On Saturday the 13th May meeting Mark H, Tim, Eric and I played Warlord Games Judge Dredd skirmish, we used 28mm figures and terrain depicting Mega City 1, including the famous Rowdy Yates block.
The infamous Rowdy Yates Block
The aim of the game was to take Rowdy Yates, there were four teams:
Justice, including Dredd (no creep messes with my home!)
Muties
City Def
Block Gang ‘Reasonable Approach’ (Albert Einstein Block)
City Def are located at Rowdy Yates, they are well armed with a sniper and rocket launcher, ready to take out anyone trying to take their block. The muties move in first dashing for one of the ground floor doors, there are fresh norms in there ripe and juicy for a cursed earth BBQ!
The Reasonable Approach Block Gang move in from the east, using the terrain as cover hoping to get in close with their sawn-off stump guns, they wave their reasonable banners as they move in shouting ‘we support the law’, ‘be reasonable’ and of course ‘e = mc2’!
The Reasonable Approach Block Gang
Justice next, coming in from the south; no one is fooling veteran street judge Milo who promptly shoots down one of Reasonable Approach, the gang immediately change their banners to ‘we hate the law!’. Meanwhile City Def start to pick off the muties on the ground floor, ‘supported’ by cadet judge Bow, city def attempt to fry some muties with a grenade but take out the young judge, game over for baby justice!
Rowdy Yates Tower , ground floor.
No way these muties are going down easy and street judge Bell takes a serious a hit after messing with a mutie packing a heavy spit gun. City Def buggs out to the second floor setting up an ambush for the muties, who are still pilling into Rowdy yates ground floor and heading for the lift and some tasty norms!
Dredd arrives on his Law Master ‘I am the Law!’, he’s not too happy that is old home is being attacked and he promptly jumps of his bike and heads for the front door his Lawgiver MkII at the ready. Reasonable approach keeps pushing from the east, taking out a mutie but taking some hits too. Dredd’s bike heads around Rowdy Yates and promptly dispatches justice taking out a mutie and a passing citizen! The not too happy muties head towards the lift at Rowdy Yates hoping to take out some norms.
City def unleash a rocket on Reasonable Approaching taking out one of the gang and exploding some fuel laden barrels. Seeing this, veteran Judge Milo moves to support Dredd and promptly runs into Judge Death who’s been lurking next to an add pod; a heart squeezing moment for Milo! Death also takes out rookie judge Reed and moves towards Rowdy Yates and Dredd ‘the ssentenccce isss death’.
The fight is getting hot in Rowdy Yates, city def wait on the second floor around the lift hoping to take out some muties. The muties oblige by coming up to the second floor, city def fire as the muties arrive but to no effect. One of city def is carrying a can of Boing and sprays the first mutie encasing him in an impenetrable plastic sphere! The second mutie roles out his buddy and heads back to the first floor. While all of this is going on, Reasonable Approach take out Dredd’s Lawmaster by exploding some chem waste. Dredd’s not happy and bursts into the ground floor of his old pad taking out two muties, he takes three hits but shrugs them off.
Death heads towards Dredd, seeing him from the corner of his eye Dredd spins around and fires a hotshot round at Death, nothing doing! Dredd rushes out of the building and attacks Death with his day stick and a culinary laser he happened to have tucked in his boot!
Judge Dredd and Judge Death
A mutie heads back up the lift, licking his lips in anticipation of some fresh norm meat. As he arrives on the second-floor, city def throw in a hi ex grenade, BOOM! The mutie manages to throw himself to the floor and the explosion comes right back at city def frying three of them but they remain standing and take out the mutie.
Dredd and Death proceed to knock lumps off each other but no-one’s winning the fight, Reasonable Approach move in close to Rowdy Yates and city Def seeing this, move back to the ground floor; singed but still in the fight. Seeing Dredd and Death fighting it out, the city def Boing guy moves in to help Dredd and manages to encase Death in Boing!
The games ends there, Dredd’s still standing but the rest of justice are dead, the muties are in bad shape but have caused a heap of chaos, Reasonable Approach are a few down but in the building. City def are a little charred but hold their block! A great game with many laughs and sticky moments, just as it should be in the Big Meg.
Marcus turns assassin as he tried to eliminate a Japanese Admiral.
I needed to dig out a space mat in connection with another project this week and as a result just fancied a game of Full Thrust. I’d sketched out some ship diagrams previously and done a couple of other designs. The scenario I threw together was loosely inspired by Operation Vengeance, the plan to kill Admiral Yamamoto which took place on April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific. Yamamoto, the commander of the IJN Combined Fleet was deliberately targeted by USAF aircraft following US Navy codebreakers identifying his flight-plan in the area of Bougainville Island.
In this scenario, Admiral Maya of the IJN is present aboard the Heavy Cruiser Chokai escorted by the Light Cruiser Mogami and a frigate, the Fubuki, having visited an installation in the Bougainville asteroid belt. Royal Navy forces, having been made aware of his presence in the area have penetrated deep into IJN space using light forces with the intent of springing an ambush using the belt as cover. The Chokai needed to exit the far end of the table for a win.
The British forces are composed of the (very) light carrier Pandai (with just one fighter group), two destroyers, the Triton and Ganymede, and four pulse torpedo armed corvettes: Leda, Ersa, Elara and Dia. I set up the game initially and played a couple of turns but then match abandoned for dinner! More of that anon (the abandoned game, not dinner!) I set up again the next day for take two.
Turn 1
The IJN ships entered from the short navigating carefully at speed 3 but accelerate to 4 on detecting trouble. Both the Mogami and Fubuki detect the Leda and gain a hit each on the approaching corvette. The Callisto responds from beyond Leda to gain a hit on the Mogami.
Turn 2
The IJN fleet accelerate to 6 with Fubuki forced to make a slight turn to port to avoid an asteroid. The Ganymede to the port of the IJN fleet became exposed from behind an asteroid and suffered combined fire from the Japanese. Chokai put four hits on the Ganymede to her port from the A and 3 B turrets. Mogami gets an unlikely three hits from her 3 B’s to turn Ganymede into a flaming wreck. However, before she succumbs Ganymede fires on Chokai, but the one shot on target is deflected by Chokai’s shield. To starboard the Fubuki opens up on the leading RN corvette, the Leda, again achieving two hits. However, both Leda and Ersa reply. Leda gets just one hit with her pulse torpedo, but this produces a damage roll of 5. Boom! Both sides have lost one ship
Turn 3
Accelerating now to a velocity of eight, the remaining Japanese ships also make a one point turn to Starboard to manoeuvre through the asteroid field and escape. Chokai open s up with her A battery at close range on the Dia but all 3 dice miss! By contrast the 2 B turrets fired at Ersa produce 6645! 4 hits from four dice! Ersa nevertheless manages to put a pulse torpedo into Mogami at close range on a 4 and rolls 4 damage before succumbing to the fatal damage from Chokai. Leda does exactly the same; a roll of 4 and a damage roll of 4 also against the Chokai. Dia misses her shot while finally Elara rolls a 5 for a hit. Elara rolls a damage of 6! The heavy cruiser now only has two damage boxes left, but the critical damage “threshold” checks result in the A turret being placed out of action. Most unfortunately though the FTL drive has been put out of action. Callisto tries to finish off Chokai at close range but her 2 B’s and a C turret get two hits of 4, but are blocked by the Chokai’s shields.
The RN Pandia, which has been lurking out of sight behind an asteroid launches her fighter group.
Turn 4
Despite the heavy damage taken by Chokai, her systems are largely intact. However she needs to get the FTL up and running if she is to escape. The damage control party attempt this but needing a 6, only roll a 5. She nevertheless pours on further acceleration in a bid to escape the onslaught, moving to velocity 10. Mogami has to slow slightly (-1 velocity to 7) to manoeuvre.
While Pandia’s fighter close in on a Chokia which is now opening up the range from Callisto, Chokia brings Pandia under fire with her 3 remaining B turrets at short range. An unlikely 66555 results in 7 hits! With just two damage boxes remaining Pandia also loses a point defence system. Mogami finished her off with a 6 and 4 from her 3 B’s resulting in 3 damage. However, while the fighters closed in on Chokai, Callisto again fired with her 2 B’s and C (5 dice) to get to 6’s and 4 damage. Chokai is eviscerated and the Admiral lost.
Despite the conclusion of the scenario objective, I played on the next couple of turns to see if the Mogami could at least make an improbable escape.
Turn 5
The Mogami runs, accelerating by +3 to a velocity of 10, chased by Pandia’s orphaned fighters. Mogami uses her area anti fighter weapon to shoot at the fighters and bring two down on a 6, but not before they launch their weapons; 125566 results in 6 hits including a point defence system and a firecon. In Mogami’s rear arc, Callisto continues to blast away with 5 dice and does a further two damage.
Turn 6
So close to the edge of the asteroid field now, Mogami accelerates to 13. Although the fighters trail they are still in range. However, although the range has opened to the extent that it reduces Callisto’s firepower to just 2 dice, a roll of 5 and 6 did three damage, finishing off the gallant Mogami. In fact although the pictures show that Mogami was pursued by the fighters I subsequently realised that they are armed with single shot weapons. But for quite a lucky roll from the Callisto, Mogami might have escaped to at least advise the IJN High Command of the disaster.
That was not the least of my mistakes! Evaluating the game I noticed something about the corvettes and crunched the numbers on the design again. I don’t think I had ever finished the calculations on this whenever I had first made them, because I had them costed out at 42 points. I now made them 76! This meant that the RN which I had earlier calculated as being down c. 30 points was actually up around 100! I also noticed page 31 of the FT rules (ship design) which noted that fighter groups should only be carried by carriers and dreadnoughts. I hadn’t really considered what this meant before, but I wondered subsequently if that outlawed “jeep” carriers like the Pandia. I am not convinced though. Even if that was the intention, such small carriers existed in World War Two and continued with carriers such as the Invincible class in the RN and a number of others armed with V/STOLs. Balancing a scenario on points is not critical, especially in such a solo, narrative game. I tried to play a “fair” game, but it is clear in retrospect that the asteroid field gave a substantial advantage to the RN flotilla.
I mentioned the earlier, abandoned game. I only played at most three turns and perhaps the third wasn’t completed either, I can’t quite recall. What was interesting is that the corvettes acquitted themselves terribly in that game, while the fighters made very early work of the Chokai. I think that this points out the power of fighters in this scenario where there was no fighter cover for the IJN. That could be balanced out in the scenario by an escort squadron from Bougainville. In any event, I would like to give the scenario another try with a better balance just out of interest.
In discussion afterwards with members of the club, they asked how I ran the ”opposition”. As I described above I played it as a more narrative game, but this did make me think about describing a couple of options for manoeuvres (almost “matrix game” like) to myself and then rolling to select which applied. The firing/target selection is less of an issue I think.
Battle number seven in our campaign was the bloody field of Towton. The size of the armies who fought this battle is often questioned but it’s clear it was a big battle. To represent this we went for a 1000 points per side and also ended up with each command split across three players. The Lancastrians were commanded by Stephen as Somerset supported by Andy as the Earl of Northumberland and Tong G as the Earl of Wiltshire. I commanded the Yorkists as the rightful King Edward IV with Tony F as Warwick and newcommer to the campaign (and rules) Pete M as Lord Falconberg.
Battle of Towton
Apart from the increase in army size the only historical event we decided to include was the weather. Neither side was allowed artillery and we rolled at the start of the battle to see which direction the strong winds were blowing. Unlike history the wind ended up blowing towards the east and as such played little or no part in the battle.
I was expecting this battle to be a straight up archery duel followed by a clash of infantry. This was reflected in my army choice and how the deployment phase went. I placed Lord Falconberg’s force of cavalry, infantry and militia archers under Pete M on the Yorkist left flank, with a similar force for Warwick under Tony F on the right. I took the main bulk of the infantry to create a strong centre.
To my surprise the Lancastrians deployed with Northumberland’s forces under Andy in the centre with an even mix of infantry and archers, while Wiltshires similar forces under Tony G on the Lancastrian left. Tony G also had some Irish Kerns. The Lancastrian right was formed by Somerset’s own command under Stephen made up entirely of cavalry, four units of Mounted Men at Arms, two Currours and two Northern Boarder Horse. The Lancastrians had also brought stakes for their archers which led me to believe they would fight a stationary battle behind their defences.
Having won the initiative I kept to the battle plan and started to advance my archers. I gave each of my other commanders orders to just hold the flanks. Not to go charging off but to use their cavalry as a threat, and keep my flanks covered as I advanced.
Following the plan Tony F pushed up the cavalry and archers, the militia billmen got left behind given their poor discipline rating.
Pete M did the same on the left flank, creating two lines, with the archers out front, but Stephen immediately began moving the Mounted Men at Arms forward. I panicked a bit at this knowing Pete’s forces where not that strong and so I moved some billmen units towards the left flank in case they were needed.
Over on the Lancastrian left Tony G was having trouble getting units to advance off the hill. This was the first stage in what would see the front of the battle twist with the Lancastrians advancing on the right but barely moving on the left.
The Lancastrians got to within striking distance and then paused, this may have been to wait for the rest of the cavalry to catch up. Pete moved some archers within range and tried taking a hasty shot, this was rewarded with a hit and Stephen giving the Mounted Men at Arms activation dice in preperation to charge.
Seeing the danger from the archers Stephen in a bold move charged in a unit of boarder horse destroying the archers completely. Pete’s respond was to send in some billmen who made short work of the light horse with their charge spent.
In the centre the Andy’s Lancastrian archers had advanced off the hill and into range of my archers beginning the archery duel. The Yorkists managed to score a few hits but were outnumbered four longbow units to four enemy longbows and two crossbows.
The Yorkists had won initiative and after much debate Pete decided the best option was to charge in first. Despite being out numbered Pete’s cavalry managed to hold in the initial fight and the follow up, causing some damage to the Lancastrians. This set the tone for the conflict of the Lancastrians failing to get any clear advantage in combat.
Out on the Lancastrian left Tony G started to advance the Kerns but then realised facing off against the Yorkist cavalry wouldn’t be in their favour. As per my instructions Tony F had not advance the cavalry too far, keeping out of range of the Lancastrian archers.
Back to the Yorkist left flank and Pete M had managed to get another cavalry unit to support the Mounted Men at Arms. Giving the men at arms a bonus dice for good measure Pete M took the fight to the Lancastrians.
In the centre my Yorkist archers had got the better of the Lancastrians. This was down to a number of factors, I sacrificed the good activation dice I rolled to ensure my archers got some good shots in (this did leave my infantry lagging behind), I’d also been able to cause some hits as the Lancastrians were getting into range. With the loss of the archers Andy started to bring up some infantry. I matched this with some Men at Arms in support.
After a hard fight Pete’s Men at Arms managed to dispatch some of Stephens cavalry. With more Men at Arms in support I still felt Pete was in danger of the flank collasping, so continued to move infantry off in support.
Up until this point the Lancastrians had made no use of their stakes. But having failed to get off the hill Tony G decided to deploy them to ensure the cavalry couldn’t threaten them. But this clearly meant Tony G was not going to advance and as such not pose a threat either.
Because the Yorkists had won the archery duel in the centre, were holding out on the left flank against the concentrated Lancastrian cavalry and with them nailing their left flank to the hill, I decided to let Tony F get into the fight, their cavalry moved to engage the Kerns.
With the casualties piling up Stephen decided to move up more cavalry to dislodge Pete’s cavalry that had been holding out for most of the battle. This was enough to finally destroy Pete’s Mounted Men at Arms. To help plug the gap Pete moved up some billmen almost destroying the Lancastrain cavalry.
The infantry I’d moved in support of the Yorkist left flank were finally in position and seeing the threat Stephen moved the Currours to get their charges in. However they would be facing two Dismounted Men at Arms and some billmen. The resulting battle saw the destruction of the Lancastrian Currours.
Some favourable dice rolling saw two of Stephens Mounted Men at Arms destroyed with the Yorkist gaps filled by more Currours and billmen.
Following a successful charge seeing both Irish Kern units destroyed by the cavalry, Tony F moved up their archers to engage with the Lancastrians, but lost a unit in the exchange.
With an abundance of threes for my activation dice I decided to just go for it and get my Men at Arms into melee with Andy’s archers and crossbows. Unfortunately for the Lancatrians, Andy’s counter attack failed utterly. Throwing three ones was probably the best indicator as to how the battle was going for the Lancastrians.
On the Yorkist right flank Tony F had continued the attack by moving onto the enemy bill men after dispatching the Kerns. The cavalry didn’t do as well as expected, infact it did aswell as the Lancastrians cavalry had been up to that point.
It was at this point that Stephens cavalry finally broke through the Yorkist left flank, but it was a real case of too little too late. The Lancastrians had reached their breaking point and all that was let was to play out the remainder of the turn.
The final blow coming from the exhausted Yorkist archers facing off against Andy’s poor Men at Arms advancing under fire.
As so ended the battle of Towton with a decisive win for the Yorkist forces.
This battle did not go as planned for either side. I’d created an army with a strong core of infantry and expected to get bogged down in a big fight in the centre. This was the first time I’d deployed a large mercenary pike unit for just that type of battle. But my archers won the archery duel in the centre and because both flanks had held out there was no threat to the centre. As to the flanks Pete getting a charge in first was a pivotal moment and kept the Lancastrians from overwhelming that flank. As to the Yorkist right flank, with no threat coming from the Lancastrians this allowed some breathing space, the Yorkists were able to see how the centre and left flank faired before committing any additional forces to those battles.
I don’t know what the Lancastrian battle plan was but by putting all the cavalry on one flank that meant it became a make or break. There were no archers or infantry as back up should the cavalry fail to make a break through, which is exactly what happened. The Lancastrian centre and left flank were also unclear, having declared they had stakes seemed to announce they would stay put and expect the Yorkists to advance. But the Centre moved off the hill and engaged in the archery duel giving the advantage to the Yorkists and never deployed their stakes. While the left flank struggled to get moving and then achored themselves to the hill giving the Yorkist the choice of ignoring them and even redistribute any uncommitted units.
The Yorkists are now 5-1 up in the campaign after 7 battles (one was a draw), with 6 battles remaining. The Lancastrians must win at our next battle of Hedgeley Moor. Not a great place to be given historically most of the Lancastrian forces fled from the field before the main fighting started.
Yorkist Loses
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Longbows (3 points)
1 Unit of Mounted Men at Arms (4 points)
2 Units of Currours (8 points) Total loses 21 points (Army break point 58)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Currours (8 points)
3 Units of Mounted Men at Arms (12 points)
1 Unit of Billmen (4 points)
5 Units of Longbows (15 points)
2 Units of Border Horse (6 points)
2 Units of Kerns (6 points)
2 Units of Crossbows (6 points) Total loses 57 points (Army break point 51)
A short round up of games played at our last meeting.
The usual FOG suspects staged a 6mm game, Mid Republican Roman vs Later Selucid.
Mark ran a 28mm Judge Dredd game, with virulent scenery, you may need your sunglasses.
Close up of the tower block
Jeremey and Stephen continued their refight of the War of the Roses, this time recreating Towton.
Each were “assisted” by two sub commanders this time, on the Lancastrian side with Stephen were Andy and Tony G, with Tony F and Peter joining the Yorkist commander, Jeremey.
Andy & Tony F both switched sides since the last campaign game (not unusual in the War of the Roses). There will be a full report on this game written up by the victorious commander.
Armies deployed, Yorkist on the left, Lancastrian on the rightYorkist CentreMore YorkistsStephen’s victorious Border Horse.A truly dismal roll by the Lancastrian’s French crossbowmen, three 1sLancastrian centre, what’s left of it.The Lancastrian dead. Units with red dice were Andy’s, blue dice were Tony G’s and black dice were Stephen’s
Marcus begins his solo adventures across the Five Parsecs from Home universe…
Having rolled up a world, Palacco, which wasn’t entirely conducive to operations, there wasn’t much I could do in the campaign turn or ”world” phase. Palacco is tightly restricted, which means only one crew member can explore each turn. I may have misunderstood this as I thought this term limited other options too, but perhaps I was wrong. And in the end, I didn’t bother, which was probably an error as I might have gained something out of this phase. In addition, crew subsistence costs are doubled due to the high cost of living. The crew also had to pay four credits (Cr) for an operating licence.
Wellington had initially rolled up a corporate contact although the danger pay amounted to only an additional credit. It was also urgent; must be completed this turn or lost. I rolled up a sweep mission; move across and exit the table (right to left in the photos). The corporation want to clear out some rival group from the area. Maybe there has been a mineral find in the area. Who cares? A jobs a job. I rolled up a randomized layout having set out a table for this myself. Possibly there wasn’t enough cover…
The opposition looked quite tough but limited: Three “unknown mercs” whose characteristics made them faster, tougher and better in combat (+1) than any of the crew of the Pi. However, being mercs, they were more likely to bug out in good order if things got tough. One was a mysterious hooded specialist armed with a sniper rifle. The two grunts, the rotund (or perhaps muscled) Dinohed and Redd, who looked to have a more military bearing, were armed with colony rifles. These are simple, robust weapons favoured on the frontier.
The deployment conditions specified that it would be a surprise encounter in which the enemy could not move in the first round. In addition, there was a “peculiar item” located on the table which would give 2 XP if collected.
Turn 1:
During turn one the crew moved in from the right edge but observed no targets. Kel took up an initial sniping position in cover. Their opponents, caught by surprise, didn’t move.
Turn 2:
A terrible roll meant that only one of the crew would get to act before their opponents. I say terrible; in Five Parsecs, I roll a D6 for each character in the crew at the start of each turn. For each character, if I can allocate them a dice equal to or under their reaction stat., they act in the “quick action” phase. Or they can defer. Their opponents act after this in the “enemy action” phase. Finally, any character that did not act earlier may act in the “slow action” phase. Given their reaction stats are even split between 1 and 2, few if any were ever going to move in the quick action phase. In fact only Kel did, and got in a shot at long range and hit. However, this caused no damage only a stun which pushed back Dinohed 1”. After the mercs moved up to the cover of the ruin, Veyon got a shot off and hit. Rolling a 6 on damage she immediately killed Redd outright! Wellington moved in cover on the nearside/bottom of the board in an attempt to make an outflanking movement.
At the end of turn 2 the rules provide for a random battle event. My experience previously has been that these could be quite nasty for all. Let’s just say I have seen some nasty indigenous wildlife…However, what I got this time was “A desperate plan”. One random figure doesn’t move but one other character of the players choice gets two actions; one in quick time and one in slow. In the event, Pascal and Veyon both moved in the quick round. Pascal advanced and got in close for a quick shot at the already stunned Dinohed.
Hit and a damage roll of 6! Another quick kill. At this point the leader would probably have tried to withdraw and fight another day, but this might have prejudiced the crew’s post battle circumstances. Veyon immediately went for a shot at the leader. Hit with one shot from her Blast-rifle. And a damage roll of…another 6!
Given that I have previously alluded to my earlier crew’s travails, the result of this mission was a surprise. I’ve got into all sorts of scrapes and suffered various wounds previously resulting in turns spent in med bay and out of action. Treatment has also caused me to literally bleed credits. So, this very short game was unexpectedly smooth. Subsequent conversations have suggested to me that you should expect the occasional “easier” experience. To take a phrase completely out of context; “It’s life Jim, but not as we know it.” You can have hard days (which I most certainly had) but some days are just easier. However, it also turned out to lack in fringe benefits. While Pascal picked up the item of interest for 2 XP, we got no battlefield finds. Very disappointing. Post-game we did pick up some loot, a “shock attachment” which imparts the “impact” trait to a firearm. Everyone picked up XP, especially Pascal (7 – including one in the after the battle phase because the local food was so good!) and Veyon as a result of her two kills. We also picked up a new patron.
But otherwise, I really think it is time to get off this unpromising rock. The crew took a gamble, paid 5 Cr for fuel and the Pi blasted out of Palacco spaceport looking for opportunities elsewhere…
A small contingent from the society braved the roads (and rails) to Excel last weekend to stage Peter’s Fallujah 2004 game at Salute 50.
A view from one end of the Salute 50 hall to the other, MWS were at the far right end in this photo.
The premise of the game is that a USMC platoon have been tasked with clearing an area of Fallujah, sweeping through buildings to clear them of insurgents. The three participants each control one of the platoon’s squads, and depending on the draw of Fog of War cards may have additional assets to aid them in their mission, for example, helicopters, an M1 Abrams tank, a LAV-25 APC, a sniper team or a Navy Corpsman.
Games are intended to last an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, and use a simplified version of Ambush Alley’s Force on Force rules. Figures are from Elhiem Figures Modern range, civilian vehicles from Matchbox or similar and buildings and terrain scratch-built by Society member Peter.
Peter and John explaining the finer points of the rules to the three volunteers.
Here are a few more photos of the game in action:
We were very pleased to be awarded a prize by the South London Warlords: “Best 10 – 18mm game”.
The game’s mastermind, Peter, receiving the award.
The trophy
Congratulations to Peter for creating an award winning game, and thanks to all members who have helped run the game at shows this year.
The game’s next appearance is at Broadside on June 10th.
We went for something different for the sixth battle of our Wars of the Roses campaign. Stephen was a bit more clued up on how the 2nd Battle of St Albans was fought and suggested a true representation of the battle would be to have both sides slowly making their way to the battlefield, in a piece meal fashion. You can see the depolyment rules we used for this game on the campaign page. For the battle I took command of the Yorkist Left under the Duke of York with Andy once again acting as Lord Ferrers my second in command. On the Lancastrian side Stephen had the Duke of Somerset with Lord Roos and Lord Codnor as captains. Tony F joined the Lancastrians in an attempt to salvage his reputation from Mortimers Cross by taking charge of the Duke of Exeter with Lord Clifford as captain. Both sides had 750 points for the Battle and as throughout the campaign we used Sword & Spear 2nd edition.
2nd Battle of St Albans
I wasn’t sure if our depolyments rules would work for this game, some foot units are very slow in Sword & Spear so there was a danger it would take ages to get an entire army onto the battlefield. At the start I had deployed my guns (facing the wrong way as per the deployment!), a camp, a unit of Currours and Mounted Men at Arms. The Lancastrians under Stephen deployed two units of longbows and two of hand gunners.
I didn’t want to just go charging in with my cavalry, I needed the activation dice to get more units on the battlefield and so just concentrated on turning the guns round and using those to hassle the Lancastrian longbows. From this very early stage I was very concerned at how vulnerable the Yorkist camp was.
I managed to turn my guns round as the Lancastrian longbows moved into range. The guns fired but caused no damage. With the help of some activation dice Andy managed to get some longbows marching down the road in support.
The Lancastrian longbows managed to take out the Yorkist guns with their first volley and I once again started to fear for the camp. I thought given the lost of the camp causing a discipline test for all units would be a prize worth pursuing, but as would become evident throughout the battle, the Lancastrians just didn’t seem that interested in taking it.
With the Lancastrians being cautious the Yorkists decided to ignore their cavalry and concentrate on getting as many units on the battlefield as possible. Using the extra movement gained from the road we risked creating a jam and advanced in column down the road as fast as we could.
The Lancastrians followed suit and had most of their units on the battlefield by the end of the third turn. Tony’s forces out on the Lancastrians right front advanced their longbows well ahead of the rest of their forces but without the advantage of the road.
As the Lancastrians continued to advance, Andy quickened his pace and got a unit of Longbows up to the camp. Again the Lancastrian longbows did not advance but instead waited for their men at arms and pikemen to catch up.
Andy was all for engaging in an archery duel with the Lancastrians but I insisted he push passed the camp to block the enemy. Andy took the best of both worlds by advancing and taking a hasty shot which managed to damage the Lancastrian archers. Return fire from the Lancastrians caused some damage but the way to the camp was blocked.
Things were starting to heat up in the centre, the Yorkist longbows managed to destroy their Lancastrian counterparts. With this success I decided to charge the Currours against the other unit of longbows in the centre. To my great surprise this proved decisive and destroyed the longbows.
Letting the success go to my head I gave the Currours a bouns dice and charged the men at arms. The Lancastrian heavy infantry withstood the charge and both sides took casualties, but neither side gained the upper hand. I was willing to sacrifice the Currours to delay the Lancastrian advance so the damaged caused was a welcome bonus.
While the fighting in the centre continued both sides looked towards the rest of their armies to continue the advance. I gathered up my longbows and with the generals help marched them towards the Lancastrian archers being formed up opposite by Tony. At this point I also moved my as yet uncommitted mounted men at arms out on the Yorkist flank. This was to threaten the Lancastrian left. Stephen reacted as I hoped he would by moving some longbows to hassle the cavalry.
The centre then took an odd turn with the damaged Lancastrian men at arms losing to the Yorkist archers. With the Yorkist’s having managed to get some billmen and their own men at arms up in support, the centre would now be decided by the Lancastrian pikemen.
Out on the Lancastrian right flank Tony’s archers began engaing the Yorkist longbows. Making up for the poor showing at Mortimers Cross Tony’s archers started to inflict more wounds than they suffered. Given this poor showing from the Yorkist archers I decided to move my spearmen and other infantry units in support in case the archers were wiped out.
The centre battle saw the poor Yorkist archers easily overcome by the Lancastrian pikemen, but with the number of Yorkist heavy infantry now present I felt confident of stopping the pikemen. Having lost the archers in the centre Stephen brought up some billmen to try and dislodge Andy’s longbows who had taken up a commanding firing position.
Seeing the danger I moved some men at arms to support the archers. The Lancastrian billmen almost destroyed the Yorkist archers despite Andy giving them a bonus dice for the melee. The retaliation from my men at arms managed to destroy the billmen. At the same time the Lancastrian pikemen in the centre succumbed to an onslaught of men at arms and billmen effectively winning the centre for the Yorkists.
Meanwhile out on the Lancastrian right, Tony’s longbows proved themselves superior, and as feared he had also managed to advance his infantry through the gap. Tony’s men at arms charged my spearmen making short work of them. But with a unit of billmen in support I was able to counter charge them in the flank and destroy them. That last act managed to break the Lancastrians and give the field once again to the Yorskists.
This was a very interesting battle, the staggered deployment meant players had to decide on the type of battle they would fight. With the Yorkist camp in the centre of the battlefield I decided to concentrate my units there. And to get them moving as quickly as possible. I thought the battle would be a race to the camp, but it never turned out that way. Stephen and Tony deployed as if it was a normal battle with both sides facing off against eachother. This was the second battle in this campaign where I thought the objective was obvious but where my opponent didn’t capitalise on it. Although things could have gone differently had the Lancastrians held out longer in the centre. Tony won the better part of the right flank and could have been a real threat had he been able to turn towards the centre in support.
Although the casualty lists seem to show an overwhelming Yorkist victory. The last turn of the battle did have the Yorkists reach their first morale point, but this was too late for the Lancastrians. With the campaign six battles in the score stands at 4 wins to 1 for the Yorkists. The bloodbath of Towton is next, will the Lancastrians finally be able to turn the tide?
Yorkist Loses
5 Units of Longbows (15 points)
2 Units of Militia Longbows (6 points)
1 Unit of Spearmen (3 points)
1 Unit of Currours (4 points)
1 Unit of Guns (2 points) Total loses 30 points (Army break point 44)
Lancastrian Loses
2 Units of Men at Arms (8 points)
2 Units of Hand Gunners (4 points)
2 Units of Billmen (8 points)
7 Units of Longbows (21 points)
1 Unit of Pikemen (6 points) Total loses 47 points (Army break point 40)
A fresh look at Border Reivers by society member John.
Above – The Dead Pool – Curst Eckie comes a cropper
Introduction
As many of you know this subject is dear to my heart since reading “Steel Bonnets” by George MacDonald Fraser, the Flashman novelist – a cracking read. It stimulated me to wargame this period when I first joined the club and the game featured as a club game shortly after. Here’s a brief historical introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the period.
The Border Reiver is a unique figure in British history. Starting in the late Middle Ages incursions from both sides of the England/ Scotland border and the method of inheritance where the land was shared between all the sons led to a situation where it was difficult to maintain a living in the area. Livestock breeding became the mainstay of life and through it, cattle rustling and the attendant protection racket (Blackmail) became widespread. It should be noted that these activities were not exclusively English/ Scottish affairs and there was much inter marriage across the border making policing more difficult. These activities reached a peak in the 16th century and were brought to an abrupt end when James I and VI came to the English throne.
I had been unhappy with all the rulesets I’d tried as I didn’t think they captured the small-scale skirmishes I was keen to game. Spurred on by finding I have probable genetic links to two Reiver families through my Mother’s Ulster roots, I decided to write my own rules. Reiving reached a peak in the mid to late sixteenth century and it is this period that is the subject of these rules.
Design Goals
Before starting out, I set some design goals
Scale – These rules are not about large private armies but focus on the family units where the head of the house could be served a dish of spurs when the larder was empty and there were mouths to feed. I thought about 20 figures in total on a 3ft playing surface which fitted my collection of old 28mm figures and accurate scratch built fortified farm houses known as Bastles.
Table set up, the quiet before the storm at Gatehouse North Bastle
Style – I felt strongly that the games had to be scenario led. It wasn’t about eliminating the Opponent’s force but achieving the scenario objective. In fact, in the Reiver world eliminating the Opponent’s force could lead to a noose or provoke a feud (scenarios and rules for feuds are included). To this end I have outlines for nearly twenty different scenarios and there is scope to link scenarios for a club day. I hope at some stage to add a campaign system.
Mechanics
Characters – I gave individual Reivers a status Elite, Veteran, Borderer and Farmer/Levy. According to status, reivers would have a number of skills. For each mission a Leader would pick a gang with skills specific for that mission. Combat skills are included so a player has to choose between a mixture of combat skills and mission specific skills before starting. Leaders get a Leader skill automatically; they can issue orders to other members of the gang and rally them. Leaders can allocate one of their skill points to be Inspired. They have a larger command radius and rally models more easily. I am also working on a series of traits to flesh out the characters further. In a small-scale skirmish, this character development seems important.
Activation – I did not believe an I go/you go approach was the right so went for a card driven method with an End of Turn card. Reivers were known by nicknames so individually named cards was just right and I decided the End of Turn card should be denoted by a weather condition – Torrential downpour for day actions and Full Moon for night actions. This would mean that some characters do not get to activate. Other cards would cover changes in weather (affecting visibility movement and ranged combat), a key feature of Reiver actions was stealth and forces would mainly start on hidden markers reflecting their sneaky activities.
Hidden countersA selection of cards.
Sleet shows the adverse effects when drawn. Scumfished (smoking out a building’s occupants) has a turn counter until the effect is triggered
Forces of law and order, weather and End of Turn cardsCharacter cards
Actions – an activated model has up to three actions, this will be reduced depending on weather, wounds or if carrying out a specific action. Some actions require a success roll on two D6, if the model has the relevant skill, it rolls an extra D6 and takes the best two results.
Combat – I reasoned that close combat between two opponents with similar capabilities and well armoured would favour the defender and their armour. Those models with close combat skills get to roll additional dice and pick the best roll. For ranged combat, models get to roll additional dice and select the best roll too, following the same principle. Those models which are severely wounded reroll to see if the model is killed. The method ensures that models stick around for longer, so the game does not come to a premature conclusion.
Morale – This is tested at two levels, each model receives a morale marker each time something bad happens such as failing a skill check when climbing a ladder and hence falling off, when a model stumbles during movement or after combat and when wounded. It’s the Leader’s role to get the figures to “snap to it” . If the morale markers are not removed, the individual model has to check and may quit the field. If the model is involved in close combat, these morale markers negatively affect the modified dice roll and the model is more likely to receive a severe wound.
I have put in a force morale check as well. A point can be reached where the number of casualties or the amount of bad luck suffered causes the whole gang to retreat or quit the field.
Encounters at Night – it’s more than just the reduced visibility, I’ve added getting lost as a risk for those models which move out of command radius and a risk of attacking models on the same side by use of a “Scotch Mist” card.
More cards – Red Mist puts models in Feud mode
Forces of Law and Order – These are represented by two leaders, an area Lawman and his Deputy. They command a group of Garrison Levy who can only act under command and a Houndsman with dangerous dogs.
Play Testing
I’d like to thank Tony G, Tim, Bob, Jon and Alex for their helping in trying out the rules. So far the games appear to have gone well though there is quite a bit to do still and Alex gave some good ideas to help streamline game play and some suggestions to use for the campaign section as these are developed. Thanks to Tony G for helping with the garrison activation (yes, you were right about ranged combat so I have toned this down) There is still a lot to do so I’ll be carrying out more play testing so if you fancy trying something very different, please let me know.
Below are a selection of photos from play testing so far.
Dastardly Halls make off with the cattle.Fire to the Door! A pre requisite of Scumfishing- smoking inhabitants out of a BastleStowlugs apprehendedBull is ironically gored
Stephen and Andy report on a comparison of two Medieval rulesets.
We decided to try fighting the same scenario with two sets of Medieval Wargames rules, Lion Rampant 2nd edition and Baron’s War 2nd edition. We would keep the armies as similar as possible in the two games, subject to the requirements of the respective rules.
We based our scenario on the Baron’s War scenario 10 Hidden Treasures and Lion Rampant Scenario 12 The Taxman Cometh.
In Hidden Treasures the players take turns to place six objectives on the table, if a player has a unit in contact with an objective at the start of the turn, they roll a D6, on a 6 that objective is revealed to be the treasure and the other objectives are removed. Who ever controls the treasure at the end of the fifth turn wins the game.
For the Lion Rampant version, we kept the same number of objectives and score to reveal the treasure, but in keeping with the Lion Rampant Glory system we decided that if the player controlling the treasure took the treasure off table he would receive 5 Glory, but only 3 Glory if the treasure was under his control but still on table at the end of the game, plus or minus Glory from Boasts.
We set the terrain up with a small village in the centre of the table, with a couple of fenced fields nearby, with some hills and woods on the flanks. We would keep the same terrain for both games.
1 x Elite cavalry with leader (with Commanding trait) @ 6 points
1 x Flemish Heavy Infantry @ 4 points
2 x Skirmishers with bows @ 4 points
1 x Genoese Crossbows with pavises @ 6 points
1 x German mercenaries (Warriors) @ 4 points
Stephen won the die roll to determine Attacker / Defender and took on the nominal Attacker roll, the deployment mechanism we used was that the defender deployed any 1- or 2-point units, followed by the attacker doing the same, then repeating the sequence for 3- or 4-point units and finally units costing 5 or more units. The end of the game would be determined b either one player getting the treasure off table, or once there were five or fewer units on the table a die roll at the start of each turn of less than the number of units left on table.
Turn 1. Stephen got off to a good start, advancing all his units except his Elite cavalry, I responded by advancing my Heavy Cavalry to contact one of the objectives but ground to a halt when my Heavy Infantry refused to move.
Turn 2. Stephen continued his advance on the objectives, with one of his Skirmisher units on his left flank contacting one of the objectives. I rolled for the objective my Heavy Cavalry had contacted last turn, with no success, so decided to move my Heavy Cavalry on towards Stephen’s Skirmishers and their objective. I then moved my Heavy Foot towards the first objective, and my other units towards other objectives.
Turn 3. Stephen’s Skirmishers rolled for the objective they had contacted and it came up a 6 the treasure had been found! At this point all the other objectives were removed. Stephen immediately pulled his Skirmishers back and started to move his other units towards his left flank. My Heavy Cavalry were just about close enough to Stephen’s skirmishers with the treasure that I could try to charge them, hoping they would fail their probable Evade reaction. Unfortunately for me Stephen succeeded in evading, his archery taking out one of my riders, and his evade move took him just too far away for me to contact him, my Cavalry then failed their courage test and fell back. To add insult to injury, my next activation to shoot with my Skirmishers at his Elite Cavalry failed, ending my turn.
Turn 4. Stephen continued to pull his treasure carrying Skirmishers back towards his table edge, while he brought his Elite Cavalry across to cover them, and advanced his Heavy Foot through the central village towards my Light Foot. This time I managed to activate all my units, rallying my Heavy Cavalry, putting my Light Foot into Wall of Spears anticipating an attack by Stephen’s Heavy Foot, advancing my Crossbows down the side of the village hoping to be able to shoot at his Elite Cavalry in a later turn, and moving my Elite Cavalry towards my right flank.
Andy’s Elite Cavalry halted by a flimsy fence.
Turn 5, Stephen continued to pull back his Skirmishers with the treasure, with his Elite Cavalry getting closer to support them, as were Stephen’s Crossbows. I advanced my Heavy Cavalry towards his Skirmishers, and my Elite Cavalry through one of the fields, but my Crossbows failed in their shooting attempt.
Turn 6 was short, Stephen’s Crossbows and my Heavy Cavalry both failing their activation attempts.
Turn 7 saw Stephen issue a challenge to my Leader, a duel must be fought! Had I refused the challenge all my units would have had to take a courage test due to my Leader’s cowardice. Honour would not allow that, so forth my Leader went. The Duel consisted of three dice each, scoring hits on a 5 or 6, if one Leader scores more hits than the other the loser dies! The duel was anticlimactic, one hit each resulting in a draw, both leaders returned to their units, their honour upheld. Stephen’s German Mercenaries charge my Skirmishers on my left, the Skirmishers evaded, causing a casualty on the Germans, and ending up too far away to be contacted. The Germans passed their courage test, but on my subsequent turn my Skirmishers shot again, causing two more casualties and a courage test which the Germans promptly failed catastrophically, causing them to rout from the field. My Heavy Cavalry charged Stephen’s Crossbows, I won the ensuing melee and the Crossbows failed their courage test becoming battered.
Turn 8 saw Stephen’s Crossbowmen fail their Rally test, but he then went on the offensive, his Heavy Infantry charged my Light Infantry, beating my lighter troops, who then failed their courage test becoming battered
Andy’s Light Foot fall back battered (red marker) from Stephen’s Heavy Foot
Stephen’s Knights then charged my Heavy Cavalry with the fight again going in Stephen’s favour and my Cavalry failing their courage tests and also becoming battered.
Andy’s Heavy Cavalry battered and down to a single figure as Stephen’s Knights look on and Andy’s Heavy Foot advance slowly through a ploughed field.
On my turn both my Heavy Cavalry and Light Infantry failed their Rally tests, the Heavy Cavalry so badly that they fled the field.
Turn 9, Stephen rallied his crossbowmen and got the Treasure bearers off table, ending the game.
So, on to the accounting, Stephen received 5 Glory for getting the treasure off the field of battle, he also succeeded in all three boasts he made:
“They shall tremble before me”, 2 of my units battered at the same time, worth 2 Glory.
“I shall drive them back into the sea”, make one unit retreat off table, worth 1 Glory.
“I shall challenge their leader to a duel”, self-explanatory, worth 1 Glory.
On the other hands, I made two boasts, both of which I failed to achieve, so scoring -1 Glory each:
“They shall tremble before me”, see above.
“I shall destroy more units than I lose”, worth 2 Glory.
Final scores: Stephen 9 Glory, Andy -2 Glory. A decisive victory to Stephen.
Apologies for the lack of photos of this game, I got too tied up in fighting the battle to take pictures.
Baron’s War
Stephen takes over with the account of the Baron’s War game.
We put our retinues together to mirror the Lion Rampant equivalents, but under the army composition rules of Barons’ War – so not identical, but as good as.
Stephen’s Retinue:
Unit: 1 x Veteran Lord Commander (mounted), 5 x Regular Knights (mounted)
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Serjeants
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Serjeants
Unit: 6 x Veteran Bowmen
Unit: 10 x Green Crossbows
Andy’s Retinue:
Unit: 1 x Veteran Lord Commander (mounted), 3 x Regular Knights (mounted)
Unit: 1 x Veteran Serjeant Commander, 5 x Regular Spearmen
Unit: 4 x Regular Mounted Sergeants
Unit: 6 x Regular Crossbowmen
Unit: 5 x Green Spearmen
Unit: 5 x Green Spearmen
Unit: 6 x Green Bowmen
So, same scenario – find the hidden treasure and get off with it.
The main point of these games was to compare the rules. For Barons’ War a unit has one activation, but that can be improved to two, or maybe three, if you have a commander attached to the unit (and a commander can also give extra orders to other units). And in Baron’s War players alternate activation of units. This means there is a fundamental tactical difference between the rules – in Lion Rampant you are thinking about what you are going to do now. That’s also the case in Barons’ War (BW for short), but in BW you are also thinking about what your opponent is going to do in the same round, so you have to think about which unit is best to activate, whether to hold activations back for later (in BW your can do a reaction to your opponent’s action), and how the round will develop so you can exploit it. It’s a bit like Saga in that respect – knowing when to unleash everything and when to hold something back for later.
Off to war we go
Anyway, let’s get on with the game.
We rolled for deployment, as per BW rules. Andy was the ‘red’ side and could deploy in the middle, which he did and meant he was already in control of a couple of objective markers.
Andy’s skirmishers about to search an objective while his Crossbowmen look for targetsAndy’s light foot gather round two more objectives, while his Cavalry trot off
I had the flanks to deploy on, not quite in control of any objectives, but no more than a move away.
Venison tonight lads!
Turn one, and Andy searched the objectives, but no hidden treasure was found. My veteran archers on a small rise took aim and let fly at a group of mounted serjeants – two went down to the deadly fire and first blood went to me.
Ready, aim…
Andy then passed a couple of activations, so I took advantage of this to move units up to take control of a pair of objectives. My crossbowmen (only inexperienced green troops – in BW at least 10% of your army has to be made up of green troops) let rip at Andy’s archers hiding beside a pig-pen. Two were taken down, he failed his morale check and they were broken. However, Andy then returned the gesture, fired back with his crossbows, and three of my troops went down and were also broken. Oh well, eh?
On the second turn my spearmen on the left searched the objective marker and lo and behold, what do they find – treasure! Yup, more church vestments. Funnily enough, the treasure in the Lion Rampant game was found in more or less the exact same spot!
The chase was now on. On Turn three I started to move my spearmen toward the table edge. And this is where the tactical nature of BW may have a slight edge over Lion Rampant, because at the start of the turn both sides roll for initiative to see who goes first. But also (and like Lion Rampant) you have to do compulsory morale checks before moving on to ‘new’ activations. Which means you can’t necessarily guarantee you will move those troops you need to move before your opponent. This builds in tension, tactics, and what makes for an exciting game. In turn three I also did what I think may have been a rash move – my knights charged Andy’s spearmen. Knights do though, eh? That’s why they’re knights. OK, so I demolished and shocked his infantry, but I’d also put myself in charge range of his knights and I had no reactions left.
The knights square up
Andy did what he ought to do – his knights charged mine. It did not go how I would have liked. It took a couple of rounds, but my knights eventually succumbed.
Such an ignoble ending
This also left the game in balance. Because at the end of turn five (the duration of the scenario) I had achieved the scenario objective – find the hidden treasure and get away with it. However, Andy had also achieved the general game-end criteria – kill your opponent’s commander (and none of your other commanders pass a morale check to take control). So, who won? We’ll have to leave that one to the chroniclers.
Let’s rumble!
Final thoughts. For me, it is hard to choose between the two because they are so different. Lion Rampant is a quick pick-up game that anyone can jump into and get the hang of in just a turn or two. There is a lot of merit in that. BW requires a little bit of pre-planning (working out and putting together a suitable retinue), but it’s also a more tactical game which means it will take longer for a newcomer to pick up and appreciate the subtleties. No, not more complex, but more subtle. Of course, that’s not to say there are no tactics to Lion Rampant (there are!) but Lion Rampant does lack the depth of BW. Personally, I couldn’t choose between the two. Lucky me that I don’t have to. There is a place for both depending on what you are after for a game – sometimes I want that simplicity and quick ‘pick-up’ nature, sometimes I want a more challenging and thoughtful game. Lucky me that I have both on my bookshelf and can choose depending on my whim. If you are interested in medieval wargames then I’d suggest you have them both as well, because I can’t pick one over the other.
Back to Andy for his thoughts on the two rulesets.
I should open by saying I have played Lion Rampant, and other rulesets in the same family, for many years and am very familiar with them, whereas I have only played Baron’s War once or twice before. This may have an impact on my assessment of the two sets of rules. Both sets of rules have a small-ish number of unit types to start with, and both allow you to upgrade / configure units but Baron’s War has more variety in the options you can apply, and a couple of limitations on force composition, a minimum of 10% of your points must be spent on Green troops, and no more than 50% of your force can be used for units with attached commanders. Lion Rampant has fewer, simpler, upgrade options, and no mandatory requirements for force composition.
I would say that Lion Rampant is the easier game to pick up, but Baron’s War can probably give you more variety in force composition. It’s a “horses for courses” kind of situation, and there is room in my gaming calendar for both rulesets.
We had a very good turn out at the last meeting, 5 games in progress with over 20 members present.
First up, John and Alex were play testing John’s Border Reivers game.
All quiet at the Bastle house, for now.Action at the ford.
Mark ran another Dungeons and Dragons session, taking his adventurers to sea and then deep into the dungeon depths.
The dungeon master looks on as the adventurers ponder their next action.Action at the QuaysideDungeon delvingWho let the dogs out?
Paul ran a 6mm FoG Ancients game, Late Bulgarians vs Ottomans.
Light cavalry on the right somewhat outnumberedThe centre of the battle seems a bit emptyClash of cavalry
Stephen and Jeremey continued their refight of the War of the Roses, using Sword and Spear rules, this time recreating the Second Battle of St Albans. There will be a write up of this game shortly.
The Yorkist camp, artillery and cavalry await the approaching Lancastrian vanguard.The artillery has fallen to Lancastrian archery, but the first Yorkist reinforcements are now approaching the campA Lancastrian pike block about to dispose of some Yorkist archers, but Yorkist Men at Arms are waiting behind the archers.Towards the end of the battle, the Yorkists have pushed the Lancastrians back from the campOn the Yorkist left flank there are few Lancastrians left.
Finally, Mark H ran a War of the Spanish Succession game, using his own fast play rules.
Cavalry advanceMore CavalryThe armies line upCavalry wings clashThe infantry engage
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