ordain them jackets

8/13/2019 Ordain Them Jackets

1/7

oRDATNTHEMJACKETSFn,IYTTVERY(Armles of the Early Part of the Wars of the Roses, 1455-71,

Part )byAnthonyClipsom

THECOMPOSITTON FTHEARMIES

Walter Strickland greed o provide Salisbury ith 290 mendrawn from Strickland's manors n Westmoreland n 1,98.However,most contracts ould have been o{ he smaller ype.

The number of men retained or military service woulddepend reatly n what could be afforded nd how politicallyactivea lord might be. The argest nown number of knightsand squires etained y a magnate s 90, ncluding wo peers, yLord Hastings n the 1470's. Most would hav had less.Humphrey Stafford formally retained 23 gentlemen, whobetween hen would supply somewhere round 120 nen. In1458,he Earl ofSalisbury n a show lstrength ntered ondonwith a retinue of 400 men, ncluding 0 knights nd esquires,whowouldbe his iding etinue lus he coreof his etainers.

There were other sources f private armies, numerically tleast more significant han retainers. Some were men withpoliticalorsocial is o a magnate.ln order o get on, or evenprotect ne's roperty, t was mportant o have a "goodlord", apolitically owerfulmagnate ho ould ensure hat your awsuiis were successful, ontracts btained or lucntive officesacquired. o demonstrate heir allegiance, lientswere giventheir ord's ivery badge o wear. The priceof "goodlordship"was ocal politicat upport nd often militaryserice, in personor with a fellowship- he men hus attached o a "good lord"could range rom simple radesmen n the towns to local

landowners nd he minor nobility. These were a potentiallymajor source f suppo . Hunphrey Stafford, n addition o his23 retaine$, had another 7 ocal gentry he could call on forsupport.However,militarypowerbdlton clientswas ragile sthey couldeasily esert o aDother good lord" ifhe proved obe more nfllential.

Anothermajor source f support were he enants f a ord\lands. Land was still the basis of wealth and the majorprotagonists wned a great deal of it. Some dea of the orcesavailable are given by Sir Walter Strickland's 290 men frorn 7manors n 1zg8 or John Howard\ 500 enants rom zl4manors n1484. enants ere a more eliable orce han clients s hey hadno choice flandlord. ndeed, many amed and onwhichtheirancestors ad been serfs or tenants of the same amily forgenerations, uilding p powertul oyalties.

The actual ize ofpdvate armies s hard o determine. Mostarmies onlained roops of a number of lords of varying ankand power so t is hard o be sure howmany an ndividual ordled. som examples rom the private warfare of the period glvesome dea. however. A selection of figures rom legal oradministrative ocuments, hichare ess ikely to be exagger'ated thafl contemporary hronicles, ives som clues. Forexample, ftera privatebatrle n 1453, 10 Percy roops wereindicted. Two thousand adges were ssued o the Duke ofBuckingham'smen in 1454. n 1484, he Duke of Norfolkmustered "militia"of 800men, 180 fwhom wereprovided yrerainer. . imrlar, f sl 'ghLly 'gher igure' are given n

chronicles r letters. The Duke of Norfolk is said to havebesieged aister Caslle with 3,000 men r 1469. he Earl ofDevonshire s said to have mustered, with Lord Cobham,5-6,000men n 1451 nd 4,800 men alone n 1453. However,details of Devonshire's ampaigns etween 1451 and 1455suggest far smaller umber of combalants ngaged, sually

INTRODUCTIONThe Wars of the Roses ave always een a popular enod orwargamers. nformationaboui hem s plentiful look n yourlocal ibrarycatalogue t the number f books alled wars ofthe Roses" ). hey are populated ilh haracters ike Warwickthe Kingmaker and Richard of Gloucester nd, with theirprivate armies and shifting alliances. ffer lots of campaignopportunities. nfortunately, he Wars of the Roses re alsoshrouded n a lot of popular myth. Richard of Cloucester asnot he deformed rcature fShakespeare, nglandwas ot he

sceneof onstant loodshed nd anarchyforthirtyyears nd hestruggle as not fought by two armies niformed n whiteandred oses. While hese nd other obvious orections avebeenpopularly cepted, lot of detailed work done by historiansover the past hirty years or so s not so widelyknown. TheDumose f these articles s to look at the evidence or theiomposition of armies n the early part of the wars and tosuggest ays of using he informadon o generate argames

i) Private armies

The backbone f all private armies were retainers -e. mencontratually ound o a leader and receivingmoney or it.These an be conveniently ivided nto household etaine$ andmen who served hen summoned.

The strengthand ilitarysignificance fhousehold orces astendedto e exaggerated. awspassed y Edward Vresirictedthe sizeof ouseholdsaccordingto ocialstanding. hus,adukewasentitled o 240men, a baron 40 and a knight bachelor24. tis likely that hese igures were based n typical sizes, atherthan an attempt o dramalically ut back he strength f thenobility.Thus, he Dukes of Buckingham ept a household f200-240n the ater 15th Century.Only about halfthis numberwere permanent etaineB. In 1457, hese nurnbeied 129including 4 pages, chaplains, clerics, herald nd 15waitingwomen. Of these 129, about 50-60 constituted he "ridingretinue" .e. those men who acompanied he Duke about hecountry, he rest being nvolved n maintaining is estates.While t is likely hat most ofthe household ould do militaryservice f required, t was not their primary unctionand heywere unlikely o be any more skilled or experienced han heaverage militia man. On the other hand, hey would have apersonal take n the ightingand perhaps greater ohesion,being used to working togeiher. The militarily significantretainers ere hose, sually utside he household, ho werepaid as military subcontraclors, ometimes eferred o as"feedmen".These men eceived nnual aymefltso retain heservices f themselves nd usually a military "fellowship".

Fellowshipsvaded onsiderablyn size ul seem suallyto avebeen small. Those of men retained by Humphrey Stafford.Duke ofBuckingham, n the 1440'svaried etween hree and ixmen.The Pastons eem lso o have erved he DukeofNorfolkwith our o six men whowere ordainedjackets f lNorfolk\]livery"). Some arger contracts re known. For example, Sir


2/7

between 00and 1000. he armies f Lords Berkeley nd Lisleengaged t Nibley Green n 1470 were also 500-1000 trong.Overall, hen, t seems hat he ikely sizeofthe private orcesavailable o the major participantsn the Wars f the Roses asin the ange f 500-3,000 en.

ii) Royal roopsIn military ems, the Kingwas n many waysmuch ike one ofthe great magnates. He too had a household of approximately500), ome fwhom,like the knights nd esquires fthe bodyand he yeoman rchels, ad a military unction. He also hadlands, oth royal and ancestral, nd nants. However, nlikethe magnates, e did nor routinely etain militarysuppolten.Hehad, afterall, ittleneed. n theory, ll men owedhimsericeand even n practice, he royal parties ouldalways uaranteeseveral ord's private forces would come at their call. Kings diduse contracts to rahe forces n time of war, or to deal withinternationalproblemsike piracy, owever.

The size fthe King'spersonal orces oes ot seem o havebeen as arge as some fhisgeater subjects. hroughmuchofthe period, h number f yeoman rchers eerns o have beenunder 60 strong. More household rchers were occasionallynised. In 1467, dward V employed 00 of the most expenarchers f England" n his riding etinue. n 1475, e had 184''archersof the Kingt chamber". Some dea of Edward vtpersonal military strength comes rom the report that he ost 800of his o\ln men at Towton n 1461. Given har he battle wasextremely bloody, with perhaps 20-25% casualties n thewinning size, this suggests retinue of 3,500-4,000 en.However, iven he special ircumstances nd he sheer ize ofthe orces mustered or the Towton ampaign, his igure s notlikely o be a ypical oyal etinue. A more ypical iguremay besuggested y the fat hat, in preparation or a carnpaign n 1469,Edward ordered he royal wardrobe o supply 2,000 ivery

In addition o hispersonal

orces, he King,at east n theory,controlled he troops of the border garrisons, ho were heclosest hing Eneland had to a standing army. In reality,however, he gardsons ended o be oyal o their captains ndtheircaptains ended o be oyal only o theirambitions. herewere two garrisons on the Scots border, Carlisle and Berwick,mustering t most 450men between hem.The argest arrison,over 1000men, defended he Calaispale.

There is litde evidence of the northern garrisons einginvolvdn the nternal ffai$ of the kingdom. erwickwas ostto the Scots n 1461 nd not recovered ntil 1482. arlislewasbesieged y the Scots n 1461 ut thereafter most ofthe actiontookplace n the Eastem March.

The Calais garrison were much more closely nvolved in theWars. The Yorkists se ofCalais as a powerbase etween 458and 1461 meant that gar son troops were involved in cross-Channel aidsand piracy.In 1459, he Earl of Warwick roughta Calais ontingent f 600men o England, ho desened o theLancastrians t Ludford. Later hat year, hey etumed o theCalais ale as part of a Lancastdan orce whichseized uinescastle nd oirght a number of skirmishes ith Calais oldiersloyat.othe Yorkists. n 1460, alaistroopsseizedSandwich sabridgehead or a Yorkist nvasion fEngland and ook part nthe campaign hat led ro the baitle of Northampton. Calahsoldien served n Warwickt army in 1469- A 300 strongcontingent f Calais roops also ook parr n the Bastard fFauonberg\ ttack n London n 1471.

ii) The ConmonsAt the time of the Wars of the Roses, England had a wellestablished ilitia system-While n theory all men between 6and 60 were iable or service, n practice selectiveely basedon Commissions f Array was operated. ommissions f Array

THE MINIATURE RCHITECTHondcGfted model bulldlngs ond inoin lo

'Offthe Peg' Hondbuilt uildlngsn 15 ond 25mm scales.'Kettione' High DefinilionResin Buildings nd Fodifcolions

in i,ooh, smm ond 20-25mm coles.Stockisiof Eogle Miniolures25mm Flgus.

SAFo/us 50o for illuirqled lists a

A CoDesl'cke.23 Wlom Sireel Croqheod, Slonely,Counlv Durhom DH96ER

Chequs mode poyoble o A CopesickaPosljoqe nd Pocklng

IK/BIPO 2th% Europe4JSA 0%Auslrolio/A.sio0%of order volueKe si].e nade enauides elcome

appointed ocal commissioners hose ob was o select romtheirarea certain umber f men. n theory, hisallowed hemto selet he ittestand best equippedmen.

At the start ofthis period. he eq was expected o produce13,000 en n England nd 3,000 n Wales ndCheshire. }lenit was atually mustered n England n 1457, t nustercd 12,592,remarkably lose o the planned igure.A propodon of thesemen came rom he owns, but the majority were evied n theshires. orexample, incolnshire rovidd 10men, Kent575,Bedfordshire 01and Northumberland mere 60.

Commissions f Array could only be issued under royalauthority, hich imitedtheiruse udngthe Wars.However, sboth sides ad a king beteend 461and 471, onmissions ouldbe ssued y both sides o array at he same ime.Thiscouldleadto difficulty in getting recruits and a serious ack of commirmenton the part of those who did come orward. Commissions fArray could also be forged, as happened n the Lincolnshirerevoltof 1470, lthough he military value ofahe roops aised

proved o be minimal.What the militia systern id ensure was hat England ad alarge oolof armed men, all at east asically quipped or war.This pool provided not only commission f affay troops andprivate armies but also he potential or popular evolt. Anumber of uprisings ccuned during the period, most en-gineered yone actionoranother. he most uccessful f theserisings as hat of"Robin of Redesdale" n 1,169, hose ictoryat Edgecote hat year caused he collapse f Edward V'sgovernment.

iv) Th TownsOne part of the militia which did play a role were he towncontingents. owns becane embroiled n the politicsof theperiod and tended o send well equipped ontingents o thesupport f their prefened action. Coventry repared o send1000 o suppo Henry Vl ar St. Albans n 1455, hough hebattle was over before hey were eady. t did, however, end100 men to suppo Edward IV at Tol,1on. Norwich sent 120men o fight or the Yorkists t Second t. Albans n 12161, hile400 men ftom York served he Lancastrian cause. The larsestknown onringenl a\ lhe 1000men senr by York o To*lo; in1461, lthough t is possible hat more Londoners e|ed atSecond t. Albans. Certainly, ondon and ts suburbs rayed1,137men or mititia seNice n 1457, gainst ork's 152.Otherexamples rom the 145? array nclud Bristol with 91 men,Lincolnwith 46 and Southamptonwith 6.

v) Mrcenaries nd Foreign TloopsTechnically, here were few true mercenaries n seffice in theWars- Most "mercenaries"were actually roops provided byalliedpowers.

The argest numbers of foreign troops o serve were Scots. n


3/7

retum or Berwick, he Scots ought or the Lancastrian ausebetween 1461'3. Support varied, but major forces werecommitted t the siege of Carlisle June 1461), he relief ofAlnwick January 463) nd he siege f Norham July1463).

Burgundy and France also provided roops, he lbrmersupporting ork and he latter Lancaster. mall numbers fBurgundians ought n the 1461 anpaign nd Edward V had3-500Burgundians n his army in 1471.A small nunber of

French roops. alongwith Bretons and dsh, fought on the

Lancastrian ideat Mortimers Cross n 1461. etween 00 and2000French roops ought for Lancaster n the winter of 1462-3and an unknown but probably maller unber) n 1471.

WEAPONS NDEQUIPMENT

tenants ut men hired or the occasion.It s possible, herefore,that he proportion farchersinvolved n battles t homewouldbe less. This said, what little evidence we have for thecomposition f retainer {orces suggests hey consisted fnumerous mall etinues fthe retainedman. who wouldsrveas a man-at-arms, nd hre o six others, who wer probablyarchers. hus, t is possible hat orces f retainers uring heWarswouldhave en etting n owards he proportionsofthe

A very different picture s suggested f we tum to the commonforces fthe militias and enantry. while the own contingentsand even he roops ofthe 1457 eviewseem o be all archers,muster nformation hows hat here was a high proportion fnon-archers. he 1457muster olls or BridDort n Dorset istsabout 100 men, of whom two-thirds were archers, heremainder arryingpolearms f various sorts A muster istfrom Ewelme, Oxfordshire, ating o the early 1480's,lists nly1? archers out of 85 men, the rest having bill or staff walaerStrickland's nen n 1448 onsisted f the 140 archeN and 150billmen.

Ovemll. r seems hat he more selective force, he higherthe proponion f archers o other arms. A privatearmy night

muster400retaine$, fwhom80night be men-at-arms nd320retinue archers. ratio of 4 to 1. Add to these militiaof 1500tenants ndothersupporten, onsisting f 1000 rchen and 500billmen. nd he atio droDs o 9 to 4. Add a urther 1000 abbleat he Ewelne proportioniand you have a total of 1520 rchersand 1380 thers. lmost to 1.

ii) CavahyAs already menlioned, he main atalry orceol an) army werthe spears. t seems hat a proportion of spears emainednountd during several battles of the Wars, but only atTewkesbury id they achieve much success. avalry eaturemore often n encounter kirmishes r sudden attacks while

leading r screening he army;typial ightcavalryoles.Light

cavalrywere a very nportant part of armies s hey bore hebrunt of the scouting uties- Sources re not very clear onwhether here were separate ategories f light cavalry, orwhether he various pricken" and "scourers" were simplyspears ding ighi.Thereare eferences ohobila$, whomaybeeilher ight cavalry or mounted nfantry, among he militiaNorthem or Border horse, who play a tight cavalry ole inEnglisharmies f the sixteenth entury,were also already nexistence n the fifteenth century.

In addition o the specialist avalry,many nfantry wouldhave been mounted or transDort o the battlefield nd couldhave upplemented he other mounted roops n scoutingonthemarch. what proportion of men were mounted would havevaried. Retainen and their fellowships would hav beenmounted and some. f not all. town troops had horses,occasionally iredat he own's expense. pproximately alJ fwalter Strickland's men were mounted. both archers andbillmen.Many common oldiers would have walked. n 1453,the Earl of Devonshire's rmy s recorded o have had 800honemen and 4,000 oot. Edward V's army at Tewkesburycontained ,000 ootrnen, erhaps hird of its stre gth.

iii) Foreign roopswe have very lirde detail about foreign forces n England. Allmentions f Burgundians re of anillerymen r handgunners.However, crossbowmen r even archer may have served.Pikenen are unlikely o have been employed, enainlynot ntactically ignificant umbers. he French are again ikely tohavebeen rossbowmen, rchers r perhaps andgunners

The Scors roops used in lhe l4bl 03 campaigns eIetnwlanders nd hus would mainly have consisted f men'at_arms and pikenen. Some roops were equipped with two_

i) Bows, bills ,nd spearsThe backbone f anyEnglish rmyofthe periodwasthe rcher,so much so that the word archer s sometimes sed 1o meansoldier. tandard quipmentwas ongbow, wordand uckler,iack and sallet.However, he qualiiyand completeness f theequipmentvaried ccording owealthof the archer, nd hat ofmilitia roops ometimes eft somethingto e desired.

The other main roop ype was he\pear".

The name, ikebows and bills, derives rom the characteristic eapon f thesoldier. spear eingwhat we now calla cavalry ance Exactlywhowas classified sa spear;s nclear ut more han ikelytheterm was vague. Like the term man-at-armsi t would haveincluded knights, esquires, entlemen nd professional ol-diers.The best equipped pears ould have been rained andequipped o frght s hecvy avaly n he radit ionrl anner ron toor. ca*ed n e)'pensive late drmour and riding specrallybred horses. HoweGr. thes; may have been a minority. TheEnglish ad been ighting primarilyon foot for over a centuryand many may not have mastered ounted ombat rinvestedin the expensive orses equired. Not everyone ill havebeenable o afford mported talian or German armour either: apropodon must have been equipped n dated or incomplete

The third person of our military tnnity, the billrnan, ssomething f an enigma. He existed. ut we know iltle abouthim. Pictures f heavily armoured nen with bius are quitecommon, ut hese may have ought with he men_at-arms ndso be included n lhe spears. he majority of billmen wouldhave been ess eavily rmoured, ressed njack and sallet ike

One other ype of infantryman eserves ention.Not to beonfused with spears, taffmen were spear-armed nfantryThey are even more enigmatic han he billmen and perhapsfomd a snall ninority mixed n with he bills n some istricts

The only exceplion may have been n Wales,where he spearwasatraditional eapon nd continued n use nlo he sixteenth

The DroDortion f the differentarms o one another s one ofthe great unknowns f the Wars. Evidence sketchy nd, osomeextent, ontradictory. he bestevidence or the compositionofan English rmyduring he ate 5thcenturyisthe musterlists or the armv which nvaded ran n 1475 This showsDroDortionfarchersto men-at-arms n excessof8to Billmenare noi nentioned. However. t is not at all certain hat thisinformation an be extrapolated o cover he domestic cene.This was a specially ecruited nvasion orce ntended o serveagainst foreign enemy. That enemy had raditionally beendefeated y archery nd was also heavily eliant on cavalry,which were vulnerable o archery. Englandwas at peace ndthere was no shortage fvolunteers. oarrayers ouldpick andchoose. ore mportantly, he axpayer as ooting he billandso he contingents rovided y the nobilily were not a motleycolletion of retainers, Iivery-andmaintenance men and


4/7

T$/o Medicval ships scratch-built n 2rnm bJ Holes Modeb. Hulb are Milliput over a wooden core; sails are cartidge paper. lLtlthe job fot lerrying a feht ttoops ovet lrom Cahis.

handed axes and here would have been some archers equippedwith the longbow. The Scots defrnitely deployed a strong siegetrain and probably had some guns available or field use.

iv) ArtilleryGuns of various descriptions were common n fifteenth centuryEngland. However, t must be remembered hat guns were asmuch a sign of status as a pradical military weapon at this time.The best ecord of any artillery train is that which accompaniedthe English army n Franc n 1475,which contained 13 pieces,plus associatd ans and equipmeot, although this includedsiege guns. Henry \t[ took delivery of 26 guns n 1457, art of anorder for 60 which was never ulfiIed.

Aside from the king, the major lords also had guns. l-ord

Fastolf, who died in 1459, owned 18, probably mainly used odefend his castles. However. n 1451. he Earl of Devon raisedan arm which had five cans carrying guns and Lord Lisle alsohad carts with guns before rhe battle of Nibley crcen in 1470.

The other ownen of guns were the to*ns. Even small townshad guns. For example, Coventry bought our brass guns n 1451and or one gate n 1471 cquired hree guns, wo staff guns anda handgun. While clearly intended for to*n defence, theyrepresented a potential supply of guns o Eeld armies. This canbe seen in the Tewkesbury campaign of 142, when thel-ancastrians btained guns rom Brisiol.v) FortificationsNo survey of armies of the period would be complete without

refernce o thir tendency o dig-in in the early yea$ of theWars. Northampton and SecoDd t. Albans both show his, butit also oc.urred at the non-battles of Danford in 1452 andLudford in 1459. n all the above cases, we are talking of quitesubstantial ieldwo*s, making use of terrain and aking a ot ofeffort to construct. The English were also amiliar with a range

of portable obstacles anging from the exotic studded pavises,nets with nails and caltrops of Second St. Albans o the humble

SELECTBIBLIOGRAPHYThe books I have leaned most heavily on in preparing thisarticle are:A. Goodman The Wars of rre Roser the best military sureey)J. Gillingham: The Wars of the Roses another good militaryhistory)A. Pollard: The Wats of the Ro,tes especially Ch. 4, on the scaleof the wars)R. Storcy: The End of the House of Lancstet usetut on pnv^tewarfare 1451-55)Some useful nfomation came rom:C. A[mand: Societ at Wal (about he Hundred Yeals war butwith details on Edward IV's adllery)C. Oman: Waft,ick the Kinpuke, (repdnts the StricklandcontracOB. Wilkinson: Cor6t:irirb, al Hisriry ol England n the FifuenthCsntury documnts on the militia systen)Last, but not least, the English Historical Documents volumefor the period.

ern lI Fi[ look at alternative rny lists or rhis Friod.)

CHELIFER BOOKSMike Smith

Todd Close, Curthwaite, Wigton, CumbriaTel: 0228 711388MILITARY BOOKS

and Sold Send sae for c


5/7

26

oRDAINTHEMJACKETS FMYTTVERYPARTTWO

byAnthonyClipsom

ALTERNATIVE RMYLISTS

Common rchersCommonBills 0 4LightCavalry 0 IMercenaries 0 IAnillery 0 2Fieldworks 0 ICommand | 4

i) The number of units of men-at-arms houldnot exceed henumber f units of retainer rchers.ii) The ratio of units of Common Bills to Common Archersshould ot be greater han 4:1or ess han 1:2.iii) Welsh contingents ubstitule Common Spearmen or

CommonBills.iv) If the army represents ne which hhtorically containedmercenaries, he optionalmercenary nitbecomes ompulsory.v) Lancastrian rmies elect mercenaries rom he Frenchtable,Yorkists rom he Burgundian.vi) If the army eprsents ne which historically ad artillery,one artilleryunit s conpulsory.vii) Army commander ay be outstanding, oodor mediocre.Sub-commanders ood,mediocre r poor.

LIST2:POPULAR EVOLT

INTRODUCTIONTraditionally, rmies f the Wars ofthe Roses ave oeen eenas consisting rimarilyol the etainers nd household orces fnajor lords such as Warwick or Percy, a product of basrardteuJJIi .mand iverlandmain 'enance owe er,a5qe,a$inPart of this article,modem search ends owards he viewthat such professional" orces ormed but a small core ofarmies omposed ainlyoflesswellmotivated roops ecruiredamong enants and taditional supporters. much as earlier

Having ookedat the composition f the armieswhich oughtthe Wars ofthe Roses etween 455 nd 1471. e now urn orecrearing hose rmieson he ablerop.

Army ists are one of those hingswhichdividewargamers_ olhe competition amer, hey are as viral as he rulebook. Tomany wargamers, hey are a useful uideline hen building narmy. To a few outspoken ritics, hey have undermined heconnection etween wargaming nd the srudy of militaryhistory.Whihever fthese views he reader olds, ew woulddeny hat, for the Ancienr and Meitiaeval eriod, army istshave een irmly wedded o equal oints,head,to,head attles.Things eed ot be his way, however. rmy istscan laya partrn settrng p an uneven encounter fld. in other wargamesperiods. a e been uccessfuly o used

The deas sed below are not entirely original.They owe agreat eal o the army ists n the Fol/orn lapeECW rules andto ideas n Harvey Gerndt s soon o be published Sl]rre ,nSplendow Warc of the Roses ules. The use of cards odetermine rmy composition s still older I picked t up fromWarganerc ewsletet n the 70\. New or not, my hope s hatthiscombinationofideas illprovide ome njoyable ames orWars of the Roses players and set Ancient and Mediaevalgamers n general hinkingabout he creative se ofarmy ists. i) The number of units of men-at-arms houldnot exceed he

number f units of retainer rchers.ii) The rario of units of Common Bills to Common Archersshouldnotbe reaterthan4:1 rlessthan :2.iii) Welsh contingents ubstitute Common Spearmen or

Cornmon ills.iv) When using he Comrnon rcher and Common Billtables,add one o the diescore p o a maximun ofsixv) Arny comrnander may be good or mediocre. Sub-conmander mediocre r poor.

Type

Men-at-armsReuiner Archers

Conmon BillsLighl CavalryFieldworks

Command

Minimum Maximum

0 l0 22 64 80 10 1

t 2

THELISTSI offerthree ists. which feelcoverallarmies f the Wars ftheRoses rom 1,155o 1471. ist isthe generic rmy ist. covering

mostarmies fboth sides uring he period. List 2 s a popularrebellion ist.List 3 is a Lancastrian/Scottish ist or the period1461-64. hhough each ist, and the accompanying ables,come with notes, he reader hould e{er back o part of thisarticle o understald he erminology nd why I have eached

To use he ists. irst decide nurnber f units each ide willhave. Both sides should have an equal number of units. Isuggest ninimum of 12 and a maximum of 18. Note that''fieldworks"countsas unit.The command ption s{orthosewhose ulesmake useofsub onmanders nd gives he numberof command igures vailable. he choice f named ommandershould erermine hich uali l ) prion .appropriale

LIST3: LANCASTRIAN/SCOTTISH

TypMen-at-armsEnglishArchersScots rchersScots ikemen

LighrCavalryFrenchMercenariesArtilleryCommand

MinimumI004

Maximum32I8

LIST : GENERIC 2Il23

00001

Typ MinimumMen-at-arms 1RetainerArchers 2

MaYimum36


6/7

WARRIOR MINIATURES14 Tlverton Av., Glaegow G32 9 {x Scodtnd.

New ahlooue 1.25 + S.AE.Plas bt ntersts or samDle.-TeL O4l-'r7a 3426

156n AaMES only 9.95 + 131 pci

RoM lsl C. AD, ECW Ra6[4Ecw P.nimb,ian, Acw Uniof,, cwConlsder.Ie, 8lh C, Faniat Go.4Fda6y ev{ 2d Wd - Zju s, B'iljsh.

Esr to U to abd tul {krri, h cdog@ + 12.:O pclSamur.l, Mmr6don, LlndlkEhbFullEngp ol fgi ro add o abde

I

116.95

la50

JLn @e ol ov qodu.1 ans625m. Man ula. ACW Medonian . Puni< Ws. Wffi ol lhe Re,Lrnd5in6nb. B6dsa@. Gaui . Datft Aq6, N(m9. Sanmi RomN,

Moncols. Al{{, MEX.AM wd, colonia , Jebils, elc,l5m;: Mod peiods I I5m equpnenL Ec1n, ACW

UsdA''.F@ptd. [email protected]

27

Noaes:i) Englisharchenshould eselected rom he etainerlist, cotsfrom he commonlist.ii) English archers may only be used ifman-at-arms nit s chosen.iii) Army commander may be good orcommanders ay be mdiocre rpoor.

THOMAS DAVIDSON& DAVID R. CLEMMET

for th l1th Year

MOIIELS, WABGAMESBOARDGAilES

PEARL HARBOUR fiTTACKSOth ANN'VERSAf,Y

The Corporation Hallhince RSent Street

Stockton-on-Ts

Saturday 7th December 199110.00 a.m. 4.3O p.m.

ADMISSION:Mults - 80pChildren O.A.P.S 40P

Atr PRoCEEDS tN AtD oF lHE DlsaBrfDPERSONS CHABITY. MOBIUTY INTERNATIONAL

. CLEVEIAND GROUP.THEUNITTABLES

One of the roubles with a diversity frules s hat ists writtenfor one set do not automaticallytranslateo another. he ablesbelowwereoriginally esigned o fit myown ules nd hereforeI offer hese translator'snotes".

Troop types: These are quite straightforward, ut note thatmen-at-arms ncludes ctainer illmen.

Wapons: traightforward gain.Abbreviations re crossbow(CB), handgun HG), Heavy Gun (HvG). Bills (B), Mixedweapons (Mw), Light Gun (LG), Longbow (LB) andRibauldequin R). Mixed weapons are a mixture of bills,spean, xes. mprovised eapons tc. Archerscary ongbows,crossbowmen indlass crossbows. men-at-arms nd Scotsaxemen oleaxes nd ight cavalry ances.

Arnour types: have only three armour ypes; ull (FP), half(HA) and none (UA). Full includes verything rom three-quaner late p. Half-armourcovesl l roops earing rmourother than these, ncluding part-plate, mail or jacks. Un-armouredmen are ust hat. Alltypes are averages cross nits.

QualitJ: Again only three types; elite professionals E),professionals P) and Levies L). Men-at-arms ount as elite

prcfessionals, sdo gun crews.

Unit sizes: My units are built up of rhrees, ours or sixesdependant n type. As the sizes iven ate not supposed oequate irecdyto nown orce izes ut ust o balance, eel reeto increase r decrease hem provided hey rema;n prop-ortionatly he same e.g. if eight man unirs become ens,twelvesbecome ifieens, ixteens. wenties nd soon. Feel reto conbine small unirs, although hey should be counted asseparate nitswhen hoosing he army.

As we saw n Part , raising n amy during he Wars of theRoses as a bit ofa lottery. An army commander as unlikelyto have much controlover he size of his orce, he qualityof

their equipment r their motivarion. t best he controlled hesource f his rooDs. t worst he ook what came. oreflectthisuncertainty, hesize, nd n some asesequipment nd quality,of units s andomly enerated. or each ype, here s a able ofsix options. Wlich one you get depends n the throw of theordinary ie. Diceseparately or each nit of a particulartype.

MEN.AT.ARMSr 2 3 4 5 6

No. offigures 6 6 6 9 9 9Amour FP FP FP FP FP FPQ u a l i t y E E E E E ENote: Totals include command igures. Men-at-arms may fightmounted r dismounted.

RETAIN'ER ARCIMRS1 2 3 4 5 6

No. offigures 8 8 8 12 12 12Armour HA HA HA HA HA HAQ u a l i t y P P P P P PNote: Any army historically containing Calais roops canupgnde one unitto Eclass. Arniesled by Edward V may alsoupgrade ne unit to E class s household rchers. ny retainerarchen may be nounled.

COMII1ONARCHERS1 2 3 4 s 6

No. of figures 12 72 t8 r8 7a 24Armour HA HA HA UA UA UAQ u a l i r y P L L L L LNotes: he P class nit represents n urban coniingent.Onlyone can be fielded, any subsequent nitsdiced up count as Lclass. he smallerunits epresent selective nay, he arger amore ag-tag unch.The maximum umber f Scots rchers s18 and they are always L class. Any 12 man unit may be

COMMON BILLS INo.of figures 12Armour IIAWeapon BQuality L

2 3 4 5 612 l8 18 18 24

HA HA UA UA UAB B M W M W M WL L L L L


7/7

28

Nots: gain, he smaller etterequipped nits epresent oreseleca roups and the larger a mass urnout. This time, theweaponry lsochanges o represent be mixtur of equipmentsuchmen wouldhave.Any 12man unitmay be nounted.

LIGHT CAVALRY4 5 612 t2 12

HA HA HAP P P

VARIATIONS NTHETHEME

1 2 3No. offigures 8 8 8Armour HA HA HAOuality P P P

FRENCH MtrRCENARIES1 2 3 4 5 6

No. o{figures 9 9 12 12 12 12Armour HA HA HA HA HA HAweapon HG CB CB CB CB LBQ u a l i t y E E P P P PNots:Onlyone E class nit s allowed: f more hanone s dicedfbr, downgrade o P class. Any unit may be mounted. Anycrossbows r handgunners ay have pavises.

BURGUNDIANMERCENARIES

Thus ar, we have not deviated much rom rhe straightforvardencounter ame. Looking at the batrles of rhe Wars of theRoses, t is clear hat encounter attles ended or o haDDen.lnsread. ne ide sual ly ook p a defenrive os on and wasattacked y he other. Defensive ositions aried uomatum atbay on the most favourable errain. as at Twksbury, oconstructing ntrenchments, sat Northampton.

One simple way of using he lists to create a less even,defender/attacker attle s to allow each Dlaver o select henumberofunits n his arny within a given;ange .g. welve ofifteen.The side hat selectsthe mallest umberoftroop unitsl ie nol counling eldt lorLs r arr i l lery) a rhe detinyveadvantage. he player with the defensive dvantage houldhave more nfluence ver he errain han he attackinq laver.Exaclly ow his \ done $il l depend n your utes.I i migtrrinvolveone ideplacingmore errain pieces r r may simplybethat. wben he battlefieldsset up, he defendingplayerchooseswhich ide o play rorn.However, ivinghe defending layerfree hand in choice of terrain is going too far. Defensiveadvantage ighr also nclude xtraammunition, f such hings

are catered or in your ules.The attackels, n the otherhand,should ose all non,portable efence works e.g. potholes,palisades tc. Their compensarion s that they get to deploysecond, aving seen he defender's eployment. f, by anychance, oth sides elect he same umber ftrooDunits. ishtan encounrei dlr le.Normal ule ' on. leploymenr pply 5urneitherside an use non-porrablieldworks.

Another variation s to take the choice of units out of thehands f the commanders ltogether. his s where he cardscorne n. Decide n equal number f units per player. Give oeach layerthe minimum nits pecified n ihe appropriate ist.Then ake rom a pack ofcards enough ards o represent heolher optional nils. There willbe no more han our for eachtype. so a number or picture can be used or each: e.g. 3 =retainer rchers. ueen = fieldworks tc. his will then eavesmallpack rom rhich he player akes ufficientards o bringhis/herforc p o chosen unberofunits. Take or exampleplayer elctingifteenunits rom the geneic ist. Three unitswillbe compulsory l men-at-arms.2 etainer rchers). he sizeof the pack will be nineteen ards A maximum of 22 units,minus he minimum of 3), from whih he player will selecttwelve ards. o achievemaximum andomness. snore allthecomposirion ules for a more conrrol led ei: ion, l lowadjustment fthe handaccordingto he composition ules- heplayer iscards nycardswhichcause breach fthe les e.g.too many bills o bows. and eplaces hem withnew cards romthe pack.The rouble with his s hat he new card could auseits own breach f lhe rules and his processmight have o begone hrough everal imes. he esulting attle ould b oughtnormally r according o the ules ofthe first variation, ivingaplayerwhohas rawn or ofartilleryand ieldworksthe hancto defend.Whichever ersion s chosen, he player sfacedwithan unchosen rmyto make he bestof.

No. of figures

Quality

INo. ofpiees 1Typ" R

SCOTS IKEMf,N

Nots: ny unil lnay be mounted- ny crossbows r handgunners may have avises.

ARTILLERY2 3 41 1 1

LG LC LG

t 28 8

HA HALB CBP P

t 21 6 1 6

HA HAP P

3 4 5 68 9 1 2 1 2

HA HA HA HAHG HG HG HGP E P P

3 4 5 620 18 24 24

HA UA UA UAP L L L

6

HAP

l 1LG HG

No. offigures

QualityNotes: n many ways similar o English common roops andlheretore hanng he ame /e qudli l) quarior. .

SCOTS XEMEN1 2 3 4 5

No.offigures 12 12 12 l2 t2ATmouT HA HA HA HA HAQ u a l i l y P P P P P

FIELDWORKSI Any archer nit may be given takes.2 Up to 250yds. f potholes r caltrops. ll archers ay be

given takes.3 Up to 250yds. of potholes or caltrops. uns may be

protected by mandets. Mercenaries may carry spikedpavises. ll archersmay canystakes.

45

As3 above, ut with350yds. f potholes r cahrops.Up to 350yds. f potholes r caltrops. lus 200yds. fbarricades r palisades. uns may be protected byearthworks p to width of the frontaSe of the gun.Mercenaries ay carry spiked pavises. ll archers

maycarrystakes.As 5 above, but with ditch, earth bank and palisadereplacing arricades. arthworks protecring uns mayalso have dilcbes fthey are conrinuous ith the generalditchand bank.

Although think the Wars of the Roses s one of the bestAncient nd Mediaevdlsub-peflodsor rhi( approach o armylisrs. he lslem ould work n .e era l ther ime, and ptaces.The random card variation would be very suitable or EartyMediaevayDark ge batrles, or insaance. n these periods.

commanders ere iLely o ha e ven ess deawhowoutd umup for a battle, hough perhaps he number of troop tlpes isrnore imited. n other periods where a more or tess egulararmy aced an irregular ne, such as Romans Barbarians,mixture of systems ould be used, with the regular choosingunitsand he negular havingthem andomly enerated.

EXTENDTNGIIEIDEA