History is (un)made at the Battle of Towton, 1461

Battle of Towton, March 29, as set up[ Set up on a 5 x 6 foot table at the Gardiner Library, Gardiner, NY.

The first game had Vladimir as Somerset commanding the Right  battle, Hudson as D'Acre in the Center, and Nathan as Percy commanding the Left Battle for the Lancastrians. For the Yorkists. it was James as Warwick commanding the Left battle, Ela as King Edward IV commanding the Centre and also Fauconberg on the right. There was a brief exchange of archery, without any significant advantage to either side (despite the wind and snow blowing into the face of the Lancastrians ). The Lancastrians advanced upon the Yorkist positions as quickly ass possible, but not before the Yorkist reinforcements under Norfolk arrived and made their presence felt. The main bodies of each battles clashed, and in the fighting, King Edward IV was hit (rolled a "1"). As a VIP, that ended the battle in the Lancastrian favor. despite Norfolk early arrival already threatening to flank and  defeat Percy. From the game standpoint, I should have continued play despite the Victory conditions, a significant error in judgment on my part. Art a convention or at home I would have just set it up again and played it a second time, switching sides. 

John Spiess ran his dark ages Viking game twice; casualties were heavy on both sides as the 1st  game is near its end!

Jared ran the Battle of Belleau Wood, June 1918. Note the great looking scratch built terrain boards!

"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"- USMC commander's response to request by our French Allies that they pull back in response to the heavy German assault. 

After lunch, I ran Towton again. Clockwise from the Left we had Sean as Somerset and D/Acre, and Bryce as Percy for the House of Lancaster, Milo as Fauconberg, Ryder as King Edward IV, and Miles as Warwick, the "Kingmaker". Despite the advantage of the wind and snow, the exchange of arrows caused only limited losses, with many of the Yorkist bowmen running low on arrows early on. 

All three Battles got stuck in melee, with much hacking, slashing, and bashing going on along the entire battlefield!

The Lancastrian ambush was sprung form the woods, and the captain of this small independent command of men and arms lead his men well into the rear of Warwick's positions, to devastating effect! 

Shortly thereafter, Warwick's Battle reached zero Resolve Points; on the next loss, the Battle failed its Resolve test, and fled the field, the Kingmaker following them ignominiously!

King Edward and D'Acre battled it out in the Centre... 

In the process, both D'Acre and Edward fell in the melee. Having learned from the first game, play continued, with the fate of the leaders to be determined after the conclusion of game. Norfolk's reinforcing command made a tardy appearance this time. Percy's men commanded  by Bryce, crushed first Fauconberg's Battle, and then Norfolk's (played by Miles, who lost his command first). At the end of the battle, for the Lancastrians, Percy had 7 Resolve points left, D'Acre had 3, and Somerset 2. D'Acre was wounded but recovered subsequently, King Edward was captured and imprisoner in the Tower of London, and Somerset was killed. All in all, a truly decisive victory for Red Rose of Lancaster... and quite a reversal of fortune from the historical outcome!

Test of Resolve rules

Having run the game twice with teens now, it works best not to even have them use the QRS, but rather just handle all the rules myself and simply explain their options and then have them roll the D12's!