the Miniature World of Mike Peters: BIG Bill'ooks-the story of a gameshop Demoday

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BIG Demo 2

The Battle of Sodbury Hill

1471 was an important year in the conflict that became known as the War of the Roses. In fact, it was in many ways, THE important year. The year that all opposition to Edward’s claim to the throne was spectacularly crushed at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury and the deposed king Henry VI’s miserable existence came to an end. He allegedly died of melancholy, well, being despised by everyone and then murdered by whatever unproven means, whether starvation, poison or suffocation, would make you miserable wouldn’t it?

And this is all well known if not well documented, but what is less well known is the almost battle of Sodbury.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker, having rebelled against the rule of Edward IV who he first helped to sit upon the throne, has been defeated and killed in the mist at the confused battle of Barnet where mistaken identities in the dense fog led to cries of “Treachery” and friend fighting friend on the very day that Margaret of Anjou landed at Weymouth with an army to support Warwick's attempt at a coup.

Margaret, wife of Henry VI the deposed king who was held prisoner in the Tower of London, a resourceful, decisive woman and no mean strategist, realised that her army was too small to take on Edward's host and so headed North intending to meet with her Tudor allies in Wales.

Edward raced to meet her with his army. Margaret’s army was led by Edmund Beaufort, the self-acclaimed 4th Duke of Somerset. He should have inherited the title from his elder brother who was executed after the first battle of St Albans, however, Henry the elder brother, had been attainted by the king and so his family forfeited all rights to land and title. The Lancastrians ignored this and honoured him with the title anyway.

Edmund seems to have been an arrogant, angry man, with a hot temper and a bad attitude, however he was reckoned a capable fighter and a clever tactician and he thought of a cunning plan to delay Edward’s advance and buy time for the Lancastrians to escape.

On the 2^nd May, he made as if to give battle at the old hill fort at Sodbury, North East of Bristol, deploying enough of his men so as to appear to be ready for battle. Yorkist scurrers scouting ahead of the main army reported their presence to Edward who halted his army’s forced march and made ready to deploy in Order of Battle. This ruse gained a day’s march for the Lancastrian host.

There was some fierce skirmishing in the village of Old Sodbury but the two armies did not meet until the battle of Tewkesbury two days later. This, almost battle of Sodbury provided the perfect excuse for a demo game for Bristol Independent Gaming’s Demo Day 2-BIG Billhooks!

A short walk around Sodbury hill fort was called for and so I called my good friend Mr Massey and off we went for recce.

The site is huge! You could fit a football stadium inside it easily. The inner ward is no higher than the ground that surrounds it which seems strange for a hill fort. The two earthen ramparts are at the same elevation with a wide ditch between.

We neither of us were convinced at it’s capability as a fortification, it seemed more like a vast corral or maybe a fortified town, way too big for a village. Then we saw the sign!

But actually, it was Roman camp way before that. A large permanent camp seemingly.

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=1641963423

I built a highly detailed and complex representation of the camp based on how it appeared on the map -in purple!

It didn’t quite live up to expectations – and it was mostly green!

Sodbury Hill seemed the perfect scenario for a Demo battle in that no one knows anything about it and so we can make of it what we will!

I have never done a Demo game before, it strikes me that it may be someone’s first experience of the hobby so it should be easy to play, attractive to look at and fun. Billhooks is actually a great game for a first look at wargaming. Simple mechanisms and a truly capricious combat system mean the main skill required is luck!

With the help of my beautiful assistant (eye of the beholder and all that) Mark Taylor, I prepared a scenario. We printed out a four-page introduction to the battle and two playing aids as QR charts.

Here is the Players Brief

BIG Bill’ooks!

The (Almost) Battle of Sodbury Hill

‘tis 1471 and Margaret of Anjou, the She Wolf of France, has invaded England with her teenage son and a Lancastrian army intent on joining with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, to take the throne of England from King Edward IV, who has her husband, the deposed King Henry VI held as prisoner in the Tower of London. What Margaret doesn’t know is that Warwick has been defeated and killed at the battle of Barnet.

She is marching North to meet her Welsh allies and has turned aside briefly to secure guns, reinforcements, and money from the city of Bristol. King Edward is in hot pursuit and is racing across the country to cut her off before she can cross into Wales.

On hearing that Margaret is at Bristol, King Edward hurries South from Cirencester to meet her. However, the Lancastrians make a feint towards Little Sodbury, about 12 miles northeast of Bristol. Nearby is Sodbury Hill, an Iron Age hill fort that was an obvious strategic point for the Lancastrians to seize. Yorkist scouts reach the hill and there is a sharp fight in which they suffer heavy casualties.

Believing that the Lancastrians are about to offer battle, Edward temporarily halts his army while the stragglers catch up and the remainder rest after their rapid march from Windsor. However, the Lancastrians instead make a swift move North by night, passing within 3 miles of Edward's army. By the morning of 2nd May they have gained the safety of Berkeley Castle and have a head start of 15 miles over Edward. He catches up with them two days later, outside Tewkesbury, and the rest as they say, is history.

What if? The Lancastrians didn’t all “make a swift move North by night?”

What if? -the Lancastrian Lords lingered a little long atop Sodbury Hill with a small force which happened to be the perfect size for an introductory game of Billhooks?

What if? -the ever-energetic enthusiastic Edward IV didn’t halt his army and arrived afore they departed with some local lords and an almost exactly equal small force?

What if? The Battle of Sodbury Hill is what!

The Leaders of the Army of the House of Lancaster

Edmund Beaufort (c. 1438 – 6 May 1471) “4^th Duke of Somerset”. In a proclamation dated 27 April 1471 Edmund is described "Edmund Beaufort, calling himself duke of Somerset" as he had “inherited” the title from his elder brother who had the title stripped from him after the battle of St Albans. Hot headed and arrogant, Somerset is credited with having the idea for the feint at Sodbury Hill. He was overall chief and commanded the van ward at Tewkesbury. He allegedly lost the battle by advancing forward too soon, losing most of his men to artillery and hand gun fire and an ambush. He blamed Wenlock for this disaster and went looking for him with his battle-axe!

John Wenlock, 1st Baron Wenlock KG (c.1400/04 – 4 May 1471) was an English politician, diplomat, soldier and courtier. He fought on the sides of both the Yorkists and the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses. He has been called "the prince of turncoats" even when Wenlock was not actually changing sides, he was engaged in "fence sitting par excellence."

At the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, along with Prince Edward, Margaret’s son, he commanded the middle of the Lancastrian line. However, the Lancastrians suffered a crushing defeat, and Wenlock died on the battlefield. He was allegedly killed by his own commander, the Duke of Somerset, who blamed Wenlock's indecisiveness for the defeat. The Duke of Somerset had led the right flank of the Lancastrian line forward, and expected Wenlock to support him, but Wenlock held back (some suggest deliberately) and the Duke's men were slaughtered. After the Duke's flank retreated, he either summoned Wenlock or rode to him, and supposedly killed him with a single blow to the head with a battle axe.

Sir John Courtenay (c. 1435 – 4 May 1471) Earl of Devon is said to have been originally intended for a career in the church, he commanded the Lancastrian left battle at Tewkesbury and was among those slain on the field- "in plain battle" when the division "took to flight". Bet he wished he had stayed with the church

The Leaders of the Army of the House of York

Edward IV 28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483 the epitome of a medieval warrior king, Edward was a brave warrior, a superlative knight, unbeaten in battle, he was an excellent strategist, a bold tactician and a giant at 6 foot five! In 1471 he was in his prime and in two devastating battles, with less than three weeks between them, he destroyed all effective opposition to his reign.

Walter Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley (c.1432 – 22 August 1485) was a loyal follower of King Edward, and rarely left his side. Devereux was a real scrapper and was present at nearly every major battle of the Wars of the Roses. He was killed at Bosworth.

William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley (1426 – 14 February 1492) was another turn coat who supported whichever side suited him at the time. A treacherous, schemer, an inveterate gambler whose nick name was “waste all” he notoriously provided men for one side at Bosworth and money for the other.

The Armies

Each army shall have 3 battles

Van- Commander 12 bill 12 bows

Rear- Commander 12 bows 12 bills

Main- Commander in Chief 12 bows 12 bills 12 M@A

Plus attached to each army 6 skirmishers or 1 great gonne and crew

Total 102 points

Each Commander in Chief shall be a Hero, each leader shall be a Commander

The table 6x 4

A ridge along the Northern edge (the hill fort)

A few houses on the Western perimeter- the town of Little Sodbury

And we had a great day! We had planned for four games, we had four players, one of whom played two consecutive games, which meant that both Mark and I got a game in too! Who would lose their heads and who would be Mr BIG Bill’ooks?

As it happend , no one really care much who won and who lost but the end result was 3:1 to York!

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