardous, must have been more interesting.
Rank Structure: Each Regiment had ten companies and consisted of about 1,200 men. Even in the earlier stages of the Civil War it was difficult to keep numbers up to strength. Each Regiment had a Colonel, a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major and seven Captains; each company had a Standard (flag) which was carried by an Ensign, the most junior officer, two drummers, who were equivalent in rank to NCOs and Corporals and Sergeants. Standards were always fairly distinctive and the idea was that every man should be able to recognise his own as a rallying point on the field.
Cavalry Regiments were similar to Regiments of Foot, but had only approximately 800 men. Their flag was known as a Cornet, as was the man who carried it; sergeants were known as Quarter Masters.
Regiments were often amalgamated or disbanded during the Civil War due to casualties fetching numbers down to critical levels; two half-strength regiments might suddenly become one in the interests of putting a decent fighting force on the field.
Weaponry
The Pike
A pike was a 16 plus foot long ash pole with a 1'6" metal spear-like head fastened to the top of it. It was manily a defensive weapon due to the fact that there was rarely time to teach the troops to use it offensively. Pikemen usually wore basic issue uniform, plus a leather 'buff-coat' if they were lucky: this was strong enough to turn sword cuts. Some would have back and breast plates (armour which covered the
chest and back from neck to waist) and a few would have 'tassets' which hung down from the back and breast at the front and protected the thighs. Pikemen also sometimes had crude swords for hand-to-hand combat in case the opposition got past the metal tipped pikes.
The Musket
Muskets were all muzzle loading (i.e. both powder and charge had to be put down the barrel). They were sometimes fired by a flintlock (a flint striking metal produced a spark which ignited the powder) but more often by means of 'match' which was a cord treated with a chemical which made it glow red but not burn. The musket fired when the glowing end came into contact with the powder, which was done by means of a very simple trigger.
17th Century musket drill was hideously slow and long-winded but needed to be so, as unless the sequence was well drilled into the musketeer's head he might accidentally set off his musket whilst loading it.
Musketeers wore the same clothes as pikemen, but no armour. In addition they carried all the equipment needed to clean and maintain their guns, plus powder and shot.
Muskets became steadily more reliable and less prone to exploding as the Civil War proceeded.
The Cavalry
There were several types of cavalry during the English Civil War period, ranging from the lightly armoured dragoons (who more frequently fought on foot) to the curassiers who fought in three quarter armour.
The weapons of the cavalryman were generally two pistols, a sword and sometimes a carbine (a short musket). He wore full regimental Uniform, a heavy buff-coat, back and breast armour, helmet, and thigh length leather riding boots.
The main problem the cavalry faced was getting suitable horses.
Gentleman's sons who had learned to ride as they grew up joined both sides, but Parliament's cavalry acquired the advantage when an unknown cavalry captain by the name of Oliver Cromwell started training men who couldn't already ride into very effective disciplined troops who charged knee to knee at the canter, and by sheer force had the advantage over the more skilful but less disciplined Royalists.
Artillery
Artillery in the English Civil War period ranged from a scaled-up musket mounted on a tripod to a siege gun with a range of up to a mile. A gun captain was put in charge of each piece and its effectiveness depended very much on his skill. He was usually a professional in the pay of a particular army, and had civilian status. Early on in the war, most gun captains came from abroad; later English men who had learned their trade during the Civil War took the position.
There are many different small jobs involved in the loading and firing of a gun, and one man did each one: the gun crew was usually of expendable citizens and if one got killed it was easier and quicker to train someone in one aspect of loading that in all the different ones.
The larger guns were difficult to move and required colling between shots otherwise the heat of the barrel could set off the powder prematurely, or the gun might explode when fired, killing the whole crew.
For siege work, guns would fire cannon balls but on the battlefield, guns often fired grape shots that would scatter and were more lethal, particularly if the gun captain was good at calculating range and firing, etc.
Instructions' Source : ENGLISH CIVIL WAR (Red Shift) Back and Inner Inlay
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