The Battle of Northampton - 10th July 1460

A recounting of a War of the Roses solitaire miniatures battle using the Poleaxed 2 game system.

Part of the battlefield seen from within the Lancastrian position.  Warwick's Battle is in the central background.

The Poleaxed 2 game system I used for this battle was created specifically to simulate the battles of the Wars of the Roses. I've been impressed by how well my games recreate the battles from this time period. The authors of these rules really did their homework and have come up with a system that really gives the flavor of the battles of this period.

For those unfamiliar with this time period, the Wars of the Roses (WOR) was a dynastic struggle in England between the house of York and the house of Lancaster to see who would eventually rule England. The “war” went on from 1455 until 1487. It was a low-intensity conflict where there might only be a battle or two one year, and then several years would go by until the next battle. In between almost no fighting would go on. It involved only a small percentage of the population, and generally didn't affect the civilian population except briefly in a few of the campaigns. The armies could be considered semi-professional as the soldiery in any one battle might consist of knights that spent much of their adult lives training for war, veteran soldiers of the 100 Years War, mercenaries, well to minimally trained feudal levies, and peasant mobs armed with farm implements.

Soldiers were divided into melee troops or missile troops. Melee troops were armed with a variety of weapons, such as long axes (poleaxes), glaves, spears, swords, pikes, halberds, etc. English and Welsh missile troops usually used only the Long Bow, a very effective and fast firing weapon that had won the English several battles during the Hundred Years War. The other fire weapons used at this time were the short bow, Arbalest (crossbow), handguns, which were only now starting to become effective, but still seriously out-ranges by the Long Bow, and Javelins. Artillery was also starting to become effective, but except in a few battles, wasn't present in large enough numbers to make a difference.

Armor would consist of full suites of armor (fully-harnessed), significant pieces of a suite of armor (partially-harnessed), armored (helmet and a few other pieces), or unarmored. The richer you were, the more armor. The veteran troops that had fought in the Hundred Years War, or previous WOR battles might have significant pieces of armor, picked up on the battlefield from owners that no longer needed them.

On the battlefield the primary unit of maneuver was the “contingent.” This would be a particular Lord's troops consisting of his Retainers (men in his direct pay, armed and trained for war), other more minor Lords that owed him fealty along with with their retainers, and the local Levy that might or might not be trained and well armed. The contingent's front rank would contain the better armed and armored soldiers, with the lesser ranks behind. A contingent would usually consist of more missile troops than melee troops, sometimes up to a 4-1 ratio.

Two or more contingents would be grouped together under a higher ranked lord to create the Vanward, which preceded the army when under march, the Mainward, which contained the largest number of troops, and the Rearward, which followed up behind and guarded against rear attack while on the march. These formations would form into one line for battle. Once assembled for battle, these formations would be fairly dense, and consist of many ranks. Any tricky maneuvering was out of the question and attempts to do so usually led to serious battlefield embarrassment.

A typical battle would proceed with one or both sides advancing in line, with the missile troops out in front. The missile troops would continue to fire and advance until the lines got close, then they would filter through the melee troops and take a position to the rear of the contingent. If they didn't do this quick enough, they risked coming in contact with the enemy's melee troops. Since bowmen were always minimally armed for melee fighting, and often unarmored, this could be catastrophic.

The effect of the initial arrow-storm could be significant. Easily 60% or more of an army could be archers. If the army was 10,000 men, not unusual for this war, that gives 6,000 archers firing 4 arrows a minute for 24,000 arrows shot in just one minute. Except for the shortest ranges, the arrows would fall in an arc, reaching not just the enemy front ranks, but deep into the rear ranks where the troops would have less armor and protection. Considering the density of the formations, casualties were inevitable. The well armored front rank troops had little to worry about, especially the knights in full-harness. Unless they left their visor open and looked up, they were pretty much invulnerable. The others were not so lucky. The yard-long metal tipped arrows the archers typically used might or might not be stopped by the leather or padded armor of the rear ranks. Unarmored melee troops might be defeated by archery alone before they ever got a chance to come to grips with their opposite numbers. At close range the Long Bow could get through even the fully-harnessed knight's armor.

Once the missile troops retired, the melee troops would come to grips with each other. If the war as a whole was low intensity, the battles were not. Once the melee troops came together, the effect of heavy weapons in close quarters must have been horrific. Typically one side or the other would begin to get an edge over the other and start to push their opponents back. This back-peddling would usually pick up speed until the looser was in full rout, discarding weapons and equipment. Then the real slaughter would start. The battle proper resulted in a moderate number of causalities, but the rout always produced tremendous causalities. Although the routers should have been able to run faster than their pursuers, in just about every battle the routing side ran up against some sort of terrain obstacle such as a river crossing or valley that would squeeze them together, virtually stopping their escape, while the pursuers hacked their way through the mostly defenseless mob.

Background on the Battle of Northampton:

This battle was fought during the early part of the WOR when the Yorkist lords were still claiming to want nothing more than to be rid the King's “evil” councilors, who were the all Lancastrians. They were not yet willing to risk the results of replacing the King entirely. The King was Henry VI, whom it was said would have made a good monk, but made a terrible King. Completely unworldly, he preferred reading religious texts, and going to mass. He left the running of the government to his wife, the Queen, and her Lancastrian advisers, who maneuvered at all times to alienate the Yorkists from the running of the government.

At the beginning of the campaign, three of the most important Yorkist lords, The Earl of Warwick, The Earl of March (soon to be King Edward IV), and Lord Fauconberg, have just returned to England after fleeing the country the previous year. They raised on army, took London, and went north after the King's army. The Lancastrians, commanded by the Duke of Buckingham, at first moved to intercept the Yorkists, but realized too late that the Yorkist army was considerably larger than their own. Buckingham retired to Northampton and created a fortified line in a bend of the river Nene that included a ditch filled with water from the Nene. Their army included an impressive amount of artillery. Henry VI was with the Lancastrian army, but exercised no command authority, leaving everything to Buckingham. A single foot bridge linked the Lancastrian army to the northern side of the river.

A review of the rules:

Each contingent has a commander, and contingents are grouped with a battle (Vanward, Mainward, or Rearward) which also has a commander. The Army Commander is usually with the Mainward Battle, and sends orders to the other Battles, who pass the order down to their contingents. He also has to send orders down to his own contingents. All commanders are rated for their degree of dependability to following orders, with the most enthusiastic being Rash, then Adventurous. Then there is Bold, Cautious, and Treacherous. This rating determines how well the commander receiving it will interpret their orders. Rash and Adventurous commanders are more likely to over exceed their orders. Bold commander usual carry them out as ordered. Cautious and Treacherous will back off on their orders, carrying them out with less enthusiasm, or not at all. For instance, a Rash commander getting a PIN order (hold the enemy at arms length, but don't engage) may re-interpret it as a Charge, attempting to come to grips with the enemy as fast as possible, without allowing the missile troops an opportunity to fire.

All commanders have the potential to “vacillate” upon receiving new orders. Basically they hold in place for a turn and roll for order interpretation next turn. Vacillating on one turn makes it more likely they will vacillate on subsequent turns, until it's entirely possible that a contingent will do nothing but vacillate and pretty much be worthless for the entire battle. I've had this happen in a battle. During one actual battle during the WOR a Battle commander vacillated and failed to support the Army Commander's Battle, which was cut to pieces. The army commander got back to the vacillating Battle commander and rewarded him with an axe to the skull. Treacherous commanders are more likely to vacillate than any others, and have the potential to change sides during the battle, as actually happened at the Battle of Northampton.

Contingents can be “arrayed” (in good order), or dis-arrayed (dis-ordered). Contingents need to be in contact with the other contingents in their Battle, otherwise they become dis-arrayed, which has negative affects of fighting ability and predisposes them to rout. Other events can also cause dis-array.

Contingents record damage taken in the form of Damage Points (DPs) . Contingents usually have between 3 to 5 ranks of troops, missile and melee combined. When a contingent takes enough DPs to have 2 DPs per rank, it has to take a “Flinch Test” (Morale Check). When a contingent takes enough DPs to have 4 DPs per rank, it has to take a more severe Flinch Test. These are the main causes of disarray. Some of the other causes are: death of the contingent commander, being pushed back, and friendly troops routing nearby. 

The contingent cards for both sides can be viewed at the following link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g7QjKGv93cJD-MCLrgbDAYWc7I5AhT5n

The Battle:

This situation made for an excellent solitaire situation. The Lancastrian side is stuck behind their fortifications with no incentive to come out to face the numerically superior Yorkist forces. About all they can do is keep shooting at the closest targets until ammo runs out, and defend the fortifications when the Yorkists close. Withdrawal in case of impending defeat would have been impossible over the single foot bridge. They were in a do or die situation.

The initial battle situation with the Yorkist army coming in from the west.

My strategy as the Yorkist player was to hug the left (west) side of the battlefield as much as possible, so that hopefully I would receive minimal fire from the Lancastrian force on their left flank. This way I could concentrate my bowmen on a fraction of the enemy without receiving his full return fire. I gave all the Yorkist contingents PIN orders to begin with, which specifies the contingent will close to within short longbow range and stay there. I planned to use up my arrow supply (6 turns) softening them up before issuing Attack orders to cross the fortifications for the hand-to-hand part of the battle. I also planned to initially concentrate all my fire on the two smallest enemy contingents (Lucy and Thorpe) hoping to overwhelm them quickly. Not only would this reduce the enemy's ability to give return fire (both contingents were composed entirely of bowmen), but if they routed, there was a chance they would encourage the forces near them to also rout, or at least become disarrayed.

  

Turn 1

The commanders on both sides, except for Army commanders, are required to roll for interpretation of their orders on the first turn. An exception is for contingents that set up in prepared positions. Since this included the entire Lancastrian army, they were not required to roll for order interpretation. They all had STAND orders. The Yorkist army did have to roll for order interpretation. It was not good. In the center, Warwick's Battle consisted of contingents led by Lords Abergavenny, Scrope, and Say & Seale (1 person), all rated Bold commanders, which meant they had only 1 chance in 6 of vacillating. All three rolled “1s” and vacillated. The PIN orders they had been given were temporarily changed to STAND orders, and they could not move.

As if this was not bad enough, the commander of Battle to the left of Warwick, The Earl of March, also vacillated, which caused STAND orders to be handed down to his two contingent commanders.

Fortunately Lord Fauconberg's Battle did follow their PIN orders and advanced at Normal Speed. That was a minor mistake on my part. While Normal Speed allows you to throw 2 average dice to determine how far you move, the number of dots determining the the number of inches moved, it does not allow you to use your missile troops to fire. I should have used the Fire & Move speed which would have meant throwing only 1 average dice, but I would have been able to use my bowmen. Advancing at Normal Speed also meant Fauconberg was stuck out in front of the rest of the army and would become the pincushion of choice for all the Lancastrian bowmen and artillery that could bear on him. Fauconberg's contingents did pick up a few DPs from bow and artillery fire.

Turn 2

On turn two all the Yorkist commanders interpreted their PIN orders correctly. The Vacillate markers were removed. They used Move & Fire so they could use their bowmen while moving up. I concentrated the bow fire from the contingents of March's and Warwick's Battles on Thorpe, while Fauconberg's contingents concentrated on Lucy. Thorpe was especially hard hit, and he and Lucy went over 2 DPs per rank, failing their Flinch test, becoming disarrayed. If they became disarrayed from another cause before they rallied, they would rout. All the Yorkist contingents picked up some DPs from Lancastrian bow and artillery fire.

The Lancastrian position at the end of turn 2, with disarray markers behind both Thorpe's and Lucy's contingents.

Turn 3

The Yorkist army continued to advance using Move & Fire, still concentrating on Thorpe and Lucy's contingents. Thorpe was hard hit by arrow fire and went over 5 DPs per rank, forcing a Flinch test which he failed, causing him to rout. Shrewbury's contingent, Beaumont's contingent, and the two artillery pieces that had been on either side of Thorpe all had to make flinch tests because of their proximity to Thorpe. Shrewbury and Beaumont both failed their Flinch tests and became disarrayed. The two artillery pieces passed. Being disarrayed reduces the effect of a contingent's fire, so the strategy of concentrating on the smaller contingents seemed to be working. Still, I was taking significant DPs from the Lancastrian fire all along the line.

The rout of Thorpe left a significant hole in the Lancastrian line. If I could get Warwick's contingents up in time, I could cross the fortifications unopposed. It would mean using Normal moves, and not firing though. There was still quite a bit of ground to cover before I got to the Lancastrian positions.

Thorpe's contingent routing for the foot bridge. Beaumont's contingent and Shrewsbury's contingent in the middle ground both have disarray markers behind them.

Warwick's Battle headed for the hole left by Thorpe.  Still a long way to go to get there.

Turn 4

I continued advancing the Yorkist army, the arrow fire becoming more effective as the range closed. Now March concentrated his fire on Shrewsbury, Warwick on Beaumont, and Fauconberg on Lucy. Lucy took 4 DPs per rank and failed his Flinch test while already disarrayed, and routed. One of the two guns that were next to Lucy managed to pass it's Flinch test, but the other failed and was disarrayed. Beaumont (still disarrayed) and Grey passed the Flinch test caused by Lucy's rout. At the end of the turn Beaumont failed to rally from being disarrayed, but Shrewsbury did rally.

Lucy's contingent routing for the foot bridge.  The rout caused the gun at the bottom of the picture to become disarrayed. The tent at the right contains King Henry VI, who took no part in the battle other than to be captured.

Turn 5

Essex's contingent of March's Battle was receiving fire from Shrewsbury and got to 2 DP's per rank, made a Flinch test for it and passed. Shrewsbury on the other hand got to 4 DPs per rank, and did not pass his Flinch test and became disarrayed again. Beaumont in the center was not in the greatest shape either now, at 3 DPs per rank. I decided the Lancastrian commander would have done something about the big hole in the line left by Thorpe. Beaumont's contingent was the largest one on the Lancastrian side and had 3 ranks of melee troops as well as 2 ranks of bowmen. By displaying 2 ranks of those melee troops to the right, Beaumont was able to cover the hole. This meant however, the gun that was deployed to the right of Beaumont was now masked, and unable to fire. 

Beaumont has displayed 2 ranks of his melee troops to his right, which can just be seen in the upper left of the picture.

In displaying the troops to his right, he has only partially covered the hole left by Thorpe, and masked the fire of one of his guns.
  

Grey, on the Lancastrian left, had been completely untouched so far, and represented the Lancastrian's only hope of redeeming the situation. I felt Buckingham would have done something with this force rather than just let it sit there. Therefor I had Buckingham send Grey an Attack order, specifying the flank of Fauconberg's Battle as the target. It takes one turn for a Army commander's new order to reach a Battle commander. It takes another turn for that order to be transmitted down to the Battle commander's contingents. It would therefor take two turns for this order to be acted upon.

Turn 6

The Yorkist army and the remaining Lancastrians continued to trade fire, with diminishing affect on the part of the Lancastrians. For March's and Warwick's Battles, this will be their last turn to fire as they run out of arrows at this point.

Grey received his attack order, but he is rated as a Treacherous. This means he has the best chance of downgrading his orders, or vacillating. He also has the possibility of changing sides during a battle, which is what happened with Grey in the historical battle. It's one reason I positioned him as far from where the Yorkist forces entered the map, as Buckingham should have done. In this instance Grey downgraded his ATTACK order to a PIN. It will take another turn for Grey to pass the order down to his only maneuver contingent, Catesby. There is a artillery piece attached to Grey's contingent, but once placed on the table, artillery never move.

Turn 7

Grey passes down the PIN order to Catesby, but Catesby is also Treacherous, and decides to Vacillate.

Warwick changes his Battle's order to ATTACK. Since he is also the Army commander, he can do this for himself. And since he is already with the Battle he is giving the order to, the contingents in his battle get the order immediately. All three contingent commanders roll to interpret the the new order. They all commit to ATTACK.

Fauconberg, who still has some arrow left, uses them on Beaumont. This puts Beaumont at 4 DPs per rank, forcing a Flinch test. He fails the test, and since he is already disarrayed, routs. Contingents with 4 DPs per rank can still rally from a rout, but they can only adopt stand orders, and are permanently disarrayed.

At this point the battle is pretty much over. The strongest Battle on the Lancastrian side has routed off the field, which represented about half of the Lancastrian Army. Shrewsbury was 1 DP from having 5 DPs per rank, which is an automatic rout. This would leave only Grey to face the entire Yorkist army.

Although the Yorkist forces took a number of DPs, only two contingents reached 2 DPs per rank. All the others took lesser amounts of damage.

If you are interested in the Poleaxed 2 game system, look into the 'The Lance and Longbow Society' Facebook page files section where I have uploaded the contingent cards for several WOR battles.  If you are interested in the the Poleaxed 2 game rules, look in the 'Shop' section of the 'The Lance and Longbow Society' web site: http://lanceandlongbow.com