Steve and I have been using the Billhooks, Ruckus and Lion Rampant rulesets for Wars of the Roses games. However, for larger games c20 x 18 figure units per side, we needed something different and decided to try Hail Caesar, partly because we were both familiar with "Pike and Shotte" and thought that some of the rule mechanisms may be common to both sets; but also because of the Wars of the Roses supplement which was published For Hail Caesar.
Steve devised a scenario with Henry, Duke of Somerset leading a Lancastrian force and Edward, Earl of March leading a Yorkist force. Both armies are trying to advance along a road.
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| Somerset's battle |
To Somerset's right was Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham who had orders to advance onto the hill to his front and place the artillery to fire on the flank of any Yorkist advance along the road. On Somerset's left was John, Lord Wenlock, he had the most numerous battle and had orders to advance and engage the enemy right.
Somerset's plan fell apart quickly. Buckingham's advance was too slow and the Yorkist left, under Warwick was in place waiting for the Lancastrians and the latter suffered heavy losses from the concentrated archery. Wenlock did advance, but one of his archer units was a bit too enthusiastic and became isolated and the target for the archery of two of Hasting's units. Wenlock's light cavalry attempted a charge to relieve the pressure, but casualties inflicted by Hasting's light artillery dissuaded them from charging home.
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| Buckingham's men advance |
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| Warwick waits for the Lancastrian's to come into range |
In the centre, Somerset had some success. Edward's artillery advanced too quickly and the crew were cut down by archery, Edward also lost a unit of archers to the combined archery of Somerset's battle. However, one of Somerset's household units drifted off towards the right and became involved in a fight with one of Warwick's units. Edward rallied his men and led a concerted attack on Somerset, The Lancastrian's were pushed back, but heavy losses caused the Yorkists to falter and this gave Somerset just enough time to rally and reform. A renewed attack was repelled and Edward, leading from the front, was wounded.
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| The fighting in the centre |
On the Lancastrian flanks Buckingham and Wenlock were having mixed fortunes. Buckingham's attack never really got going and he was forced onto the defensive. Warwick reinforced his line, attacked and began to push Buckingham's units back. It provided an insight into the effectiveness of two competing strategies; thin your lines to maximise the effectiveness of your archers, or, reinforce you line by shortening your frontage and then pushing forward to try and win the melee.
Wenlock was on the attack and was having some success. Hastings had a unit of archers in a wood which were inflicting casualties on Wenlock's main attack and Wenlock decided to push the archers back. An initial shower of arrows proved ineffective so a unit of household attacked. Against the odds these were pushed back by the gallant archers. Undeterred, Wenlock ordered a second attack, with the household supported by archers. Once again Hastings archers prevailed and to make matters worse the recoiling household troops were charged by the Yorkist heavy cavalry and destroyed. Only a sacrificial charge by Wenlock's light cavalry managed to halt the heavies.
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| The cavalry clash |
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| Hasting's archers triumph again |
At this point we had to finish and decided to award a narrow victory to Edward.
A successful trial run and we will try another game while the rules are still fairly fresh in our minds. There are of course a few things we could consider changing, eg the initiative range of 12" but other than that the rules provide a very enjoyable game.
