| Chapter One | The march on Leeds
He had spent a large amount of his personal wealth, and that of the northern Royalists, to fashion for his men gleaming white coats. They would march south like a proper army of professional men, instead of the farmhands and stableboys and streetscum that they were.
"Do you think Halifax will give battle?" the Earl asked of his captains. They all agreed that he would. "I thought as much. He will march as soon as he can, and as fast as he can."
"Then why do we not wait for him?" quizzed one of the lower captains, a man who had bought his commission with the gift of a hundred volunteers.
"The King needs these men at Oxford," William answered calmly. "And he needs Fairfax dealt with. That army is a danger to all of the northern territories and with every passing day there is a greater chance that the mere knowledge of that army, outnumbering our own, having the ability to march north, will turn the people against us. We cannot allow that"
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| Chapter Two | The Siege of Leeds
William had sacrificed dignity to investigate the strength of the enemy force before his army reached it. Lying in a dirt field overlooking the city, he ran a trained eye over the sprawling mass of Leeds.
"I wonder what he is playing at," the Earl asked himself, watching as the enemy army withdrew from the city. There was a serious lack of noble colours flying above the parliamentarian army as it left Leeds, chief among them that of the Lieutenant-General Fairfax. Why does he stay?
His question was answered the next day as his army marched in to sight of the city.
As his cannons were brought forward to begin pounding the stone walls in to dust, a rider can racing to the general, screaming at the top of his lungs: "The enemy are coming!"
Cursing himself for a fool, William sent his horsemen racing ahead to harry the enemy army while he brought the rest of the army up, excepting for Sir Thomas Glenham and his Foote regiments, who would take the city itself.
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He also sent his dragoons round the other side of Leeds, to pick at the parliamentarian rear as they battled William's main force. The cavalry of both forces closed in a fierce battle on the slopes overlooking Leeds. Without support however, the superior Royalist cavalry were forced to withdraw, firing at their pursuers with heavy pistols.
"I want the pikemen to lead the attack, with the musketeers at either side!" the Earl shouted to his messengers. "And tell Thomas that as soon he has secured the city he is to reinforce us!"
They had charged at the loyalist regiment like madmen, hooting and swearing like the devil himself. However the enemy had broken almost instantly. Their "loyalty" was not enough to stand against the cavaliers of the King.
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Surveying the battlefield, reloading their pistols and wiping their blades on their horses' flanks, the men take a moment to catch their breath.
The Royalists, cheering their general as he led from the front, pushed further and further in the loyalist ranks. Without Halifax's direct commands, they were disorganized, disheartened. They were beaten men.
And beaten men run.
"Keep close men!" called the Earl of Newcastle, delivering a swift strike to one of the retreating foes. "On in to the city!"
"General!" a messenger, bleeding from a gunshot in his shoulder, galloped up to his commander. "It is Sir Thomas' detachment! They have been destroyed! Fairfax is coming!"
The news barely affected William. They were winning, even without those three regiments he had sent in to Leeds. "What of our cannon?" If they are lost then I will not have enough firepower to continue south.
"They continue to fire at the walls, but the dragoons have redeployed to defend them."
"Good! Join the assault!"
The enemy regiment turned the corner in perfect step. Anchoring their flanks against the walls of the city and a farmstead they prepared to make a stand. They had just butchered three Royalist regiments and were now ready fight the rest of the enemy to a stalemate.
Halifax himself led the sally which saw the Royalist attack stall, attempting to give the pikemen enough space to actually use their weapons. And on the bodies of the initial cavalry clash, some Loyalists finally got their cannons working, firing upon the backs of William's Newcastle regiments.
"Reform! Reform!" The Earl of Newcastle pointed towards the enemy musketeer regiment, dispatching three of his own to face them. And towards Fairfax's sally, he ordered his cavalry forward. They dived in to the fray, and saw the enemy break in despair.
Even with their dear general dead, the army of Leeds tried to make a fight of it. Even when their cannons were silenced, and their precious walls hammered by the Royalist sakers, they still fought. With clubs they battled pike and sabre.
"We have victory."
William Cavendish had to remind his men that the people of Leeds were Englishmen after a dozen houses had been stormed. The inhabitants would have been compensated if the Earl had caught wind of what was happening before his men used their muskets.
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| Chapter Three | Battle outside Leeds
"We will not meekly scatter after a single defeat," the Roundhead Colonel declared. He still bore the blood-stained uniform from the battle of Leeds. He had been the commander of the artillery which held its ground even as the rest of the army scattered."
"Then you will die, like the traitors you are." There was no time for honourable conduct. The Parliamentarian force would be destroyed, and then the Earl would march south for his King.
Despite the man's proud declaration, the enemy tried to slink away under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately for them, the Earl had decided upon a swift night attack to suffer the least amount of causalities for victory.
Forced to give battle, the Loyalists marched against the wide front of Royalist musketeers. While they had the superiority in cannon, they were fighting uphill. While the Royalist cannons were pounding Halifax's men, the Parliamentarian artillery was hitting the ground below the Whitecoat's feet.
The Earl watched with a pained expression as the Royalists pushed forward. He watched as the enemy threw down their weapons and fled, even before the Royalist pikemen began tearing in to the massed ranks. As the Loyalists began to flee. That was when William led his cavalry in, hacking at the backs of all of his foes. |
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[FKoK] For the King...
and came upon this well-made mod. There are two factions, the Royalists and Loyalists fighting over the control of England. There is an included script for the Scottish Parliament supporters to arrive from the north, and another for Tiller's army to arrive from Ireland to support the King.
) Cavenish was forced to retreat to York, not having the forces to do more than harass and cut off supplies. Three armies laid siege to York: Scots, Lord Fairfax of Cameron and Lord Manchester.
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