York versus Lancaster

For the final game of the year another outing with the Bloody Barons rules. I was commanding the Lancastrian and Dave Lanchester the Yorkists.  Although these rules tend to make each game different, looking at my last battle report using them there are some similarities.  Again I was to be the attacker and again one of my flank commanders was 'in a huff'; on this occasion his loyalty was suspect and he required two rounds of 'motivation' before he would take part.  Dave didn't have things all his own way either, he had half his army delayed and would need to dice for their arrival.  Just to make matters interesting, my other flank commander was having an 'off day' and his ability to motivate his troops to action was impaired.  I didn't help matters by placing one of his units in a wood, which further decreased their chances of actually doing something.

My plan, such as it was, was to secure the built-up area on my left (you get victory points for holding these areas) and the hill to my right (again, victory points). The main force in the centre was to take any opportunities to attack any Yorkist troops interfering with the flank attacks.

 The Lancastrian centre

The reluctance of Clifford on my right to advance meant that my commanding general spent the first half of the battle persuading him to fight.  Whilst doing this moving any units in the centre was more difficult (due to the distance between the general and the troops).  Dave took advantage of the disorder and charged my household troops.  The infantry, with an organ gun in support, managed to eliminate one base of the enemy retinue cavalry, but this did not stop the charge.  Disregarding their exalted status my  broke and ran after one round of melee. (8 victory points to Dave).  The Yorkist cavalry followed this up by charging and routing my retinue cavalry (6 more victory points to Dave). To balance things up a little my Household cavalry routed Dave's . 

On my right I was making slow progress towards the hill, giving Dave time to organise his defence.  Two units were firing at my retinue foot and to avoid further casualties I charged the Yorkist retinue defending the hill.  In retrospect this was an error.  Not only was I outnumbered, but the Yorkists also had the advantage of the hill.  In no time at all my retinue routed (more victory points for Dave).  This left a unit of levy foot facing three enemy units and despite my best efforts it proved impossible to roll high enough dice to get the unit in the wood to come to their aid.

By now I had managed to persuade Clifford to advance on the town, but the delay meant that Dave's missing units had now arrived on the field.  In the event it made no difference as Clifford managed to roll under four on two d6 on three successive turns; meaning that he failed to motivate  his troops.


In a desperate attempt to achieve some success the commanding general led his Household cavalry forward in an attack on the newly arrived Yorkist infantry.  Charging through flanking fire the cavalry crashed into the Yorkist line and pushed them back.  The Yorkist's morale held and in the second round the commander of the Household troops was killed.  This and the loss of two further bases ensured that the cavalry would rout. 

So with my left inactive, my centre eliminated and my right outnumbered it was just as well that the game drew to a close at that point.  After totalling up the victory points (or the Lancastrian lack of them), the result was deemed to be a 'bloodbath' with the destruction of the Lancastrian army.