Richard III rides again

Jim's Yorkists v. Mike & Steve's Lancastrians

After a bit of a break for other periods it was good to get onto our armoured steeds again. 

We are trying a new deployment system.  Each side has a set of counters 3 each A,B,C,D,E.  In this battle we had 3 divisions each so 3 counters were placed face down beside the divisions on their trays to give them a name.  Mine were E, C D, making the A & B counters phonies.   The two sides then alternated putting their pairs of counters down in their deployment zones (24" in from their edge).  The divisions were then deployed on the frontages indicated by the counters.   The Yorkists are on the right so had 2 divisions this side of the creek and 1 on the rocky ridge.  The Lancastrians also put all their divisions at this end leaving half the table empty.

The pic is after both sides have had a one turn.  York had advanced on  the left with his strongest division.  Lancaster has fallen back around the small wood on that side while advancing his left and centre.

 Both sides advance their left.

The Lancastrians have counterattacked with their knights on their right while their left advances slowly along the rocky ridge.  The Yorkist cavalry on the right has discouraged them from dropping onto the plain to move more quickly.

Despite having superior numbers Richard is making hard work of it on the left flank.  In the centre the Yorkist cavalry is advancing again after their backward blunder ruined the coordination of the elft & centre divisions.    On the ridge the outnumbered Yorkist's bowmen are shaken and falling back.

On the left, York has finally got the upper hand, breaking the enemy knights.  The Yorkist centre division is also attacking & their cavalry has broken through the bowmen but has stalled against the men at arms in the second line.  Lancastrian cavalry is galloping down the road through the village. We could find no rules to help infantry defending a road through a village so the cavalry probably had it easier than they might have.  They brushed off the bow fire from the houses & rode over the billmen in the street.

The victorious Yorkist left has advanced too slowly to help the centre division which has failed to break through.  The Yorkist right used the terrain to hold off nearly twice their number. But despite their advantage on the left, the Yorkists were unable to break through there fast enough.  York withdrew his two wings in good order.

By the time we'd finished we realised that we'd forgotten a few rules (we should have read the half page of house rules for Hail Richard III first, not afterwards).  But we had a good time anyway.