Having been building up his 28mm Wars of the Roses collection with the lovely plastic Perry miniatures sets, my regular opponent M had built the terrain and designed a scenario for the 1st Battle of St Albans. I'd recently built up some of the new Perry's Foot knights (or dismounted men at arms, very nice models!), which I have painted up as the personal men at arms of my French lord Dubaton (who, for those of you who have read some of the 20mm Napoleonic games, is an ancestor in my fictional world, of General Dubreton).
We had the great miniatures and the really nice terrain (all made by M) so now to battle.
On the Lancastrians' side, behind the Tonman ditch of St Albans, was King Henry VI and his Queen Margaret of Anjou, together with the forces of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Thomas Clifford, Lord de Clifford and Lord Harrington. There were also the men at arms of the Dubaton family, who had been brought from France by Margaret of Anjou, serving under the second son of Dubaton and Dubaton's son in law, the English knight; Simon Caston. They were the king's bodyguard.
On the Yorkists' side, advancing down Shropshire land were the Duke of York's men commanded in person by Richard, Duke of York, claimant of the throne. To his left were a group of longbowmen and crossbowmen on the flank of Warwick's attack.
My objective was to hold out for 10 turns and protect the king from the Yorkists' assault.
The Lancastrians had - King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Somerset, Percy, Clifford, Harrington, Dubaton, Caston, 18 of Somerset's liverymen, 8 of Somerset's men at arms, 16 of Dubaton's men at arms and 8 St Albans levy Longbowmen.
The Yorkists had - Richard Duke of York, 3 of York's Captains, 18 of York's liverymen, 22 of York's men at arms, 1 of Warwick's captains, 6 of Warwick's crossbowmen and 9 of Warwick's longbowmen.
We were using Lord of the Rings the strategy battle game, with adapted stats and weapon rules for medieval warfare (adaptations to follow)
The Yorkists opened with a general advance, the block of liverymen heading for the ditch to the north of Shropshire lane, defended by Harrington, while one block of men at arms advanced down Shropshire lane, the other being held in reserve.
The opponents continued manoeuvring, Somerset's reserve of men at arms moving towards the left flank where it seemed the main Yorkist assault would fall.
The first casualties were sustained as both sides came within range. A liveryman to Warwick's archers and a man at arms to the St Albans levy.
Two of Dubaton's men at arms moved to hold the town gate as the men at arms continued up Shropshire lane.
On the Lancastrian left the Yorkist liverymen advanced towards their counterparts, moving over the bodies of comrades fallen in the first assault on the town. Even behind the ditch the one rank thin formation of liverymen felt small in the face of the advancing Yorkists.
On the right Warwick's archers continued to make a mess of Somerset's liverymen, his longbowmen taking out three in a single round of shooting.
Not wishing his men to be picked off where they stood, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, ordered the charge, dashing forward with Lord de Clifford and their liverymen, across the fields and walls towards Warwick's archers.
Somerset led the charge, with his standard flying high as he, Clifford and the Liverymen scattered across the fields.
Meanwhile on the left York charged his liverymen across the ditch (supported by all but three of the men at arms, who, having suffered two casualties from archery in the road, avoided the caltrops in the lane by jumping the fencing and rushing the ditch with the liverymen), while Dubaton rushed in with his men at arms to bolster the Lancastrians' line.
In the following battle the Lancastrian liverymen and French men at arms held the line successfully, but failed to inflict too heavy a blow on the attackers, with the Yorkists suffering few casualties.
Three of the remaining Yorkist men at arms threw themselves at the four longbowmen now defending the gates. They threw back the barricade, blocking the gates, but were defeated and thrown back by the front two longbowmen.
The Longbowmen, leaving the safety of the ditches to pepper the Yorkist men at arms on their flank, took down a couple of the attackers, while Somerset's men at arms rushed in to hold the gatehouse.
Along Shropshire lane York's reserve men at arms began to advance, while York and his retinue rushed to help check Somerset's assault of Warwick's flank.
Across the ditch the battle raged, and while Dubaton and Harrington in general threw back the Yorkist assault a few men, including their captain, made it over the defences.
Somerset's attack, having lost nearly two thirds of its strength to Warwick's archers in the fields, now floundered on their ranks, with York rushing to their assistance. Somerset was killed, while Clifford held out for slightly longer before being brought down. By the end of the turn there was but one liveryman remaining from the initial attack, while Warwick's men were almost untouched.
At the ditch the Yorkists forced their way over the ditch, killing many of the liverymen and beating back many of Dubaton's men at arms. It did not seem to be going well for Lancaster.
With Somerset's men broken and the St Albans longbowmen retreating back over the ditch, York led the advance south of Shropshire lane. His reserve men at arms made for the left of the gate house while Warwick's men rushed towards the undefended ditch.
In the fray Dubaton's men managed to regain some of their defences, pushing back some of the attackers over the ditch, but many of them had by now fallen. In the gatehouse Henry Percy and a man at arms cut down two of the attacking men at arms, and faced off against the Captain of York's reserve and another man at arms.
Despite Somerset's reserve of men at arms rushing to hold the southern ditch, York and his reserve forced their way across and into the town. Caston's men at arms closed ranks across Shropshire lane to defend the King and Queen, as a Yorkist man at arms burst into the street through the nearby inn. Meanwhile Dubaton's men struggled against the last attackers on the northern section of ditch.
With the Lancastrian force broken, men started to scatter. York finally took the south rushing into Shropshire lane, while Caston and his men formed a rearguard as the King and Queen fled through a nearby building to be surrounded by Dubaton's men.
Harrington, Dubaton and Caston made a fighting retreat with Dubaton's remaining men at arms and a handful of Somerset's liverymen and St Albans longbowmen, while Henry Percy and a man at arms continued to stand in the gate against attacks from both sides.
But at last our game was over and King Henry still alive. Lord Harrington and Percy were both still alive too, though wounded, and the King still had enough support from them and his French mercenaries to fall back and rally his forces outside of St Albans.
As in the actual battle the Lancastrians had lost the town to York and Warwick's men, however the King was alive, and unlike in the real battle was not surrendered into Yorkist hands.
It had been a bloody day for both sides with an inconclusive assault on the northern section of ditch, no serious assault on the gates and finally, in the face of Somerset's failed charge, a sweeping conquest of the southern section of Tonman ditch.
The Lancastrian cost had been heavy with Lords Somerset and Clifford killed and over half their force lost as casualties. Still the King was still standing and as yet undefeated. They had lost the battle but not the war.
Lancastrian Minor Victory!
