TTVERY oRDATNTHEMJACKETS OFn,IY

(Armles of the Early Part of the Warsof the Roses,1455-71,

PartI)
byAnthonyClipsom
with 290 men agreedio provide Salisbury WalterStrickland manorsin Westmoreland in 1,98. drawn from Strickland's beena popularpenodfor However, The Warsof the Roses havealways wouldhavebeeno{ the smaller type. mostcontracts wargamers. Informationaboui them is plentiful(look in your The number of men retainedfor military servicewould "wars at the numberof bookscalled of depend locallibrarycatalogue greatlyon whatcouldbe affordedandhow politically wilh haracters like Warwick activea lord might be. The largest the Roses"!). theyarepopulated known numberof knights and, with their andsquires the Kingmakerand Richard of Gloucester by a magnate is 90,including twopeers, by retained privatearmiesand shiftingalliances. offer lots of campaign Lord Hastingsin the 1470's.Most would hav had less. the Warsof the Roses are also Humphrey Stafford formally retained 23 gentlemen,who opportunities. Unfortunately, was between shrouded in a lot of popularmyth. Richardof Cloucester around120nen. In then would supplysomewhere Englandwas not the 1458, not thedeformed crcature ofShakespeare, London in a showolstrength entered theEarl ofSalisbury bloodshed andanarchyforthirtyyears andthe with a retinueof 400men, including sceneof constant 80 knightsand esquires, wasnot foughtby two armies uniformed in whiteand whowouldbe hisridingretinue struggle plusthe coreof hisretainers. havebeen red roses. Whilethese andotherobvious corections at Therewereother sources of privatearmies,numerically popularlyacepted, a lot of detailedwork doneby historians least more significant than retainers.Somewere men with over the pastthirty yearsor so is not so widely known.The politicalorsocial tisto a magnate.lnorderto get on, or even Dumose of thesearticlesis to look at the evidence for the protect property, one's it wasimportant to havea "goodlord", a iompositionof armiesin the early part of the wars and to politicallypowerfulmagnate who ouldensure that your law waysof usingthe informadon to generate wargames suiis were successful, suggest contracts obtainedor lucntive offices To demonstrate their allegiance, clientswere given acquired. theirlord'sliverybadge lo wear.The priceof "goodlordship" waslocalpoliticat support andoftenmilitaryserice, in person OFTHEARMIES THECOMPOSITTON The men thusattached to a "goodlord" or with a fellowshipi) Privatearmies in the towns to local could range from simple tradesmen i-e. men landowners The backbone of all private armieswere retainers and the minor nobility.Thesewere a potentially moneyfor it. majorsource contratually bound to a leaderand receiving in addition to his of suppo . Hunphrey Stafford, into household retaine$and 23 retaine$,had another These canbeconveniently divided 57 localgentryhe couldcall on for menwho served whensummoned. wasfragileas support. However, militarypowerbdlton clients "goodlord" ifhe provedto has theycouldeasily Thestrengthand militarysignificance of household forces desert to aDother by Edward IVresiricted be moreinfllential. tendedtobeexaggerated. Lawspassed Thus,aduke thesizeof householdsaccordingto socialstanding. werethe tenants of a lord\ Anothermajorsource of support wasentitledto 240men,a baron40 anda knightbachelor24. It lands. Land was still the basisof wealth and the major on typicalsizes, rather protagonists is likely that thesefigureswere based owneda greatdealof it. Someideaof the forces cut backthe strength of the availableare given by Sir Walter Strickland's 290 men frorn 7 than an attemptto dramalically of manorsin 1zg8or JohnHoward\ 500tenantsfrom zl4manorsin nobility.Thus,the Dukesof Buckingham kept a household 200-240 in the later 15thCentury. Only abouthalfthis number 1484. werea morereliable forcethanclients astheyhad Tenants were permanentretaineB. In 1457, these nurnbeied129 no choice manyfamed landonwhichtheir oflandlord.Indeed, 4 chaplains, 7 clerics, a herald and15waiting ancestors including 34pages, had been serfsor tenantsof the samefamily for women. Of these 129, about 50-60constituted the "riding generations, buildingup powertulloyalties. the Duke aboutthe retinue"i.e. thosemenwho acompanied The actual sizeofpdvate armies is hardto determine. Most his estates. armies country,the rest being involvedin maintaining conlained troopsof a numberof lordsof varyingrank While it is likely that mostofthe household coulddo military andpower so it is hardto be surehowmanyan individual lord if required, it wasnot their primaryfunctionand they led. som examples service from the private warfareof the period glve thanthe some idea. however.A selectionof figures from legal or wereunlikelyto be any more skilledor experienced average militia man. On the other hand, lhey would have a administrative whichare lesslikely to be exagger' documents, personal a greater cohesion, ated thafl contemporary gives som clues. For stakein the fightingandperhaps chronicles, being used to working togeiher. The militarily significant example, aftera privatebatrlein 1453, 710Percytroopswere who were indicted.Two thousand retainers werethose,usually outside the household, were issued badges to the Duke of paid as military subcontraclors, sometimes referred to as Buckingham's men in 1454.ln 1484,the Duke of Norfolk "feedmen". paymeflts These menreceived annual to retainthe mustered by a "militia" of 800men,180 ofwhomwereprovided of themselves and usuallya military "fellowship". rerainer.. services Simrlar, rf sl'ghLly h'gher figure' are given in considerably in sizebul seem usuallyto have chronicles Fellowshipsvaded or letters.The Duke of Norfolk is said to have been small.Thoseof men retainedby HumphreyStafford. besieged CaisterCasllewith 3,000men ir 1469. The Earl of in the 1440'svaried between threeandsix Devonshire DukeofBuckingham, is said to have mustered,with Lord Cobham, theDukeofNorfolk 5-6,000 men.ThePastons seem alsoto haveserved However, men in 1451 and 4,800men alonein 1453. j ackets of lNorfolk\] details of Devonshire's with four to sixmen(whowere"ordained between1451and 1455 campaigns are known. For example, Sir suggest livery"). Somelargercontracts engaged, usually a far smallernumberof combalants

INTRODUCTION

between 500and1000. The armies of LordsBerkeley andLisle engaged at Nibley Green in 1470 were also 500-1000 strong. Overall,then,it seems that the likely sizeofthe privateforces available to the majorparticipants in theWarsof the Roses was in the range of 500-3,000 men.

THE MINIATURE ARCHITECT

HondcGfted model bulldlngsond inoin lo 'Off the Peg' Hondbuilt Buildlngs In 15 ond 25mmscales. 'Kettione' High Definilion ResinBuildings ond Fodifcolions in i,ooh,lsmm ond 20-25mm scoles.

ii) Royal troops Stockisiof Eogle Miniolures25mm Flgus. In militarytems, the Kingwasin manywaysmuchlike oneof SAFo/us 50o for illuirqled liststa the great magnates. He too had a household(of approximately A CoDesl'cke. 500),someofwhom,like the knightsandesquires ofthe body 23 Wlom Sireel Croqheod, Slonely, and the yeoman Counlv DurhomDH96ER archels, had a militaryfunction.He alsohad lands,both royal andancestral, andtnants. However, unlike Chequs mode poyobleto A Copesicka Posljoqe ond Pocklng the magnates, he did nor routinelyretainmilitary suppolten. IK/BIPO l2th% Europe4JSA 20% Hehad,afterall,littleneed.In theory, all menowedhimserice Auslrolio/A.sio 40%of ordervolue andevenin practice, the royal parties guarantee couldalways Ke!si].e nade enauides welcome severallord's private forceswould comeat their call. Kings did use contracts to rahe forces in time of war, or to deal with internationalproblems like piracy, however. appointed local commissioners whosejob was to selectfrom The sizeofthe King'spersonal forces doesnot seem to have theirareaa certain number of men.In theory, thisallowed them beenaslargeassomeofhisgeater subjects. Throughmuchof to selet the fittestandbestequipped men. the period,th numberof yeoman archers seerns to havebeen At the startofthis period.the leq wasexpected to produce under 60 strong.More household archers were occasionally 13,000 menin England and3,000 in Wales andCheshire. W}len "of nised. In 1467, EdwardIV employed 200 the mostexpen it wasatuallymusteredin Englandin 1457,it nustercd 12,592, archers of England"in his ridingretinue.ln 1475, he had 184 remarkably close to the planned figure.A propodon of these ''archers of the Kingt chamber". Someidea of Edwardlvt mencamefrom the towns,but the majoritywereleviedin the personalmilitary strengthcomes from the report that he lost 800 shires. providd Forexample, Lincolnshire 910men,Kent575, of his o\ln men at Towtonin 1461. Giventhar the battlewas Bedfordshire 201andNorthumberland a mere60. extremelybloody, with perhaps20-25%casualties on the Commissions of Array could only be issuedunder royal winning size, this suggests a retinue of 3,500-4,000 men. authority, whichlimitedtheiruse dudngtheWars. However, as giventhe special However, circumstances andthe sheer sizeof bothsides hada kingbeteend 1461and 1471, conmissions could the forces mustered for the Towtoncampaign, thisfigureis not beissued by bothsides to arrayat thesame time.Thiscouldlead likelyto be a typicalroyalretinue. A moretypical figuremaybe to difficulty in gettingrecruitsand a seriouslack of commirment suggested by the fatthat, in preparationfor acarnpaign in 1469, on the part of thosewho did comeforward.Commissions of Edward orderedthe royal wardrobeto supply2,000livery Array could also be forged,as happened in the Lincolnshire revoltof 1470, although the militaryvalueofahetroopsraised In addition to hispersonal the King,at least forces, in theory, proved to be minimal. controlled the troopsof the border garrisons, who were the What the militia systern did ensure wasthat England had a closestthing Eneland had to a standingarmy. In reality, large poolof armedmen,all at leastbasically equipped for war. however, the gardsons tendedto be loyalto their captains and This pool providednot only commission of affay troopsand theircaptains tended to be loyalonly to theirambitions. There private armiesbut also the potentialfor popularrevolt. A were two garrisonson the Scotsborder, Carlisle and Berwick, number of uprisings occuned during the period, most engarrison, gineered mustering at most450menbetween them.The largest by onefactionoranother. Themostsuccessful of these over1000 men,defended the Calaispale. risings wasthat of"Robin of Redesdale" in 1,169, whose victory There is litde evidenceof the northern garrisons being at Edgecotethat year caused the collapse of Edward IV's involvd in theinternal affai$ of thekingdom. Berwickwas lost government. to the Scots in 1461 andnot recovered until 1482. Carlisle was besieged by the Scots in 1461 but thereafter mostofthe action iv) Th Towns in the Eastem tookplace March. One part of the militia which did play a role were the town The Calaisgarrison were much more closelyinvolved in the contingents. Townsbecane embroiledin the politicsof the Wars.The Yorkists useofCalaisasa powerbase between 1458 period and tendedto sendwell equipped contingents to the and 1461meant that gar son troops were involved in cross- support prepared of their prefenedfaction.Coventry to send Channel raidsandpiracy.In1459, the Earl of Warwick brought 1000to suppo Henry Vl ar St. Albansin 1455, thoughthe a Calais contingent of 600mento England, who desened to the battlewasoverbeforetheywereready.lt did, however, send Lancastrians at Ludford.Later that year,they retumedto the 100men to suppo Edward IV at Tol,1on. Norwich sent 120 paleaspart of a Lancastdan Calais forcewhichseized cuines mento fightfor theYorkists at Second St.Albansin 12161, while castle and foirghta numberof skirmishes with Calais soldiers 400 men ftom York servedthe Lancastriancause.The larsest loyat.otheYorkists. In 1460, CalaistroopsseizedSandwich asa knownconringenl $a\ lhe 1000 mensenrby York to To*lo; in bridgehead for a Yorkistinvasion ofEnglandandtook part in 1461, althoughit is possible that more Londoners se|ed at the campaign that led ro the baitle of Northampton. Calah Second St. Albans.Certainly, Londonandits suburbs arayed soldien servedin Warwickt army in 1469-A 300 strong 1,137 menfor mititiaseNice in 1457, against York's 152. Other contingent of Calaistroopsalso took parr in the Bastardof examples from the 145?array includBristol with 91 men, Fauonberg\ attackon Londonin 1471. Lincolnwith 46andSouthamptonwith 26. ii) The Conmons At the time of the Warsof the Roses,Englandhad a well established militia systemWhile in theoryall menbetween 16 and60wereliablefor service, in practice a selective lely based on Commissions of Array wasoperated. Commissions of Array v) Mrcenaries and ForeignTloops Technically,there were few true mercenaries in seffice in the Wars-Most "mercenaries" were actuallytroopsprovidedby alliedpowers. The largestnumbersof foreign troops to servewere Scots.In

cause foughtfor the Lancastrian retum for Berwick,the Scots between 1461'3.Support varied, but major forces were committedat the siegeof Carlisle(June 1461),the relief of of Norham(July1463). 1463) andthesiege Alnwick(January Burgundyand France also provided troops, the lbrmer of Smallnumbers York and the latter Lancaster. supporting canpaignand EdwardIV had Burgundians foughtin the 1461 in his army in 1471.A small nunber of 3-500Burgundians Frenchtroops.along with Bretonsand ldsh, fought on the Between 800and Cross in 1461. Lancastrian sideat Mortimers 2000Frenchtroops fought for Lancasterin the winter of 1462-3 (but probably nunber) in 1471. smaller andan unknown

is possible, therefore, tenants but menhiredfor theoccasion.It in battles at homewould ofarchersinvolved thattheproportion be less. This said, what little evidencewe have for the they consisted of compositionof retainer {orces suggests man.whowouldsrve numerous smallretinues ofthe retained as a man-at-arms, andthreto six others,who werprobably that forcesof retainers duringthe archers. Thus,it is possible getting on towards theproportionsofthe Wars wouldhave ben if we tum to the common A very different picture is suggested while the town contingents forces ofthe militiasandtenantry. reviewseem to be all archers, andeventhe troopsofthe 1457 musterinformation shows that therewasa highproportionof rolls for BridDortin Dorsetlists non-archers. The 1457 muster about 100 men, of whom two-thirds were archers, the of varioussorts A musterlist arryingpolearms remainder only datingto theearly1480's,lists Oxfordshire, from Ewelme, 1? archersout of 85 men, the rest having bill or staff walaer of the 140archeNand 150 rnenin 1448 consisted Strickland's billmen. a force,the higher that the moreselective Ovemll.ir seems to otherarms.A privatearmynight the proponionof archers and320 ofwhom80night bemen-at-arms muster400retaine$, militia of 1500 Add to these a a ratio of 4 to 1. retinuearchers. of 1000 archenand500 consisting tenants andothersupporten, rabble to 9 to 4. Add a turther1000 billmen.andtheratiodroDs archers at the Ewelne proportioniandyou havea totalof 1520 I to 1. and1380 others. almost

ANDEQUIPMENT WEAPONS

i) Bows,bills ,nd spears archer, of anyEnglish armyoftheperiodwasthe Thebackbone used1o mean so muchso that the word archeris sometimes buckler, swordand a longbow, Standard equipmentwas soldier. of the the qualiiyandcompleteness iack and sallet.However, and that of wealth of the archer, 1o according equipmentvaried be desired. left somethingto militiatroopssometimes '\pear". The name,like The othermain troop type wasthe weaponof the from the characteristic bowsand bills, derives a cavalry lance Exactly we now call a spear beingwhat soldier. but morethanlikelythe unclear asa spear;s whowasclassified it would have term was vague.Like the term man-at-armsi solgentlemen and professional includedknights,esquires, and would have been lrained spears The best equipped diers. manner or cavalyin the lraditionrl Io frght ashecvy equipped ii) Cavahy platedrmourand ridingspecrally on toor. ca*edin e)'pensive rhemaincatalryforceol an) armywer menlioned, As already HoweGr. thes; may havebeena minority.The the spears.lt seemsthat a proportion of spearsremained bred horses. had beenfightingprimarilyon foot for overa century nountd during severalbattles of the Wars, but only at English combat orinvested Tewkesbury mounted andmanymaynot havemastered Cavalryfeature much success. did they achieve will havebeen more often in encounter Not everyone horses required. in the expensive or suddenattackswhile skirmishes able to afford importedItalian or Germanarmoureither: a leading roles.Light light cavalry the army;typial or screening in datedor incomplete cavalry propodon must have beenequipped as theybore the werea very inportant part of armies duties-Sources are not very clear on brunt of the scouting The third personof our military tnnity, the billrnan, is whetherthere were separate categories of light cavalry,or but we know liltle about whetherthe various"pricken" and "scourers" He existed. of an enigma. something were simply of heavilyarmourednen with bius are quite spears him. Pictures tohobila$,whomaybe ddinglighi.Therearereferences and but these mayhavefoughtwith the men_at-arms common, eilher light cavalryor mountedinfantry,amongthe militia The majority of billmenwould Northem or Border horse,who play a tight cavalryrole in in lhe spears. so be included injack andsallet like Englisharmiesof the sixteenth dressed heavily armoured, havebeenless in century,were also already in the fifteenth century. existence mention.Not to be deserves Oneothertypeof infantryman cavalry,many infantry would In additionto the specialist infantry havebeenmountedfor transDort with spears,staffmenwere spear-armed onfused to the battlefieldand could than the billmenand perhaps have They are evenmore enigmatic troops in scoutingonthe theothermounted supplemented districts march.what proportionof men were mountedwould have fomd a snall ninority mixedin with thebillsin some wherethe spear varied. Retainen and their fellowships may havebeenin Wales, The only exceplion would hav been in useinlo thesixteenth mounted and some. if not all. town troops had horses, weapon andcontinued wasatraditional halJ of Approximately occasionally hiredat thetown'sexpense. is oneof walter Strickland's of the differentarmsto oneanother The DroDortion men were mounted. both archersand h sketchy and, to billmen.Many common of the Wars.Evidence the greatunknowns wouldhavewalked.In 1453, soldiers for the composi the Earl of Devonshire's The bestevidence contradictory. someextent, to have had 800 army is recorded muster honemenand 4,000foot. EdwardIV's army at Tewkesbury thelatel5thcenturyisthe armyduring tionofan English a contained Fran in 1475This shows listsfor the armv whichinvaded perhaps a third of its stre gth. footrnen, 3,000 l Billmen in excessof8to ofarchersto men-at-arms DroDortion are noi nentioned.However.it is not at all certainthat this iii) Foreigntroops scene. we have very lirde detail about foreign forcesin England. All to coverlhe domestic canbe extrapolated information to serve mentions or handgunners. force intended invasion of Burgundians are of anillerymen recruited This wasa specially or even archer may have served. a foreignenemy.That enemyhad lraditionallybeen However,crossbowmen against cenainlynot in by archeryand was also heavilyrelianton cavalry, Pikenenare unlikelyto havebeenemployed, defeated wasat peaceand tactically The Frenchare againlikely to to archery. England significant numbers. which werevulnerable couldpickand havebeen or perhaps handgunners so arrayers crossbowmen, archers ofvolunteers. therewasno shortage *eIe wasfootingthebill and thetaxpayer Moreimportantly, The Scorsrroops used in lhe l4bl 03 campaigns choose. of men'at_ providedby the nobililywerenot a motley tnwlandersand thuswould mainlyhaveconsisted so the contingents men and arms and pikenen. Sometroops were equippedwith two_ maintenance colletion of retainers, Iivery-and

T$/oMedicvalshipsscratch-builtin 2rnm bJ HolesModeb. Hulb are Milliput over a woodencore; sailsare cartidge paper. lLtl the job fot lerrying a feht ttoops ovet lrom Cahis. handedaxesandthere would havebeensomearchersequipped of portable obstacles ranging from the exotic studdedpavises, with the longbow.The Scotsdefrnitely deployeda strongsiege netswith nails and caltropsof SecondSt. Albans to the humble train and probably had somegunsavailablefor field use. iv) Artillery Gunsof variousdescriptionswere commonin fifteenth century England. However, it must be rememberedthat guns were as much a signof statusasa pradical military weaponat this time. The bestrecord of any artillery train is that which accompanied the English army in Francin 1475,which contained13 pieces, plus associatd cans and equipmeot, although this included part of an siegeguns.Henry \t[ took delivery of 26 gunsin 1457, order for 60which wasnever tulfiIed. Aside from the king, the major lords also had guns. l-ord Fastolf, who died in 1459,owned 18, probably mainly usedto defend his castles.However. in 1451.the Earl of Devon raised an arm which had five cans carrying guns and Lord Lisle also had cartswith gunsbefore rhe battle of Nibley crcen in 1470. The other ownen of gunswere the to*ns. Even small towns hadguns.For example,Coventry boughtfour brassgunsin 1451 andfor one gatein 1471 acquiredthree guns,rwo staff gunsand a handgun. While clearly intended for to*n defence, they represented a potential supply of gunsto Eeld armies.This can be seen in the Tewkesbury campaign of 142, when the l-ancastrians obtained gunsfrom Brisiol. v) Fortifications No survey of armiesof the period would be completewithout refernceto thir tendencyto dig-in in the early yea$ of the Wars.Northampton and SecoDd St. Albans both showthis, but it also oc.urred at the non-battles of Danford in 1452and we are talking of quite Ludford in 1459.In all the abovecases, substantialfieldwo*s, making useof terrain and taking a lot of effort to construct.The English were alsofamiliar with a range

SELECTBIBLIOGRAPHY
The books I have leaned most heavily on in preparing this article are: A. Goodman TheWarsof rre Roser(the bestmilitary sureey) (another good military J. Gillingham: The Warsof the Roses history) (especiallyCh. 4, on the scale A. Pollard: The Watsof theRo,tes of the wars) R. Storcy: The End of theHouseof Lancstet(usetuton pnv^te warfare 1451-55) Someusefulinfomation camefrom: C. A[mand: Societ!at Wal (about the Hundred Yeals war but with detailson Edward IV's adllery) C. Oman: Waft,ick the Kinpuke, (repdnts the Strickland contracO B. Wilkinson: Cor6t:irirb, al Hisriry ol Englandin the Fifuenth Csntury(documntson the militia systen) Last, but not least, the English Historical Documentsvolume for the period. ern lI Fi[ look at alternativerrny lists for rhis Friod.)

CHELIFER BOOKS
Mike Smith
Todd Close,Curthwaite, Wigton,Cumbria Tel: 0228 711388
MILITARY BOOKS
and Sold Send sae for c

26

oRDAINTHEMJACKETS OFMY TTVERY

PARTTWO
byAnthonyClipsom
INTRODUCTION
Common Archers
Common Bills 0 4 Traditionally, armies of the Warsofthe Roses naveoeenseen Light Cavalry 0 I primarilyol the retainers asconsisting andhousehold forces of Mercenaries 0 I najor lords suchas Warwickor Percy,a productof basrard Anillery 0 2 teuJJIi.mand liverlandmain'enance Howe!er,a5qe,a$in Fieldworks 0 I Part I of this article,modemrsearch tendstowards rhe view professional" that such forcesformed but a small core of Command | 4 armies composed mainlyoflesswellmotivated troopsrecruired among tenantsand taditional supporters. much as earlier i) The numberof unitsof men-at-arms shouldnot exceed the number of unitsof retainer archers. Havinglookedat thecomposition of thearmies whichfought ii) The ratio of units of CommonBills to CommonArchers the Warsofthe Roses between 1455 and 1471. we now turn to should not be greater than4:1or less than1:2. recrearing those armieson the tablerop. iii) Welsh contingents substitule Common Spearmenfor Common Bills. ALTERNATIVE iv) If the army represents one which hhtoricallycontained ARMYLISTS mercenaries, the optional mercenary unitbecomes compulsory. Army listsareoneof thosethings whichdividewargamers_ To armies select mercenaries fromtheFrenchtable, lhe competition gamer,they are as viral as the rulebook.To v) Lancastrian from the Burgundian. manywargamers, theyare a useful guideline whenbuildingan Yorkists vi) If the army reprsents one whichhistorically had artillery, army. To a few outspoken critics,they haveundermined rhe one artillery unit is conpulsory. connectionbetweenwargamingand the srudy of military may be outstanding, goodor mediocre. history.Whihever oftheseviewsthe reader holds,few would vii) Army commander good,mediocre or poor. deny that, for the Ancienrand Meitiaeval period,army lists Sub-commanders havebeenfirmly wedded to equalpoints,head,to,head battles. LIST2:POPULAR REVOLT Things need not bethisway,however. Army listscan playa part rn settrngup an unevenencounter afld. in other wargames periods. .uccessfu ha!ebeen lly ro used Type Minimum Maximum The ideasrsed beloware not entirelyoriginal.They owe a 0 l Men-at-arms greatdeallo thearmylistsin the Fol/orntlapeECW rulesand 0 2 Reuiner Archers to ideasin Harvey Gerndts soon to be published Sl]rre ,n 2 6 SplendowWarc of the Rosesrules. The use of cards to 4 8 Conmon Bills js still older I pickedit up from determine armycomposition Lighl Cavalry 0 1 Warganerc Newsletet in the 70\. Newor not, my hopeis that Fieldworks 0 1 thiscombinationofideas willprovide games some enjoyable for Command t 2 Wars of the Rosesplayersand set Ancient and Mediaeval gamers in general thinkingaboutthe creative useofarmy lists. i) The numberof unitsof men-at-arms shouldnot exceed the number of unitsof retainer archers. THELISTS ii) The rario of units of CommonBills to CommonArchers whichI feelcoverallarmies greaterthan4:1 I offerthree lists. of theWarsofthe shouldnotbe orlessthan 1:2. Roses from 1,155 to 1471. List l isthegeneric armylist.covering iii) Welsh contingents substituteCommon Spearmenfor mostarmies Bills. ofboth sides duringthe period.List 2 is a popular Cornmon rebellion list. List 3 is a Lancastrian/Scottish Archer andCommonBilltables, list for the period iv) Whenusingthe Comrnon 1461-64. Ahhough each list, and the accompanying up to a maximunofsix tables, addoneto the diescore comewith notes,the readershould re{erbackto part I of this v) Arny comrnandermay be good or mediocre. Subarticleio understald mediocre or poor. the terminology andwhy I havereached conmander To usethe lists.first decide a nurnber of unitseachsidewill have. Both sidesshouldhave an equal numberof units. I suggest a ninimum of 12 and a maximumof 18. Note that ''fieldworks" countsas a unit. The command optionis{orthose whose rulesmakeuseofsubconmanders andgives the number of command figures available. Thechoice of named commander which should derermine qualil) oprion i.appropriale

LIST3: LANCASTRIAN/SCOTTISH
MinimumMaximum I 3 0 2 0 I 4 8 0 2 Lighr Cavalry 0 I French Mercenaries 0 l Artillery 0 2 Command 1 3
Typ Men-at-arms English Archers Archers Scots Pikemen Scots

LIST I: GENERIC
Typ Men-at-arms Retainer Archers Minimum MaYimum 1 3 2 6

27

14 Tlverton Av., Glaegow G32 9!{x Scodtnd. sbtintersts forsamDle. Newcahlooue -- f1.25 + S.AE.Plas
TeL O4l-'r7a 3426
156n AaMES only!9.95 + 131 pci RoM lsl C. AD, ECWRa6[4 acw Ecw P.nimb,ian, Acw Uniof,, 18lhC, Faniat Go.4 Conlsder.Ie, Fda6y ev{ 2d! Wd Zju s, B'iljsh. Esr to U toabd- tul {krri, h cdog@

WARRIOR MINIATURES

THOMAS DAVIDSON & DAVID R. CLEMMET for th l1th Year

116.95 !la50

+ 12.:Opcl Samur.l,Mmr6don, LlndlkEhb FullEngpol fgi ro addlo abde I JLn @e ol ov qodu.1 ans6 25m. 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 Ta.lzea@ttuINn.L UsdA''.F@ptd.

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Noaes: beselected fromtheretainerlist, Scots i) Englisharchenshould from thecommonlist. ii) English archersmay only be used if man-at-arms unit is chosen. iii) Army commandermay be good or maybe mdiocre orpoor. commanders

THEUNITTABLES
with a diversity ofrules is that listswritten Oneof the troubles to another. The tables for onesetdo not automaticallytranslate designed to fit myownrulesandtherefore belowwereoriginally "translator's notes". I offerthese

MEN.AT.ARMS but note that Troop types:Theseare quite straightforward, r 2 3 4 5 6 men-at-arms includes rctainerbillmen. No. offigures 6 6 6 9 9 9 FP FP FP FP FP FP are crossbow Amour Wapons: Straightforward again.Abbreviations (CB), handgun(HG), Heavy Gun (HvG). Bills (B), Mixed Q u a l i t y E E E E E E weapons (Mw), Light Gun (LG), Longbow (LB) and Note: Totals include commandfigures. Men-at-armsmay fight (R). Mixed weapons are a mixture of bills, mounted Ribauldequin or dismounted. weapons etc.Archerscarylongbows, spean,axes. improvised windlasscrossbows. men-at-arms crossbowmen and Scots RETAIN'ERARCIMRS poleaxes lances. axemen andlight cavalry 1 2 3 4 5 6 12 12 8 8 8 12 Arnour types:I haveonly threearmourtypes;{ull (FP), half No. offigures HA HA HA HA HA HA (HA) and none (UA). Full includes everything from three- Armour plateup. Half-armourcoves searing u a l i t y P P P P P P quaner all rroops armour Q other than these,including part-plate,mail or jacks. Un- Note: Any army historicallycontainingCalais troops can menarejustthat.Alltypes areaverages across units. upgndeoneunitto Eclass. armoured Arniesled by Edward lV mayalso upgrade one unit to E class as household archers. Any retainer professionals (E), types; elite Again only three QualitJ: professionals (P) and Levies(L). Men-at-arms countas elite archenmaybe nounled. prcfessionals, asdo guncrews. COMII1ONARCHERS 1 2 3 4 s 6 Unit sizes:My units are built up of rhrees,fours or sixes No. of figures 12 72 t8 r8 7a 24 dependant on type. As the sizesgiven ate not supposed to HA HA HA UA UA UA equate direcdytoknownforcesizes butjustto balance, feelfree Armour Q u a l i r y P L L L L L to increase or decrease them provided they rema;n proportionatlythe same e.g. if eight man unirs becometens, Notes: The P class unit represents an urbanconiingent. Only twelvesbecome fifieens, sixteens. twenties andsoon. Feelfre one canbe fielded,any subsequent unitsdicedup countas L to conbine smallunirs, althoughthey shouldbe countedas class. The smallerunits represent a selective anay, the largera separate unitswhenchoosing the army. morerag-tag bunch.The maximum number of Scots archers is As we sawin Part I, raising an amy duringthe Warsof the 18 and they are alwaysL class.Any 12 man unit may be Roses wasa bit ofa lottery.An armycommander wasunlikely to havemuchcontrolover the sizeof his force,the qualityof their equipment or their motivarion. At besthe controlled the COMMON BILLS source of hislrooDs. at worsthe took whatcame. Toreflectthis I 2 3 4 5 6 uncertainty, thesize, andin some casesequipment andquality, No.of figures 12 12 l8 18 18 24 generated. of unitsis randomly For each type,thereis a tableof Armour IIA HA HA UA UA UA six options.Wlich one you get depends on the throw of the Weapon B B B M W M W M W ordinary die.Diceseparately {or eachunit of a particulartype. Quality L L L L L L

28 Nots: Again,the smaller betterequipped unitsrepresent more VARIATIONS ONTHETHEME groupsand the larger a massturnout. This time, the seleca we Thus far, have not deviated muchfrom rhe straightforvard weaponry alsochanges to represent tbe mixturof equipment game.Looking at the batrlesof rhe Wars of the encounter suchmenwouldhave.Any 12manunitmaybe nounted. Roses, it is clearthat encounter battles tendednor to haDDen. lnsread. onesideusually rookup a defenrive pos 'on andwas LIGHT CAVALRY attacked positions by theother.Defensive variedfuomatumat 1 2 3 4 5 6 bay on the most favourableterrain. as at Twksbury,to No. offigures 8 8 8 12 t2 12 constructing entrenchments, asat Northampton. Armour HA HA HA HA HA HA One simpleway of using the lists to createa lesseven, P P Ouality P P P P defender/attacker battle is to allow eachDlaverto select the numberofunits in hisarny within a given;ange e.g.twelvero FRENCHMtrRCENARIES fifteen.The sidethat selectsthe smallest numberoftroopunits 1 2 3 4 5 6 lie nol counling heldtlorLs or arrillery) ha! rhe detinyve No. o{figures 9 9 12 12 12 12 advantage. The playerwith the defensive advantage Armour should HA HA HA HA HA HA plaver. havemoreinfluence overthe terrainthanthe attackinq weapon HG CB CB CB CB LB how lhis i\ done$ill depend on yourrutes.Iimigtrr Q u a l i t y E E P P P P Exaclly involveone sideplacing moreterrainpieces or ir maysimplybe Nots: OnlyoneE class unit is allowed: if morethanoneisdiced that.wbenthe battlefield issetup, thedefendingplayerchooses fbr, downgrade to P class.Any unit may be mounted.Any which sideto playfrorn.However, giving thedefending player a crossbows or handgunners mayhavepavises. free hand in choice of terrain is going too far. Defensive advantage mighralsoincludeextraammunition, if suchthings BURGUNDIAN MERCENARIES arecatered for in yourrules.The attackels, on the otherhand, t 2 3 4 5 6 should lose all non,portabledefenceworks e.g. potholes, No. of figures 8 8 8 9 1 2 1 2 palisades etc. Their compensarion is that they get to deploy HA HA HA HA HA HA second,havingseenthe defender's deployment. If, by any LB CB HG HG HG HG chance, both sides select the samenumber oftrooD units.fisht P P Quality P E P P an encounrei bdlrle. Normalrule'on.leploymenr rpply 5ur Nots: Any unil lnaybe mountedcanusenon-porrabl Any crossbows fieldworks. or handgun neitherside pavises. nersmayhave Another variationis to take the choiceof units out of the handsof the commanders altogether. This is wherethe cards ARTILLERY cornein. Decidean equalnumberof unitsper player.Giveto I 2 3 4 playertheminimum each unitsspecified in ihe appropriate list. No. ofpiees 1 1 1 1 l 1 Thentake from a packofcardsenough cardsto represent the Typ" R LG LC LG LG HG olher optionalunils.Therewill be no morethanfour for each type. so a numberor picturecan be usedfor each:e.g. 3 = SCOTS PIKEMf,N queen= fieldworks retainer archers. etc.thiswill thenleavea t 2 3 4 5 6 smallpack from \rhichtheplayertakes sufficientards to bring No. offigures 16 16 20 18 24 24 his/herforc up to chosen nunberofunits. Takefor example a HA HA HA UA UA UA playerselcting fifteenunitsfrom the geneic list. Threeunits P P Quality P L L L will becompulsory (l men-at-arms.2 retainer archers). Thesize cards(A maximumof 22 units, Notes:In many wayssimilar to Englishcommontroopsand of the pack will be nineteen minusthe minimumof 3), from whihthe playerwill select ,hanng lheretore rhesame !/e qudlil) equarior.. twelvecards. To achieve maximum randomness. isnoreallthe composirion rules vei:ion, for a more conrrolled ,llow SCOTS AXEMEN adjustment ofthe hand accordingto the composition rulesThe 1 2 3 4 5 6 playerdiscards anycards whichcause a breach ofthe lese.g. No.offigures 12 12 12 l2 t2 too manybillsto bows.andreplaces themwith newcards from ATmouT HA HA HA HA HA HA pack. the The trouble with this is that the newcardcouldcause Q u a l i l y P P P P P P its own breach of lhe rulesand this process might haveto be gone through several times. Theresulting battlecouldbfought FIELDWORKS normally or according to therulesofthe firstvariation, givinga I Any archer playerwhohas unit maybe givenstakes. drawna lor ofartilleryandfieldworksthe chanc 2 Up to 250yds. of potholes or caltrops. Whichever All archers version is chosen, maybe to defend. the playerisfacedwith givenstakes. an unchosen armyto makethe bestof. 3 Up to 250yds.of potholesor caltrops.cuns may be EXTENDTNG TIIE IDEA protectedby mandets.Mercenaries may carry spiked pavises. All archers maycanystakes. Although I think the Wars of the Rosesis one of the best 4 As3 above, but with 350yds. of potholes or cahrops. Ancient andMediaevdlsub-peflods tor rhi( approach ro army 5 Up to 350yds. of potholesor caltrops. plus 200yds. of lisrs. rherlslemcouldworkin .e!eralotherlime,andptaces. barricades or palisades. cuns may be protectedby The randomcard variationwould be very suitablefor Earty earthworksup to width of the frontaSeof the gun. MediaevayDark Age batrles, for insaance. In theseperiods. Mercenaries nay carry spikedpavises. All archers may commanders wereliLely ro ha!eeven whowoutd less idea tum carrystakes. up for a battle,thoughperhaps the numberof troop tlpes is As 5 above,but with ditch, earth bank and palisade rnorelimited. In other periodswherea more or tessregular replacingbarricades. Earthworksprotecring guns may army facedan irregular one, suchas Romans v Barbarians, a alsohavedilcbes ifthey are conrinuous with the general mixtureof systems couldbe used,with the regularchoosing ditchandbank. unitsandtheinegularhavingthem generated. randomly