Battle of Bosworth

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Sally
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Battle of Bosworth

Post by Sally »

Battle of Bosworth Sunday Club Game

This is the third time in as many years that we have run Bosworth Field as a multi-player Sunday game. The politics, treachery and characters in this phase of struggle for control of the throne of England always produces an absorbing game.

Terrain Layout and Deployment
The battlefield terrain features were laid out in tune with the latest thinking in regards to where the battle took place. The archaeological evidence based on the discovery of cannon balls and the position of the medieval marsh seems to be pretty conclusive.
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Richard III deployed first with Norfolk on his right and Northumberland on his left. Henry Tudor concentrated his retinue troops in the centre with the sizeable Welsh and French contingents on his left, and the marsh between himself and Northumberland’s wing of the King’s army. The Stanley’s were stationed on Dadlington hill to Henry’s left and behind the marsh.
Battle of Bosworth Individual Instructions to Commanders which were only known to themselves:

Richard III
Your task is a simple one: defeat, kill or capture Henry Tudor. And, with your 10,000 strong King’s army including the royal artillery train you are confident of victory.
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Norfolk
You are totally loyal to Richard III and follow any and every order issued to you by your King.

Northumberland
You want to convince Richard that you are his loyal supporter, but in truth you want to remain neutral and have no true allegiance to either party. Your only concern is your own status and survival. Therefore, you will follow any order issued to you by Richard, however: you must never advance to within 3 hexes of any other force including the rest of Richards army; you will fight if attacked but only to defend and hold your position on the field; you will join and support Richard only if his victory is beyond question or you hear that Henry Tudor has been killed. You are a true and honourable traitor!
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Henry Tudor
Your task is to kill Richard III and become King of England. You are dependent on Oxford, a veteran commander to lead your ad-hoc army of French, Welsh, Scottish and English to victory. You know that if you are defeated escaping from the very heart of the country will be all but impossible, and so for you it is a case of defeat and kill Richard or die trying! You have been promised the support of the Stanley’s, but can you trust them? On the plus side, you are not sure of Northumberland’s loyalty to Richard.

Oxford
You are totally committed to Henry Tudor’s cause and will follow every order without question. You know that defeat will surely result in your execution as a traitor.
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Sir William and Lord Stanley
(Sir William has already been declared a traitor and Richard has taken Lord Stanley’s son as hostage)
Your primary aim is to kill Richard III, if and when the opportunity presents itself. However, you must hedge your bets and not reveal your true intentions in case Richard is victorious in which case you came to Bosworth field to offer your unquestionable support. You take orders from nobody!
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Let Battle Commence!
The game began and both sides advanced slowly towards each other with Richard and Henry staying well back to the rear of their army formations. Now that the various commanders had taken up position with their troops communication between them was limited to written orders which moved by courier at 4 hexes per movement phase. This lengthened the reaction and response times to the unfolding events as well as testing the loyalties of the various participants.
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The Welsh archers and spearmen got into action first on the extreme left wing of Henry’s army. They were up against the retinue archers of Norfolk supported by retinue billmen. It proved to be a tough fight and it took a long while before they were forced to give ground. In the meantime the centres were still not engaged; both commanders looked towards Northumberland to see if there was any clear indication of his intentions. Apart from a little slow manoeuvring he was making no attempt to engage. Meanwhile the Stanley’s sat on the hill on the far side of the marshy ground watching the events unfold on the far side of the table as well as keeping a very keen eye on Northumberland.
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Richard advanced his longbows on his right of centre and followed them closely with a large contingent of mounted men-at-arms. The longbows engaged the French crossbows and when the line began to buckle in went the heavy cavalry. The Welsh and French casualties were mounting and Henry had no choice but to advance his mounted me-at-arms in response. This left his foot soldiers in the centre too far back from the action. Henry had sent a message to the Stanley’s asking for support, and in response, at last, all the Stanley cavalry and a sizeable contingent of foot started to move along the old Roman road towards his rear centre.
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While all this activity was going on Northumberland had remained inactive, but now at last there was movement – towards the remainder of Stanley’s on the other side of the marsh! He had decided to throw his support decidedly towards Richard – history had not repeated itself!
The marsh prevented Northumberland’s 4000 strong force having an immediate impact on the battle in the centre where the Tudor retinue infantry were starting to make some good progress. Oxford who had lead quite a successful counter-attack in the left of centre was caught and killed by units of Richard’s knights. The Stanley horse arrived shortly afterwards and helped to mount an attack directly towards King Richard himself. For a couple of game turns this looked quite promising but the war of attrition was being won by the king who had to be personally brought into the fight and killed quickly for Henry to win. Henry’s mounted knights got to within 2 hexes of Richard before they were finally stopped. After a brutal struggle Richards mounted knights finally gained the upper hand and Henry’s chance of glory started to slip away.
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The now fully committed Northumberland had provided the support necessary for Richard to retain his crown – better late than never, I suppose, unlike the treacherous Northumberland at Bosworth! With his forces all but defeated, Sir William Stanley now slain and within a mere two hexes of King Richard, Henry had to accept defeat. In all probability he would shortly loose his head, and Henry’s decapitated body might well be found under a car park in Leicester one day!
chopperboydan
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Re: Battle of Bosworth

Post by chopperboydan »

That looks great , would love to get involved in a massive battle like this one, there's a lot of figs there!!!!,I better get painting some more up for the 4th March!!!
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Paul K
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Re: Battle of Bosworth

Post by Paul K »

You are very welcome to join us for for our next big game. Mick and I had to pool our H&H collections for this one and the result was quite impressive, and the mis-trust and intrigue between the various players made for a really enjoyeable game.
Kind regards
Paul

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chopperboydan
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Re: Battle of Bosworth

Post by chopperboydan »

Great Paul, if you could let me know when your playing the next big one hopefully I will be able to pop up and join in. It's all well and good reading the rules but I could do with a game to get the feel of them :)

just finished 10 units of Riders of Rohan at the weekend so ticked them off the list! I might be coming up to Mansfield a week on Monday, the 6th, I will let you have my final order before the show if I do, so I can pop in to collect them again.

cheers Dan
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Ratty
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Re: Battle of Bosworth

Post by Ratty »

What an epic! Even with the bigger table, the massed ranks looked truely great. Pivotal battles such as this always throw up so many "What if's..." and provide intriguing possibilities for gaming
Many thanks
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