Strategically the plan was to pull troops from the secure right flank to reinforce the Parliamentarian Center and be a form of reserve. What occurred was a comical sequence of marching "up a road" only to march "back down the same road" with a Pike Block. The C-in-C bequeathed only a few PiPs to this third command, which meant the 'strategic' plan stayed but a twinkle in the "mind's eye" of the Parliamentarian commanders. When the Royalist horse turned up and threatened the baggage the command was effectively pinned (see below):
A minor fire-fight broke out as the Royalists tried to press a point but they suffered under 'bad dice' rolls representing good Parliamentarian marksmanship. The Royalist right lost two stands of shot recoiling into their own cavalry - by a quirk of fate dying by the very DBR rule which was 'refused or deemed unacceptable' to the other Royalist (Right Wing) command (see below, at one time there had been four Royalist shot). The less said about DBR's rules of 'recoilment' the better methinks ;)
Finally interior distances meant that a thin wall of Parliamentarian Pikes sealed off the Royalist horses root to the Parliamentarian baggage (see below). But more Parliamentarian stands were being fixed in position by an inferior Royalist force, which meant ultimately the Parliamentarian Center was being hard pressed.
Indeed the center of the battlefield was looking very messy (see below). Gradually the Parliamentarians were getting worn down. The Parliamentarian Pike had been committed while the Royalist Pike Phalanx was moving out from a reserve position lining up for a deadly "push of pike". The Parliamentarian command was forced to commit to several do-or-die combats, suffering badly from their absence of artillery.
To ensure no reinforcements could be committed from the Parliamentarian Right to assist the in peril center of the battlefield the Royalist Left gamely "did their duty for Rupert" and fixed the enemy (see below):
What would become of the middle?
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