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.

Playing Wars of the Roses with Hail Caesar

(I) Preparation

This will be a third attempt at a Hail Caesar game, having badly mis-read the rules on the previous occasions. If I can get it right it will suit me nicely. My Ancients and Medieval armies are 15mm figures based to the DBx/FoG norm of 40mm frontages. Although the Hail Caesar rules refer to figures per unit, perhaps to accomodate or attract the 28mm ex-WHAB fraternity there is no figure removal and all one has to do is to determine an appropriate number of stands to represent Large, Standard, Small and Tiny units.  n this case I'm opting for a standard infantry unit of 6 stands and one of 3 stands for mounted.

The game will be an approximate reconstruction of the Battle of Tewkesbury (May 4th 1471) and I've chosen to work up the scenario from the one in the Bloody Barons rules. These translated well to WHAB games. Hopefully they will work as well for Hail Caesar.

This will give an attacking Yorkist force of 3 battles as follows (Leadership rating in brackets)

Edward IV (9): 1 small unit of knights, 1 household unit, 2 retinue units, 2 levy units and 1 piece of artillery

Lord Hastings (8): 2 retinue units, 3 levy units

Duke of Goucester (8): 1 unit of knights,4 Retinue Units

The Lancastrians will consist of

Duke of Somerset (9): 1 household unit, 2 retinue units, 2 levy units

Duke of Devonshire (8) 6 levy units

Lord Wenlock (6/8): 1 small household unit, 2 retinue units, 2 levy units

The BB scenario writer advises that Wenlock was a ditherer. Consequently he will be hampered in motivating his troops early on,  hence the 6, but once they are motivated his leadership rating will rise to 8

The article in the January 2012 issue of Miniature Wargames recounting the use of HC for a WOTR Bosworth Campaign helps to break the back of deremining approprate HC statistics for the troop types. My variations on his are in RED and commented on below

Type	Clash	Sust	Short	Long	M/save	Stam	Useful Rule
Knights (HC)	9	6	3	0	5+	6	Lance
Household Infantry	7	6	2/0	0	4+	6	Double Handed Stubborn
Household Archers	5	5	3	3	4+	6	Marksmen
Retinue Infantry	7	6	2/0	0	5+	6
Retinue Archers	5	5	3	3	5+	6
Levy Infantry	5	5	3	0	6+	6
Levy Archers	4	4	3	3	0	6
Mercenary Pike	6	6	3/0	0	5+	6	Phalanx Pike
Mercenary Xbow	6	6	3	3	6+	6	Xbow*
Artillery	1	1	2	2	0	3
Handgunners	6	6	3	0	6+	6	Xbow*

I've upgraded the knights from the MW article from MC to HC. I just don't see knights i full plate armour as MC, although I've not gone as far as the cataphract rating. I've also added the lance attribute.

To cater for household as well as retinue units as in the BB definitions I've used the MW dismounted knights stat plus the stubborn attribute for household infantry and made the household archers into marksmen.

Although crossbows/handguns aren't required in this scenario, I've decided to limit them very much as musket fire is limited in the Last Argument of Kings supplement to Black Powder. i.e. Allow them only two potential moves in a turn if they are to fire.