1471 Campaign Turn 1

Note - the last blog post set out a campaign engine for running a 1471 Wars of the Roses game. The ongoing delays in Blogger resulted in the post not being published for 27 hours, by which time, the posts likely slipped out of view on many readers lists. 

A lot of work went into the post and it is now clear to me that the efforts of posting big pieces of work here are no longer worthwhile until such time as Blogger gets itself sorted out. 

For now, I am resolved to stop posting on Blogger and just update my COMMANDERS site instead.

HOWEVER, having played the first turn of the 1471 campaign, I am posting the result here, in the hope that Blogger publishes it reasonably quickly, giving readers another chance to see the last post that delivers the campaign engine (link below), …. I am not holding my breath and now care little as my own (paid for) Commanders site can better be relied upon for promptness etc and this stuff will be posted there today anyway.

Anyway, for one last time, here we go!

1471 Campaign Turn 1.

Having set down the game engine, in the last blog post, for running a themed campaign for Wars of the Roses 1471, the campaign is now up and running and the first turn has been played. [link to the game engine post below].

One of the key elements of the campaign is that instructions are written for the forces in each area of the map, folded and put into a draw cup and then one at a time they are drawn and acted upon, so the order that they are drawn becomes central to driving the campaign narrative and it proves to be a very solo friendly way of running a campaign.

First though we roll on the event table ...... Queen Margaret of Anjou can arrive at either Southampton, Devon or Kent, though the location must be either Lancastrian controlled or neutral. She brings foreign forces to support the Lancastrian cause. 1 x Pike, 1 x Melee, 1 x Handgunner.

Next, orders are written for all locations that contain a force. This, including Margaret, turns out to be 6 locations, so 6 sets of orders. 

Now we go on to drawing those orders. This is going to be interesting because Warwick wants to strike at Howard before the main army under Edward arrives at Nottingham.

Above map - at start positions, red is Lancastrian, white is Yorkist. Yellow is independent and garrisoned (Durham). All the black dots are neutral.

Drawing from the cup

1st Order - KENT. Fauconberg marches to Southampton, where he is to meet with Margaret and combine their forces. Southampton’s allegiance changes from neutral to Lancastrian.

2nd Order - LONDON. Suddley continues to garrison the city, protecting King Henry VI.

3rd Order - YORK. Edward is here with the main Yorkist army. Hastings sends 1 x militia and 1 x artillery up north to besiege Durham. He sends 1 x melee to Shrewsbury to Garrison it. The attack at Durham fails, but Shrewsbury’s allegiance turns Yorkist and now has a Yorkist garrison force.

Edward takes the rest of the army and marches south to join Howard at Nottingham.

4th Order - COVENTRY. Warwick, with the main Lancastrian army, attacks Nottingham. Though Hastings in Edward’s army has sent some units to Durham and Shrewsbury, Howard's forces, already waiting at Nottingham, make up for that. 

A significant battle results (detailed below).

5th Order - OVERSEAS. Queen Margaret of Anjou lands at Southampton with her reinforcements. Her forces combine with Lord Fauconberg. Southampton's allegiance becomes Lancastrian.

6th Order - NOTTINGHAM. Howard was to start preparing defensive positions, but Warwick’s arrival (order 4) has pre-empted him now being able to do that.

The Battle at Nottingham (rules used are Test of Resolve).

While Warwick deployed under the typical three battle formations of vanward, mainward and rearward (Clarence, Warwick and Oxford), Edward deployed into four battles.

Hastings, who had sent detachments to Durham and Shrewsbury took the reserve position behind Edward in the centre, while Edward's left was held by Howard, who had fewer melee troops. Gloucester was on the right.

Seeing fewer flags on Edwards left, Warwick’s plan was to advance his army quickly and hope to unhinge Howard before the Yorkist reserve could move over to support him.

Edward was content to make maximum use of his archers before any contact was made and he sought a more defensive stance.

Edward’s and Warwick’s battles in the centre were the first to clash, but Warwick quickly got the upper hand. Disastrously, during the initial fighting, Edwards Men-at-Arms turned tail and retreated, pursued by Warwick’s men, who caught them and continued to inflict heavy losses.

Along the Yorkist line, contingents started to rout, first archers running in panic, followed by the guns being overrun. There was significant pressure from the Lancastrians everywhere.

Losing his Men-at-Arms to rout was the last straw for Edward. he decided the army needed to retreat now to save itself, but disengaging was difficult and more losses followed. Edward stayed on the field until the last possible moment, to see the last of his archers and billmen escape (In consequence, in future actions, Edward will be rated as an inspirational leader).

Gloucester’s entire wing had routed (dispersed in Test of Resolve terms) and he (side note - the future King Richard III) just about escaped with his life (rolling on the post game loss table).  

The remnants of the Yorkist army retreated back up the road towards York. This had been a terrible opening of the campaign for Edward, his shattered army would not withstand another head-to-head with Warwick.

Above - this is what the campaign map looks like at the end of Turn 1 (you can click on it). Edward is getting squeezed. If we add the Victory Points of allegiance at this stage, the Lancastrians are leading with 7 points to 3. Can Edward hold on?

Warwick has the initiative and what happens next will be of his making! His prime objective is to put Clarence on the Throne, so does he turn south, take London and capture Henry VI or does he drive north to deal with the much weakened Edward .... or something else altogether? 

Turn 2 is already under way.

Resources;

The blog post that delivers the campaign engine is at this link -

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/08/practical-campaigning-1471.html

COMMANDERS is my other bit of webspace. It is a bit more snippet based than here, more updated more often - LINK

https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html

 

Practical Campaigning - 1471

Inspired by the campaign section in the Wars of the Roses, Hail Caesar Supplement by Warlord Games, I have put the following together to run a themed campaign, giving a nod to the events of 1471.

The map includes Tewkesbury and Barnet, the locations of the two significant battles from that year. [As a side note, from a geographic perspective, on the map at this scale, Barnet pretty much occupies the same space as St. Albans, another centre of influence throughout the wars].

For anyone interested in such things, here is an outline of the bare bones framework to get this campaign going;

The campaign will run for a maximum of 6 campaign turns. Each campaign turn is phased in the following order;

Turn Sequence.

1 - Events Phase - roll on the Events Table and apply.

2 - Planning Phase - Select a friendly occupied location, write down orders for your forces there. Fold and place in a draw cup that both sides will be putting their orders into.

Players repeat for every friendly occupied location. Orders can include moving to an adjacent location, garrisoning a location with one unit or anything that seems a reasonable thing to do.

3 - Executing Orders Phase - draw one order at a time from the draw cup and act on it before drawing the next order (i.e. random activation of the various occupied locations). 

4 - End of turn. Assess whether an automatic victory has been gained during the turn, otherwise start a new turn. If this is the end of turn 6 and an automatic victory has not yet occurred, end the game and calculate victory points to determine the strategic winner.

Yorkist automatic victory - if Clarence and Henry VI both die and / or are captured (and / or in the case of Clarence, he has changed allegiance to Richard). Either way, neither must be available to the Lancastrian cause.

Lancastrian automatic victory - if Edward dies or is captured.

Victory Point Schedule calculated at the end of Turn 6;

2 points for controlling London

2 Points for controlling York

2 Points for controlling Nottingham

1 Point per other controlled location

At the start of the campaign, all locations are neutral (i.e. neither under declared Yorkist or Lancastrian influence), with the exception of the following which contain ‘at-start’ forces’

Yorkists

Edward is in York with Gloucester and Hastings, plus 2 artillery units. * see below order of battle note

Lord Howard is in Nottingham with 1 x melee, 1 x militia and 2 x longbow

Lancastrians

Warwick is in Coventry with Clarence and Oxford, plus 2 artillery units. * see blow order of battle note

Fauconberg is in Kent with 1 x MAA, 1 x melee 1 x militia and 1 longbow

Henry VI is in London with Suddley and 1 x melee, which has the status of garrison

Independent 

Prince - Bishops of Durham. Durham had an unusual power arrangement, basically they did not openly support a faction, rather they tried to work with the current regime of the day, while keeping their independence. At the start of play Durham is neutral, but, unusually, they also have their own garrison (1 x militia) and so, if either Yorkist or Lancastrian forces want to enter Durham and secure its allegiance, they can only do so by siege … unless you determine that otherwise would be more fitting to the narrative!

* Order of Battle note in the two main armies (Edward & Warwick), each of the three leaders start with 1 x MAA, 1 x melee, 1 x militia and 2 x longbow. These initially form the vanward, mainward and rearward of that army, giving 15 units to each main army. 

Above map, this is what the digital map looks like at the starting positions. I have used radial circles to help anyone with colour blindness. note the yellow dot show Durham as independent. All black dots are neutral at this time.

The strategic OBJECTIVES of the two sides are;

Edward to replace Henry VI as king.

Warwick, to install Clarence as king (initial and prime objective), if this becomes impractical because Clarence is killed, captured or defects, then ensure Henry VI remains king.

Warwick Castle

Events Table (Roll a D6 in the Events Phase and apply)

1 - Roll a D6 on 1,2,3 this applies to Yorkist side, on 4+ it applies to the Lancastrians. In the upcoming writing of orders phase, all units in one location (only) can be given a ‘make best speed’ order. This will allow them to move two locations rather than one. If the first location becomes enemy controlled in the meantime, then the moving units must stop there.

2 - George, Duke of Clarence defects from Warwick's army and joins the Yorkists under Edward. His next orders must have him break away from other Lancastrians that he might share a location with. From now on, he will fight any Lancastrian force that he meets and will serve Edward. If this event occurs more than once, treat as ‘no event’.

3 - Queen Margaret of Anjou arrives at either Southampton, Devon or Kent, the location must be Lancastrian controlled or neutral. She brings 1 x pike, 1 x melee and 1 x handgunner with her as a Lancastrian reinforcement. If the Queen cannot meet the conditions of arrival then this event can be rolled for again in a future turn. Once Margaret arrives, this event is treated as a ‘no event’.

4 - Roll a D6 on 1,2,3 this applies to Yorkist side, on 4+ it applies to the Lancastrians. Regional recruiting swells the ranks as 500 soldiers join your army. Add 1 x militia to one of your controlled locations that already contains non-garrison forces. This event can occur any number of times in the campaign.

5 - Edward gains 1 x flemish unit of handgunners. If this event occurs more than once, then subsequent events invoke ‘Treachery’ (see below).

6 - John Neville (Montagu) brings reinforcements to Warwicks location, add 1 x melee and 1 x longbow. If this event occurs more than once, the event is replaced with ‘Mists’  

Above - Digital is good ...... but I need a physical map with drawing pins, to keep me true!

Garrisons - If a single melee type unit occupies a friendly location, it can be given the status of ‘garrison’. If a garrison is ever subsequently moved away, then that location is no longer garrisoned until such times as it is re-garrisoned. A location that has more than one unit contains a ‘force’ and not a garrison and so cannot be put to siege, it must be directly attacked instead.

 

Conducting a siege move.

When a force attempts to defeat a garrison and capture the location, roll 1D6 for each melee unit in the attacking force. Add 2D6 if the attackers have artillery with them.

The attack needs one SIX to remove the defending militia from play, allowing the attackers to take the location.

If the attackers fail to defeat the garrison, they return to the location that they moved from.

Treachery!

Whenever this action is gained via the Events Table (2nd or more rolling of event 5), both sides roll a D6, re-roll a draw. The Winner can select any one enemy commander anywhere currently on the map (except Edward, Gloucester or Warwick) and hope to make them RELUCTANT throughout the current campaign turn. 

The winner does not decide who the reluctant commander might be until the moment during the Executing Orders Phase, when an order is drawn and the winner wants to try and influence that order. Roll a D6. On a 1,2 or 3 the commander chosen to become reluctant and his allocated troops will ignore the order and just stay where they are. On a 4+ the commander has come to his own decision to keep his allegiance and so is NOT reluctant and the treachery element ends immediately.

If a reluctant commander finds themselves in a battle that campaign turn, at the very start of play, after all units have been set up, roll a D6 on 1 or 2, the reluctant commander and his troops must always use their movement to retreat fully off the table and return to their previous location. On a 3+ they simply stand and fight in place, but do not do anything that could be construed as an advance.

If the same commander becomes reluctant twice during the campaign, they permanently defect to the other side.

Mists

Whenever this is invoked on the Events Table (2nd or more rolling of event 6), there is a chance that one or more battlefields in THAT campaign turn (only) might be subjected to the difficulties of mist / fog.

Roll 1D6 at the start of each battle, after set up. On a 1,2,3 there will be thick mist. On a 4+ the weather is fine.

If there is a thick mist, randomly select one formation (battle) on the table that will have become disorientated and will be moved out of its starting position.

Roll a further D6. On a score of 1 - 2 it will move to the left, 3 - 4 it will move to the right and 5 - 6 it will move directly ahead.

It just makes one large move, as far as is necessary, until it either bumps into another unit (friend or foe) or leaves the table. If it leaves the table, it plays no further role in the battle. If it bumps into another formation (battle), then both of those formations each suffer 5 hits, distributed as the owning players see fit. The game then resumes normally, except that for the rest of the game, visibility is reduced to just nine inches and units can only move directly ahead (towards the enemy side of the table), until they can see an enemy, they can then move freely. Sieges are not affected.

Fleeing troops. 

Formations leave the battlefield in one of two ways, by deliberate retreat during battle to exit the table or by routing (Test of Resolve rules refer to this latter as dispersal). In the latter case, roll a D6 for each of those routing units. On a 4+ the unit will live to fight another day and it retreats to an adjacent non-enemy controlled location. 

If a unit, whether retreating or routing off table has nowhere to go because all adjacent locations are enemy controlled, then such units have surrendered and are removed from the campaign. 

This is my first crack at this campaign, so it is a proposed campaign and not a play tested one, but I hope to have a good bit of fun with it, so in addition to the above basic campaign structure, the players can add, manage, interpret or remove anything that enhances the campaign experience and gains a better narrative.

Resources

My other bit of webspace is the COMMANDERS site, which is a bit more snippet based than here and will likely be used to discuss the campaign progress - LINK

https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html