Time Astra

Schematic plan · English Civil War

Battle of Tippermuir

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseGunsMontrose0250 m500 mN

Parliamentarian (Scot Cov Army, 6,800 men under Elcho) attacked Royalist (Scot Roy Army, 3,000 men under Montrose) in Scotland. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 1.1 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Royalist held. Losses: Parliamentarian 3,000 (44%), Royalist 1 (0%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Parliamentarian

Elcho

UnitArmMen
Parliamentarian left wingInfantry1,415
Parliamentarian centreInfantry1,886
Parliamentarian right wingInfantry1,415
Parliamentarian reserveInfantry1,179
Parliamentarian cavalry of the leftCavalry400
Parliamentarian cavalry of the rightCavalry400
Parliamentarian artillery (7 guns)Artillery105
ElchoCommander—
In this plan6,800

Royalist

Montrose

UnitArmMen
Royalist left wingInfantry720
Royalist centreInfantry960
Royalist right wingInfantry720
Royalist reserveInfantry600
MontroseCommander—
In this plan3,000

What the sources report

ParliamentarianRoyalist
Strength, this plan6,8003,000
Losses, this plan3,0001

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 22, “Tippermuir”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
1.1 km (attacker), 1.1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Parliamentarianattacker6,8003,0008007Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Royalistdefender3,000100Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.