The First Battle of St Albans

- Run by Peter Dunn

At Wellington Warlords on Saturday we undertook a refight of the early War of the Roses battle at St.Albans. The battle occurred in 1455AD pitching the forces of Richard, Duke of York against those of the Lancastrian king, Henry VI.

The basis for the refight was E. J. Cruttenden's excellent series of articles in 'Wargames Illustrated' which presented a number of the decisive conflicts of the period in a DBM context.

At St. Albans (refight), the Lancastrian forces were defending the edge of the town with a force of 362AP split over three commands. The forces were split reasonably evenly between the King, Somerset and Clifford. Somerset took up a position on the Lancastrian left, Clifford on the right with the King in the rear behind Somerset's command. In the historical battle, one of the major deciding factors leading to the Yorkist victory was the un-preparedness of Henry and the confusion this caused. Special rules were included in the refight to represent this state of affairs. Regular listers, Rhys Batchelor and Rob Cameron played Henry and Clifford respectively, with Vince Cholewa playing Somerset.

On the Yorkist side there we again three commands, again split relatively evenly. The forces totalled 495AP but under one of the special rules of the scenario, half of the Duke of Warwick's command were 'secretly' not deployed. Greg Jennings played the part of Salisbury, Paul Goldstone, the heroic Warwick and Rob Curry, the Duke of York.

The nature of the troops (all slow moving foot) and terrain (the Lancastrians having secure flanks) meant that the Yorkists had to assault the enemy across TFs laid down in front of DGo. The scenario was finite, in that the Yorkist had to achieve their objectives (break two commands or the Lancastrian army) within 12 turns. The Lancastrians could afford to sit and absorb the attack, delaying the Yorkist advance.

Special rules employed surrounded Warwick and Henry VI. Starting on the third Yorkist turn, there was an opportunity for the Yorkist to achieve a breakthrough into the centre of the town. This was represented by then deploying the off table half of Warwick's command at Chequer house, just behind the Lancastrian front line. In the refight this was based on a die roll. Unknown to the Lancastrian forces, to represent Henry's un-preparedness, he was unable to move his command until Warwick achieved the breakthrough or his eighth turn whichever came first.

The refight tended to follow along historical lines. Clifford's command was assailed by the combined forces of Warwick and Salisbury and by the sixth turn was demoralised. Unfortunately for the Yorkists (and Rhys who sat down to read the newspaper), Warwick's breakthrough did not materialise early. On the eighth turn, Henry finally entered the game and proceeded to march his troops thru the town to shore up Clifford's flank. Somerset had largely repulsed the attack of the Duke of York who only managed to put a limited number of troops thru an undefended part of the line. On the tenth turn and still a long way from achieving their victory objectives, Warwick's breakthrough occurred. To represent the panic in the Lancastrian ranks, his 'breakthrough' troops were given an additional bound (second move and shoot).

Unfortunately for the Lancastrians, Henry had marched his troops in column up to the point where the breakthrough occurred. The Yorkists fell on the side of King Henry's column and got the necessary casualties they required to break the Lancastrian army at the start of the final bound. Much slaughter of nobles then occurred :-)

Points of Note:

• Historical result occurred but it was a close run thing.
• Decisive action was Henry moving his troops to shore up his right flank. If he had left Clifford to his fate and waited for the Yorkists to come to him, it probably would have been a draw.
• This proved a great battle to learn about the effects/nature of temporary fortifications which a number of the players had not previously encountered
• Nice to have a battle with not a horse in sight.

And now the jaundiced version:

St Albans' café culture found lacking

A tale owing more to French farce than William Shakespeare, our Bill not having been invented in time for this, the first wee stoush of the War of the Roses.

The cast of players:

The House of Lancaster

• King Henry VI, Rhys Batchelor
• Earl of Somerset, Vince Cholewa
• Earl of Sussex, Robbie Cameron

The House of York

• Richard, Duke of York, Robert Currie
• Earl of Warwick, Paul Goldstone
• Earl of Salisbury, Greg Jennings

Mr Ripley, a.k.a the umpire, Peter Dunn

St Albans, May 6.- King Henry VI awoke, as befits a gentleman of his regal standing, at about mid-day. He was in dire need of a strong latte and a croissant oozing butter and laden with cheese and ham (caffeine and fat being ideal for a kick start after one has forgotten the Berrocca and water when one retired following a night of revels). Needless to say, the Chamberlain said something like, 'shit-latte and croissant in St Albans!' Some time later the harassed Chamberlain returned with the King's brunch. St Albans' tea-rooms owners were left even more harassed but somewhat better educated about 'real coffee' and 'decent food'.

While all this was going on, the dastardly Yorkists did not wait for his Royal Majesty to prepare himself, but attacked the Lancastrian positions bravely held by the heavily outnumbered Earls of Somerset and Sussex. King Henry was to have been in the centre between his faithful supporters.

Things went from bad to worse when, believe it or not, Mr Ripley stepped in. Henry was sure that he had left his commend in column of march on the road into St Albans when he had had to make a pit stop-that strong dose of caffeine was taking its toll. Just how does one take a pee whilst wearing full plate armour? Anyway, after these complicated manoeuvres were completed, Henry returned to find his command had gone. Mr Ripley had picked it up and put it in the famous 'en-blob' formation amongst the market gardens. It was stuck, ankle deep in turnips, amidst pigeon coops and whippet kennels. Henry thought that this was a sticky situation that looked dashed hard work to resolve and, having already had a hard night, decided to have a wee kip. He awoke at about 2.30pm feeling refreshed and ready for the fast gallop back to London!

While Henry was doing his thing (not), Somerset and Sussex struggled bravely against the Yorkist hordes but were succumbing against overwhelming numbers. Mr Ripley intervened when Somerset hatched a cunning plan to sally forth against Richard's exposed flank-'thou shalt not cross the temporary fortifications', Mr Ripley said, 'and no, you weren't meant to know that rule when you deployed.'

'Bugger!' replied Somerset.

Eventually Sussex's wing broke and Somerset was left grimly holding on as a rear guard as Henry withdrew to regroup for another day.

The game, a refight of the first battle of St Albans, was played noisily at the Warlords. Thank-you to Peter for organising it and to all involved, including the many spectators who joined in the foolishness and noise making at various times. Mike Campbell's influence was felt whenever he came and hovered-the dice nearest him rolled, at times, as high as two pips.

Apparently, the result was pretty much historical. At the battle, the King slept in and then took absolutely bloody ages to get himself organised. Somerset and Sussex held out as best they could but the lightly held centre (where the King was supposed to have been) gave way. I have no idea why, in reality, Henry behaved as he did. I made up the story, but it seems an ideal explanation for a multiplayer game involving much coffee, many chocolate biscuits, but, sadly, no croissants.

- Vincent, Earl of Somerset.