"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Battle of Barnet at Barrage XVIII

At last Saturday's BARRAGE XVIII, the HAWKs' one-day gaming con held in Havre De Grace, Maryland, I ran my War of the Roses, Battle of Barnet, game using our soon to be published "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" rules for Fantasy, Ancients and Medieval mass combat. (For more about the con see my previous post.)

A view of the battle early on. In the foreground Lord Hastings is maneuvering his men to thwart Oxford's attempt  to push his men over a nearby hedge to get on his flank.

The battle took place on April 14th, 1471.  The Yorkist King Edward tried to eliminate the threat posed to his throne by the Earl of Warwick and his allies.  The engagemnt to place on a very foggy morning, causing both side to form up for battle misaligned; both with a dangerously threatened flank.   For the game I had a full slate of 6 players, most of whom were new to the rules.  The armies were 10mm Pendraken figures.

On the Yorkist right, Gloucester and the King advance their forces against Lord Exeter, who is trying to march his Men- At-Arms over to extend his line..

   The game proved to be a closely fought affair with neither side ever able to profit much from their overlapping flank advantage.  

On the Lancastrian right, Oxford pushes his archers forward, but they are met with Hastings' advancing Men -At Arms.  Though they repel the Men-At-Arms, they are pushed back and disorganized, slowing the advance of the rest of Oxford's men over the hedge, and allowing Hastings' Men-At_Arms to retreat without further threat.

In the end though, the king and his Yorkist forces were able to manage a marginal victory over his Lancastrian opponents.

A view of the battle about midway through.

All the players said they enjoyed the game immensely.  And, they were able to virtually run the game themselves, with very little help from me, after a few turns of play.

On the Lancastrian left, Exeter's knights advance to grapple with Glouchester's knights.

The rules will be available from On Military Matters to coincide with the upcoming Fall-In gaming convention.

With a few battered forces left, Warwick views the advancing enemy and decides to call it a day.