Battle of Towton

On Saturday 30/10/99 the Wellington Warlords refought the War of the Roses Battle of Towton, the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil (29 March 1461). In DBM terms this was an extremely large battle in terms of points, Lancastrians 865 and Yorkists 750. As a basis for the battle we used an article by E J Cruttenden that appeared in an issue of Wargames Illustrated early this year.

The forces were arrayed as follows:

LANCASTRIAN

Duke of Somerset including Henry VI (Rhys Batchelor)

Kn(S) CnC, 2 Kn(S), 8 Bd(O), 16 Bw(S), 4 Irr Bd(I), 18 Irr Bw(O), 6 Irr Bd(I), 12 Irr Sp(I), 6 Bg(O) 67EE Brk 22.5

Northumberland (Mike Campbell)

Kn(O) SG, 3 Kn(I), 2 Cv(O), 2 Irr LH(O), 4 Bd(O), 8 Bw(S), 4 Irr Bd(I), 18 Irr Bw(O) 42EE Brk 14

Exeter (Blair Christian)

Kn(O) SG, 2 Kn(I), 1 Cv(O), 4 Bd(O), 8 Bw(S), 4 Irr Bd(O), 16 Irr Bw(O) 36EE Brk 12

Army 145EE Brk 72.5

YORKIST

Edward IV (Rob Cameron)

Kn(S) CnC, 1 Kn(S), 1 Kn(O), 5 Bd(O), 10 Bw(S), 4 Irr Bd(O), 8 Irr Bw(O), 6 Ps(S), 8 Bg(O) 33EE Brk 11

Warwick (Peter Page)

Kn(O) SG, 3 Kn(I), 3 Bd(O), 6 Bw(S), 3 Irr Bd(I), 12 Irr Bw(O) 28EE Brk 10

Fauconberg (Vince Cholewa)

Kn(O) SG, 2 Kn(I), 4 Bd(O), 8 Bw(S), 12 Irr Bw(O), 8 Irr Ax(X) 35EE Brk 12

Norfolk (John van der Hoven)

Kn(O) SG, 1 Kn(O), 2 Bd(O), 4 Bw(S), 2 Irr Bd(I), 8 Irr Bw(O) 18EE Brk 6

Army 114EE Brk 57

The battle was fought on a 6' x 4' (yes really) which was a scaled down version of the actual battlefield. In the historical battle the frontage of both armies was limited to 1200 paces, resulting in considerable depth for both forces.

The battlefield was reasonably simple. Looking from the Yorkist baseline there was the River Cock running at a slight angle about 600-800 paces in from the left hand edge. Halfway along this river (in the middle of the table) was an area of marshland (Bloody Meadow). The centre of the table was dominated by 2 enormous hills, one on each side of the centre line separated by a gap of 350 paces (Towton vale). The hills easily stretched the entire centre sector and on the Yorkist left was a small area of woods (Castle Hill Wood). On the Yorkist right was the Great north Road stretching from one baseline to the other. The hills were gentle slopes with the slope on the Yorkist side of the vale being extremely short.

Towton was fought under a set of unique conditions and to ensure that the start of the battle (at least) was fought along historical lines, there were a number of special rules: -

• deployment occurred in optimal visibility with the armies 350 paces apart
• heavy snow would fall on the first turn but combatants weren't told until after deployment
• strong winds were blowing directly into the faces of the Lancastrians
• the front two ranks of both forces had to be Bowmen. A maximum of 4 ranks of bowmen before Bd had to be deployed
• all troops must face the armies front
• all knights could dismount as Bd(S)
• deployment had to occur in a restricted zone to reflect historical deployment.

This meant that the various commands had designated deployment zones which reflected the narrow deployment of the two armies facing each other. Looking from the Yorkist side, they lined up left to right as follows - Fauconberg, Warwick, Edward (each having a 10'' wide zone). Norfolk was off-table. Opposite Fauconberg was Northumberland, then Somerset and Exeter on the flank. The two flank commands has 9" deployment zone while Somerset got a full 12".

The deployment restraints for Towton have entered Warlords' folklore. In the front left is Rhys' command, over 50 elements which had to be deployed on an A4 sheet of paper.

Following the lead of the historical battle, Northumberland had 8EE in ambush in the wood behind Fauconberg's line.

Special scenario rules that were not told to the combatants at the outset were as follows:

• range of Yorkist archers increased to 250 paces to reflect wind strength
• ambushers couldn't move until close combat occurred somewhere on the field
• Yorkists couldn't turn until ambushers moved
• no march move in Towton Vale
• Lancastrian front two ranks could only move up to 100 paces after which no further forward movement until Bd had moved through their ranks
• Bow could make group moves to their rear for 1 PIP, +1 for irregulars
• Norfolk arrives as flank march on Yorkist baseline but doesn't dice for arrival until the first bound after close combat.

All these rules were designed to facilitate the historical opening moves in the battle. At Towton the Lancastrian archers moved forward, were outshot by the Yorkist so moved their billmen up the hill into the Yorkist. There they were having success until the Yorkist cause was saved by the arrival of Norfolk.

THE REFIGHT

Being forced to deploy on a restricted frontage and in depth was a new experience for most of the combatants in the refight. Rhys was required to deploy Somerset's troops 8-9 ranks deep to fit all his troops onto the field. At the end the historical frontage of the armies was achieved.

The Lancastrian forces moved forward in the snow stopping just outside 250 paces. The Yorkist archers moved done the hill and shot at the Lancastrian bow inflicting minimal casualties. The Lancastrian billmen and dismounted knights moved through the bow resulting in the Yorkists moving back up onto the hill. On the next bound after a dearth of PIPs the Lancastrian King was heard to emit that historical quote " I guess we better follow Mike then" as Northumberland's troops lumbered after the retreating Yorkists. The Yorkist archers started to have an increased effect over the next 2 bounds as they killed billmen and archers along the Lancastrian line. The bodies started to mount in the vale as billmen fell to archery on a series of 5-1s and 6-1s.

The opening moves saw the Lancastrians try to assail the Yorkist position across the vale.

On Exeter's flank his bow contacted Edward's Burgundian handgunners causing the handgunners to flee. This acted as the trigger for Northumberland's ambush to emerge from the wood just behind Fauconberg's troops. The ambush consisted of 4 elements of Bd(I) and 4EE of Bw(O). Their nearest enemy was a bunch of Welsh spearmen (Ax(X)) loitering behind Fauconberg's main ranks.

At this stage of the battle, all the casualties (some 20 elements) had been on the Lancastrian side. Then two things happened. Firstly the snow stopped, and then Norfolk arrived. Up until then Exeter had been quietly maneuvering some currours in an outflank of Edward's force. The Lancastrians had managed to get a foothold on their left as two elements of billmen made it up the hill.

Just as they were starting to get into the battle some dissension apart in the Lancastrian camp (onlookers were surprised it had taken until turn six!!). The root cause of the argument the allocation of PIPs. Exeter felt that he needed the PIPs to exploit his flank before Norfolk came on table while Northumberland felt they were better directed to maximising the ambush. Somerset thought they might be better used getting his billmen through the vale where they were dying to Yorkist bows.

While enjoying some initial success shooting the Welsh spear, the ambush was curtailed due to an unfortunate recoil taking out 4 of the eight elements...ouch!

Edward rode valiantly into the flank of the Exeter's billmen on the Yorkist hill, but his Kn(S) element struggled to kill the billmen even while enjoying a double overlap. After 3 bounds he was eventually successful but in the interim Exeter had moved up archers which were able to shoot into the flank of the Yorkist king. Edward survived and scenting victory the Yorkists came down off the hill sweeping away Exeter's archers.

The other two Lancastrian commands were involved in a frontal bash-match with the Yorkist billmen, which ultimately proved inconclusive. Northumberland rode forward to support his billmen and had a chance to kill Fauconberg who had dismounted to support his billmen. He was ultimately unsuccessful and with this opportunity went the best chance of breaking the Yorkist army.

On the left Exeter's troops were now demoralised. Exeter himself however was not to flinch in the face of a crumbling flank. He contacted the Duke of Norfolk and after a long bitter struggle succeeded in killing the Duke . On their next PIP roll the Yorkist's made the necessary 5 to save the command (Within the Lancastrian ranks the comment was made that Exeter had nearly succeeded in breaking two commands, reflecting disappointment (bitterness?) over the crumbling Lancastrian left).

With their success on their right Norfolk's troops in conjunction with those of Edward massacred the retreating Lancastrians, eventually killing all the on table troops. The Yorkists moved down from their hill and inflicted the necessary casualties to break Northumberland's command, and with it the Lancastrian army.

The end followed the historical battle. Norfolk's intervention proved decisive on the flank while the Lancastrian attack in the centre and on their right faltered.

WRAP-UP

I really enjoyed the battle and I think most of the combatants did as well. The historical outcome was achieved due to a mix of the special rules, some poor luck on the part of the Lancastrians and a few errors that proved critical. For me the salient points of the refight were:

• when the Lancastrian billmen moved through their bow they trailed the bow along behind rather than keep a gap between them. This meant that if the Bd were forced to recoil, they went through two ranks of bow leaving the Lancastrian archers exposed to Yorkist arrows. This proved extremely expensive for the Lancastrians.
• snow stopped reasonably early (about turn six) and Norfolk turned up immediately on cue. This meant Exeter was facing new troops just as he was starting to make some headway.
• the Lancastrian ambush being decimated by a recoil into angled rear troops. Removed 4 of the 8 and they would have fancied their chances against a mix of Ax(X) and Bw
• Northumberland not being able to finish off Fauconberg. If he had killed him then the Yorkist left would have disappeared.
• Edward giving Warwick yet another 1 for his PIP die. He must have received 5 in six turns. We now know the real reason for their falling out :-)
• Exeter offering to defect to the Yorkist cause if they would give him decent PIPS

It was a good fun game fought in excellent spirit. Given that 90% of the games at the club are non-historical 400AP games it was a pleasant departure. I felt the special/scenario rules encouraged historical behaviour and for that credit should go to Mr. Cruttenden.

Back row (left to right) Peter Page, Rob Cameron, Rhys Batchelor, John van der Hoven, Blair Christian. Front row (left to right) Peter Dunn, Vince Cholewa, Mike Campbell.

Rob Cameron's thoughts on the battle:

Two lasting impressions of this game:

1. The lack of space. How am I going to deploy all my troops in that small area? Most of us seemed to think we would had room to deploy in something like we would in a 'regular' DBM game The sight of Somerset's 67 elements deployed in an area 12" wide by 8" deep was daunting - Warwick only had to eliminate the first three ranks and then some to break the command :-).
2. The confusion. From my position on the right flank it was some considerable time before I knew anything of the Lancastrian ambush - even during the drive home I was still asking 'where did they come from?' Much thanks must go to Pete D for a very enjoyable day.

And those of Peter Page:

Sitting in the middle of the Yorkists looking across Towton Vale into the largest command I am ever likely to see (unless Firefall ever produces his Early Lybians) I thought I might have a few problems against the Lancastrian King (53 to 22 odd elements) but between archery and bills/dismounted Kn I managed quite well against superior numbers as Rhys could only deploy about 7 - 8 elements wide so numbers never really came into it, though the number of times I only had 1 PIP didn't exactly help.

Overall it was a very enjoyable game, though being on the victorious side helps......thanks go to Peter Dunn for organising a great game and to everyone who took part for making it so worthwhile.

The Winners Write The History

(Being an account of the Battle of Towton, 30 October 1999, as witnessed by Vincent Cholewa and recorded by Geoffrey of Kingston ¹)