The King is Dead long live the King !!!! War of the Roses Campaign Game 1

 

So the next series of games Berwick war-games club began this past Saturday. As mentioned earlier  War and the Roses was the theme of this next campaign, so we gathered to decided the fate of the Crown of England.  

The starting point of the campaign was first to decide which sides people would be on.  Ian, Peter and I declared for Lancaster, while Niel, Steve and Darren declared for York.

This Campaign work on a system of  prestige points based on who wins, destroys units and takes out characters (more on this in later battle reports). I was dubiously given the role of King (no one else wanted it ....) and Steve was the pretender.   We deployed our commands with the Lancastrians deploying 1st and then also going 1st. It looked like the Yorkists wanted to see what we would do!

Yeah that's me shag on a rock!

Yorkists unleash some fire and cause damage

So after a quick council of war that involved some grunts and pointing  we decided to take the aggressive approach and try and put the Yorkists on the back foot. Both Pete and I attempted to launch our commands forward to put pressure on the center and left while Ian positioned to delay and tie up the right.  

I got 3 moves and charged forward but Peter, contrary to previous form only got a move. Therefore I was about to take the brunt of Yorkist fire for a few turns (some murmured comments about its goof to be king etc was heard at that point).  I was able to score some hits from my shooting on Niels command and opened up the tally but no disorders and no real breaking up of his formation.  Now I had to sit there a take it as Yorkist bows took aim.  

More Yorkist positioning

In return the Yorkist army started to reposition to hit my exposed  command while Niel Stood firm. Pete again was not able to move up this time failing to get forward and so I took more hits and my formation started to fragment. Without support I was stuck, moving forward would see my command destroyed yet not moving forward with out support i would be shot up. I was also able to put some fire again on the center and left, continuing to build up the casualties on Niel.  However in the end I needed to flank commands to get up and take some pressure of me.

A view from the steady Yorkist lines

I begin to question the strength of my allies ....

Finally the Lancastrian left was able to get its act together and Peter pushed forward and I swung two units in to build up for the charge. Fire all along the line was ineffectual again. Meanwhile Steve the Pretender continued to open up on my other units and I was able to resist the fire again. Ian steadied on my right and Darren attempted to move forward but was stalled (dice gods don't like him much I think...). 

In your face archery the only way peter knows.....

Then with a yell from the lines "For The KING!" the army moved forward. Peter got to within point blank range. My lines adjusted and Ian moved up to my flank. Firing all along the line was ineffectual again and now the critical moment was at hand, how would York respond?

The blender on the Left ..... better known as the Red mist on the left

To our surprise the Yorkists stood their lines, kept firing and prepared to take the charge.  Peter obliged them and Niels command fell apart.... comments of hot knife through butter where heard and then it was revealed that Clifford the Butcher was leading the command.  Yet all would not be well as Clifford fell in battle, yet his men fought on and Niels command ceased to exists in the space of one combat round.

Sitskrieg on the right

The counter charge

Yet the Yorkists pretender was no finished. Now he launched his counter attack and in similar brutality killed the King and put his (my) command in jeopardy. Some nifty dice rolling on my behalf prevented my whole command falling apart , yet the center hung in the balance.  Darren needed to get his command moving then Lancaster would be done on that day.  Yet...... it was not to be.

The counter charge

Fleeting victory in the center

more sitskrieg....

Ian shows his teeth and the center is saved

Even though the center was in jeopardy the threat from the now dead Clifford the butchers command (peter) was playing on their minds and prosecution of the attack stalled. This was enough for Ian to launch his heavy infantry on the center. That's right Darren was still stuck on his flank.  This saw the end of the Yorkist army as the Pretender was killed, it would now be up to the descendants to play this story out! 

Final Victory

In the end the we tallied up the Points and the summary was as follows:

Lancastrians
Jon- Paul - 8 prestige and still reluctantly King for some reason
Ian -           8 prestige
Peter          7 prestige ( he had allot more but getting killed will do that to you so he lost a bit for the burial)

York

Steve-     6- the pretenders cause will continue
Darren-   2- surving the battle was his reward :P
Niel-       1- he may need some Flemish mercenaries


It was an awesome opening to the next campaign picking up where we left of with all the players bringing their personalities to the game.   

Next game is this weekend -  look forward to the next bout!

Till the cheers JP