Norfolk's Battle

I know it has been a long time, but I have been busy with all sorts of other things unrelated to wargaming of late. Still I have been occasionally able to get out to the 'studio' to do a bit of work.

The picture shows Norfolk's battle for The Battle of Exeter. His Battle, like at Bosworth Field will be the Van.

I do hope that I can keep the posts to at least once a month from now on, but I'm not promising anything!

The Battle of Exeter 1483 Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post I have decided to build armies for the fictional 'Battle of Exeter'. I have discussed some terrain ideas with a fellow gamer and the battle will either take place outside the city walls or close by to the important city of Exeter.

In 1483 Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Protector of the realm and regent to the child, King Edward V took the throne for himself. His nephews would eventually be murdered in the Tower of London and Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England would die on the battlefield at Bosworth.

However, the years preceding his eventual demise are very interesting. In the same year that he was made King of England, his staunchest ally would throw in his lot with Henry Tudor and raise the south of England in open rebellion. Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham also had a right to succession through Edward III youngest son, Thomas of Woodstock.

Buckingham’s rebellion simmered through the summer months, plotting and scheming took place, but it wasn’t until October of 1483 that the rebellion was revealed to Richard III. The forces began to gather, with those loyal to the King meeting in Lincoln and Leicester before marching south to confront the rebels at Exeter. Meanwhile Henry Tudor was planning to sail from Brittany with 5000 mercenaries. It was important that the rebellion be crushed. As it happened the rebellion was over before it began, with Richard’s loyal followers suppressing the rebels from Kent across to Devon. Henry Tudor who had sailed to Plymouth at the beginning of November sailed back to France with his mercenaries and the Duke of Buckingham was executed for treason. But what if events had been different?

What if Buckingham had gathered enough support to meet the king in open battle? What if Henry Tudor had landed in Plymouth and had been able to march the aid of his new ally? Could have they deposed Richard III in battle? Or, would Richard have proved victorious and killed off the Lancastrian/Tudor line for good?

The battle of Exeter 10th November 1483 gives us as war gamers the opportunity to play out a ‘what if scenario’, using 28mm Perry Miniatures. The battle would bring together 3 intriguing characters of the latter period of the War of the Roses. The battle itself would involve many of the Dukes, earls, lords and knights who would fight the real battle of Bosworth in 1485.

It gives us the opportunity to create a fictional game outside the medieval market town Exeter. The board dimensions for such a game would be 12’ x 6’ or 10’x 6’, with over 600 miniatures on the board. 

The likely rules of choice for this game will be The Perfect Captain's 'A Coat of Steel'

This is a big game for a big event.

The orbats for the battle are as follows;

The Royalist Host of Richard III

Army General: Richard Plantagenet, King Richard III

Reserve: 
King Richard III
12 x Mounted Knights of the Body

Sir William Catesby of Ashby St. Legers
12 x Scurrours

Vaward: 
Battle Commander: Duke of Norfolk

John Howard, Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Francis Lovell of Minster Lovell, Viscount Lovell
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Walter Devereaux of Weobley, 7th Baron Ferrers
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x Levy Billmen
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Mainward: 
Battle Commander: Earl of Lincoln

Sir John De La Pole of Wingfield, Earl of Lincoln
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Robert Brackenbury of Denton
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir John De La Zouch of Ashby-la-Zouch, Lord Zouch
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Rearward: 
Battle Commander: Earl of Kent

Sir George Grey, Earl of Kent
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir John Scrope of Bolton, 5th Lord Scrope of Bolton
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x Levy Billmen
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Richard Ratcliffe of Wymersley
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x Levy Billmen
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

The Duke of Buckingham's Host

Army General: Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham

Vaward:
Battle Commander: Marquis of Dorset

Sir Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Richard Beauchamp, Lord St. Amand
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir John Fogge
16 x Levy Billmen
12 x Levy Longbowmen

Mainward:
Battle Commander: Duke of Buckingham

Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir John Cheyne of Falstone Cheyne
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Thomas St. Leger
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Rearward:
Battle Commander: Sir Richard Woodville

Sir Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers
16 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Edward Courtenay of Boconnoc
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x Levy Billmen
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Sir Richard Guildford of Haldon
4  x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
12 x Levy Billmen
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

The Host of the Earl of Richmond

Army General: Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond

Mainward:

Sir John De Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x Breton Partisanmen
12 x Crossbowmen

Sir Edward Poynings of Southwark
32 x French Pikemen
8 x French Hand Gunners

Sir Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke
8 x Dismounted Men-At-Arms
8 x French Partisman
16 x Retinue Longbowmen

Cavalry Wing

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond
6 Mounted Men-At-Arms

Sir John Savage of Clifton
6 Scurrours

In addition to this there will be several pieces of artillery, although as yet I haven't decided on how many. It is almost certain that the royal host may have more than the rebels.

That's all for now, other than I am working on the bulk of my metal Men-At-Arms. Some of the character models will be painted up as the contingent/battle commanders for this battle. As I mentioned in my last post, I have a club meet this coming Saturday and I plan to take some photos of the current work I have been doing.

The Battle of Exeter 1483

For some time I have been reading the book Buckingham's Rebellion. The rebellion took place in 1483 not long after Richard had ascended the throne. Henry Stafford the Duke of Buckingham through in his lot with Henry Tudor. The rebellion did not last long, for although it had political clout, especially in the south of the country it did not have the military backing it needed in order to force Richard into open battle.

With this in mind I have thought about 'what if it did have the military support?' To this end I am re-focussing my direction for my late period War of the Roses on this fictitious battle which took place outside the walls of Exeter on the 9th November 1483.

I will update soon with the orders of battle for the three factions with a timeline of the events leading up to the battle.

Beaufort's Waterloo

A couple of weeks ago I ran another game of A Coat of Steel at my local wargames club (The Jersey Privateers). Fortunately I was able to run the game with the same players as the battle of Sodbury Marsh. In the interim time between meetings I re-read the rules too to identify where mistakes had been made. The game ran smoothly, much better than the previous game. All in all it was an extremely bloody affair.

I pitched the game in the earlier years of the conflict, the year was a 1459 and Richard, Duke of York was facing off against the 3rd Duke of Somerset. Both armies were high in morale, perhaps too high for the battle. This is an area that I am looking at more carefully. Units with high courage will last along time, and this makes for a bloody affair when engaged in close combat.

The Lancastrians pretty much ran across to meet the Yorkist line. They dispensed with bow fire completely. I did think that they were going to have to return fire on one occasion, but they passed the necessary check.

Meanwhile the Yorkists poured bow and cannon fire on them. This was made ineffectual due to the prevailing winds. Perhaps God favoured the rash! The melee that ensued was a complete bloodbath, with Richard taking a wound and the Yorkist main ward losing their prop. However the Duke of Somerset met his demise in the latter stages of the battle. Despite this the Lancastrians held their nerve and kept on fighting to the bitter end.

It was an enjoyable afternoon with plenty of positive feedback, which I am really pleased about. I look forward to the next game. In fact one of the more seasoned gamers brought up his collection of DBA based War of the Roses miniatures for me to take a look at. He went away with the base sizes I use so hopefully in the not to distant future some larger games may be played.

Here come the infantry...

I have been concentrating on my Empire of the Dead miniatures recently so to make up for it is a piece of artwork my brother created in Photoshop, taken from a photo when we were involved in the re-opening of Gorey castle in Jersey, back in 2006. The artwork is by Noel Mallet and the original photograph was taken by Keith Renouard.

Salute Painting Competition Part 2

It has been a little while since my last post, and it'll probably be a while before the next. However, I have cleaned all the flash of the models and have begun to start painting the models. I have drawn up this loose plan of my entry into the competition. This is just a rough guide but gives some indication of what I am trying to achieve. I want the pieces to be used in games too, so they'll be on 2/3mm MDF bases. I haven't worked out the base sizes yet but that will happen very shortly. I have a week's holiday coming up so I intend to blitz  the project.  If I don't get it finished in that week then I'll have to dedicate some time over Easter.