Hail Caesar: The Battle of Hexham 1464.

Nigel was back gaming this week so using his 28mm Wars of the Roses figures combined with mine and Ian's we had a go at re-fighting the Battle of Hexham scenario from the Wars of the Roses source book from Warlord Games. Fighting with 3 divisions on a 6' x 4' foot table leaves little room for manoeuvre so we had quite a full looking table. 

Although I know of no chapel being on the Hexham battle site, as I had finished painting this model last week I decided to include it in our game on the table edge just to get some use out of it. The chapel is a plastic model from 'Tabletop Workshop'. I have had this model part painted for a few years now (mainly the interior) so it is good to get it finished. In front of the chapel are my newly finished unit of Household archers belonging to Henry Holland, the Duke of Exeter. Although Henry Holland was not at Hexham his Household longbowmen were today as I needed them to make up numbers.  

So with Nigel and Ian commanding the Yorkists I took command of the Lancastrians. I left the room for a few minutes whilst the Yorkist command came up with a cunning plan. They also won the dice off for who moved first and they decided to come at me, no doubt hoping to push the Lancastrians back into the river. 

Yorkists on the left about to do their rapid advance against the Lancastrians on the right.

Note that not all flags and banners are the correct ones, we just used what we had. 

In response to the Yorkists quick advance I decided my troops needed to be away from the river so that I could not be forced back into it (as happened historically). I had planned to counter attack with Sir Humphrey Neville's and Somerset's divisions. I was wanting the 'cowardly' Hungerford to hold back a bit as I did not trust him to do well in any melee. Hungerford did not agree with me as he blundered his orders and ended up charging the enemy. By the end of turn 1 the whole battle line was in melee across the board.

To my amazement Hungerford's men battered Greystoke's division (destroying one unit in a single charge) and Somerset broke through the Yorkist centre. Things also went well on my left as Sir Humhprey Neville tore into Willoughby's division causing disorder and shaken tokens to be placed by at least two of their units.  

In turn 2 the Yorkists fought back. Nigel sent Greystoke back in against Hungerford's men and Hungerford sadly lost his life in the melee even though his men were winning the melee. In the centre John Neville, Baron Montague was wounded in the melee. On the right Ian's division led by Willoughby was in real trouble with most of his units shaken by now. The Yorkists lost two units this turn and the Lancastrians lost one...and yes it was the newly painted Household longbow! 

Turn 3 saw the bloodbath continue across the board and a whole flurry of shaken (yellow) and disordered (red) counters were gained by the Yorkists. The Lancastrians were definitely gaining the upper hand. 

In this photo, Hungerford's division, (now led by his co-commander Baron Roos) smashed into Greystokes men once again, breaking the front unit and pushing the supporting unit back shaken and dis-ordered.

With several units destroyed and the bulk of their surviving units both shaken and in disorder the Yorkist command conceded the battle after just 3 turns. 

For the victorious Lancastrians Somerset and his men had fought very well but the now sadly deceased Hungerford had led his men forward in a blundered reckless charge and help win the battle. 

This was a fast, fun game with some units not even getting a chance to shoot any missiles as both sides rushed into melee. It was a complete blood bath across the board but with the Lancastrians dice throwing being on top form today (for once!). With history re-written Somerset went off looking for a few Yorkist commanders to behead in nearby Hexham! 

Next week we have decided to try the Second battle of St Albans scenario.