Friday 24 February 2023

Norfolk's Battle at Bosworth

The first half of this week's entry missed the posting deadline last week by just a few hours. I hadn’t quite sorted the flags out and didn’t want to rush the job, so I reluctantly decided to delay posting by a week. On the plus side, it means you get a double helping of 6mm War of the Roses this week!



With Richard II’s independent command of mounted knights completed it's now time to move on to the main fighting contingent of his army. Sir John Howard, the Duke of Norfolk commanded the Vanguard and was in the thick of the fighting right up until he was killed. The loss of the commander would probably have been fatal in armies with better command and control, but in the press of men, how many would realise their leader had fallen? As with other commanders I have based the Duke of Norfolk on his own base with a Standard Bearer. He also brings some foot knights/Men at Arms and Archers to the fight clad in his livery.



Accompanying the Duke in this week's submission is his son, Sir Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey. He commands a company of Retinue/Billmen and a company of Archers. Thomas was wounded at Bosworth and imprisoned in the Tower of London for three years. However, he was released in 1489, and his title of Earl of Surrey was restored. He appears to have been loyal to Henry VII and in 1487 was sent north to put down a rebellion in Yorkshire. He remained Henry's lieutenant until 1489 when he accompanied the king to France. In 1501 he was made Lord High Treasurer, effectively entering Henry’s inner circle. He remained loyal to Henry’s son, Henry VIII, and enjoyed significant military success in the king's service in Scotland well into what would be considered extreme old age by the standards of the day.



After falling a little behind last week, this week I have caught up and got quite a bit done. So today I have the infantry of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Zouch, plus three artillery bases and two hand gunner companies. First, we have Sir George Talbot, the Eldest son of John Talbot, 3rd of Shrewsbury. He was Knight of the Bath to Richard III and fight with him at Bosworth, where he was captured. However, he must have been able to retain favor and switched sides as he fought with Henry VII at the Battle of Stoke Field two years later.



Sir John de la Zouch, Lord Zouch was a Yorkist nobleman and politician loyal to Richard III, under whose command he fought at the Battle of Bosworth. He had grown in political power under Richard, mainly because his family's influence in Northamptonshire was of value to the King. Defeat at Bosworth resulted in him suffering attainder and forfeiture of his property, but he was eventually restored to royal favor in the Tudor court, due partly to a marriage connection to the new King's mother.



There are three Artillery pieces. These were typically companies - mercenaries in effect - who were paid to ply their expertise for one side or another.



Lastly, I have two small skirmish companies of Handgunners. Again these are dangerous weapons, relatively new to the battlefield and, at close range, quite deadly. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice there are fewer figures on these bases than the hand gunners I did for the Lancastrians. There’s no cunning research behind this, I just didn’t have enough figures to put 8 on a base as before! That being said, the Test of Resolve rules are figure agnostic, so a bit of variation is fine so long as the bases remain the same size.



I've got a lot completed now and the end is definitely in sight. Now I will start looking at Sir Robert Brackenbury's command. 

12 comments:

  1. Awesome looking stuff Lee. You should be proud of yourself.

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  2. They look marvellous. Figures, basing, flags, the lot!
    Regards, James

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  3. They all look splendid, Lee, well worth the wait! The basing is excellent too, great work al around. I like the sound of your rules, the number of figures comprising a base/ unit should not matter, unless it's a skirmish level game.

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    1. I thought three different sets of rules now, so I can compare approaches and see what suits me.

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  4. Excellent you may wish to check out the rather large Towson blog for our moment of 6mm madness for Salute some years ago

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