History is (un)made at the Battle of Towton, 1461

Battle of Towton, March 29, as set up[ Set up on a 5 x 6 foot table at the Gardiner Library, Gardiner, NY.

The first game had Vladimir as Somerset commanding the Right  battle, Hudson as D'Acre in the Center, and Nathan as Percy commanding the Left Battle for the Lancastrians. For the Yorkists. it was James as Warwick commanding the Left battle, Ela as King Edward IV commanding the Centre and also Fauconberg on the right. There was a brief exchange of archery, without any significant advantage to either side (despite the wind and snow blowing into the face of the Lancastrians ). The Lancastrians advanced upon the Yorkist positions as quickly ass possible, but not before the Yorkist reinforcements under Norfolk arrived and made their presence felt. The main bodies of each battles clashed, and in the fighting, King Edward IV was hit (rolled a "1"). As a VIP, that ended the battle in the Lancastrian favor. despite Norfolk early arrival already threatening to flank and  defeat Percy. From the game standpoint, I should have continued play despite the Victory conditions, a significant error in judgment on my part. Art a convention or at home I would have just set it up again and played it a second time, switching sides. 

John Spiess ran his dark ages Viking game twice; casualties were heavy on both sides as the 1st  game is near its end!

Jared ran the Battle of Belleau Wood, June 1918. Note the great looking scratch built terrain boards!

"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"- USMC commander's response to request by our French Allies that they pull back in response to the heavy German assault. 

After lunch, I ran Towton again. Clockwise from the Left we had Sean as Somerset and D/Acre, and Bryce as Percy for the House of Lancaster, Milo as Fauconberg, Ryder as King Edward IV, and Miles as Warwick, the "Kingmaker". Despite the advantage of the wind and snow, the exchange of arrows caused only limited losses, with many of the Yorkist bowmen running low on arrows early on. 

All three Battles got stuck in melee, with much hacking, slashing, and bashing going on along the entire battlefield!

The Lancastrian ambush was sprung form the woods, and the captain of this small independent command of men and arms lead his men well into the rear of Warwick's positions, to devastating effect! 

Shortly thereafter, Warwick's Battle reached zero Resolve Points; on the next loss, the Battle failed its Resolve test, and fled the field, the Kingmaker following them ignominiously!

King Edward and D'Acre battled it out in the Centre... 

In the process, both D'Acre and Edward fell in the melee. Having learned from the first game, play continued, with the fate of the leaders to be determined after the conclusion of game. Norfolk's reinforcing command made a tardy appearance this time. Percy's men commanded  by Bryce, crushed first Fauconberg's Battle, and then Norfolk's (played by Miles, who lost his command first). At the end of the battle, for the Lancastrians, Percy had 7 Resolve points left, D'Acre had 3, and Somerset 2. D'Acre was wounded but recovered subsequently, King Edward was captured and imprisoner in the Tower of London, and Somerset was killed. All in all, a truly decisive victory for Red Rose of Lancaster... and quite a reversal of fortune from the historical outcome!

Test of Resolve rules

Having run the game twice with teens now, it works best not to even have them use the QRS, but rather just handle all the rules myself and simply explain their options and then have them roll the D12's! 

Presenting Peter's Preliminary Plastic Project Planning ... plus perilous potpourri portending penury!

Steve's post on using plastic game pieces for his Sailing ship games lead to the discovery of the corresponding sets of risk pieces. A set of six colors of Cavalry, Infantry, and artillery costs about $25 on Amazon. I bought 3 such sets. Free shipping, too!.  

Each set has six sets of identical figures in different colors.  If you are so inclined, you can get bags of the same in purple and orange as well. They are roughly 12 mm in size, measuring from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head on the infantry figures - similar to Warlord Games Epic figures. 

Each color has 36 infantry figures, 12 Cavalry and 12 guns... with 2 sets, that's 72 infantry, 24 cavalry, and 24 guns. multiply that by 6, and, well... it's a lot. :-)

I have way more 40 x 60 mm bases than I am, ever likely to use (poor memory and an excess of enthusiasm during the last Litko discount sale), so it seemed like they would be a good choice for basing these figures. 5 infantry figures per base looks pretty good, while 3 figures per base could be used for Light Infantry. That means each pack would yield 3 regular infantry and 2 Light Infantry units of 2 stands each. 

Similarly, 3 cavalry per base for heavy cavalry and 2 figures per base for light cavalry looks good and is easy to distinguish visually. Doing the same with the guns (there are no crew figures), 3 figures for a heavy (or foot battery), and 2 for a light (or horse battery) is easily visually distinguished. As I think about it, might add a simple 2 color flag on a floral wire pole to the middle of the bases, much as Jack Scruby did as illustrated in his "Fire and Charge!" rules. This woukld be a simple bold design, with the number of the unit in the center. Thus the "3rd Bluvian Regulars" might be their designation. 

This basing would yield 6 regular infantry, 2 Light infantry, 2 heavy cavalry, 3 light cavalry, 2 heavy and 3 light batteries per color. Taking an idea for the old NEWA Courier from 50 years ago, the colors could represent unit quality - for one side grey = raw, black -= veteran, blue = elite, and for the other yellow = raw, green = veteran, red = elite. The figures could be used to proxy other eras aside from the Horse and Musket era with a little imagination and forbearance. 

For Command, I could use 2 mounted figures from my copy of Battle Cry! on a 40 round mm base.

\Significantly out of scale, but I can live with the C-in-C being larger than life!  :-)

    OK, so Peter has many thousands of troops already, with plenty of metal in the lead pile to paint. To date, he doesn't do plastic. So, what gives? Is the old boy doddering to senility? Having a personality change? 

     Fortunately, none of the above seem to apply. What I do have is 2 grandsons, now ages 5 and 7, Owen and Oliver.  Owen now likes games, and has started to express an interest in Poppy's troops. So the idea is to create two very generic wargames armies; I'll probably just start with blue and grey, and Neil Thomas's one hour wargames rules . There are more than enough troops with this scheme to run any of the many scenarios therein. If that goes well, the rules can always get a little more complex over time as he is ready for same... or not! Owen has also expressed an interest in painting some figures, too. These figures are way too small for a 7 year old, and we know what they are likely to come out like (no matter, they would be his and he painted them!) I am thinking that the plastic figures from my Wrath of  Ashalon boardgame would be a better start, with a variety of subjects there; if he maintains interest suitable figures can be acquired for the future. 

    Speaking of Fantasy games, I have already introduced Owen to my favorite computer game(s) of all time, Heroes of Might and Magic. For where he's at now, the original version, with big bold graphics works just fine. The series is up to a 5th version, but most, myself included, agree that the series reached its apogee with Heroes of Might and Magic II!, released by the 3DO company in 1999. If you missed this one years ago, it can be downloaded, with the two add on packages,  from Gog,com for $9,99; if you sign up for their newsletter, it regularly goes on sale, often with the 1st and second versions, for even less than that. The Gog version is fully compatible with Windows 10. 

    There is now a Kickstarter for a boardgame version of HoMM3, as it is usually abbreviated. Having spent innumerable hours over the past 20_years playing the computer version, I had to sign up for this KS. Budget?  What budget? :-)

    Speaking of Kickstarters, the next Kickstarter for Piano Games in Germany is about to start on 1/25/2022, The Alps Aflame".

 dealing with the Tyrolean revolt of 1809. It will include Tyroleans, Bavarians, and Austrians, From what I have seen so far, it looks to be limited to infantry, but who knows?  You can sign up in advance to be notified when it goes live later this week. Bavarians, and Austrians. Lucas has posted painted examples of many of the sets to his Facenook site: 

Bavarian Light Infantry Command

Bavarian Infantry, skirmishing

More skirmishing troops from Bayern!

Bavarian Infantry, marching

More Bavarians marching; I am planning on adding to my Bavarian force. Budget, what budget?  They may have to go on the ledger for 2023!

Tyrolian Landsturm. Schutzen (musket/rifle armed troops) haven't been shown... yet. 

More Landsturm/ I need more Tyroleans like a hole in had, but how am I going to resist at least afew of these lovelies? 

Sigh!  What budget?!

Inspired stuff, really! I especially like the rock throwers; the "Avalanche" events in my Tyrolean games a few years back were especially fun!

If there is anything I need less than Tyroleans, surely it is more Austrians. 

I do especially like these guys firing, though...

Budgets are merely aspirational...

Thoughts on Field of Battle for New Players and Convention Games

First, let's be clear; with players of some experience, or solo games, I like Field of Battle just fine as written.  In fact, it's my favorite game by far!  However, the vagaries of the sequence deck can sometimes be challenging, especially when it is a long time between MOVE cards, which drive much of the game's energy. Hence the following thoughts, which I plan to employ at the next FoB game I will be running, the battle of Eylau, February 8, 1807. 

For FoB3, each side's sequence deck has almost the same composition:

3 Each:

MOVE

MELEE

ARTILLERY FIRE

INFANTRY FIRE

ARMY MORALE

2 Each:

TACTICAL ADAVANTAGE

1 Each: 

MOVE ONE COMMAND

Variable

1 - 3 LULL

2-4 LEADERSHIP

? 1 SPECIAL EVENT

Without unduly changing the character of the game, it could be played with small 10 card decks, with one each

MOVE

MELEE

ARTILLERY FIRE

INFANTRY FIRE

ARMY MORALE

LEADERSHIP

TACTICAL ADVANTAGE

LULL

UNIQUE EVENT

MOVE 1 [D6] COMMAND[S]

The MOVE ONE COMMAND becomes Move D6 (or it could be D4, or D8, etc depending upon the game/size), BUT the commands activated cannot belong to the same player (unless there are more activations than players, but even then no more than 2 per player). This is mostly to avoid players standing around with little to do.

For Eylau, the  UNIQUE EVENT card will be used as follows:

Each time the Russians turn the card, roll a D6; on a “1” heavy snow develops. All movement is halved, and all fire takes place at one range band farther than measures; no long range fire is possible. Once heavy snow begins, it lasts for the rest of the game; no need for any additional rolls thereafter!

For both sides, may propose a special action for any ONE unit or officer. 

GM will judge if the action succeeds, or if there will be a die roll to determine success.

Initiative:  Roll C-in-C's LD vs LD as usual, but compare the results similar to the Initiative roll:

Tie = both sides pick up all their cards, shuffle their decks, and then roll again

Difference of  1,2 = 1 Card

Difference of  3,4 = 2 cards

Difference of  5, 6 = 3 cards

Difference of  7,8 = 4 cards

Difference of  9, 10 = 5 cards

Difference of  11, 12 = 6 cards

I have also updated the back of my QRS with a summary of the cards and their effects. 

Also, for Eylau, at the start of the game, roll for one special characteristic for each player; it may be assigned by the player to any one officer they are playing:

D12 roll	Special Effects
1	Poltroon: DOWN 1 for all Rally rolls, BUT may always withdraw at FULL rather than half speed!
2	Epileptic: LD roll of 2 also = no move. May re-roll failed leader survival tests
3	Fabian: DOWN 1 die type for MOVE rolls (Can go down to a D6!), BUT may *always*  expend 1 segment to change facing or formation.
4 - 9	No special effects
10	Aggressive:  UP 1 die type for MOVE rolls.
11	Charismatic: UP 1 for all Rally rolls
12	Heroic: all units in his Command Group get UP 1 in Melee while he is in charge, but roll for Leader  loss on D8 instead of D12

Game Day at Jared's school

It was good to be back at Jared's school for the first time since February 2020, when the Pandemic was just appearing as a real concern on our collective radar screens. The first game day of the year was held there this past Saturday. Initially the numbers signed up was small, but there were ultimately 20 students there. We all arrived about 8;30 AM to set up and be ready to start at 10 AM, when the students were to arrive.   

Jared had set up a Northwest Frontier game set in Afghanistan, using The Sword and the Flame, I believe. 

A view from the other end of the table.

John Spiess set up a  Medieval clash between invading Vikings and defending Northumbrian Saxons.

He used a gridded board and his own rules, which seem fairly simple but also well thought out.

I set up my game, with the late AM sun bathing the table; it had departed by game time!

Name tags for the players ( I always try to learn the players names as quickly as possible, and address them by name whenever possible), and some HMGS fliers, plus a freebie handout for those interested, evidently produced by the Little Wars TV guys.  

I had the players write the CD and DD values onto sticky notes to attach to the underside of the bases, color coded by command. In retrospect, this was probably unnecessary. 

The French Dragoons have taken advantage of a triple move to advance far ahead of their infantry. A Beau-Sabre in the making!   Note that everyone wore masks for the entire event, with no so much as a bit of a whine from anyone. It seems they could teach the "adults" in the US a thing or two. 

British reinforcements arrive in the nick of time to hold Vimiero village. 

. The Dragoons had a shot at a charge at the ridge defenders, and at seizing the Town of Vimiero before the British reinforcements could come up, but in the end wound up getting their noses pretty well bloodied by the British infantry (especially the Rifles!) fire. That caused the loss of quite a lot of Morale Points before the French Infantry could hope to have an impact. 

Mid game; the French infantry are advancing to contest Vimiero ridge. The young lady acting as Sir Arthur and also commanding the centre infantry brigade was a dice demon, rolling little less than a "10" all game! 

The brigade of British and Portuguese Light Dragoons had the chance to advance around the left flank of the French advance. There commander rolled three straight "1"'s on a D10, and that being a Jalapeno Die, even! 

This occurred during the mid game,  where Sir Arthur had a 12 to 1 roll Initiative, and thus an 11 card run to play. In the end, this wound up having surprisingly little effect, partly because the French were still largely out of Musket range, and the British were understandably reluctant to advance out of their excellent defensive positions. 

On the next try, though, the British Cavalry rolled a triple move, but ODD, so they could not change their facing, nor engage in immediate melee. The commander astutely moved them deep onto the flank and rear of the French, all the way to the edge of the woods. On a subsequent LEADERSHIP card they changed facing to threaten the flank and rear. They then finally got an even roll and charge home into the rear of two elite Grenadier battalions. One battalion escaped with just 1 UI loss and withdrawing, but the unit charged by the British LD suffered 2 UI to an even roll and was thus destroyed outright. Ouch! Revenge is a dish best served up with black powder; On a subsequent French MOVE, a triple magic move allowed 2 fellow grenadier battalions to respond to the threat, by pouring the fire of over 1,000 muskets into the flank of the British Light Dragoons; they ceased to exist as a fighting force thereafter. Note the clouds of smoke with empty ground in front of them!

 The French then used part of their 11 card run  to launch an infantry attack upon the center, taking losses from musketry but having a decent chance to prevail in two melees, but didn't have the die rolls to pull it off. A French Dragoon charge on their far right against a British unit that had deployed out of the village and into the vineyard also came close but was ultimately repulsed with loss as well. The French ran out of Morale Points, and started having to pay the British. Less than halfway through the 11 card initiative run, the French turned an ARMY MORALE card, and failed the roll spectacularly; Game over, man! The French had 0/19 Morale points at the end, while the British still had 11/15 remaining. The London Gazette subsequently portrayed the battle as a major victory for the British Expeditionary Force. 

In fairness to the French players, as has been observed, this isn't an easy scenario for them to win at all, and the British players had consistently superior die rolls. I think the French would need at least another battery and another infantry brigade to have a realistic chance of prevailing. 

John gave the following synopsis of his game: It basically started off with a disastrous charge by the Saxon cavalry. 

Saxon Cavalry preparing to charge the Viking Shield Wall. 

They hit a fresh shield wall and got demolished.  The Vikings were doing great. But the Saxon players started to figure out their advantages over the Vikings.

 They held their infantry back, and started loosing volley after volley of arrows into to Vikings. 

The Vikings shot back, but didn’t have as many bowmen. 

This forced the Viking warbands to start charging into the Saxons and a general melee followed. However, the Viking warbands became separated and the sole remaining Saxon mounted knight unit found a gap and plunged into it. 

This disrupted the entire line. Shield walls started collapsing on both sides, but the Saxons kept passing their morale checks while the Vikings slowly melted away. In the end, the Saxons recovered enough from the early setbacks to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The kids wanted a rematch, so we’ll have to see if Ivar and the Great Heathen Army will try again.

Near the end of John's game; "Not this time, Raven-face!" The Vikings are repulsed back to their Longships! 

Jared contributed some shots of his game as well...

Near the end of Jared's game; I have no idea what's going on at all!  :-) 

 I spent a fair amount of time after my game chatting with students about the Napoleonic Wars, how I got into the hobby, figure scales, where to get models, terrain, etc. This was spurred in part by some of them thumbing through the short Ravenfeast booklet. Jared and I had a discussion about the event, and the broader outreach efforts of HMGS Next Gen, to foster miniatures gaming in Middle School, High School, and College age students. More about that in another post(s), perhaps.