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.