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 17th
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.
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 |
Lovely looking table and some nice scenario tweaks, so looking forward to the AAR:)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it will be a fine game in the best Shed traditions.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful looking table. The Lancastrian furry commander looks to have his game face on for this encounter.
ReplyDeleteI don't know though....that furry commander seems totally out of scale!
ReplyDelete