Somewhere in the North Midlands, 1487.
The army ofYorkist Pretender Rightful King of England, Lambert Simnel approaches the forces of the Lancastrian Usurper Yorkist Pretender, Henry Tudor VII.
I was inited back to Graham's wargames pod to show him and Mark how to play MeG, and after some discussion, they both wanted to try the rules to see whether they could use the rules for the Wars of The Roses. Graham sent me a list of figures he could field. Unfortunately, my armies are early Henry VIII besed in and around 1513 and the Flodden campaign or The Battle of The Spurs in the French campaign, so a quick list dive later, I went for Yorkist Pretender and Early Tudor, the last two lists in 'Kings of The North' pdf.
Henry awaits the arrival of Lambert, his guns deployed (they didn't do much else all game). Stanley and his troops (an ally) are deployed front and centre to ensure he joins in.
Death also stalks the land.
Graham's cloth is green, but for some reason my phone camera was registering it as yellow...
First deal goes down, as Lambert takes a central hill, with his Irish troops sheltering in the wood, and his skirmishers and knights on his far left.
Henry moves his horse through the woods, and his bows and bills supported by the Royal men-at-arms on their left flank.
Stanley advances too, as does Henry's Flemish Pikes. Lambert sits pretty on the hill with his mercanary forces of a pike block, a line of crossbows and handgunners. On his left, he swings his knights round attempting to flank Henry's line.
The archers enter into a shooting match, while the cavalry start a slogging match that would last most of the game.
Crisps were served and demolished as Henry's mercanary pikes made a move towards their opposite number on the hill.
Stanley's billmen close on Lambert's bows, but suffer hits from the bows on the way in, and then proceed to lose in melee too! Stanley's bows are also loosing the archery duel, but are outnumbered significantly.
The pikes at the bottom of the hill are taking crossbow hits on the way in. The Irish on Lambert's wing advance.
The pikes close in and contact each other, but the crossbows and pikes on the hill are good enough to smash the Tudor pikes. (L2-H0)
Henry's retinue Billmen follow up the pikes onto the hill, while the heavily armoured men at arms move towards the other end of the crossbows where the handgunners await.
Back on the wooded flank, the Tudor mounted troops are starting to win out over the rebels. The shooting duel is not going the Stanley's way.
On the hill Lambert supervises his handgunners as they attempt to flank Henry's men-at-arms. Henry's bills take on the pikes on the slope, already slippery with the blood of dead Flemish pikes.
The charge goes in, both for the men-at-arms and the handgunners, both causing losses. The Men-At-Arms had started as an eight!
The men-at-arms turn to face the handgunners, this will be nasty as the men-at-arms will chainsaw the hand gunners who are combat shy +1, fighting melee experts +1, heavily armoured +1, and using 2-handed-cut-and-crush weapons (+4 for the Men-at-Arms, a red and white in melee, spectacularly nasty).
The general situation as dusk gathers on the field, the Irish pile into the Retinue archers of Henry, while by the wood, a unit of Lamberts Curriors break (L4-H2), as do his skirmishing handgunners (L4-H3), ridden down by Henry's household knights, in a wood! Bit embarrassing. The centre of Henry's forces looks denuded, but Lambert's flanks are in trouble to, the Irish fighting unprotected are steadily loosing to the steady bows. The handgunners had not lasted long, Lambert has the numbers, but Henry has the quality. (L4-H5)
Lambert watches as his forces wonder if they can hold the men-at-arms and the bills.
It's all a bit tense on the cavalry scrap, as both remaining units were now down to one hit off breaking, as were Stanley's archers, Lambert had uncommitted bills and men-at-arms waiting in the back line (a neat touch, both can pass through bows unhinderered in the movement phase, this was not needed though, but will certainly benifit Lambert shortly).
Night falls, and the bloody field lies contested. Henry is a point ahead, and due to MeG rules for CinC surviving without dieing is +2 points, Lambert has 6, Henry has 7.
With Henry/Stanley's weakened bows and bills fighting pikes on a hill, two more units were fragile for the Usurper, as well as the Irish who were now really suffering.
The Pretender's crossbows, even with the hill, were in grave danger of being run down by the Tudor Men-At-Arms.
Both sides were in grave danger of losing horse units.
It would be a tight result. The war will rumble on for many months.
A great game, and I hope both Mark and Graham enjoyed it as much as I did running it.
The army of
I was inited back to Graham's wargames pod to show him and Mark how to play MeG, and after some discussion, they both wanted to try the rules to see whether they could use the rules for the Wars of The Roses. Graham sent me a list of figures he could field. Unfortunately, my armies are early Henry VIII besed in and around 1513 and the Flodden campaign or The Battle of The Spurs in the French campaign, so a quick list dive later, I went for Yorkist Pretender and Early Tudor, the last two lists in 'Kings of The North' pdf.
Henry awaits the arrival of Lambert, his guns deployed (they didn't do much else all game). Stanley and his troops (an ally) are deployed front and centre to ensure he joins in.
Death also stalks the land.
First deal goes down, as Lambert takes a central hill, with his Irish troops sheltering in the wood, and his skirmishers and knights on his far left.
Henry moves his horse through the woods, and his bows and bills supported by the Royal men-at-arms on their left flank.
Stanley advances too, as does Henry's Flemish Pikes. Lambert sits pretty on the hill with his mercanary forces of a pike block, a line of crossbows and handgunners. On his left, he swings his knights round attempting to flank Henry's line.
The archers enter into a shooting match, while the cavalry start a slogging match that would last most of the game.
Crisps were served and demolished as Henry's mercanary pikes made a move towards their opposite number on the hill.
Stanley's billmen close on Lambert's bows, but suffer hits from the bows on the way in, and then proceed to lose in melee too! Stanley's bows are also loosing the archery duel, but are outnumbered significantly.
The pikes at the bottom of the hill are taking crossbow hits on the way in. The Irish on Lambert's wing advance.
The pikes close in and contact each other, but the crossbows and pikes on the hill are good enough to smash the Tudor pikes. (L2-H0)
Henry's retinue Billmen follow up the pikes onto the hill, while the heavily armoured men at arms move towards the other end of the crossbows where the handgunners await.
Back on the wooded flank, the Tudor mounted troops are starting to win out over the rebels. The shooting duel is not going the Stanley's way.
On the hill Lambert supervises his handgunners as they attempt to flank Henry's men-at-arms. Henry's bills take on the pikes on the slope, already slippery with the blood of dead Flemish pikes.
The charge goes in, both for the men-at-arms and the handgunners, both causing losses. The Men-At-Arms had started as an eight!
The men-at-arms turn to face the handgunners, this will be nasty as the men-at-arms will chainsaw the hand gunners who are combat shy +1, fighting melee experts +1, heavily armoured +1, and using 2-handed-cut-and-crush weapons (+4 for the Men-at-Arms, a red and white in melee, spectacularly nasty).
The general situation as dusk gathers on the field, the Irish pile into the Retinue archers of Henry, while by the wood, a unit of Lamberts Curriors break (L4-H2), as do his skirmishing handgunners (L4-H3), ridden down by Henry's household knights, in a wood! Bit embarrassing. The centre of Henry's forces looks denuded, but Lambert's flanks are in trouble to, the Irish fighting unprotected are steadily loosing to the steady bows. The handgunners had not lasted long, Lambert has the numbers, but Henry has the quality. (L4-H5)
Lambert watches as his forces wonder if they can hold the men-at-arms and the bills.
It's all a bit tense on the cavalry scrap, as both remaining units were now down to one hit off breaking, as were Stanley's archers, Lambert had uncommitted bills and men-at-arms waiting in the back line (a neat touch, both can pass through bows unhinderered in the movement phase, this was not needed though, but will certainly benifit Lambert shortly).
Night falls, and the bloody field lies contested. Henry is a point ahead, and due to MeG rules for CinC surviving without dieing is +2 points, Lambert has 6, Henry has 7.
With Henry/Stanley's weakened bows and bills fighting pikes on a hill, two more units were fragile for the Usurper, as well as the Irish who were now really suffering.
The Pretender's crossbows, even with the hill, were in grave danger of being run down by the Tudor Men-At-Arms.
Both sides were in grave danger of losing horse units.
It would be a tight result. The war will rumble on for many months.
A great game, and I hope both Mark and Graham enjoyed it as much as I did running it.
Thanks Will, a lovely looking compact game. These rules never seem to fail in delivering a good game / feel.
ReplyDeleteThanks for running this game, Will, it was a lot of fun to play. The rules are interesting and seemed to give a much better game for this period than the other rules we have been using recently.
ReplyDelete