Over the past few years, with the release and expansion of the Claymore Castings and Antediluvian Miniatures ranges I have been procrastinating about what sort of a time period to settle upon.
I have settled on that of Dupplin Moor 1332 and arguably one of the first time the Warbow was used strategically to great effect. There was of course Falkirk but as I' am going to be using both the Claymore Castings and Antediluvian Miniatures ranges, Dupplin moor is more appropriate. I am looking at using the Claymore HYW Period rules which ought to hit the spot as they are designed with the period as a firm focus.
What follows is a loose outline of what my plans are and where I would like the project to go.
As mentioned in the above I am going to use the Claymore HYW Period Rules as soon as they are available. Claymore HYW Period Rules are solidly based around the time of the Hundred Years War which could very well be the answer to a 30 year quest for me- a journey in which I have sought after meaningful rules with the right period feel for the HYW.
The Battle of Dupplin Moor 1332 CE was the one of the first times in which the value of quality archers working hand in hand with men at arms was brought to the fore as a successful military tactic. Falkirk being another stand out earlier battle. The effect of the Warbow was going to be felt again and again not only during the Scottish Wars of Independence, (not always successfully) and throughout the HYW and beyond onto the Battle of Montlhery 1465, into The Burgundian Wars and into the lengthy reign of Henry VIII where the importance of the Warbow would slowly decline until eventually to be viewed as an archaic weapon, especially in the eyes of England's European neighbours.
I am going to be working on armies for both sides at Dupplin Moor. I will be taking a detour from my normal working mode of working; painting the bulk of one side before moving onto the other and paint one unit for the Scots, one for the English etc. I'm starting with the first Scottish Schiltron. There has been much discussion and debate over the years about what it meant by the word Schillton, so often is conjures up fantastical Braveheart type images but this is only a small part of the story. Within the rules, they can be set up as offensive and defensive as seen in the diagrams below. I asked one of the authors for permission to show two basic diagrams below:
Offensive
Defensive
I'm going to go with six miniatures per base; so slightly packed on a 60mm frontage by 50mm deep base. This should give the required look but if not I am open to try out different arrangements.
Obviously, as in any set of wargames rules a mechanic is an abstraction. What has got me very excited about the Claymore HYW Rules is that the rules cater for both types of formation of the Schiltron, which most wargames rules seem to simplify too much for my liking and leave as "Long Spear" or allow a small advantage such as the equivalent as "Shieldwall". I am going to keep referring the formation as a Schiltron out of convenience as opposed to a concrete fixed formation. It is arguable that it was not only the Scots who used such formations but the English too. Densely packed men in units with spears/polearms/double handed weapons etc were used by many nations as a defensive and offensive tactic. The Battle of Courtrai/Battle of the Golden Spurs 1302 springs to mind; where large bodies of tightly packed men defeated the flower of French Chivalry.
I am currently waiting upon my first delivery of Antediluvian Miniatures which I will be mixing with Claymore Castings in order to create the armies of the time. This is going to be a fairly long term project with regular updates. Hopefully those interested in Late Medieval warfare will find some value in my mutterings and interest in the painted units etc.
The long term aim to to put on The Battles of Dupplin Moore 1332 as a display game at a show or two. I am going to be concentrating on the Second War of Independence, 1332-1357 largely because the stand out battles of Dupplin Moore 1332, Halidon Hill and Neville's Cross are often viewed as the "little brothers" when compared to the battles of The First War of Independence.
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