As usual our final show visit of the year will be to the Recon show at Pudsey at the beginning of December. Once again Steve, Bob and I will be supporting the Lance & Longbow society by putting on a medieval period wargame and this year it will be Stoke Field 1487. This battle was the last major attempt by the Yorkist faction to overthrow Henry VII, the victor at Bosworth two years previously. Their army led by the Earl of Lincoln contained disaffected Yorkist nobles and their retinues plus German mercenaries and a large number of Irish troops. Henry was gathering his own army and the Earl of Lincoln probably hoped to attack before the royal troops were fully assembled.
Please note that in the following photographs the majority of the troops have not been given the correct flags for this battle. We were just working through the scenario and checking the mechanics of the rules (our own version of 'Lion Rampant') when dealing with the various troop types.
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| A view along the Yorkist line |
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| The Irish ready to attack |
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| The Royal vanguard under the Earl of Oxford |
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| The Irish charge into the archers |
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| Royalist mounted troops and the Irish |
The result of our game was a decisive Royalist victory, as in history. If the Irish manage to get into contact, they can cause damage; the main problem was surviving the Royalist 'arrow storm'. Also, the mercenary pikemen did not fare too well against the enemy billmen. A great deal depends on the numerous Yorkist skirmishers managing to protect the melee troops long enough for them to get into charge range. Plenty to ponder upon and a few more trial runs before the event.
