Wargaming 2020

 

Next up will be my review of the year - a very odd compilation by the usual standards.

But, before we close the book on 2020, here are some pictures from a very rare series of games afternoons we enjoyed within the terms of the UK's Covid restrictions in a gazebo in Trebian's garden.  We played a mixture of games, but within the remit of this blog, we had a couple of goes at TFL's 'Infamy, Infamy!' using Conference supremo, Richard L,'s appropriately based 28mm Romans and Celts.

 

 

It was interesting to run through some of the ideas and mechanisms, though, in many ways it did seem a bit of a 'throw back' sort of a game: probably not aimed at the 'big battle' player who has gone through man evolutions of the ancients battle game.

 

The game has it's own internal logic and seems popular with the TFL fan base.

 

 

(Infamy, Infamy! Roman Auxiliaries check out the cover)

 

 

(Roman Legionaries lock their shields)

 

 

(more Infamy: murderous Celts burst out of a village)

 

 

 

Back in the Summer, after 5 months without face-to-face games, this was an enjoyable interlude ... it was by no means clear, however, that another 5 months would pass, making the games all the more memorable.

18th August, Newark, Nottinghamshire

Another Big Weekend: Part Two

Saturday at Bosworth was followed by a 2-car trip to Newark Showground for the second Partizan of the year.   The 28mm Edgcote game is sufficiently big that it and the stands won't go into one car unless it's a 4x4 or van.

 

(Northampton Battlefields Society at the other Partizan 2019)

But I think, generally, the contributions we make to the Partizans' History Zones is worth it and it is good to see the Society of Ancients there alongside the Lance & Longbow and Pike and Shot ... and to see Naseby making a modest appearance alongside the Battlefields Trust and Newark's Civil War Centre.

Partizan's history zone is a winning concept and is always one of the busier thoroughfares.  It would be completed by a few more 'tie-in' games and some reenactment or living history (but the show is full already so I guess this is just a vain wish list) ...

 

(The History Zone at The Other Partizan 2019)

It was a great show.  And it was busy.  Thriving.

 

Our main purpose, of course, was to promote Edgcote and the 550th anniversary of this key event in the histories of England, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire and Wales.

By the way - and in case you look it up on the internet - the battle was fought on the 24th July 1469 (not 2 days later, as many books and pages which do not use primary sources will tell you*) ...

Edgcote pictures

 

(the battle of Edgcote at Partizan 2019)

 

(Humphrey Stafford's contingent at Edgcote - will he stay or will he go?)

(Edgcote 1469: rebel reinforcements under Gates and Parr)

 

(On his way to the action?  The earl of Warwick somewhere in central England)

(On his way to the action?  King Edward somewhere in central England)

 

(In the thick of it: Henry Tudor stuck as a guest of the earl of Pembroke)

 

(Edgcote 1469: there would be no negotiaing and no quarter given) 

Although we were mostly using the wargame display as an interpretative tool in the morning, in the afternoon we had a full(ish) play-through of the battle.  

Confident that his superiority in archers would dictate the course of the engagement, Robin of Redesdale stood firm on the East Hill, just sending sufficient archers forward to the watercourse as a welcoming party.

 

(Edgcote at the other Partizan: Robin of Redesdale is able to bring up his reinforcements) 

Gates and Parr were quickly on the scene and pushed up to cover the flank.

The earl of Pembroke, meanwhile, mounted up his personal division to clear the archers and brave an uphill challenge to Robin's Yorkshiremen.  

The attack became fragmented, and although Stafford joined the battle, he was not in line during the opening phases (so the rest of the Royalists took the brunt of the arrowstorm - and although many of you will know I think that that term is generally misleading and overused, in this instance it was indeed more a storm than a shower).

 

(Edgcote at the other Partizan: the earl of Pembroke makes an uncoordinated attack) 

Taken one-by-one by a solid, mutually supporting line, each of Pembroke's divisions were repulsed.

 

(Edgcote at the other Partizan: Pembroke's line fragments and retires) 

Humphrey Stafford (lord of Southwick and newly created earl of Devon) was last to arrive and gamely tried to rescue the situation.  He died in the fighting ... cut down and given no quarter.

(Edgcote at the other Partizan: Humphrey Stafford falls in the combat and is given no quarter)

This was the first deployment of my new skull-markers, which I purchased at Britcon for indicating downed commanders.  Actually (and unexpectedly) I think they need basing up to properly look the part. But, in case you think they look a bit GW, in fact they mesh perfectly with the 'dance of death' motif which is entirely contemporary with the battle and which resonates through the Welsh poetic accounts.

 

(Edgcote 1469: the dance of death, the dance of the earls ... the dance of the men of Doncaster)

This battle was fought out by William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, supported by Humphrey Stafford, earl of Devon, and by Robin of Redesdale, supported by sir Geoffrey Gates (of the Calais Garrison) and sir William Parr from the earl of Warwick's army.  No other forces arrived or intervened.  So a good quick battle, gamely played and fairly historical (although in 1469, Robin needed the intervention of a further force under John Clapham to swing the balance) ...

As may be evident, the battle was fought with 28mm figures using an adpapted version of Hail Caesar and the circular battlefield (inspired by the medieval wheel of fortune) has an approximate 6ft diameter.  We reckon about 2,000 men a side fought on Danesmoor in 1469.  It was a disaster for Pembroke and Devon, and the medieval nobility of South Wales was nigh on wiped out in the rout after the battle.  A dance of death indeed.

The rest of the show ...

I had a little bit of time at lunch to get some sense of the rest of the show.  

 

 

Great stuff all round although most of my break was spent chatting with Simon Miller over the 'To the Strongest' interpretation of Boudicca's last battle (sometimes called 'the battle of Watling Street'.) - I'm always interested as it features centrally in my Lost Battles of Northamptonshire talk (so 'lost' we don't even know if it was fought in Northamptonshire) and is one I attempted many year ago at History in Action (at Kirby Hall) using Armati.

 

(a familiar set up for the end of Boudicca's rebellion)

 

(The other Partizan 2019: the Britons mass for the attack)

Simon went with the Mancetter interpretation although his campaign graphic supporting the game amply demonstrated how easily it could be part of Northamptonshire's lost history.

 (Boudicca's rebellion: smoke tracks the advance of the Iceni)

Shopping wise, it has to be said, Partizan has always had very little to distract me ... it tends to be all one scale, all one style and very 'on trend'.  That's fine as, as the stand and the game and the History Zone pretty much fill the day on their own.

Next up for us is Hereward, the ever friendly local show in Peterborough.  We'll have Edgcote again, if you were thinking of dropping by ... copies of the new book, and the author on hand to sign copies.

 

Edgcote 1469 - reevaluating the evidence 

* they almost all have the same date as they have almost all copied each other rather than checked the facts thoroughly

2nd to 4th August Shrivenham

 Edgcote goes to the Technology School

At the beginning of August I was fortunate enough to be invited to put on the Edgcote game as part of a weekend event at the UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham.

 

(Heavy Metal at the Defence Academy)

Most of the time was spend trying out Army simulations, looking at tanks and weapons and playing in games based on contemporary challenges ... weapons procurement, stress in the Middle East, rescue missions.

But we also got to do classic piracy in the Med, an Old West gunfight and 2 games of the Wars of the Roses battle.

 

(all kinds of wargame in all sorts of periods)

Edgcote

(Edgcote 1469 at the UK Defence Academy)

The two games of Edgcote could ot have been more different.  In the first, both sides' reserves were slow to command (indeed we felt, rather historically, that Humphrey Stafford had clearly chosen not to get involved at all) but Herbert himself still got stuck in - trying a subtle flanking move with his mounted option (and nearly getting the edge before bouncing off) ...

 

 

In the second game, Hail Caesar's  command mechanism brought the reserves of both sides up more rapidly, while Herbert mounted a plucky assault on Robin of Redesdale's centre - driving in the archers, punching across the river and causing the rebel centre to withdraw.

 

(William Herbert mounts upand charges the best men in Wales into the rebel centre)

 

 

Meanwhile there was a supporting engagement on the flank between Stafford, Gates and Parr, who tried to gain advantage from manoeuvre.

 

Stafford took the worst of the attrition on the flank while, in the centre, Lord Herbert felt so badly worn down that he declined to exploit his defeat of Redesdale ... rather pulling back to regain some stamina before charging again.

This probably cost the royalists the game as in the lull in fighting, John Clapham arrived with the Vanguard of Warwick's main army (although, as historically, they actually turned out to be the Northampton rabble shoutin 'a Warwick!' and displaying the earl's colours - as well as their own wild rat flag) ...

 

It was a relatively weak force but was in the right place at the right time.  Shooting support from Conyers and Willoughby gave them a sufficient edge to break the otherwise much tougher Morgan clan ... while Robin himself was able to recover his position in the line and gave some telling volleys into Lord Herbert's knights.

 

This ended up probably the most comprehensive victory we have seen: Herbert and Stafford's forces were all engaged, and finished broken or shaken right across the field.  

Richard Herbert fell in the charge, asked for quarter and was mercilessly killed by the Welsh.  Stafford also fell but was escorted, wounded, back to the camp (where he was subsequently captured and killed - thereby cheating the lynch mob in Bridgwater!) ... William Herbert, earl of Pembroke was killed on the battlefield and Henry Tudor escaped.

More tanks on my 20th Century blog

Edgcote armies gallery

Northamptonshire Battlefields Society

July 2019, Edgcote, Northamptonshire

July is the anniversary month of the Wars of the Roses battles of Northampton and Edgcote.

Northampton was fought on July 10 1460.

And Edgcote was fought nine years later on 24th July 2019 (not, as you will see all over the internet, on the 26th - a tradition which dates to the following century and has no contemporary corroboration).   This year is therefore the 550th anniversary and sees the culmination of a 2 year project to reevaluate the evidence and to complete a wargame-able model of the encounter.

(we had a good gathering for the anniversary evening visit to Northampton)

(the iconic symbol of Warwick's victory, The Eleanor Cross, is under conservation right now)

Earlier in the month we were still in recce mode at Edgcote.

(NBS team Recce on the battlefield at Edgcote)

(Edgcote 1469: looking across Danesmoor at the Royalist positions)

A few weeks later we were showing the HS2 Oral History Team the lie of the land.

(HS2 with us at Edgcote ... reading the Welsh poems)

And we took the Wargame to the Conference of Wargamers

(Edgcote 1469 at CoW)

(Edgcote at CoW 2019 ... Clapham's cavalry attack falls back after doing its job)

(Edgcote at CoW 2019: Henry Tudor awaits his escape options in the Royalist camp)

On the anniversary, the 24th, we led a walk on the battlefield ... note how the colour of the crops has changed in just a few weeks)

(550 years after the battle: Edgcote 1469)

(Anniversary walk: Phil interprets the battle of Edgcote from the Royalist perspective)

... and at the end of the week we took the model to the Edgcote Study Day at Abington Park Museum (Northampton Museum)

(Edgcote 550 Conference: Ann Parry Owen discusses the Welsh sources on the battle)

(Edgcote 550 Conference: weapons and equipment)

In addition to Ann's agenda setting discussion of Medieval Welsh sources on the battle, Graham analysed the documentary evidence and I looked for clue in the visual sources.

(Robin of Redesdale?: a contemporary woodcut of Robin Hood)

(the Edgcote model ... Clapham attacks)

Next up, the game will go to the Defence Academy and then on to Partizan  at Newark Showground in August.