Hail Caesar vs Never Mind the Billhooks

Good Afternoon All

A few weeks ago I was alerted to a new book being released by Warlord Games that featured the Wars of the Roses. Having invested in hundreds of 28mm figures for the period, spent countless hours researching the battles, and subsequently fighting all the major engagements of this very interesting civil war I was intrigued. Online reviews were in the main positive so I decided to purchase a copy.

A few days later the supplement arrived direct from Warlord Games in a nice secure box along with an exclusive resin figure. First impressions were that this was a mighty tome (some 144 pages long) and it looked great. The layouts were clear and concise, texts were well written and there are some glorious pictures from the Perry Brothers. I have said it before and will say it again they (the Perry's) must have made a fortune from this historic period. Thanks must be given to the author Rob Grayston for this book and in my opinion his name should grace the front cover

I won't elaborate too much on the contents but suffice to say there is the history, the characters of the era (along with some special rules), a vast number of scenarios covering all the major battles and a few what if's plus some interesting rules for campaigns. There is of course a section (albeit small) on the troop types of the period and some some era specific rules. It will be these that I dwell on and compare to the Billhooks ruleset.

Before I start I should state that Hail Caesar is our go to ruleset in the shed for fast play, multi-player ancient, dark age and medieval genres. That said my gaming group invested a significant time in the Billhooks venture launched by Andy Callan in collaboration with Wargames Illustrated. The Billhooks rules (scaled up with very few modifications) delivered some fantastic battles, a great narrative and were in the main extremely easy to pick up. Consensus across the group also said that they felt right, melees were brutal affairs, arrow storms could be both deadly and frustrating and the rules lend themselves to inclusion of events and scenario based ideas. It would fascinating to see if the same could be said for WOTR Warlord style. Who knows maybe we will refight the series again using this official handbook?

The best way to review any ruleset is to play it, however rather than take a battle that we had already fought I decided to take a scenario from the book that did not feature in our Billhooks campaign. I elected to use the battle of Losecoat Field. 

This action was set up as a one sided affair with Edward IV's standing army taking on a rebel faction. All the stats in the book suggested that Edward would have no trouble in pummeling the rebellion into a bloody pulp and be home in time for a roast boar supper. He had to be back in time for dinner because the scenario only gave him six turns to complete his task. What happened next will follow....

Hail Caesar is very much an igougo game with each side moving their troops (subject to successful commands, then firing and then melee. Reactions and breaktests are resolved as each action develops. This works well for big multiplayer games and differs significantly from Billhooks in which each unit is activated by a random card sequence with the jeopardy of not getting a turn (last card). Billhooks also benefits from the inclusion of events and bonus cards being drawn through this turn sequence. 

Billhooks is a much more chaotic adventure, initiative can fluctuate between sides and opportunities present themselves as results arise. Both rulesets movement rules are driven by Commander's attributes but whereas in Billhooks the units will move if issued orders, Hail Caesar is very dependent on successful command rolls. These command rolls can allow troops to swiftly traverse the field whereas in Billhooks movement can be much slower as you trade off moving with firing opportunities.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes to the core Hail Caesar ruleset with this WOTR supplement is the introduction of Arrow Storm for all longbow armed troops. Limited to three arrow volleys only the units now have a shooting factor of 6 (as opposed to three). This typically means a target unit shot at by two longbow armed units (not untypical when players concentrate fire) at standard range will achieve a 50% hit rate of 6 shots. (This improves if the unit is just longbows with the marksmen attribute)   Against any unit this can be devastating, and it is almost certain to cause a ranged break test in the process. Don't get me wrong this feels right and raises the importance of well armoured troops as screens for their lesser equipped colleagues. Billhooks on the other hand also adopts a bucketful of dice approach but with hits scored on only 5+ at standard range Longbow duels tend to be more attritional in nature.

The units themselves are worthy of discussion. In Billhooks there are three standard types of units Men at Arms, Bills and Bows. Each unit can be combined with another or operate independently. In Hail Caesar there are also three types of units - Bills, Bows and Household troops. The first two are self explanatory but the third is effectively either a mix of Bows and Bills or Bows and Men at Arms. There are no individual units of Men at Arms. These household troops also receive the arrow storm attribute, three volleys and if they are a mixed Men at Arms unit receive two additional attributes - steady and stubborn. The combination of these two make them hardier and more likely to weather an arrow storm.

Again I have no issues with these troop types but I do miss the excitement of a unit of fully clad tin cans marching into battle and dealing devastation wherever they tread. The melee scores in Hail Caesar do little to reflect this desire. The clash scores for both Men at Arms and Bills are the same.

I mentioned at the beginning we fought the scenario Losecoat field for our playtest. The picture below shows the very simple battlefield set up on a 12ft x 5ft deep table. Sadly the scenario book gives no guidance on table size or distances between opposing armies. We elected that each force would be 30 inches apart (just outside artillery range)

 

For the figures I just used 12 figure per unit an in the case of household troops they had six bow and six of the others. I have been thinking for sometime that I might rebase my WOTR figures on their individual stands (on 1p coins) are starting to show undue wear and tear and it is a real pain sorting these out after a big Billhooks battle. Much better to use casualty markers I think.

The forces took the field and we started playing. The Royalists had six turns to destroy the rebels. In our first game the dice gods favoured the rebellion as over half the Kings force failed to move at all in the first two turns and as such when they did trundle forward it was a piecemeal affair.

This is not a criticism of the WOTR supplement but rather the whole Hail Caesar, Black Powder et al stable - they do not lend themselves to limited turn games. The nature of this rules command rolls forces players to perhaps slow down advances unless they are storming ahead. Much better to adopt a time limit eg 2 hours to accomplish the task

As the Kings forces approached the rebels we tested the Arrow Storm effect -( aside from forgetting the crucial -1 range modifier) they were telling especially the forced break tests that come from sixes being rolled. Disorder rained down on the advancing troops.

With the rebels able to enjoy a 2 to 1 majority in archery fire they soon pinned down and weakened the Kings advance

Protected by hedgelines and arrow stakes they awaited the rush of the heavily armoured men at arms and bills. Again the rebels were up to the cause and their levy status only having a marginal affect on proceedings. Perhaps it would have been better if the they were lesser armoured or green troops.

The first game saw the Kings force run out of time and heavily bruised for very few Rebel casualties. Not such an easy game !!

Our second attempt saw a very different side to the battle.

The Kings forces moved forward steadily (thanks to successful roles) and because they could bring more bows into action than the rebels the battle was reversed.

We also learned that advancing with the Household/Men at Arms leading the attack was a much better proposition.

The second game accomplished the scenario goals for Edward IV and he was back home in time for his Roast boar dinner.

In summary

These adjustments to Hail Caesar play well but we all felt that Billhooks gave a better narrative, Billhooks is more chaotic and perhaps more fun. I also I think because we play a lot of Hail Caesar in other periods we were just in effect playing another Hail Caesar game using different figures. Billhooks has earned its right to be our number one choice for WOTR, however I am not done yet. The book really is a worthy investment, some serious effort has been put into its composition and contents and for that the author should be proud.

More soon

Battle of Stoke Field - 28mm Wargame - part 2

Good Afternoon All

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting our final game of our Wars of the Roses re-enactments - the battle of Stoke Field. Suffice to say it was another cracking game, a real nail biter and a massive credit to Andy Callan for the excellent Never Mind the Bill Hooks of rules.

The original five players who started this journey through the dynastic struggles of 15th century England were all present. The Yorkist pretenders represented by myself, John and Mark K, whilst the Tudor/Lancastrians were lead by Alastair and Mark F. I'd like to take the opportunity here for thanking them and all the others who have dipped in over the last couple of years for their support, bon hommie and good natured gaming for this project. With quite possibly only a few games left in the Shed these Monday evenings have meant a great deal to me and will be missed.

Yesterday I set out the basic rules for the game and these can be found HERE. This includes the full orders of battle, when the Lancastrian forces arrive and how the games mechanics work.

Before I kick off with the full report I must apologise for the quality of the photos. For some strange reason many look very yellow or washed out. I haven't played with the settings on my phone so it is all rather frustrating.

To kick off proceedings the Lancastrians had to check the morale of all the non Knight/Men at Arms units to determine if the 'Lights in the Sky' spooked any of the units and whether they might flee the field. One unit, a detachment of bills under the Earl of Oxford decided that the portents were not good and retired from the scene. It could of been much worse.

The Battle then started in earnest with each side pushing forward units in the maneouver phase. The Yorkists were keen to close as fast as possible and of course the Lancastrians wanted to delay the onslaught until their reinforcements would arrive.

After some simple moves the Lancastrians thrust forward on their left flank with a lone unit of Knights. This was going to crash into the lightly armed Irish Kern (For this game the Kern were double strength - 12 figures instead of six).

The Irish let loose their Javelins downing a couple of the heavy horse but it was to no avail as the armoured warriors charged into their target. Suffice to say the Irish crumbled and were driven back. The remaining Knights followed up...

Mean whilst the German hand gunners were starting to target the massed ranks of Tudor bowmen - at the same time acting as a screen for the massed pike blocks

Across the field the forces edge closer to one another - the right wing of the Yorkists being targeted by a second unit of knights

By now the battle between the Knights and the Kerns had hit a crescendo. Not only were the remnants of the first Kern unit wiped out their defeat triggered a morale check across most of their countrymen. A further two units fled the field. In one blow a small unit of Knights had removed 6 Yorkist tokens.

The Knight unit was quickly despatched by a deluge of Javelins in the following turn

As the Handgunners started to rear holes in the Lancastrian defenders their supporting pikes continued

to edge forward.

Across the field the more numerous Lancastrian bowmen began their deadly work at long range dropping a number of the skirmish units and beginning to whittle down the mercenary contingent. 

The neatly dressed battle lines pushed forward. This was going to be fun.

By now many of the German skirmishers had been shot down, but they had done their job of screening the pikes and wasting the Kings arrows.

The Lancastrian line awaited the pike units....

Weakened by previous skirmish and cannon fire the weakened Lancastrian bows could only inflict marginal casualties on the German pikes and their arrows were beginning to run out. 

Over on the Yorkist left flank the Lancastrian knights charged into the waiting rebels...six Knights dropped with arrow fire and by the time they hit the block the men at arms stepped into the front blunting their charge and taking down a unit.

The Pikes moved in hitting the rather thin line

Mean whilst the Irish pushed forward - alarmed to see the first of the Kings reinforcements appear in front of them.

The Yorkists continue to hammer the Tudor lines with arrows - The pikes have taken casualties but are just waiting for orders to get stuck in.

The Kings light horse crash into the Kerns - another melee that wipes out more Irish thank Kings men.

Finally the first two pikes barge their way into the Lancastrian lines causing havoc and chaos. Several units are wiped out on both sides and the morale counters are disappearing at an alarming rate 

Back on the right wing the Yorkists push forward to unleash a volley of arrows....

With the first Pike units now gone the second wave prepares to move forward...

Aerial view of centre and Yorkist right wing....

The remaining skirmish units target the men at arms unit of Oxford. 

As the Pike block goes in to complete the kill against the men at arms the King plays a special card - a ditch in front of their charge ---bugger.

The Lines on both sides are really starting to thin out - the Lancastrians just cant get their reinforcements on the table in time to bolster both the line and more importantly their morale token count.

The Yorkists are starting to smell victory - the right wing is now at close range and two blocks of archers deliver over 20 hits on the opposite numbers - effectively wiping the Lancastrian left wing out in one barrage of arrows.

What's left of the Lancastrian archery unit targets the weakened bow unit bringing it to less than half strength.

What happens next is a disaster - the end of the turn causes all units below half strength to take a morale test. The weakened unit fails and runs from the field. This flight can be seen by four other units of equal status. Every single unit fails its test and routs. 10 Yorkist tokens lost in one go. Unbeknownst to the Lancastrian generals the Yorkists have one token left. Almost certainly it will be lost at the end of the following turn.

Equally unknown to the Yorkists the Lancastrians only have two tokens remaining, although a further six are expected if the reinforcements arrive on table 

To win the Yorkists must destroy a unit fast - Pole, the Earl of Lincoln charges forwards to engage a unit of weakened knights previously sitting behind the ditch. A win here is a win for the pretender !!

The Men at arms charge 12 " forward and into the opponents. Stop cry the Lancastrians as they play a bonus card - only one move gentlemen. Pole stops short.

Back on the right flank a unit of Tudor Bills destroys another Kern unit - with no tokens left the Yorkist cause collapses and Henry Tudor can sleep safely at night

Well what a game and what a result. Both sides could have won or lost and once again it all went down to the wire in the last turn. 

One particular aspect of the game was the need for the Yorkist army to press home the attack as quickly as possible before the full weight of reinforcements could be deployed by their foes. Only when the reinforcements arrived would their morale tokens be added to the pot. These 'time' element provided a wonderful narrative and by accident of design the reinforcement phase of the Tudor army worked perfectly. Had the Yorkists had not suffered two catastrophic morale failures that cascaded across both left and right wings then history may well have been very different. 

The consensus of opinion across the table was this was an extremely exciting game, it was tense, brutal and very enjoyable. Certainly one we would visit again.

So what next? 

Thinking of another foray into the forests of North America for some Muskets & Tomahawks 

Battle of Stoke Field - a 28mm wargame - Part 1

 Afternoon Folks

After some questions as to why we didn't fight Stoke Field as part of our attempt to refight every battle of the Wars of the Roses I am delighted to report that this Monday we will be rectifying this position and giving Stoke Field the Shed Wars/Never Mind the Billhooks treatment.

As my house moving plans proceed it dawned on me that I only have a few Mondays left to play games in the Surbiton shed and quite possibly this will be my last Wars of the Roses game before I move on west to Somerset. So it seemed in order to invite over the original motley crew who started off this sequence of games.

Initial Deployment at Stoke Field

Background

The Battle of Stoke Field was the final throw of the dice by the Yorkist cause to unseat King Henry VII from the throne he secured two years earlier at the Battle of Bosworth. Although often portrayed as a footnote to the Wars of the Roses Stoke Field was both larger in size and suffered heavier casualties than Bosworth. By the end of the battle all the leading Yorkist rebels were killed and Henry Tudor's grip on the English throne was secure.

How did this all come about? An imposter claiming to be Edward V (one of the missing princes in the tower) came to the attention of John de la Pole (Earl of Lincoln). This was perhaps Pole's chance of garnering support for the Yorkist cause. He himself had a claim on the crown as both a cousin of the deceased Richard III and as his named heir. Perhaps Pole used the imposter Lambert Simnel as a means to his own end.

Lincoln fled the English court in March 1487 for the continent where he met with his aunt, Margaret Duchess of Burgundy. Margaret furnished him with money and the support of 2000 German mercenaries under the command of Martin Schwartz. From Europe Pole left for Ireland where he was joined by Richard III's loyal ally Viscount Lovell and a sizeable Irish army lead by the Earl of Kildare.

Lambert Simnel (the imposter) was crowned King in Dublin on the 24th May whereupon the army the northwest coat of England.It then began it march south collecting support and rising its ranks to over 8000 men. Avoiding the northern Royal army lead by Scrope and Percy, the forces under Pole marched south. Skimishes continued on the journey south through Sherwood forest but these delayed the march. 

The smaller Tudor Vanguard faces the more numerous rebels

By June 14th Henry VII had arrived in Nottingham with his forces from the south and Wales. The Royal army mustered around 10,000 men. Not only did Henry outnumber the rebels but his troops were better armed and commanded.

The following day Henry's forces marched towards Newark. The Vanguard was lead by the experienced Earl of Oxford. On the 16th June Oxfords troops encountered the Yorkist army. They were lined along the higher ground just outside the village of East Stoke.

As the armies approached strange lights were seen in the sky, was this a portent ? The Yorkists had enjoyed such luck at the battle of Mortimer's Cross when the sun was split by a parahelion. Clearly the lights affected the Lancastrians as several men deserted their posts but the Earl of Oxford rallied his troops and immediately instructed his more numerous archers to open the battle. Under a barrage of missile fire the Yorkists had no choice but to come off the high ground and attack.  

Attacking the smaller vanguard of the Royalist army went well initially for the Yorkist cause but as the battle ground on and the reinforcements of the royal army arrived the tide began to turn. With renewed impetus the Tudor forces pressed home their advantage and the melee soon turned to a rout. 

Most of the Yorkist commanders were killed in the battle, Simnel was captured and in a spirit of leniency Henry VII spared his life and offered him a role in the royal kitchens. Henry VII had won the day. 

The experienced mercenaries with cannons, pikes and handguns

Bringing the Game to the Table

The Yorkist army is fully deployed on table. 

Only the Royal Vanguard under Oxford's command will be on the table at the start of the game

The 'Lights in the Sky' (what were they?) clearly had an impact on the Lancastrian forces as they were chronicled. As a result every non knight/men at arms unit on the Lancastrian vanguard must take a morale test at the beginning of the game. Most units should be ok, but roll a 2, 3 or 4 on two dice they will run away.

Inserted into the playing deck is an additional card called Lancastrian reinforcements. When drawn roll a d6 for each unit in the middle battle - on a 4,5 or 6 that unit will appear on the table edge at the beginning of next turn. Continue to do this each time until all the units from that Battle have arrived. Only once all the middle battle are on the table roll for the rearguard.

Morale tokens for the Lancastrians are added to the pot as they arrive.

Example of turn cards

The Orders of Battle

As always my orders of battle are loosely based on the commands and forces outlined in the Poleaxed books

Lancastrian – estimate 10000 men 

	Leader	Units	#units
Vanguard (6000)	John de Vere, Earl of Oxford (BC)	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bow	2
	Rhys Ap Thomas	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bill 2 x Bow	4
	Richard Neville	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bill 2 x Bow	4
	Troutbeck	2 x Bill 2 x Bows	4
	Croft	2 x Bills 2 x Bows	4
	Scales	1 x Knights	1
	Savage	1 x Knights	1
			20
2nd Battle (2000)	Henry VII (BC)	2 x Lt Cannons 1 x Men At Arms	3
	Jasper Tudor	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bow	2
	Fielding	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Arundel	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Bray	1 x Knights	1
	Gilbert Talbot	1 x Lt Cavalry	1
			11
Rear Guard (2000)	George Stanley, Lord Strange (BC)	1 x Men at Arms	1
	Cheyney	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Shrewsbury	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Hastings	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Blount	1 x Bills 1 x Bows	2
	Humphrey Stanley	1 x Lt Cavalry	1
			10
	Total		41

Off table Royal reinforcements

Yorkist

Estimates 8000 men

2000 Mercenaries, 2000 retainers, 4000 Irish

Note that the two German mercenary captains Merkel & Kohl are made up names

Note: Gallowglass will be treated as Bill Units

	Leader	Units	#units
Right Battle	Lincoln (BC)	1 x Men at Arms	1
	Lovell	1 x Men at Arms 1 x Bill 2 x Bow	4
	Broughton	2 x Bill 2 x Bow	4
		subtotal	10
Left Battle	Kildare (BC)	1 x Men at Arms	1
	Fitzgerald	2 x Bills 2 x Bows	4
	Og Plunkett	1 x Irish Gallowglass 3 x Kerns	4
	Eustace	1 x Irish Gallowglass 3 x Kerns	4
	Preston	1 x Irish Gallowglass 3 x Kerns	4
		subtotal	18
Centre Battle (2000)	Swartz (BC)	2 x Pike 2 x Handgunners 2 x Bombards	6
	Merkel	2 x Pike 1 x Handgunners	3
	Kohl	2 x Pike 1 x Handgunners	3
		subtotal	12
		Total	40

Waiting for battle to commence

Battle Report Here