Medieval Battle Royale

[Captain Blood]

Here’s the battle that Silent Invader and I fought yesterday at Matakishi’s tea party.

Approximately 200 figures in total, all Perry wars of the roses, barring a few from Steel fist and Pro Gloria, depicting a fictional clash between powerful, rival noble forces from Essex (him) and Surrey (me).

York or lancaster? Who cares? This is regional Lordly rivalry, which is much more interesting 

The rules were Silent Invader’s own which we were playtesting. Two pages of A4. What’s not to like? They needed a bit of tweaking as we went along, but gave a most enjoyable and flavoursome game.

We’ll be launching these onto the market soon under the title ‘Dux Inarow’ and they will retail at £49.95 between hard covers with 800 pages of army lists and sumptuous photographs, as well as special laser etched dice (although we should point out that the rules themselves will still only run to two pages) 

But I digress…

General view of Silent Invader’s gorgeous table… A bucolic English country scene – the peace and tranquility of the grazing sheep and serried corn stooks about to shattered by the clash of steel and flow of English blood.

The forces of Surrey are aligned along the nearest baseline behind the wood; Essex at the far end behind the village. There are only two safe crossing points of the river, a timber bridge and a ford…



Sir Edward Mortimer of Rocheforde on the start line for Essex.



Henry Pierce of Hackneye holds the Essex centre.



The forces of Surrey on the start line, today under the overall command of Lord Lieutentant, Sir Robert Tenchley - whilst Sir Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, leads one banner in the field.





Skirting the treacherous marsh, Surrey rolls forward into the wood…



But wait. What are these on the left flank of Essex? Villainous foreigners, by God! Roger of Flanders and the Company of The Red Feather…



For Surrey, Sir Roger de Brassey’s mounted men at arms hasten to seize the bridge…



Before those dastardly mercenaries can get there… A local priest gives his blessing on their enterprise…



Possibly a bit late for prayer Father…



Alas, the Mercenaries, pikemen to the fore, have gained the bridge first…

[Captain Blood]

Meanwhile, in the cornfield, Surrey’s archers prepare to unleash an opening salvo across the river…



A general view of the right flank, complete with the hovering hand of God…



The mercenaries hold the bridge…





De Brassey’s cavalry wisely veer off and hide behind the barn, letting their longbowmen handle the Company of the Red feather…





Meanwhile, for Essex, Henry Pierce of Hackneye’s small company have reached the north bank of the river… Will they risk wading across? If so, will they get swept away? One can but hope…



Surrey have brought up a brace of small field pieces, but are unable to get a clear shot as their own forces race ahead to the river…



The dash for the ford… Will Sir Thomas Howard’s company of mounted men at arms make it before the approaching horde of Mortimer of Rocheforde?







Surrey brings up mercenaries of its own to support its longbowmen in pouring fire into the enemy holding the bridge…

[CyberAlien312]

Wow.  
Lovely terrain, and of course fabulously painted figures!!

[Captain Blood]

Bang! Sir Thomas Howard is across the ford and into the ranks of Mortimer of Rocheforde… And long and bloody attritional fight is about to ensue…





Having softened up the mercenaries on the bridge, Surrey’s archers stand aside to let the billmen through to engage in bloody melee…





While Surrey’s mercenaries move to pour fire into the company of Henry Pierce on the opposite bank…



Surrey’s men at arms on foot eventually reach the ford and surge across, just as Essex throws caution to the winds and start wading across the river all along its length…



Suddenly the river is awash with struggling knots of men, the din of battle, and blood in the water…



Pierce of Hackneye actually manages to dash across the river to surprise Sir Robert Tenchley… A pivotal moment of high drama!



But elsewhere, the tide of battle has swung decisively in favour of Surrey. As De Brassey’s cavalry ford the river and sweep around behind the defenders, the surviving mercenaries of the Red Feather are penned back into the bridge house by Surrey bills…



De Brassey sweeps past the alarmingly huge pile of Essex dead off-table…



Whilst Tenchley sees off the assault of Pierce of Hackneye and drives his forces fleeing back across the river…



And so the end game is reached, as the Essex commander makes his last stand…



A hard fought but ultimately decisive victory for Surrey…

Finis.

[Za Zjurman]

  WOW such beautiful eye-candy  Thank you very much for posting this Captain. It looks like you had a great day at the tea party.

Regards
Za

[Brummie]

  Dear god thats awesome!

[Malamute]

I was fortunate to be present at the tea party and this was every bit as gorgeous in the flesh.
The whole set up was delightful. I am particularly taken with the buildings, especially the scratch built, yes, scratch built church, it's not a resin model you know.

Brilliant stuff

[Arlequín]

erm wow, just wow... just how I imagined it should be. 

Where can I buy these rules... I might need two sets. At £50 quid a pop they must be good! 

 
 

[Malamute]

Where can I buy these rules... I might need two sets. At £50 quid a pop they must be good! 

 
 

I've got mine on pre order. I believe they  are going to a Kickstarter to fund the supplements. I'm in.

[Ray Rivers]

  WOW!

Fantastic battle, beautifully photographed. 

Three cheers for Silent Invader and the Captain!

Just one question. Did the cow that wandered into the middle of the battle survive?

Poor thing... 

[Yankeepedlar01]

Very fine, Richard! A great crdit to you.

[Mason]

Great pictures full of wonderful dribbliness!
 

Great work by the pair of you, absolutely wonderful to drool over.
Shame about the Essex Boys!
 

[Blue in vt]

Loverly...just loverly!

Blue

[Captain Blood]

Thanks lads. It was good fun.

Very fine, Richard! A great crdit to you.

Thanks David. That's almost a proper wargame, isn't it? 

The credit really belongs to Steve aka Silent Invader, since the rules, scratchbuilt terrain and buildings, and half the figures are all his 

[War In 15MM]

Simply beautiful. I love your posts.  Richard