The Marquess Of Granby

Playing Wars of the Roses with Hail Caesar

(2) Tewkesbury re-fought

The tabletop suggested by the Bloody Barons rules is relatively simple.Gaston's Ridge, occupied by the Lancastrians, runs west to east along the northern edge and dominates a fairly open table. The woods and hill west of the road on the western edge hardly affect the game although the marsh n the middle of the eastern flank could be more of an obstacle

The Lancastrians deployed along the ridge. Thanks to not giving Ian clear instructions the tardy Wenlock deployed on the left placing Devonshire in the centre. Seen from the eastern end this is the Lancastrian deployment

While the Yorkists stretched across the southern edge of the table

I'd allowed the Yorkests to deploy 12" in but then, with my usual adaptation of inch based 28mm rules for 15mm figures, I then counted the standard move distamces as centimetres rather than inches (and not the 2/3 suggested).

This made for a slow start to the gams as Ian's Lancastrians sat on the ridge and waited, move after move, until I came in range.  It alo meant that a succession of poor throws on behalf of Goucester on the right flank meant that his battle got progressively left behind and when it came to crossing the marsh with a consequently exaggerated width it lost all cohesion.

Meawhile Edward IV made good progress up the centre

Gloucester's reticence was starting to leave his right exposed although Hastings on the left kept pace

Needless to say concerted bowfire from the Lancastrians whittled away at the Yorkist status

Within a couple of moves the Edward's division became shaken and began to retire, effectively signalling the end of the game.

Retrospect

Perhaps a game where the two forces were so similarly armed and armoured was not the best of tests for the potential of these rules but it was, for me, the most satisfactory of the three games I've played with them so far. Certainly reading the disorder rules correctly and using the break test rather than gong automatically to a disorder result on the throw of a six, as in Black Powder, helped the game immensely.

We replayed the game afterwards using inches as iches and not as centimetres. It made for a quicker game. I can't see myself using my centimetre option again although I will probably go for the 2/3 distance variant.