Friday 3 May 2013

Battle of Blore Heath (sort of) - WotR Dux Bellorum

This week we decided to have another bash at a game using my Wars of the Roses Dux Bellorum rules.  To try out some extra bits and bobs, like terrain, cavalry, and artillery, so we went for a scenario very loosely based on Blore Heath.

The Yorkists deployed two large battles on a hill to the west of the winding river that separated both armies.


Their battle line was drawn up behind temporary fortifications, and had with them a fearsome looking field piece.  


The Lancastrians advanced out of the woodland to the west in three battles; two infantry and a southern flank of mounted knights determined to run the Yorkists to ground.



The battle opened with the knights thundering forwards through the hedge line.

The supporting infantry struggled through the rough ground, fumbling forwards slowly in a desperate attempt to keep up with the cantering knights.





In the center ground the Yorkists opened proceedings with a good volley or two from the bronze monster.

The Lancastrians opposite the gaping, fire-spitting muzzle struggled over the river as cannon balls bounced through their ranks.



As the Lancastrian knights thundered around the Yorkists flank, the Yorkist heavy foot stepped back to meet the threat.



The knights stormed over the abandoned defenses and crashed into the Yorkist line.  The fighting here was bloody and brutal.




Eventually, the Lancastrian archers struggled into range and exchanged longbow volleys with the Yorkists



 Although the knights swept away much of the infantry before them, the knights were savaged and exhausted.

Meanwhile across the field, the Lancastrian archers finally got into range and in a devastating exchange, both Lancastrian and Yorkist lines took severe losses as the sky was blotted out by swarms of arrows.




The battle ended as the Yorkist line buckled and broke, and the Lancastrians swept them from the field.

Another good tryout for the period amendment rules.  We generally agreed that the mounted troops were a little over-powered so I've tweaked both their Protection and Cohesion down a little bit.

We also discussed whether billmen should have some special effect on mounted troops (perhaps negating their charge bonus), but i'll leave things as they are for the moment.


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