First St Albans: Who Left the Archers Behind?

[sgt reggie]

This is my first post to this august Forum and it feels like a real privilege.

I'm painting a Perry WotR army and also enjoying playing the GMT board game Blood and Roses while I slowly build up my stock of 28mm figures.

My group played an introductory game of First St Albans over the weekend. In this game, the small Yorkist 3,000 strong force of three very small battles each got one longbow unit, 2 infantry and one dismounted men at arms. All retinue units.

The Lancastrians on the other hand, a force of only 2,000 were mostly infantry, one man at arms unit and NO longbow.

I had read in Poleaxed and Coat of Steel that one could expect a larger number of longbow (retinue, well-wisher and shire) in most battles and Poleaxed gives the Lancastrians many archers in its force composition for this battle. I know this was the initial combat of the war and that Somerset was not expecting to do battle. However, would he really have marched from London towards a probably hostile army with no longbowmen in his riding retinues?

I wonder if the Lancastrians had any forewarning of the 600 Border longbow accompanying York through the good offices of Sir Robert Ogle? Plus presumably other retinues with archers.

Does anyone have any better insight or sources on the absence (or presence) of Lancastrian bowmen at this battle?

As for my new wargames army, there will be plenty of longbowmen. No St Albans for my armies! Would the archers from the Marches be mostly Salisbury retainers and therefore wearing his badge and livery or hired mercenaries for the border protection?