Blood and Roses Battle of Bosworth Scenario

I played the Lancaster forces led by the upstart Henry Tudor Earl of Richmond against my friend Cisco and his Yorkist army led by King Richard III. Looking at the large marsh and bog- filled area in the center of the board, I thought this would be an infantry slugfest, but it turned out to be a cavalry battle between Tudor's mounted wing and the Yorkist cavalry on my left flank. I made several mistakes that caught up with me. I overlooked the fact that levy cannot attack unless supported by another unit and put them in the front blocking some lanes in the center. I also got engrossed with the cavalry fight and didn't get Stanley's forces into play. I also didn't realize how outnumbered I was when it came to mounted men at arms. Consistently failing continuation roles was the final straw leaving me helpless to respond to the cavalry charge which eventually won the game for my opponent and killing my commander in the process. Pictured also is a pint of ale from the good folks at Emerald Tavern in Austin,Texas where this battle took place.

 

This is the set up. Lancaster forces are the red counters to the SW while the Yorkist forces are the white counters NE facing SW.

 

 

I thought the most of the action would be in the marshy area in the middle of the board but my opponent worked his mounted men at arms around my right flank.

 

 

I shifted my own mounted men at arms led by Henry Tudor to my left. In previous games mounted troops are susceptible to longbow men but my archers were woefully out of position to bring any fire to bear. I did eliminate 2 mounted Yorkist men at arms with my own cavalry but that left Henry in a vulnerable position.

 



 

My opponent's counterattack catching Henry in the open.

 

 

This is the end of Henry. His loss plus losses I took earlier caused me to fail my flight check. Overall it was a fun game but I badly misplayed my army. I launched an infantry attack on the right (not pictured) and managed to reached some Yorkist longbow men with levy infantry only to notice after I moved them that they cannot shock attack unless supported by another unit. I failed several continuity roles and was not able to bring the Stanleys on the board. I'm sure at the end of the battle Richard III rewarded them handsomely for their neutrality on the field. Overall another fun game.

 

 







Blood and Roses

Blood and Roses--Battle of Tewkesbury

I just had the chance to play the battle of Tewkesbury scenario from GMT's Blood and Roses. I love the Men of Iron tactical system. It is both elegant and simple yet provides enough detail so the historical units in the game perform similarly to their historic counterparts. The 3 games in the series--Men of Iron, Infidel, and Blood and Roses--have a distinctive play style that is easy to learn yet a challenge to master. I like the scenarios from Infidel more because of my personal preference for mounted combat and the crusades, but that doesn't take away from the other two games in the series.

This is the opening attack from the Yorkist(white counters) side. Notice the thick hedges in the center of the board. The Yorkist player(my friend Cisco) chooses to go around the right side to attack the Lancaster left flank. I shifted my left wing but have already received some damage from the Yorkist longbows.

This picture was taken later in the same battle. Here the Yorkist king Edward IV gets into the action but is surrounded by Lancaster units. I tried several times to kill/capture him but he managed to escape back to his lines. This was a very close game with both sides rolling flight checks. In the end I rolled a 9 on the Lancaster check causing my army to flee the field. If I would have rolled anything else they would have stayed in the fight but that is the fickle nature of wargaming. Next up will the battle of Bosworth where the upstart Edward Tudor attempts to wrest the crown from the Yorkist King Richard III.