I created this scenario because of my belief that in most set piece battles commanders are given far too much information about the enemy, and their own forces. Many battles were fought without either commander knowing exactly what the other commander had, or when or if either would get reinforcements. In many games the reinforcements are labeled on a track giving both players perfect knowledge about what's coming, and when. The beginning forces are set out for all to see. The Fog of War is missing. This scenario was created to give both players imperfect knowledge of what they could expect as starting forces, whether they will get reinforcements, and how much.
In the historical Battle of edgcote, Pembroke had no idea that Rebel reinforcements would appear on his flank, and even when they did show up, it was uncertain what strength they were. He didn't know that a significant part of his army would never show up. The Rebel / York commander probably didn't know that part of the Royalist army wasn't present, or whether it might show up as a reinforcement on his flank. He didn't expect the reinforcement that showed up for his own side. I thought this situation especially needed this format, because the Royalist were in a very bad situation, and the Fog of War would help them most.
To play this scenario, both players secretly roll a D6 on the “edgcote – Order of Battle” chart for their side. This will tell them what they start with and what reinforcements they might expect. The Rebel player always gets all 6 contingents of Fithugh's and Conyer's battles. It's only Clapham's reinforcements that is the variable for them.
Then one player rolls another D6 to determine the starting positions for both sides as shown on the map. If reinforcements appear, the owning player rolls another D6 to determine their point of entry. Reinforcements for York will come in on entry areas Y1-Y6, and reinforcements for Lancaster will come in on entry areas L1-L6. You will see that it is entirely possible for enemy force to come in directly behind you army. Deal with it. For extra variability, roll a separate die for each reinforcement if reinforcements come in on different turns.
Some entry points might be a considerable distance from where the fighting is happening. I suggest adding an extra turn to their entry onto the battlefield for every inch of the map they need to travel.
This scenario was made specifically to play with the “Polaxed 2” miniatures rules, which are for playing War of the Roses battles. With some adjustment I'm sure other rules, such as “Hail Ceaser”, could also work. I'd be interested hearing about your game if you use this scenario.
I want to thank the Nothhamptonshire Battlefields Society for their excellent pamphlet “edgcote 1469, A Guide for wargamers by Graham Evens and Richard Lindley.” It was very helpful in preparing this scenario.
The order of Battle for this was obtained from "The Poleaxed Source Book Volume II" from Freezywater Pub. You can look up the contingent cards that I created for that at boardgamegeek.com, poleaxed-2 in the files section. Since that was published in 2003, I realize subsequent research will probably make that obsolete, and I welcome any corrections. Some of the contingent commandeers I frankly "dart-boarded" as the sourcebook had some of them labeled as "Unknown", which also explains the Captains 1-4 for the independent bowmen contingents.
