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