A classic English Civil War battle

15 December 2020

The Battle of Cropredy Bridge is the third set of rules written by Peter Riley using the Building Rules for Gaming Battles guidelines.

This is a classic English Civil War battle with the Parliamentarians trying to catch the Royalist army on the march. Led by the King, the Royalist army responded quickly with the ensuing battle playing out over a large area, in three phases and with a similar amount of Horse and Foot.

The battle took place on June 29, 1644 just north of Banbury in Oxfordshire. You can play this game as either Sir William Waller taking the battle to the Royalists or King Charles trying to make his way to Oxford and keep his Army intact.

“I liked the three boards approach from the original Little Bighorn game,” said Peter. “So, we are presenting this game as another “mini-campaign” – it’s a return to an approach which seems appropriate since our success with the Little Bighorn game.”

The game is played on three boards that represent the area of Cropredy, the villages and towns of Great and Little Bourton, Wardington and Williamscott.

It is also cut through with the River Cherwell, with open fields and crisscrossed by roads and tracks as well as several major hills. Perfect terrain for an opportunistic attack and a running battle.

The printed book and downloadable pdf are available from our bookstore. The package includes the Rules for the wargame, Orders of Battle, a Playsheet, Battle Briefing and map of the board to play the game on. 

Images from the play testing of the Battle of Cropredy Bridge using the Peter Riley's collection of Parliamentarian and Royalist Armies and various buildings and terrains