The return of the St George's Day special! (Actually played on Saturday at the Abbey Baptist Hall.)
The Battle of Flodden: The 'Professionally trained' Scottish army. lead by James IV vs the English reserves\Northern louts lead by the Earl of Surrey.
Played with Warhammer Ancients at 15mm, with a number of special rules to simulate the conditions. Organised by Matt (who now never wants to paint a 15mm pikeman again in his entire life.).
The battle started in fine style with an artillery duel, the Scots firing first with little effect but the English return of fire taking out a couple of guns, and the bounce hitting the troops behind. Likewise in the next round the English took out two more guns, but these were their own! destroyed by misfires. The English got the better of the exchanges, leaving only two Scots guns overlooking the English left.
Realising that it wasn't particularly safe on the hills the Scots started to advance into the marshy vale below [
No bounce rule for guns firing into valley]. The English decided to intercept them while the Scots were disorganised crossing the treachrous ground. [
Pike Blocks don't get second rank in melee in such conditions]
The Scots Horse advanced to skirmish with the Archers on the far right, but could not break them or circle around them. One transgression from history was the decision to send Dacre and his Cavalry to the Left flank rather than reinforce the right, as we had no idea when Stanley and his flanking reinforcements would arrive. (Retrospectively we probably should of waited a bit longer before committing the horse to either flank)
The Scots left made good speed though the mud and managed to get through it and organised back into a phalanx before the English could engage. The Scots elsewhere weren't so lucky and melees in the mud began and a long battle of attrition began.
Things started to look very bad for the English as the right started to break and run, but a rally on the hill, as well as throwing the archers into melee, helped stem the flood.
The turning point finally occurred when the Halberders in the centre finally came good and defeated the pike block that King James was attached to. Two failed leadership tests and a successful pursuit leading to his demise\head as a football. (My cameras batteries also died at this point so no decent picture of his fall.)
The left was now under English control, with Stanley's arrival silencing the last of the Scottish cannons and a combined attack from Stanley and Darce's Cavalry taking out the Highlanders, who had previously been shifted out of the marsh.
The right just about held, with the English archers doing well in hand to hand. With the flank turned the Scots decided to withdraw (and the French contingent, who never saw battle, agreed.) So after a bad start the English managed to pull it out of the bag at the very end.
More Photos:
Flodden 09¶
