Ye Only Waye is Essex - 2ft, 2pt Donnybrook

The scenario

The Essex countryside 1588.  Captain Gonzalo Hernández leads his detachment of Flanders veterans in a search for provisions. An  English force, (part regulars and part local militia) has been alerted and moves to intercept. 

The forces

Spanish - Captain Gonzalo Hernández - 1 hero (D12), Antonio de Vera -  character musician, 1pt unit of 3 Light Horse (Elite D10), Hector Bellendin - character sergeant, 1pt unit of 8 musketeers (all regulars D8).

English - Captain Rowland Howard - 1 hero (D12), Matthew Baynton - character sergeant, 1 unit of 8 Pikemen (regular D8) Josiah Grundeye - poacher character, 1pt unit of 12 Militia calivermen (recruit D6).

Victory conditions

At the end of the turn (Turn Over card is drawn) check the status of the forces. When a force has been reduced to 50% of its starting strength, including characters, throw one Ability die equal to the highest surviving member of the force, If the result is 7+ the force may continue to fight.  If the die roll is failed the force must quit the field and the game is over. 

If the Spanish manage to exit the board English side of the board with 50% of their force they will have won. 

The English will have won if they manage to reduce the Spanish force to 50%, thus forcing them to retire and halt their pillaging expedition. 

Deployment

The factions set up on opposite sides on the board edge. 

Spanish left, English on the right.

Turn 1

The deck is shuffled: 1. Josiah Grundeye - poacher character activates and moves 6cm. 2. English Pikemen move 4cm (close order). 3. Spanish Sergeant is attached to the Spanish Musketeers so doesn’t act independently. 4. Likewise the Light Horse Ensign is an attached character so won’t act independently of his unit. 5. English Militia move 6cm. 6. English Captain moves 6cm. 7. Spanish Light Horse canter off down the road. 8. RELOAD card drawn– no effect. 9. Spanish musketeers move 6cm (attached Sergeant now moves). 10. English sergeant card is drawn but he is attached to the Pikemen unit so moved with them at 2. 11. The Spanish Captain canters off after his command. 12. TURN OVER card drawn which is appropriate as all the cards have been drawn!

The position at the end of Turn 1 with the forces advancing on each other

Turn 2

The deck is shuffled. 1. Spanish Sergeant is attached to the Spanish Musketeers so doesn’t act independently.2. English Militia move 6cm. 3. Spanish Light Horse and attached Ensign character keep cantering off down the road. 4. RELOAD – no effect. 5. English Pikemen and attached Sergeant move 4cm (close order). 6. The Spanish Captain canters off again. 7. Spanish Musketeers and attached Sergeant moves. 8. TURN OVER card drawn. The English hero and Poacher characters didn’t get a chance to act this turn. 

Turn 3

The deck is shuffled. 1. Spanish Musketeers and attached Sergeant think about shooting but don’t have a clear target so move closer to the enemy. 2. English Pikemen and attached Sergeant having seen the approaching Spanish decide to hold their ground. 3. RELOAD no effect. 4. English Poacher moves forward to get a good shooting position. 5. Captain Howard the English Hero decides to move 3cm to position himself better to command all his units. 6. With the enemy in sight and his battle rage increasing the Spanish Captain pushes on another 12 cm. 7. TURN OVER card drawn. A number of units didn’t act this turn.

End of turn 3, they're getting closer.

Turn 4

The deck is shuffled. 1.English Militia activate. In his impetuosity Captain Gonzalo Hernández has placed himself within range of four of their calivers. FIRE!!! Their inexperience shows and none of them manage to score the required 6. Reload marker placed on the whole unit. 2. Captain Rowland Howard decides to stay put. 3. The English Pikemen and attached Sergeant shuffle forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Militia. 4. After his close shave Captain Hernández decides to stand and compose himself and his Horse (ie. do nothing). 5. RELOAD. The token for the Militia is removed. 6. The Spanish Musketeers activate. Having adjusted their lines, the English Pike are now in range. FIRE!!! Three hits,  three of the English heretics slain. 7. Josiah Grundeye the English poacher fires at the Light Horse and misses. 8. TURN OVER card drawn. Things are hotting up in Essex.

End of turn 4, the Pikeman (top right) have suffered their first casualties

Turn 5

The deck is shuffled. 1.Spanish sergeant is activated; he uses his special character ability to allow the Musketeers to reload. This proves to be a good ploy as the Spanish Musketeers’ card is drawn next. 2. Spanish Musketeers fire at the English Pikemen again. They do a bit better and score four hits, four more casualties to the Pikemen unit, which is reduced to ONE. The roll on the Morale table is a dismal two and not surprisingly the lone survivor and the attached Sergeant character rout. 3. Looking to force the battle Captain Hernández charges the Militia single handed. Before closing he discharges his pistol but in his haste misses. Nevertheless, he kills one of the Militia with his sword. They trade blows but the three Militia near enough all miss. 4. Captain Rowland Howard now decides to act. He takes aim and shoots at Captain Hernández hitting him with a pistol ball. Ha! says Hernandez – tis but a scratch! as he rolls an eight on the Wounds table. Captain Howard now steps forward and swipes at Hernández with his sword but misses. Hernandez now has a chance to strike back and hits Howard. He misses his parry but he is lucky only suffering a scratch. 3. RELOAD – all markers withdrawn. 4. The Poacher tries again to hit the Jinetes but misses.  6. TURN OVER card drawn.

Captain Hernández in combat

Turn 6

The deck is shuffled. 1. Buoyed by their slaughter of the English Pikemen the Spanish Musketeers advance. 2. Captain Hernández strikes at Captain Howard who misses his parry and is hit. Disaster for England and Queen Bess – the good Captain falls dead! 3. Enraged by this the English Militia pile into the attack.  Hernández manages to parry one attack but one gets through, he rolls a five on the wound table and is knocked unconscious by a blow from a Militia man’s Caliver butt. 4. The Light Horse Ensign’s card is finally drawn and seeing the plight of his commander he leaves his unit and canters forward. However, he is now in clear view of the poacher Josiah Grundeye 5. His card is drawn and he shoots the Jinete down rolling a six on his D6. 5. 6. TURN OVER card drawn. The English force has suffered 11 casualties out of a total force of 23 not enough to force a morale test, but close.

Turn 7

The deck is shuffled. 1. The English Poacher still has a reload marker so doesn’t do anything. 2. TURN OVER card is drawn, but I ignore this to continue with the action. 3. The Militia card is crawn and the rest of the unit now crowd around the unconscious form of Captain Hernández and unceremoniously despatch him. 

The end for Captain Hernández 

4. The Spanish sergeant is activated; he again uses his special character ability to allow the Musketeers to reload. 5. RELOAD is drawn anyway. Markers removed from Poacher. 5. At last the Spanish Light Horse card is drawn. They gallop forward to outflank the English Militia and leave a clear line of sight for their Musketeer comrades. 6. The Spanish Musketeers activate and fire at the English Militia. Four hits, four Militia fall. All units have activated so TURN OVER. In lime with the conditions of the game after suffering another 4 casualties the English force have to roll morale. The highest level still on the table is Recruit and a Recruit unit roll on a D6. They cannot achieve a 7+ so they quit the field. The Spanish regulars have won the day albeit at the loss of their captain. 

Conclusion

Good game, good game as the late great Sir Bruce would have said. The quality of the Spanish Musketeers, using the ability of the attached Sergeant character proved their worth and won the day for the Spanish. The Spanish Light Horse and English Pikemen didn't even get into combat which shows the value of the missile weapons. I thought that these troops would be battling it out. 

Donnybrook is a very enjoyable game. It's random card activation system is perfect for solo play as you don't know quite what's going to happen, There's only a few pages of rules and most of the time you can just use the supplied quick reference card. Although the game was written for the period 1660 to 1760 it works without any modifications to the 16th Century. 

The next step will be to play a 3pt game with another unit and character for each side. I'm not sure which period yet I'll have to look through the collection.