The Second Battle of St Albans - 28mm Wargame - part 1

Welcome back to the continuing campaign to fight all the battles of the Wars of the Roses. 

The following post sets out the second battle of St Alban's, its background, the specific rules for the game and the orders of battle. A subsequent post will detail our playthrough.

Our table Layout looking north from St Albans

Looking south to North with village of Sandridge in the foreground

Background

The second battle of St Albans was fought on the 17^th February 1461.

Whilst the Lancastrian army of the Welsh Tudors was being beaten at Mortimer’s Cross by Edward Earl of March, the Queen Margaret of Anjou and her larger Lancastrian army fresh from their victory at Wakefield were marching south on London to retake the capital and rescue her husband Henry VI from the clutches of the Earl of Warwick.

Warwick left London to face the Lancastrian threat, quite possibly believing he was going to join forces with Edward. Warwick marched north to St Albans and for reasons known to himself he took his hostage, King Henry with him. Warwick then proceeded to fortify his position to the north of St Albans facing the direction he expected the Lancastrian army to appear. Sadly his intelligence on the Lancastrian advance was somewhat sketchy and his forces were caught by surprise when the Queen’s army approached from the town and behind his right flank.

Faced by an overwhelming force the Yorkist left wing collapsed and Warwick only just managed to save part of his army. King Henry VI was rescued by his fellow Lancastrians. 

 

Outskirts of St Albans

Refighting the Second Battle of St Albans

The objectives of the Lancastrians are twofold…

1.       Destroy the Yorkist Army

2.       Rescue the King

 

The Yorkists will win if they

1.      Defeat the Lancastrian army

2.       Retain possession of the King

St Albans...scene of the the second battle

 

The King is for the purposes of this game deployed 24” behind the right and middle battles of the Yorkist forces. He is defended by a half size unit of Men at Arms (Veterans). The king has no orders nor do the men at arms. The unit (and attached King ) may only be commanded to move by a Yorkist Battle commander. This means the Yorkist player must potentially sacrifice moves of regular troops to extricate the King.

Guarding the King

There is no maneuever phase in this battle.

The Lancastrian attack will be lead with the Vanguard attacking from the town and its middle battle from the left of St Albans. These two battles start from the edge of the table.

The rear battle may enter the table once forces from the first two battles are on the table. The cards for this rear battle should be excluded in round one. They may enter from either the town or left hand side of the town.

Forces entering from the town are in fighting blocks. Units outside the town may choose formation

All Yorkist forces are not combined.

All Yorkist forces (with the exception of Skirmish and Bouchier’s forces outside the town) start with one disarray token. The command cards for the Middle battle and left flank of the Yorkists forces are excluded in turn 1

In turn 2 shuffle into the deck the command cards for the middle battle and in turn 3 shuffle in the left flank commanders. This reflects the news spreading across the Yorkist line that the Lancastrians are engaging the flank and that their commanders attempted to get them out of the defences and into battle line.

The table is set up lengthways with St Albans to the south. The northern road runs along the centre of the table. Yorkists forces are deployed in their three battles along the eastern edge of the table behind their defences.

Yorkist forces outside St Albans

The Orders of Battle

	Lancastrian – 12,000 men
	Leader	Units	Figures	Unit Count	Points
Vanguard	Somerset	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bow 1 x Skirmish Archers	30	3
	Welles	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Exeter	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Devon	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
Middle Battle	Trollope	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bow 1 x Skirmish Archers	30	3
	Codnor	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Fitzhugh	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Greystoke	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
Rear Battle	Clifford	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bow 1 x Skirmish Archers	30	3
	Roos	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Northumberland	2 x Pike 2 x Handgunners	36	2
	Percy	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Total		318	27
	Ratio		37.7	285

Yorkist forces outside village of Sandridge

 

	Yorkist –9,000 men
	Leader	Units	Figures	Unit Count	Points
Middle Battle	Warwick	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Skirmish Archers 1 x cannon	18	3
	Scrope	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Norfolk	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Skirmish Archers 1 x cannon	18	3
	Arundel	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
Left Flank	Fauconberg	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Skirmish Archers 1 x cannon	18	3
	Say & Sele	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Horne	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
Right Flank	Essex	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Cromwell	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Berners	1 x Bill 2 x Handgunners	24	3
	Bouchier (in St Albans)	1 x Bill 1 x Bow	24	2
	Total		246	26
	Ratios		36
	Note Cannon are in the defences – they may be pivoted but NOT moved

 

The Lancastrian forces deployed off table with their furry commander

 For the full battle report head here...being played tonight (1/6/21)