The Rejects assembled at Stuart's shed and threw themselves into a day of laughter and gaming as we hurled War of the Roses armies against each other.
The fictional encounter was set two days before the Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471. The Lancastrians led by me, Lee and Surjit confronted a well positioned Yorkist army commanded by Steve and Ray, with the forces arrayed as shown.
Bear in mind my account will be written from the perspective from my (Lancastrian) side of the table.
This is the order of battle that I have unashamedly stolen from Lee's excellent report, click here to see.
The Order of Battle
Lancastrians (Richard, Surjit & Lee)
C/O Duke of Somerset
Men-At-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers x2, Shire Bill & Light Gun
2iC Prince Edward
Men-at-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers, Irish Bonnachts, Shire Archers & French Crossbowmen
3iC Earl of Devon
Men-At-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers, Shire Bill, Shire Archers & Light Organ Gun
Yorkists (Steve & Ray)
C/O King Edward IV
Men-at-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers x2, Shire Billmen, Light Gun
2ic Duke of Gloucester
Men-at-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers, Shire Bill, Shire Archers & German Handgunners
3ic Lord Hastings
Men-at-Arms, Retinue Bill, Retinue Archers, German Pikemen, Shire Archers & Light Gun
The Yorkists had a formidable position on the hill and the burden of attack was on the Lancastrians. Plus, King Edward held an initiative advantage as the foremost commander on the battlefield. This is critical as the side with initiative can move and shoot first, so the other side has to shoot after casualties are removed.
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| The Lancastrians advance into a storm of arrows. |
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| After just one round of Yorkist archery the land of the dead was already well populated. As Lee (Earl of Devon) said, "it got bad." |
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| The casualty toll is more apparent when you see the emptying movement trays of the Yorkist longbowmen. Somerset's battle is taking a hammering. |
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| Now you see it... |
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| ... now you don't! |
With the Yorkists concentrating their shooting against the Lancastrian centre and right to blunt any assault against the hill, the Earl of Devon took less longbow volleys and was able to dish out some some death on Hastings' battle.
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| But on the Lancastrian right there was another now you see it... |
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| ...now you don't, as Prince Edward's battle lost a unit and... |
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| ....so does Somerset's battle! |
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| With arrows raining down, Somerset's battle recoiled stalling the Lancastrian assault towards the hill. |
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| The view from the carrion crows wheeling around above the field of battle. |
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| King Edward's battle secure on the hill with the longbowmen cutting down ranks of Lancastrians. It was becoming hard for the Lancastrians to see how they might win. |
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| Nonetheless, Prince Edward continued his advance on the right. |
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| While Devon, having secured archery superiority, threatened the Yorkist right flank. |
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| Somerset's battle in the centre were now moving again. Picking up the pace by shouldering weapons, they fast moved to start closing the gap. |
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| The Earl of Devon (Lee) had clearly been traumatised by a previous encounter against pike. So, he decided to pour arrows into their phalanx on the left. Thus we had another now you see it... |
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| ...now you don't! |
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| With the loss of another unit Lord Hastings' battle failed a morale test and retired a full move in disorder. Perhaps a glimmer of Lancastrian hope. |
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| Meanwhile, after a rapid approach, Somerset's battle started to close on the Yorkist centre, but how many will survive the arrow storm from the defenders? |
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| More out of desperation than sound judgement, Prince Edward (Surjit) charged his depleted archers up hill against the Duke of Gloucester's bowmen. |
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| This gave space for the Prince to move his troops into charge range. Though sadly for his archers once again now you see it... |
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| ...now you don't. |
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| Along the line the Lancastrians were closing. Although Devon held back a little, hoping to make his archers extract Yorkist blood. |
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| And with the air blackened by arrows, both Hastings and Devon see their men at arms wiped out. |
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| While along the centre, Somerset and the Prince assault the hill. |
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| In the melee the King lost one archer and another was hurled back in disarray. Gloucester saw his archer unit decimated and recoil. With nearby units suffering disorder, matters now seemed to hang in the balance, albeit the Yorkists had fresh units to throw at the thinning Lancastrian units. |
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| However, with destruction wrought everywhere, all battles (except Somerset's) had to check morale. In a moment of tension and high drama, the Lancastrians passed theirs but Hastings and Gloucester both failed. Hastings routed off the table and Gloucester was obliged to retire a move. |
At the very last the Lancastrians snatched victory from what seemed like a likely defeat. Somerset, Devon and Prince Edward could hardly believe what had unfolded.
Well done to Stuart for the game and to all players for an occasion full of great play and tremendous banter and humour.
Analysis
The Yorkists won all but one initiative roll. This meant they could decimate the opposing ranks of archers before being fired on. This was devastating. Even the optimistic Surjit (Prince Edward) thought we could not win against such appalling casualties being inflicted upon us.
The archery was deadly all game. Not sure this is entirely my reading of the Wars of the Roses... but it has been a very long time and I am probably mistaken.
The Yorkists rightly concentrated most archery from the hill onto the attackers' centre. However, this eventually allowed Lee (Devon) to enjoy an archer unit immune from shooting. It would go on to destroy a pike unit and a unit of men at arms. Thus being instrumental in the collapse of the Yorkist right flank.
Only two units of hand to hand troops engaged in melee with each other. All the other melees were uneven affairs against Yorkist longbow units. So the outcome of the engagement was largely determined by archery, destruction of archer units and failed battle morale checks. It poses a question about how to play these rules in future.
Regardless, a good time was had by all in a game of twists and drama.
Great report Richard, of a great game. Not sure I liked the ending as much as you though.
ReplyDeleteRichard, excellent battle report with engaging storytelling.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe the level of casualties from archery. Given the magnitude of losses, I am shocked (shocked, I say!) to see anyone standing by game's end.
Tough to lose a battle on two failed morale rolls. C'est la guerre!
You are too kind Jonathan. If you are shocked imagine how us Lancastrians felt.
DeleteExcellent looking report sir!
ReplyDeleteBest regards
Thank you Michal.
DeleteNice to read both sides of this battle Richard, after having read Ray's account. A close and gripping affair for sure, and your side certainly pulled it out of the fire. We had and ancients battle like that two years ago where the opposing side had actually conceded but we talked them into giving it just one more round to "See what would happen", only to then lose the thing with some appalling dice rolling.
ReplyDeleteOh dear....I can certainly understand why you will never forget that particular encounter, Lawrence!
DeleteWhen we paused for lunch the Lancastrians certainly felt there was less than an hour left in the game, not the 4 it turned out to be.
DeleteExcellent retelling of the battle Richard. I think longbow men were pretty devastating during the WotR...I remember in one battle, in a snow storm, the opposing archers could not even see each other but one side had the wind in their favour so that the enemy arrows fell short, and the target archers could advance, collect the ineffective enemy arrows, and fire them back, adding insult to injury (Towton maybe?)
ReplyDeleteI think a significant aspect of the rules is that casualties are removed immediately ....we generally say firing is simultaneous, so both sides roll for the number of men they have at the start of the firing round. I suppose in some ways, either method is as "realistic" as the other....there would have been occasions when one side got the jump on the other, and fired first, gaining the obvious advantage of doing so.
Thanks Keith. I bow to your greater knowledge.
DeleteStuart's rules do tend to follow that pattern of move first, fire first. Not simultaneous. It can make playing against an army with an initiative bonus on their roll quite difficult to play against.
Excellent write up Richard. It was certainly a game of changing fortunes. As a Lancastrian player I was very happy with how the game concluded, but I can see how frustrating it is to loose on Morale checks. On the other hand, the Yorkists had taken a lot of damage in that turn, heaping penalties on their morale checks, so it wasn't entirely down to the dice.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Lee, we played our part in our victory.
DeleteA cracking game and good to read a view from the otherside of the table. The archers did seem rather too effective to my mind, but maybe that was just good dice rolling across the board. What rules were you using BTW?
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. We were using Stuart's own rules. The dice rolling was good, but even average dice would have still been bloody.
DeleteImpressive WotR gaming, Richard. A favorite period of mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean. Stuart puts on a good game.
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