The Battle of Bosworth using Test of Resolve Rules.

Last week John turned up with an interesting surprise. A new set of rules and two new armies to use with the new rules. I had heard of Test of Resolve and knew they were specifically for the Wars of the Roses, so it was a lovely surprise as John laid out the battlefield to refight the Battle of Bosworth using the scenario from ToR.

Bosorth has had a great deal of research done around the campaign and battle and the scenario is based upon the latest research, which doesnt make King Richard's job any easier.

Naturally I opted for Richard, loving the underdog etc. ToR are a very easy and interesting set of rules to use and are based around a set of incident cards that dictate who and what can move etc.Naturally there are various nasty surprises included in the card deck and the friction from these adds greatly to the game.The scenario has various devices to potentially activate the dastardly Stanley's who according to the latest research had come to an agreement with Henry Tudor prior to the battle.  

To add to the uncertainty Northumberland had allegedly also come to some sort of agreement with Henry but his support was dependent upon early Lancastrian successes. To add to the pain for the Yorkists, Henry was also able to rely on a large battle of French mercenaries who could appear anywhere on the right flank of the Yorkists. So no real problems then.

It all sounded very difficult for Richard to win but the game turned into a very tense and very exciting affair. John was able to activate the nasty French very early in the game and the snail munchers started to impose themselves upon my sluggish advance. I did have a morale lifting result when my artillery was able to hit the lead Lancastrian archers several times which forced them to break without firing a shot.

My luck seemed to hold as the Lancastrians were unable to move quickly towards the Yorkists and I was able to react to the French and pile into them before they could be joined by their allies.

I normally come off second best where pike are concerned but I threw some brilliant dice that shattered the French crossbowmen, followed by a flank assault on the slow moving pike.

The timing was critical as I needed to deal with the French before the Lancastrians had joined them.Somehow I was able to shatter the French and drive them from the field which made the chances of the Stanley's joining the battle a very remote possibility.

Due to my early successes Northumberland decided to help? Richard and appeared on the battlefield albeit in a very tardy way. Events began to turn and a unit of Lancastrian billmen attacked Richard who was attempting to seek out that coward Henry. ToR had a rule in the scenario that if Richard sought out Henry and killed him then the battle was won. It sounded easy, but Richard had only a very small unit of knights from his household, so was vulnerable. 

Norfolk who had done most of the heavy lifting was beginning to suffer causalities as the Lancastrians charged home.The stress was increasing as Northumberland seemed to have found ways not to help. 

Norfolk's command broke but Richard, helped by a unit of bill was able to break the Lancasterians and seek out Henry. To help I was able to hit Henry in the flank with my bills.

So with Northumberland finally attacking, my men at arms grappling with the last unit of men at arms and Henry outnumbered and suffering, all I had to do was apply the coup de grace and kill the damned traitor. Now in ToR you can decide which melee to fight first, and needing only to kill Henry or kill one more causality on the remaining Lancastrian infantry to win the game I decided on a historical choice and attacked with Richard first. 

Yes you have guessed correctly, the dice Gods once again had a good laugh as I not only lost the melee round but then threw a one to see Richard fall and die heroically. Game over!!!

 To say I was gutted is an understatement. I felt I had done everything right tactically to actually win the battle and had managed to throw some decent dice to gain success, but such is my wargaming life. But what a brilliant battle and what an excellent set of rules that are perfect for the Wars of the Roses. Like buses, quality wargames rules for the WOR come around in pairs.