Big Battle of Billhooks at BIG

 

The Two Forty!

So long 2022! Although there were some grim moments, I shall remember this year as the one where I played a game of Billhooks most weekends against somebody and almost every fortnight against my regular opponent and good friend Mark Taylor. Mark invariably plays the House of Lancaster which seems appropriate as he embodies some of the characteristics of the Heroes of that house. He combines the aggression and tactical skill of Somerset with the guile of Margret of Anjou and the luck and consistency of John Lord Wenlock!

Most of our games have used the “BASH standard” 120-point armies, a perfect size for a game of two hours or so, but being the curious types we are, we wondered how many points could we cram onto a 6 by 4 and still be home for tea.

We decided to try 240 points with five leaders. To ensure we got home for our roast dinners we set the morale level at ten coins rather than the fourteen it should have been. We each approached the game in our own different ways. Mark in his usual thorough way spent his evenings on the week before the game plotting and scheming, drawing up and dismissing various combinations of formations, troop types, using veteran and non-veteran companies until he had the perfect list. I, true to form, picked my army on the morning of the battle while we were setting up!

The Forces of the House of Lancaster

CiC Sir Edmund Beaufort 3^rd Duke of Somerset

1 company of Men at Arms 12men @ 24points

1 company of Bows 12 men @ 12 points

Sir John Courtenay Lord of Devon

2 companies of Veteran billmen 24 men @ 30 points

2 companies of bows 24 men @ 24 points

John the Lord Wenlock

Two companies of Pikes @ 24 points

One company of Bows @ 12 points

Sir Andrew Trollope

2 companies of Veteran billmen 24 men @ 30 points

2 companies of bows 24 men @ 24 points

Sir Gaston Villa

1 squadron of light horse @ 12 points

Ye Greate Gonne @ 9 points

3 bands of skirmishers @ 18 points

Total of 219 points + 20 points of leaders = 239 points

 

The Forces of the House Of York

His Majesty the One True King of England Edward IV

1 company of Men at Arms @24 points

1 company of Bows @12 points

Sir Walter Deveraux Baron de Ferrers

2 companies Veteran Bows @ 30 points

2 companies of Billmen @24 points

Sir John de Barre of Barres Court

2 companies of Bows @ 24 points

2 companies of Veteran Billmen @ 30 points

Sir Phillip Mede Pirate-merchant and warrior mayor of Bristowe

1 company of Men at Arms @ 24 points

1 company of Bows @ 12 points

Sir Beize Canard

2 squadrons of light horse @ 24 points

2 bands of skirmishers, (1 with pavise) @ 15 points

Total 219 points+ 20 points of leaders =239points

As I had two light horse squadrons to Mark’s one, the Lancastrians had been “out-scouted” and had to deploy one battle and all their skirmishers and artillery first.

The Manoeuvre phase. Yorkists are on the left in this picture. At the top of the screen the rival light horse have deployed opposite each other. The Lancastrian Great Gonne is just out of range on its hill so Mark could not use his favourite tactic of halting this phase. Mark has thrown out his skirmishers on to the flanks, he is a master at this, and taking to the woods to increase their defence.

Wenlock and the pike block are on the left of Marks line, just behind the Gonne in this picture, opposite Mede and his Men at Arms.

Top of the picture centre of the field are the Burgundian mercenary crossbow men equipped with pavise. They will enter the wood and shoot at the Lancastrian skirmishers there, ending the manoeuvre phase and beginning the game proper!

The Yorkist host, de Barres battle in the foreground

The Lancastrians-Devon has pushed his Archers forward to deter the Yorkists  Burgundian mercenaries

AYork AYork! Sir Phillip Mede, at the bottom of this picture, has deployed here with his Men at Arms to counter the Pikes of Wenlock. The German hand gunners are deployed in front of his ward as a screen.

  Next comes Deveraux with his veteran archers deployed in line formation out in front

Then there is Edward IV with another company of Men at Arms and one of bows

Then there is De Barre and his ward and at the top of the picture the two squadrons of Light Horse

Lancaster! In the foreground, the “supreme fence sitter” Wenlock, and his pikes, a company of archers and band of skirmishers, then Trollope with his double block of veteran Billmen and double line of archers.  Next to him, in the centre is the eternally angry Duke of Somerset with his bows and Men at arms. Then comes Devon holding the right flank with his ward and behind him the light horse.

Somerset orders the advance and the Lancastrians move forward maintaining a very orderly straight line. At the bottom of the picture Mark has rushed his skirmishers forward from the wood and they are creating havoc amongst Medes Men at Arms with their hand gonnes 

 Edward IV has not moved; his card was not drawn!

  Look how straight the Lancastrian line is-Mark was very pleased at this!

I did not get enough pics of this action! The Yorkist light horse charge their opponents who counter charge and the Yorkists do not do well losing four casualties to Lancaster’s two. However, their morale holds, which is unusual for Light Horse. Edward IV’s card is drawn at last and he leaves his own Ward to advance and order the second light horse in on the flank of the Lancastrians. The Yorkist squadron already in the melee, led by Canard, survive the morale test for treason and the Yorkists cause another two casualties on Gaston’s horse which make their saving throws. All are locked in melee!

Devon strides forwards and commands his veteran billmen to charge the flank of the Yorkist light horse who lose the combat, fail their morale test and flee the field. A bonus card is drawn and in the subsequent melee both Canard and Gaston Villa’s squadrons annihilate each other! All those within twelve inches pass their morale tests!

Lancaster has destroyed both Yorkist light horse units for the cost of one! 

The situation after Devon’s charge. York have lost the most coins so far, at the bottom of the picture, Lancastrian skirmishers are decimating Sir Philip Mede’s Ward, he has lost 4 Men at Arms and three Bows.

Ye Man Who Wouldst Be King! (or the happy face of success!)

There are many accounts of Somerset’s perpetual bad temper but nowhere does it state that he was a smug git!

Wenlock’s pikes advance against the Yorkist left flank

Things are looking dire for Medes ward although the German mercenary hand-gonners have arrived and are inflicting casualties on the Lancastrian skirmishers-have they come too late?

From Deveraux’s perspective centre right in the Yorkist line! Wenlock advances relentlessly! 

Deveraux’s veteran archers unleash hell and 5 pikes fall, pierced through and through!

Bam! The pikes charge home! Somehow the Men at Arms win this unequal battle losing two more men but causing four casualties to the pikes who fail the resulting morale test and fall back Daunted! 

In the centre, Mark plays a perk card to change formation and uses a double move to charge with Somerset’s men into Edward IV’s Men at Arms

A bitter, hard fought, three turn hacking grind of a melee commences.

On the other flank, the Yorkist left flank, Devon has advanced his Archers and a vicious exchange of arrers commences which is eventually won by de Barres men who wipe out one of Devon’s archer units

Back on the right flank and Mede’s two surviving Men at Arms are taunting the disarrayed pike men! 

"'oo are ye? 'oo are ye?'oo are ye?"

The Lancastrian skirmishers fail a morale test and flee the field! Wenlock rallies his pikes...

 

…who return to the fray! Being Disarrayed they only count one rank! They roll six dice against the Men at Arms three, but to no avail as the Men at Arms save on every throw! The Pikes fail the morale test again and are Daunted once more!

Meanwhile, in the centre of the field Deveraux’s veteran archer block has caused 11 casualties in one withering volley to one of Trollope’s bows, pretty well wiping it out, it fails its morale test and flees the field. The chink of coins in the cup of victory has been all one way for the last few turns and the Duke of Somerset no longer looks like the cat that has supped the cream. 

   

The central melee between Somerset and Edward is grinding to a halt. After three turns of inconclusive fighting  the two sides separate and stand breathless barely able to raise their weapons.

Ironically, after all the heroics and bloodshed on the right flank and in the centre of the field, the outcome of the battle was finally decided on the “quiet” left flank when Devon’s archers failed a morale check, became Daunted and the morally bankrupt Lancastrians were unable to pay the bill!

And so ends another great game of Billux! I really thought this was lost after the first two turns but by turn four the tide had turned, Mark began exhibiting his usual run of bad luck and York triumphed again. Archery played a major role in this battle, but the incredible defence by Mede’s Men at Arms, truly the stuff of legends, felt like the significant game changing event.

Thoughts

The table takes 240 points nicely but fills it so completely that there are no flanks. I could not utilise my advantage in Light Cavalry units and I would have been better off taking another bow/bill block instead of the Light Horse

The woods on each flank enable skirmishers to work with impunity but stop any flanking movement as woods are a fucker for formed troops whether horse or foot to move through.

Artillery are not as good as skirmishers! This is a conclusion we have both arrived at after many games, a conclusion reinforced by this crowded field as the Gonne is soon rendered useless after the first few turns, as any targets are obstructed by their own sides troops.

Reducing the number of coins in the pot effectively shortened the game and avoided the end of battle slogging match of multiple reduced companies locked in melee. There were a few units unfought at the end of the game but it felt alright and neither of us thought that it had ended too soon.

For future games

I think we should randomly roll for terrain. We have been using a small clump of woods on both flanks each game and this produces the same kind of battle each time. This could be determined by who has out scouted who and therefore has some say over which terrain to fight over. Maybe we could use “Scouting points” to determine who picks the terrain, 2 points for each light cavalry squadron, 1 point for each skirmisher band with the player who has highest number of points deciding the field to fight upon.

With more troops on the table we found that using dice to indicate how many rounds of each melee had been fought was helpful, having markers to indicate who has charged or who is winning in melee may help a bit more

Veteran archers are probably worth the extra points if you can shoot often enough.

It felt great to get all the toys out and I should like to play a few more at this size. I thought about how to use flanks on such a packed field and decided to write some “off table” flanking rules!

Flank Marches

The Wars of the Roses was not a period known for subtlety on the battle field. Armies lined up opposite each other and went at it. However, there is one famous incident of a flanking manoeuvre at Tewkesbury where Edward hid the “paunch” of 200 spears in a wood who then charged the flank of Somersets ward when they were engaged to their front routing them from the field.

Here is an idea to replicate this on the table top

 Before both sides have deployed, each player decides which units (light cavalry only) will be in the flanking force and when the manoeuvre phase has concluded, each player declares which Leader and which units form the flanking force and whether the flanking force has been sent around the left or right flank. If both players have declared a flank march, the players write down or otherwise secretly indicate which flank they are marching on. If both players choose the same flank, the flanking force with the lowest points value has been forced back. If both flanking forces are of equal size, the side that has been outscouted has been forced back. If both sides are of equal force and neither side has been out scouted then neither flanking force has succeeded. They must now be deployed on the table anywhere within the player’s deployment area.

A Leader on a flank march is activated as normal when his card is drawn. The player rolls 1d6. If the score is equal to, or less than, the current number of turns in the game, the flanking force may be brought on. Roll 1d6 to determine which stretch of the table the flanking force arrives on.

6= Complete success! The flanking force can deploy on the opponents long table edge within 12 inches of the short edge of the table

4,5 = on the short edge of the table 0-12inches from the opponents long table edge

1,2,3= on the short edge 12-24 inches from the opponents long table edge

On arriving on the battlefield, all movement is measured from the table edge