Bosworth Photo-book: A Quick Look

A quick look at a relatively inexpensive way to keep a record of your games or your collections. 

 

The Battle of Bosworth: Orders of Battle

Last weekend's game saw my entire Wars of the Roses / Battle of Bosworth collection of 6mm figures out on the table. I built my armies with one aim, to include as many of the nobles and Lords who were present at the battle, and feature the flags and banners for them on my bases. I'll let you decide if that last objective was worth the effort, but I was certainly happy with the outcome on the game table. 

My orders of battle were built from the lists of known participants for each side, although the specific number of troops and of what kind each brought to the battle, requires a bit of guesswork. I couldn't find any specific details, so I had an approximate size and arrangement in mind for the overall army compositions and worked towards that. You may disagree with how I built my armies but from my own research, this 'best guess' is probably as accurate (or inaccurate) as any other variation I have seen. 

 

I highly recommend the Freezywater publications of flags and bios (the Lance and Longbow Society) and there is also a book by Bob Pritchard "Battle of Bosworth Nobles and Knight Profiles" packed full of the heraldic banners for everyone who took part. I can't find anyone selling it at the moment, but it's worth keeping an eye out for it on eBay. They also sell copies in the shop at the Bosworth Heritage Cantre which I highly recommend visiting if you get a chance. 

The Battle of Bosworth 1485 - A 6mm, Test of Resolve, Quick Strike Battle Report

On Saturday I finally got my Wars of the Roses / Bosworth game on the table in the shed-o-war for the Rejects. It's been a long time coming, but it went well, with just a couple of issues I will discuss later in the week. Before the game I gave the players a briefing of the rules, but also an outline of the scenario and why I had chosen to represent the battle the way I had.

The location of the Battle of Bosworth has been debated and plotted by antiquarians and historians many times in the 539 years since the battle took place. For several hundred years it was linked to Ambion Hill where Richard probably camped the night before the battle. This seems logical because it is one of the highest points in a semi-circular range of hills, with good visibility for miles around. However, few artefacts had been definitively found to tie the battle to this location, and core samples of the surrounding terrain revealed no evidence of the now-famous marsh in which Richard lost his life.

 

Between August 2005 and August 2009, the Battlefields Trust undertook a major new study of Bosworth battlefield, on behalf of Leicestershire County Council. Combined with new analysis of documentary sources, this analysis shifted the location of the battle away from its traditional site to a position two miles southwest, on either side of Fen Lane. A wealth of artefacts was uncovered, including the single largest collection of medieval cannon balls ever found, numerous sword hilts, buckles, spurs, horse tackle and the by-now famous Boar Badge which would have been worn by one of the king's closest entourage. All of these have definitively identified the site of the engagement and indicated the orientation of the battles, the location of the guns and even the infamous marsh. This game is based on this most recent interpretation of the evidence.

UPDATE: The Battle Reports of Richard and Ray have more excellent pictures of the game:

My Wargaming Habbit: Bosworth AAR and Don't Throw a One: Bosworth Batrep

Test of Resolve: Deep dive rules review

My long overdue review and flip-through of the Test of Resolve rules is finally here. Test of Resolve is a set of rules designed for refighting the dynastic struggle in England between 1455 and 1487, known as The Wars of the Roses. This is a card-driven system which produces exciting and unpredictable tabletop conflicts. 

 

Bosworth Test Game: Test of Resolve

The Crown of England was up for grabs this week, and the outcome was dramatic and very exciting. I had a week off work for the Christmas break so I was determined to take a day out for a solo game of Test of Resolve, the Wars of the Roses ruleset. I have been building the armies of Henry Tudor and Richard III for Bosworth for a little over a year and while I have played a few small test games I have yet to fight the battle. I have a plan (and the figures) for the whole battle, but my table in the Operations Room is just 3ft by 5ft so I would have to select a portion of the map and play part of the battle only. As it was the two formations that were excluded in this setup didn't play a part in the actual battle so leaving them out didn't have an impact on this game. When I play this with a larger table there are rules for their inclusion, but that's a challenge for another day.

The order of battle for this game included Richard III, Brackenbury and Norfolk for the Yorkists and Henry Tudor, Oxford, De Chande and William Stanley for the Lancastrians. For the purposes of this game, the French under De Chande would not be free to move until Turn 2 while William Stanley could only move if a 'Show your Colours' card was revealed from Turn 2 onwards, and a test passed.

(Y) Richard III - 9 Battle Points

(Y) Brackenbury - 20 Battle Points

(Y) Norfolk - 24 Battle Points

(L) Henry Tudor - 6 Battle Points

(L) Oxford - 25 Battle Points

(L) De Chande - 14 Battle Points

(L) William Stanley - 15 Battle Points

These rules use a deck of special cards (the game deck) to drive the action. This consists of cards which determine which side is active and what actions they can take, such as Move & Melee, Fire or Ending the Turn. I decided to remove the Missile Supply cards from the deck for the first turn only, partly because I didn't like the idea that one side of the other could have to test for missiles before anything had happened, and party to speed along the first turn. These cards would be put in the discard pile ready to be reshuffled into a new game deck for turn two. Similarly a Yorkist "Event" Card and Lancastrian "Show Your Colours" card would also go into the discard pile for inclusion in the deck in turn two.

 

The game starts with the Yorkist Archers moving forward into long-range. The Melee troops remain stationary for now, waiting for this initial missile duel to conclude before advancing.

Oxford sends his missile troops forward to get into close range. He has two handgun units at either end of the line, but they need to be within 5" to have the range and these press further forward. Meanwhile, DeChande and his French troops remain in their starting positions and (offscreen to the right) William Stanley has yet to reveal his allegiance.

Norfolk and Brackenbury push their Billmen and Men at Arms forward behind the archers. This in turn prompts Oxford to do the same, although his men must cross a small stream which will limit their movement slightly. However, all of this is just posturing, the Archers have not finished their deadly exchanges yet. A handful of units have had their resolve reduced by missile fire but the most significant impact has come from Henry's Canon on a slight hill behind his line (offscreen to the left). Despite long odds (needing 11+ on a D12), they have hit one of Norfolk's Archer companies twice, severely weakening them.

Henry and his Mounted Knights move to position themselves on the right of Oxford's Line, but the marshy ground to their front limits room for manoeuvre.

De Chande leads his French and Scots across the stream and begins to advance on Norfolk's troops ahead of them. The Crossbowmen have a similar range to the archers but had started out of range of the enemy so this move brings them into the action if a Fire card comes out of the Game Deck.

Brackenbury has lost two Archer companies and the third had to fall back behind its haven company, so he decides to advance his Billmen. In response, Oxford moves his melee troops forward and on the next Movement card will begin withdrawing his archers behind their haven companies. Archers do get a chance to withdraw if approached by enemy melee troops but there is always a chance that they don't withdraw fast enough and Oxford wants to keep his line in good order.

Oxford successfully pulls back his Archers and then form-up as light melee troops behind their Haven companies. One more Move card, for either side, and the bloodshed will begin.

This overhead show shows the advancing French under DeChande and Oxford's Battle move forward ready for the desperate struggle to begin. William Stanley has yet to show his colours so at this point the Lancastrians are outnumbered. Even if Stanley does pick sides, the marsh will limit his movement on the right.

From turn two, the Yorkist Event card was included in the Play Deck, and it would shape the outcome of the battle. The Yorkist Event was "Mind the Gap". The King sees a gap open in the Lancastrian line and has to choose whether to act on it or not. If not, the card goes back into the deck for the next turn, but if it is acted upon the King needs to roll 8 or more on a D12.

Although both sides had not yet begun a general melee, I decided that Richard III would take the chance to end the battle decisively. Unsure of the allegiance of the Stanleys, and keen to assert his authority as the rightful king of England, Richard orders his knights to charge through the Lancastrian line. Richard was many things but he was not a coward and even his enemies acknowledged the bravery of the King following the battle of Bosworth.

Richard's command successfully rolls to act on the order (rolling a 12 on a d12!) and moves in a straight line, ignoring terrain, distance and intervening troops, to be placed in frontal contact with Henry's command. A round of melee is then immediately fought and the King's command gains several important bonuses in this initial round of combat. The charge gets a +1 for Shock (a charge bonus) and another +1 for a supporting company. Meanwhile, Henry suffered a -2 surprise modifier as the attack came out of the blue.

Modifiers alone do not win a Melee but then Richard rolled an 11 and Henry a three. After modifiers that was a difference of 10+ resulting in the loss of three Resolve Points on Henry's company. Despite this Henry passes his resolve test and remains in position.

Now I deviated from the rules slightly as I decided that the initial impact had been so great that I ought to conduct a second round of Melee immediately. No supporting units could join the fight quickly enough to give any advantage to Henry so rather than unnecessarily drag the game out I opted to fight on (I'll give more thought to this rule change before my next game). This time Henry would not have the Suprise Penalty and Richard would not get the Shock bonus...but it made little difference with the King winning again and Henry's company rolling a 1!

This prompted a commander's fate test and once again I rolled a 1 meaning Henry was cut down and his ill-fated attempt on the Crown on England was brought to an ignominious end on the field of Bosworth.

Long Live King Richard III!

What have I learned from this game and what will I do differently next time?

Well for a start I have learned that by manipulating the Play Deck it's possible to speed play along quite effectively. I decided to hold back the Missile Supply cards until turn two and this has two effects. It makes the initial deck slightly smaller, putting more emphasis on movement and firing. However, it also means that some Missile companies remain longer than they otherwise would and this stretches out the archery duel at the beginning of the battle. I'll have to give this some more thought going forward. 

I'm also inclined to keep my change to melee in the game, ie if there are nearby supporting companies that would change the outcome of the second round of melee, then have that second round immediately to speed the game along. Again I'll have to give this some careful thought but given the size of the armies I am fielding, I think any small changes that increase the speed of the game could be a good thing. 

I may also make a few small changes to the map for the battle to accommodate the size of the Battles. For instance, I think the Marsh is too big and effectively divides the battlefield in a way that I'm not sure the real marsh did on the historical battlefield. 

So I have a few things to think about and some changes to consider following what was a very enjoyable and exciting little game. 

Double Dial Counters from Foxtrot Charlie Miniatures

Today's post is a quickie, to show off a recent purchase from Foxtrot Charlie Models. I have been looking for a way to keep track of Battle Moral in my Wars of the Roses games using Test of Resolve. I recently did a review video of these rules and in it, I explained that each company has a number of resolve points that are lost during the melee or firing phases of the game. Armies are typically divided into three Battles (sometimes more) and each Battle has a morale value based on the number and type of units within it. As Resolve is lost from its constituent companies so Moral Points are removed from the Battle. When the Battle reaches zero morale points it has to test to see if it continues fighting or withdraws. 

My order of battle stretches the size of the Battles way beyond the rules authors' design parameters, meaning my Battles will start the game with quite large Moral Values. I couldn't figure out the most elegant way of keeping track of Morale...until now. 

These MDF Double Dial Counters from Foxtrot Charlie Models are exactly what I needed. There are  8 dials in a pack for just £10.75 so they were also a very economical solution to my requirements. The Dials come unassembled but were really easy to put together and can then be decorated as required. I decided to replicate the groundwork of my bases so they match my Wars of the Roses armies and blend in with the game mat I am using. 

That's one more task off my to-do list and at a very reasonable price too. 👍👍👍

Unboxing the Wars of the Roses

I have been hinting for a while now that I was considering the Wars of the Roses as a new period. In particular, I was drawn to the range of 6mm miniatures produced by Baccus and their Matched Pair army deal. A reassuringly heavy box of figures arrived a few days ago so I decided it would be good to share a look at what you get.