Before I continue I should explain that the game was not wholly historically accurate. This was done on purpose firstly to stop players from using historical accounts to work out their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and to give players a bit of self determination in their deployment and Order Of Battle (ORBAT). One thing that did reflect history was the deployment areas of the Crown forces.
Army organisations
Crown Forces
Instead of the umpire allocating troops to their historical commanders the players, acting within General Lakes original plan of forming six Brigades, were allowed to allocate whatever troops they liked to whatever commander they liked within the following confines:
Each brigade had to have a minimum of:
2 battalions of Infantry
1 Squadron of cavalry
1 division of Field Artillery (2 guns)
Battalion guns could be allocated as players wished
The commanders for each Brigade are listed below but General Lake was not allowed to form his own Brigade and had to be part of Dundas’s Brigade.
General Gerard Lake
Major General David Dundas
Major General Francis Needham
Major General William Loftus
Major General James Duff
Major General John Moore
Major General Henry Johnson
Pre-game bombardment
At the start of the game the Crown players were given the choice of having an 8 turn (two hour) window in which to initiate a pre game bombardment on the rebel positions. This was to represent Lakes bombardment of the hill and Enniscorthy before the battle commenced. This option was declined by the players on the grounds that it would waste ammunition but in doing this it was to have a detrimental effect on their plans.
United Irish Forces
Organisation
The same free format allocation of troops applied to the
UI players. They had to form their army
into five Brigades of any size under the following commanders:
Anthony Perry
Father John Murphy
Myles Byrne
William Barker
Father Mogue Kearns
What they didn’t know was that Father Philip Roche’s
forces (At Foulksmill) had already been allocated by the umpire and would turn
up later on in the game.
Players were then asked to refer to the strategic map below
so that they would understand their initial dispositions and then the tactical
map for deployment on the table.
For those of you who know the
battle of Vinegar Hill you may have seen a few historical “anomalies” reflected
on the map. Again this was done on
purpose to throw any would be researchers off the trail.
Historical changes to the game
1. Historical scenario
After their victory over the rebel forces at the battle of New Ross Major Generals Moore and Johnston were ordered to march on Vinegar hill and attack the town of Enniscorthy. However Moore was then ordered to join up with the garrison at Duncannon so Johnston continued his march to Enniscorthy alone. After the garrison failed to rendezvous with Moore he decided to march on to Taghmon but upon reaching Foulksmill Moore encountered a large force of rebels under the command of the Reverend Philip Roche. With the ensuing battle ending in a stalemate the rebels withdrew after which Moore heard that there were loyalist prisoners held in the gaol at Wexford so he diverted his force to relieve the town.
Change
In this scenario the order for Moore to go to Duncannon is never sent so both Moore and Johnston march on Enniscorthy as originally planned.
2. Historical scenario
After his defeat at the battle of New Ross the Reverend Philip Roche initially fell back to a camp at Sliabh Coillte then later on fell back to the camp at Three Rocks near Wexford town. On hearing that General Moore was heading toward Foulksmill Roche took 5,000 men and attacked him. After a stalemate Roche fell back on Wexford thinking that he was being pursued by Moore. After reaching Wexford he then marched to Vinegar Hill arriving just in time to stave off an attack by General Needham on the retreating rebels.
Change
In this scenario because Moore doesn’t reach Folkesmill Roche heads towards Wexford on the 20th and by the 21st he’s ready to advance on Vinegar Hill with reinforcements from the Wexford garrison.
3. Historical scenario
Because of a major administrative blunder which meant that General Needham had to march all through the night he didn’t arrive at his station at Oulart Hill until late in the morning of the 21st having been inadvertently diverted many miles out of his way by General Lake. On arrival at Oulart Hill Needham’s infantry were completely shattered so he advanced on Vinegar hill with only his cavalry, arriving just in time to bump into Roche.
Change
In this scenario Needham is still late but he turns up with all of his men albeit pretty exhausted and with lots of disadvantageous tactical factors to impede him. It also meant that any troops allocated to Needham’s command would also be delayed a lot longer than anticipated.
