The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross

2nd February 1461

Page 1

 

This battle like the others in the series was played using the Bloody Baron rules and taken from the scenarios at the rear of the book. As ever my opponent Andy took the role of the Yorkists and I played the Lancastrians.

 

“The battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought in the middle of winter, well outside the normal campaign season. It took place when the Yorkist army of Edward, Earl of March, intercepted a Lancastrian force under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, that was marching into England from South Wales. On the 2nd February 1461 (though some sources claim the 3rd), somewhere near Mortimer’s Cross Edward deployed the Yorkist army, probably on ground of his choosing and engaged the enemy. They defeated the Lancastrian army, though we know nothing of the detail of the action, and a number of Tudor’s commanders, including Jasper’s father Owen, were captured and later executed in Hereford.” http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/warsoftheroses/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=25

 

As ever here is the overview and where everything started: -

There are some special rules with the scenario.

 

1. James Butler the Earl of Wiltshire adds 2 AP to any unit he motivates in turn 1. He can also re roll his first failure to motivate. If he is killed the nearest retinue unit that is not fighting will retire from the game.

2. Edward has an extra save of 4,5,6 if he is killed. This effectively gives him two chances of saving himself.

 

My Generals were poor compared to the Yorkist and I had command values of 2’s and a 3 (James Butler) while the Yorkist had 1’s and a 2. This is key to Bloody Barons as you need to motivate your troops to stand a chance of doing anything. So at normal 3” distance the Levy under Butler would need 7+ on two D6 while the Retinue need a 6+ which is slightly easier to obtain. I was expecting to have rings run around me by Edward who would be a formidable fighting force. The double whammy is if you fail you do nothing else with the other troops other than a 1AP action.

 

So the first turn the Lancastrian force is on the attack and I try and motivate with Owen Tudor. He manages to move his units forward and have enough to let loose some arrows. I choose to take the risk and bring the units into close range which means I will take opportunity fire from the Yorkist forces before I can let loose. This gamble failed and my Levy unit on the right took two bases of damage, Andy had made the “Choose” dice roll and choose my archers who were easier to kill. This was a sign of things to come. The photo below show my Levy suffering.

The last General to attempt to motivate is James Butler Earl of Wiltshire. His first attempt fails but me makes the second. And the AP roll was 6. Add the 2 and this unit can easily charge the opposing Levy which set the Yorkist back a tad. The ground was duly covered and I had enough AP for a volley before going in. I took one base loss to opportunity fire and then closed in for the fight.

I managed some more motivation rolls and brought up units to support the fight which is very important as they add extra points to the melee factors.

A Retinue vs a Levy gave me the slight edge and I managed to score five hits on the unit. The following shot shows the resultant carnage which left the Yorkist commander speechless. Needless to say the unit failed it’s morale and left the field as the whole front rank had been steamrolled away.

Pembroke made some good motivations and again I moved forward and made the air dark with arrows as I had enough AP for two volleys. May archers find their mark and both of Edwards Retinue become disordered. This is a better start in the middle than on the right. I should be saved an early death from Edward charging me. The shot below shows the disordered units after their casualties had been removed.

That ended the first turn for me and I awaited the Yorkist response. Fortunately Doc failed some motivation rolls and  I came off lightly. This was not to last…..