M:TW Historical battle: Towton 1461

[Duke John]

I guess the timing couldn't have been worse with R:TW being released, but still I want to play a M:TW game with my Wars of the Roses mod. So read on if you are interested! For more info about the WotR mod read my development thread.



On a cold Palm Sunday, 29 March 1461, with heavy snow falling the army of King Edward IV met that of his enemies Lancastrian enemies south of the village Towton in Yorkshire. The struggle was the longest and bloodiest battle of the Wars of the Roses.

The Lancastrians were deployed upon a ridge with both flanks secured. The Yorkist army advanced until they were about 300 yards from the Lancastrians. The Yorkists then discharged one volley which, aided by a following wind, hit the Lancastrian line and caused some casualities. The Yorkist archers then fell back a short distance. The Lancastrians responded with several volleys until their quivers were empty. Impeded by the wind, these arrows fell short by some 50 yards, but this was unnoticed because of the heavy snow falling. The Yorkist archers then advanced again and poured a barrage of arrows into the Lancastrian ranks. Unable to respond, the Lancastrians moved forward to contact as quickly as possible.

An ambush from Castle Hill wood made the Yorkist left flank retreat slightly and the Lancastrians started to slightly push the Yorkist over the top of their ridge. This would have spelled their doom if it wasn't for the arrival of the Duke of Norfolk who reinforced the Yorkist right flank with several thousand men. The Lancastrians began to ease off, the slackening of pressure increased to a withdrawal, and suddenly their whole line collapsed. About 12,000 Yorkists were killed or died of wounds and exposure, while some 20,000 Lancastrians were killed especially during the following rout.

The battle firmly established Edward IV on the throne. The queen, Henry VI, and their son Prince Edward fled to Scotland.


I'm still working out the armylists and I hope that with some responses from you we can make armies that are challenging, historical and balanced. Note that you are not allowed to upgrade troops unless specified.

YORKISTS

King Edward IV

Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of King Edward IV.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows
11. 40 Mercenary Handgunners; Burgundian allies

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick

Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of Warwick.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows
11. 40 Mercenary Handgunners; Burgundian allies

John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk
Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of Norfolk.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows

LANCASTRIANS

Henry Beaufort, Third Duke of Somerset

Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of Somerset.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows
11. 40 Mercenary Handgunners; Burgundian allies

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland

Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of Northumberland.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows
11. 40 Mercenary Handgunners; Burgundian allies

Army of Henry VI. Henry VI himself was not on the battlefield, but a banner was there to represent him. In reality the third commander was the Duke of Exeter.

Army:

1. 40 Knights; the unit of Exeter.
2. 60 Squires
3. 40 Squires
4. 200 Shire Billmen
5. 100 Shire Billmen
6. 120 Retinue Billmen
7. 200 Shire Longbows
8. 200 Shire Longbows
9. 100 Retinue Longbows
10. 60 Retinue Longbows
11. 40 Mercenary Handgunners; Burgundian allies

Some screenshots of how the battlefield looks:








Deployment.
Historically the armies were setup as below. The divisions being deployed in long lines instead of side by side. The players are free not to do so as it is not practical.

The ambush from Castle Wood set up by the Lancastrians is not possible since the Deployment zone doesn't extend that far.

It is not allowed to place or move units into the marches south of Towton. Historically both flanks of the Lancastrians were secured; their right flank by the steep hill going upwards from the riverbank and their left flank were secured by marches.

The Norfolk player will place his army in column at the edge of the map on the road of Towton to Ferrybridge. He may only move his army once combat has initiated. Only then to prevent the Lancastrians the urge to rush. The Yorkist while defending are thus disadvantaged in the beginning.

Attackers and defenders
If Lord Fauconberg, who was in control of the Yorkist archers, didn't use the snowstorm to advantage against the Lancastrian archers then the Yorkist would have been forced to march up Lancastrian ridge. The Lancastrian ambush would have been more effective and the Yorkists would have been outnumbered and fighting uphill. Even the arrival of Norfolk would have mattered little and the Yorkists would have lost.

To represent the Yorkist advantage of firing down wind can be done doing the following two things:

• The Lancastrians are the attackers. In reality they were set up in a defensive position and they expexted the Yorkist to attack. Only because of Lord Fauconbergs trick it went the other way around. Since the Lancastrians are initially outnumbering the Yorkists I think that they have enough advantage already, so the Lancastrians should take the initiative.

• I can also mod the units so that Lancastrians archers have less range than their Yorkist counterparts.

Tactics
To give this battle more of a historical feel than a gamey feel, I propose the following restrictions on tactics:

• Each commander should command their armies as a single body. Units should not be spread out with the intention to make a wide flanking move. The English troops were for the most part not professional soldiers, few had experiences from previous battles. As a consequence commanders couldn't rely on them for difficult manuevres.

• If the main line starts to rout then the player must withdraw their entire army. Once withdrawing the player then routs the entire army. If only a flank routs then this is not necessary. The player may decide to withdraw his general if the battle is going badly. The reason is not good tactics but realistic behaviour. If captured during the battle, the Dukes would have a big chance of being executed afterwards. Not all generals would probably do this, King Edward might not, while Warwick most certainly will.

If a team wishes to discuss tactics before the battle then they can use the image below to place armies, arrows and such:




So who is interested? You don't have to be a good MP player, as long as you are able to move your army properly then it will be fine. However I do favour players who communicate a bit more besides "GL & HF".

I will add more info once we have some players.

Cheers, Duke John

[KyodaiSteeleye]

well, i'm up for it mate - are you still using the same version of WoTR as you released in the previous beta?

[ShadesWolf]

Looks interesting, please let me know

[Nigel]

Sounds good. Put my name down for it.
I may have more questions later, but sure would be interested in giving this a try.

[Duke John]

I found my VI CD broken in my CDROM player, so I don't think I'm able to play the game. If I can find a cheap copy somewhere I will buy it, but when...