Blore Heath in 6mm

[usagitsuki]

I tried out the Blore Heath scenario in 6mm. In hindsight I should have used another table to fit a representation of the stream in, if nothing else to remind me it was there, but the shallow table meant I couldn't fit it in properly. I should say, I'm a bit sceptical whether there was a cavalry charge at Blore Heath at all, but the scenario presented an opportunity to try out the cavalry rules.

There are a lot of stand-ins, due to my WOTR being aimed at 1461. In fact, everyone except Audley is a stand-in.

The armies deployed:


Royalists advance, and try to remember that there's a brook in the way:


The archery exchange goes in Salisbury's favour, but his centre is wavering slightly and is low on arrows. Audley leads his cavalry forward more in hope than expectation:


Remarkably, the cavalry win a close fight and Lord Dudley is able to march up onto the hill:


With the morale bonus from being on a hill, Dudley's men stand firm despite their now exposed position with Salisbury's men on their flanks. Salisbury's centre struggles to recover:


The Yorkist left cracks under the pressure and flees into the woods. The Royalists are victorious:


Some thoughts on cavalry. First, if there were a cavalry attack at Blore Heath, then it was supposed to be an impetuous one, so possibly the cavalry in the scenario should have been forced to attack on the first turn and then the survivors used as a reserve, with a reduced dice pool for cavalry activation.

The cavalry in the scenario is very strong (3 household), and the melee that it won was even in terms of dice pools, but the consequences of them winning had more impact on the battle than if they had lost, so in similar situations, a player may be likely to 'gamble' on using them even if the odds were against him. I think there would be less of an issue with the smaller cavalry units such as mentioned at Barnet, Tewkesbury and arguably Mortimer's Cross.

It would also be worth trying the scenario with Audley's cavalry dismounted. Even with the numerical advantage, the Yorkist position is a strong one and it's possible that a failed assault by the Royalists out of the stream squares could lead to profitable counter-attacks by the Yorkists.

Anyway, it's only one game, though it did hinge on the cavalry attack. What are other people's experiences with cavalry?

[Radar]

Don't feel qualified to comment on the battle, but visually that looks ruddy gorgeous! Long lines of chaps with sharp pointy things. I think the silhouette of the trees does it for me. Great stuff.

[martin goddard]

I agree with radar. The "look" of a game does matter. That looks great. To re- iterate radar's point, the trees really give it grandeur.
I hope there is another report on its way?



martin.

[Nick]

I think that looks great. Hills with 6mm troops really look like hills don't they.

Nick

[Antioch (Bob)]

Yes, it looks great.

Totally agree with Radar & Martin.

[Sean Clark]

As I live a 2 minutes drive from Blore Heath, I have a keen interest in this battle. I played this at the Weekender last year. I think Martin was one of my opponents.

As an impetuous so and so, I put my cavalry in in the first turn and bounced off. I tried to push along the whole line and though I had some minor success over on my right flank, I was ground to a halt trying to attack uphill.

A good game though.

In my experience, cavalry are a bit hit and miss. If playing a pick up game, I wouldn't take any. I really like the mechanic though.

[usagitsuki]

Thanks for the kind comments. I'll certainly be doing more battles 

[Leman (Andy)]

Having walked the battlefield I would say that the slope in front of the Yorkist position looks about right. I was wondering where the stream was that runs along the bottom of the slope, but TBH the slope itself would have slowed the Lancastrians enough to give the Yorkist defenders a significant positional advantage.

[mellis1644]

Great looking battle

[usagitsuki]

The stream was in the game but not on the table  My stream was too wide to fit in without shrinking the first two zones, so I didn't bother putting it in.

[martin goddard]

You did make the stream situation very clear in your initial post .  Thanks


martin

[martin goddard]

Have you done another battle yet?


martin

[usagitsuki]

Have you done another battle yet?

I haven't, unfortunately. I've gone back to my main wargaming obsession, the Sengoku Jidai for the last few months. So there might be a BAW battle at some point 

[martin goddard]

That is BIG!

martin

[usagitsuki]

But not as big as: