The Battle of Litchfield - AAR

A gaggle of Rejects assembled in the Shed of War at Lee's behest to fight a "what if" scenario on the Battle of Bosworth. What follows is the briefing from Lee.

"What if Richard’s spy network had been slightly better informed about the intentions of the Stanleys and the route of Henry Tudor's march towards the midlands? Richard was not a timid commander and had shown his willingness to take the initiative in the campaigns he had fought on behalf of his brother, Edward IV. Would Richard have seen an opportunity to stop the Stanleys from formalising their support for Henry by catching the much smaller Lancastrian army a few days earlier than happened historically?
In today's game, Richard III’s army left Leichester as soon as Northumberland and his Array arrived. The combined army camp at Ambion Hill while the King considered his options. The ridge of high ground from Ambion hill to Stoke Golding crosses Henry's route. It is a good defensive position, but the flat lowlands are marshy and limit space for his swollen army to exploit their numbers. Richard also knows that the Stanleys are shadowing Henry and despite the King's demands for loyalty, he cannot be entirely certain of their allegiance. So he decides to attack Henry before he can join forces with the Stanleys. If the army presses on now they can resupply at Atherston and catch Henry at Litchfield in two days time.
Meanwhile, Henry has been conversing with the Stanleys and plans to meet at Litchfield to formalise their agreement. The Stanley's army is about a day march to the North East but William and Thomas Stanley, and their household troops, divert to the town to meet Henry Tudor. This is when news of the advancing Yorkist army is received. Henry’s army is outnumbered and Sir William Stanley is forced to decide to defend his Son-on-Law. He sends a rider to bring the rest of his army, knowing they will probably arrive too late to change the outcome. Henry’s most experienced commander, Oxford has just enough time to deploy the army on a ridge crossing the road to Litchfield and orders his archers and crossbowmen to prepare hasty defences."

Rules: Test of Resolve
Figures: 6mm Baccus
Lancastrian Players:  Colin, Ray and Stuart
Yorkist Players:  Steve, Surjit and me.

The opening dispositions.  The larger Yorkist army is on the left.  The smaller Lancastrian army deployed on the hill.

Lee presiding over the game

Yorkist knights bracing themselves for battle.

The Yorkist army advances to the stream where the muddy banks provide a small impediment to their progress towards Henry Tudor's force.

Surjit, controlling Norfolk's battle, advances faster than the rest of the army and begins organising his approach against the Lancastrian left.  Norfolk would end up playing the major role in defining the outcome of the engagement.

The Yorkist line now advance beyond the stream.  Not quite in shooting distance yet!

Norfolk (nearest to us) has begun shooting from the town whilst retinue bill and array position themselves to attack the hastily prepared positions of the Lancastrians.

A view from Norfolks position by the village towards Henry Tudor's position.

Two companies of array bound up the hill to sweep the defending archers away...

... only to find themselves swept away!

As the rest of the Yorkist line creeps forward, Norfolk is not deterred and launches troops up the hill once more.

This time Norfolk destroys the archers and can now be classed as on the hill.  However, there are two units of nasty looking mercenary pikemen ready to counterattack.

The rest of the Yorkist line now have the range to shoot.  Some effective shooting takes place, and is returned from the defenders.

The mercenary pike charge in.  However, the fighting is hard from all and they fail to eject Norfolk from the hill.

One pike unit is destroyed and the second is caught up in a long struggle.  It is beginning to look like the Lancastrian flank is creaking under the strain.

Along the whole line, the Lancastrians are putting up a stubborn defence as the Yorkists hurl themselves up the slope.

Norfolk finally eliminates the last of the pike.  The Lancastrian left flank has been turned.  The situation for the Henry Tudor has gone from bleak to grave.

However, Yorkist impetuosity in charging their royal knights against Henry's has stalled.  With the Lancastrian knights now trying to chase down Richard himself and his company of knights.  This could mark a dramatic turn of fortune in the battle!

Meanwhile, the whole Lancastrian left flank have had enough and have fled the field.

Fortune favours the Yorkists.  The Lancastrian knights fail to destroy Richard and his knights.  With this failure and the complete collapse of the left half his army, Henry Tudor calls it a day and retires from the field while he can.

A Yorkist victory!

That was a fantastic game.  The card driven nature of the actions made for a delightfully unpredictable game.  Which, if played again, could easily produce a very different result.  In general, the cards in the first half of the game favoured the Lancastrians, which was when they needed them least.  Then favoured the Yorkist in the second half, when they needed it most.

The combat was hard fought with a lot of melees going on for multiple rounds.  No bad thing bearing in mind the nature of the warfare in this period.

Lee did a great job in preparing and executing this scenario.  His umpiring was fair and patient (a special trait required for dealing with the Rejects in the shed).  However, he looked exhausted by the end.

A thoroughly enjoyable game.  I hope that Lee puts on more Test of Resolve games.