Shed Wars: Battle of Pontefract - a 'what if scenario' from the Wars of the Roses

As some of you may have noticed I launched the Shed Wars Experience in my last blog post. This is my opportunity to share with fellow gamers my take on big wargames and as part of the launch I invited a few illustrious figures from the industry to take part in a game and experience Shed Wars.

Quite early on in the process I was keen to showcase the new shed with the big battle approach we adopted with Never Mind the Billhooks and I was delighted that the two drivers of this phenomena were keen to take part.

On Saturday 8th July the Shed was opened for business and joining me for this inaugural game were none other than Andy Callan, creator of NMTBH, Dan Faulconbridge, Editor of Wargames Illustrated and Nick Eyre of Northstar Games. To bring the numbers up top six players I also invited Captain Blood, whose painted WOTR figures can only be described as gorgeous and finally my oldest wargaming friend known as Mark F.

Fortified by a light lunch and a beer or two the game started in earnest at 1.30pm with as plan to wrap up by 6pm. That evening I was hosting a bbq for my guests and several of my other wargaming friends. Could we complete a six player/90 plus unit game of billhooks in under 5 hours? Of course we could and in true Billhooks tradition it went right to the wire !

The Earls of Salibury and Northumberland deploy their battles. Awaiting for our guests from up North.

Richard and Mark deploy their forces whilst waiting for the chaps from up North

The Battle of Pontefract – 29^th December 1460

‘A what if scenario’

Events leading up to the Battle

In December 1460 Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, along with Richard Neville, the Earl of Salisbury, have marched north to counter a growing threat from the Lancastrians. In mid December they skirmished with a Lancastrian force outside Worksop and having being driven off retired to the Duke of York’s stronghold at Sandal Castle (nr Wakefield).

In the real timeline the Lancastrians launched an attack on Richard at Sandal on the 30^th December. Given they significantly outnumbered the Yorkists a victory was assured and both Richard, Duke of York, the Earl of Salisbury and several other leading Yorkists were captured and executed in the aftermath of the battle. But what if things panned out differently?

The Lancastrian army was considerable, numbering around 12-15000 men, and lead by a large number of northern nobles with an axe to grind with the Duke of York and his Neville allies. These include the powerful forces of the Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Lord Roos and Lord Clifford. Furthermore the Northern army had recently been joined by Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon who had marched north during December from the west country.

Aside from the factional rivalry between some of these families many of the Lancastrian leaders had inherited their titles when their fathers had been caught and killed at the Battle of St Albans. Revenge, power and the full restoration of King Henry VI to the throne were all powerful motivations.

The Lancastrian army mustered at Kingston upon Hull and as Christmas approached it is believed that delegations between the two opposing factions agreed to a seasonal truce until the feast of Epiphany (6^th January).

In the real timeline the Lancastrians had no intention to honour this truce and used this time to both goad Richard, Duke of York and attempt to mislead him with potential defections.

Amongst the Lancastrian forces were two individuals that might actually throw their lot in with the Yorkist cause. Firstly there was Andrew Trollope, a commoner who had risen through the ranks and was seen by many contemparies as an excellent field commander. Trollope had defected the year previously with over 600 men to the Lancastrian cause. With the right persuasion could he be a candidate for treachery? Perhaps of more interest might be John Neville, Baron Neville, son of the Earl of Westmoreland. Neville had originally aligned himself with the rest of the Neville family on the side of York’ However, he came from the poor side of the Neville clan and this interfamily rivalry had deep roots with both sides of the family contesting inheritances, titles and lands. Richard of York’s key ally and personal friend, Richard Neville, the Earl of Salisbury was convinced his estranged cousin would switch back to their cause. In the real history neither party switched allegiance.

As mentioned the Lancastrian forces, with what they believed to be a massive majority, marched from Hull and by the 29^th December had encamped at Pontefract with a view of attacking the Duke of York eight miles away at Wakefield on the following day.

In this ‘what if’ scenario Richard of York has been busy. By mid December he is firmly ensconced in his castle at Wakefield and through his network of spies he now knows that the superior force of Lancastrians intend to attack him at the earliest opportunity. With his own supplies dwindling he sends messages to his son, Edward the Earl of March to make haste and join him in Yorkshire. Edward is currently wintering in Shrewsbury on the welsh borders with his own army (which, in the real time line, will go onto be victorious at Mortimer’s Cross two months later). Edward heeds his father’s call for help and marches his army the 100 miles across the country to Wakefield. By the 26^th December Edward’s forces are now with the main Yorkist contingent swelling their ranks to a force comparable to the Lancastrian army.

Following three days of rest Richard, the Duke of York sets out to confront the Duke of Somerset. They meet on the banks of the river Aire just outside Pontefract.

Amongst the Yorkist army are two individuals of note – the first is William Bonville, son of the Baron Bonville. The Bonvilles hailed from the West Country and have had a long standing feud (if not a private war) with the Courtenay’s of Devon. Both parties mentioned will oppose one another on this field.

In addition the Yorkist force featured a certain Lord Grey of Wilton – I am fairly sure that this is NOT the same Lord Grey of Ruthin who defected to the Yorkist cause at the Battle of Northampton but it would make life interesting if it were the same said noble.

(Incidentally this is the same river Aire that featured in the battle of Ferrybridge, the prelude to Towton a few tears later)

Our guests have arrived and survey their forces - Nick in the foreground deploys his Irish.

Special Rules for Fighting the Battle of Pontefract

The Yorkist centre

The Irish Contingent

By special request I have incorporated a large Irish mercenary contingent into the ranks of the Lancastrian army. This will be led by the Battle Commander Lood Roos ( he has his own ward) and will take to the battle on the left flank. The Irish force excluding the four standard commanders no greater than 150 points in size and should be arranged into four wards.(special request – total points required c140 with 4 leaders – excluded in points).

Part of the Irish Wing

Rivalry & Treachery:

Rivalries & Revenge

Several nobles in this action have an axe to grind and where possible (and conveniently) these are facing off against each other. Each battle will have their own target where applicable and a bonus for killing said Lord. The bonus is simple when the game finishes the bonus points are totted up and compared to the winning margin in the real battle – for example lets assume the Lancastrians win the day by 4 read tokens but the Yorkists have amassed five bonus point to the Lancastrians none. In this case the Yorkists albeit losing the battle win the game. Players will be briefed on their ‘targets’

To make the likelihood of Leaders dying in combat all hits suffered on a unit where a leader is attached will have the chance of injuring/killing the noble rather than the over three rule.

There are no duels in this game – killing a noble can only be achieved through action on the table.

Treachery

Both sides have potential turncoats in their ranks and it wouldn’t be a war of the roses game if there wasn’t some kind of jeopardy. Aside from the usual special card in play. The following will be in action.

A deck of cards will be shuffled and each time the ‘dummy card’ is drawn turn the top card is turned over – If an ace is drawn the following happens

Ace of Spades – Andrew Trollope switches sides

Ace of Clubs – Neville of Raby switches sides

Ace of Diamonds/Ace of Hearts – Lord Grey of Ruthin switches sides.

Note a traitor will only switch sides if he thinks the battle is going poorly for his side – he will only switch if the count of opponent tokens in his sides pot is greater than the count of his tokens in their side. If a unit switches sides all units in that commanders ward must take one disarray token.

Note: The likelihood of a turncoat is low but cannot be ignored

Tokens

The big battle approach adopted by the shed group opf players is to pool all the morale tokens in one pot. This does mean an entire force may collapse but the rest of the army fights on.

Commanders

All commanders are ranked at level 2 (bar Edward – Earl of March – level 3). Battle Commanders may be used to command any unit in their battle in addition to their wards.

Momentum

To keep things moving the maneuver phase will allow players to moves wards not units one by one

Melees will be refought on both turns of the bonus card

The Yorkist right wing under the Earl of March

Orders of Battle are published at the end of this article

BATTLE REPORT

The Lancastrians would be played by Mark (Percy on Right Wing), Nick (Lord Roos on Left Wing) and in overall command the Duke of Somerset played by Andy Callan.

Opposing them were Richard (Captain Blood) as Lord Salisbury on the left wing, myself as the Earl of March (right wing) and Dan Faulconbridge as the Duke of York.

Battles were deployed along the base line and we kicked off the maneuver phase with wards rather than units. I wasn't long before the Lancastrians opened the first salvo of gunfire on the approaching enemy

Across the field the commanders issued their orders and by the end of turn one most of the armies had edged forward.

Over on the yorkist right flank the Irish darted forward, numerous skirmish units and light horse taking advantage of the cover available.

Surveying the field Somerset wanted Roos to unleash his Irish hounds

Elsewhere in the centre the massed ranks of Yorkist and Lancaster bows were moving into range. Big battles tend to have a number of key elements happening across the board at the same time and its difficult for the wing commanders to truly appreciate what is happening across the field.

The Irish horse surged forward quickly despatching a hapless unit of bows and daunting their supporting bills. The driveback pushed March's horse to the rear causing disarray. One unit of Irish was causing significant panic in the Yorkist ranks.

Despite the Irish gallant charge they soon fell prey to the Yorkist bows and normal service was resumed

On the far side of the field Neville and Percy were coming to blows in what would be a fiercly contested fight all afternoon with neither side giving ground or quarter. Elsewhere the centre saw some dressing of lines with battles readying themselves for the fight.

It was the engagement on the Yorkist right flank that was getting the attention.

Time and again Nick threw his Irish forces forward and time and again their numbers were whittled down by accurate English longbows. The Irish were not having a good time.

Nick readied his heavy Gallowglass and formed Kern for one big push.

Mean whilst the centre was still very quiet. Aside from artillery trading fire and sporadic archery fire things were just ticking along.

As the game approached about turn 3 most of the forces were now in competitive action. With bonus cards being predominantly won buy the Yorkists the Lancastrians were beginning to get a tad frustrated.

As the Irish massed on March's front he readied his heavy horse to do battle.

Across the field the Lancastrians were doing some serious damage to Neville's lead elements. Superior weight of numbers in bows was beginning to tell. Neville pushed forward his men at arms and pike units

To the centre York (Dan ) had pushed forward his bow and was beginning to shoot some very telling fire into Andy's leading units.

With the stream hindering March's infantry advance lead Lord Roos stepped forward with his bows. The impact was not severe but the return fire devastated the Lancastrian Lord's archers.

Archers were now trading serious volleys at one another in the centre. By turn four several units were binning to take morale tests and the mtokens began to freely exchange across the table.

Looking across the field from Somerset's position (Andy) the Yorkist line was beginning to thin. Massing his men at arms and pikes he began to edge forward

From Percy's position Neville had pushed right forward but had taken serious losses. Both commanders sent their mounted units into action and a devastating charge from Salisbury caused panic in the Lancastrian ranks.

Despite this set back Percy (Mark) held his line (and his nerve) and continued to trade fire with the advancing Yorkists

Back on the Right Wing the Yorkist cavalry had charged and swept away the Kern and Gallowglass. A general failure of morale across the Irish army caused several to panic and flee. By turn six most of the Irish force and their battle commander Lord Roos had been driven from the field.

The Lancastrian high command was now very nervous. Lancastrian morale tokens were running low and his entire left wing had all but disappeared.

Fearing defeat Somerset(Andy) surged forward with his men at arms and pikes into the Yorkist centre

A fierce melee erupted in the centre of the field. The target of their advance was none other than the Duke of York himself. His capture (or death) would secure a victory for the red rose.

York had managed to get himself bogged down in a melee with his bill and bow. It was not going well.

By the fate of the gods York's bill unit was driven back. If the Lancastrian units went first he could be captured.

The Yorkist command cards drew first and Dan readied a unit of archers to fire into the threatening pikes. At short range he needed fives to hit. 12 dice rolled and ten hits !! The pike unit crumpled and York extricated himself from the fleeing unit.

Melees erupted across the field, the last of the Irish were put to flight and several gallant Lancaster troops went down to the resurgent Duke of York.

As the game edged towards six oclock we were looking for a result. Both sides had taken horrendous casualties and the fight had nearly been one by the Lancastrians. How might the last planned turn pan out?

Fighting was now limited to the centre and Yorkist left wing. March's victory against the Irish would count for nothing if a breakthrough could not be found elsewhere.

Both sides gave it there all and as the turn was near ending a Lancastrian muttered - we cant give you a token. The Yorkists had won!!

Had the game gone to the final morale test and if the Lancastrians had had but one token they may very well have won the game. It was very close.

A massive thank you to Andy, Dan, Nick, Richard and Mark for a hard fought and thrilling engagement.

This is how wargames should be fought !!

Talking of which if you are interested in taking part in one of these big Billhooks games please do drop me a line or visit my website www.shedwars.co.uk for more information. I am planning to host a couple of Wars of the Roses events later in the year so stay tuned

ORDERS OF BATTLE

Commander - Sir Henry Beaufort

Following the death of your father at St Alban’s you and your brother, Sir Edmund Beaufort, are out for revenge – the traitor’s York and Salisbury must die.

The death of either noble in combat involving either of your two Lords gives two victory points

Sir John Neville – the death of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury will do much to strengthen your side of the family . Kill Neville in combat to earn one victory point.