The Rebirth of Infantry · What we do see across this period is an increased number of archers and a greater reliance on those troops, often deployed with infantry, usually, but not

© 2019 GMT Games, LLC

BATTLE BOOK

Preface ............................................................................. 2FALKIRK, Stirlingshire, Scotland 22 July, 1298 ........... 3COURTRAI, County of Flanders, 11 July 1302 ............. 7BANNOCKBURN, Stirlingshire, Scotland,

23-24 June 1314 ....................................................... 10CREÇY, Picardy, France, 26 August 1346 ...................... 15

Table of ContentsPOITIERS, Poitou, France, September 19 1356 ............. 19NÁJERA, Kingdom of Castile (Spain), 3 April 1367 ..... 22AGINCOURT, Pas-de-Calais, France, 25 October

(St. Crispin’s Day) 1415 ........................................... 27Example of Play .............................................................. 30Extended Sequence of Play ............................................. 32

GMT Games, LLCP.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308www.GMTGames.com

~ The Rebirth of Infantry ~

Men of Iron BATTLE BOOK2


PREFACE

Europe in the 14th century is rife with battles. Big battles, small battles, ambushes, raids, skirmishes—fighting was the main occupation of the upper classes, and

these folks took their jobs seriously, as the political situation slowly changed from feudalism to an early form of national-ism. There’s no shortage of possible subject matter Unfortunately, there is a shortage of specific, reliable informa-tion, even on the battles for which there is a lot of information. For example, lots of folks wrote about Poitiers; none of them seem to agree. Aside from the usual numbers questions, there is much discussion on how armies and men actually fought these battles ... the tactics of the day. For example, a major question is where exactly did all those archers deploy in the battle line? Read five books, get five answers. What we do see across this period is an increased number of archers and a greater reliance on those troops, often deployed with infantry, usually, but not always, on their wings. Men-at-Arms still fought mounted, but, in more than half of the battles, they dismounted. Much use was made of barriers, both natural and man-made. With sagacious use of all of these in a combined defense, it was becoming harder and harder to win as an attacker.

Notes on Setup and Selecting UnitsAfter selecting a battle to play, lay out the map and set up the units called for in the Deployment section of the chosen battle. Some units appear in more than one battle. They are made identifiable for scenario purposes by their Command Stripe color. The name of the Battle’s leader is highlighted in their Command Stripe color. In Men of Iron, units of the same type may have different Shock Defense DRMs. This means that players need to choose the specific numbered units called for the battle. A player always sets up their own pieces, never their opponent’s pieces.

Men of Iron Credits:Game Designer: Richard H. BergGame Developer: Jack Polonka

Art Director: Rodger MacgowanBox Art And Package Design: Rodger Macgowan

Game Maps: Knut GrünitzCounters: Mike Lemick, Rodger Macgowan, and Mark

SimonitchPlay Testers: Tim Chambers, Shannon Cooke, Kim

Meints, and Elias NordlingProof Readers: Steve Carey, Kevin DukeProduction Coordination: Tony Curtis

Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger Macgowan, Andy Lewis, Gene Billingsley and Mark Simonitch

Men of Iron - C3i Module Credits:Agincourt originally appeared in C3i #22

Module Designer: Richard H. Berg Module Rules Editor & Counter Graphics:

Mike Lemick Module Map Design & Counter Layout:

Mark Simonitch

Men of Iron BATTLE BOOK 3


FalkirkStirlingshire, Scotland, 22 July 1298

Historical Background

In 1298, Edward I, King of England, smarting from the disaster the previous year at Stirling Bridge, where his army, under the Earl of Surrey, had been grandly snookered by the ram-

bunctious William Wallace (Edward had been busy elsewhere), decided it was time to start hammering the Scots. Calling in all of his lords—and many of them did come—and hiring the usual contingent of Welsh infantry, longbow and pike, but in significantly large numbers (around 10,000 or so), Edward headed north to wreak vengeance and, as a not inconsequential sideshow, subjugate all of Scotland. In the meantime, Wallace, whose position as head of the Scots rested solely on his popularity gleaned from military success and not any standing in Scots nobility, was doing his best to round up another army, not always easy to do in Scotland. Edward, eager for battle, pushed his excellent army to the edge, easily outpacing the availability of food. Wallace, aware that Ed-ward’s army, mostly Welsh foot, was close to the breaking point from lack of food, prepared to attack the approaching English. Edward, though, had no intention of allowing his position to be defensive, and, having been informed that Wallace’s army was only 15 or so miles ahead, called off breakfast (not that there was much to have) and pushed his men forward. This seems to have caught Wallace unaware and, because of his shortage of cavalry and archers, he could not withdraw without suffering great losses. So, with no other option available, he chose the best ground available and deployed in the best method he knew to minimize the impact of the considerable English mounted arm.

His real problem was that he had few archers, and, for all intents and purposes, he now had a huge pike army deployed so defen-sively that they could not move. The advance of the mounted English men-at-arms quickly dis-patched the few Scots cavalry, but found it difficult to penetrate the schiltron. So they simply waited for their longbows and pike to arrive. The English longbows, unopposed by similar Scots units, shot the schiltron to ribbons, and the English Pike moved in to finish it all up.

Play Note: This battle is extremely well suited to solitaire play as the Scots infantry schiltron was basically immobile (until it broke and ran). In essence, given this situation, it is almost impossible for the English to lose. We have provided an alternative for possible face-to-face play. Maybe you can do better than Wallace, who didn’t do well at all here.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time is about an hour.

INITIAL DEPLOYMENTThe Scots Army sets up first.

Scots Army

Leaders: William Wallace (OC); James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (cavalry); Sir John Stewart (archers).Seizure Counters: 0 (3 in the non-historical/non-solitaire vari-ant)Standards: None.Facing: All units should be facing such that no unit’s Rear is exposed. (And no snide comments, either.)

Deployment:Hexes: Units:

James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (Cavalry) [a]1419, 1518 2 Scots Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-2 –1), James

Sir John Stewart (Archers)1908-1909, 1913-1914,1918-1919

6 Scots Longbow (#1-6 +1), Stewart

William Wallace (Pike) [b]1905-1907, 1910-1912, 1915-17, 1920-1922, 1805, 1808, 1810, 1813, 1815, 1818, 1820, 1823, 1705, 1707, 1710, 1712, 1715, 1717, 1720, 1722, 1606-1607, 1611-1612, 1616-1617, 1621-1622

36 Scots Pike (#1-6 –2, #7-18 –1, #19-30 0, #31-36 +1), Wallace

The Pike units all start in Schiltron (see below).a: The few mounted men-at-arms that Wallace did have most likely started in the rear, center, along with Wallace. However, as they saw the English vanguard approaching towards their right flank, they went on over to block its approach, situating themselves between the rear of the right wing schiltron and the woods.



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b: Wallace, who supposedly was planning on marching out against Edward’s approaching army, appears to have been caught a bit unpre-pared by their rapid approach. His only tactic—pretty much required by his shortage of cavalry and archers—was to deploy his infantry as you see them, in four huge circular schiltrons. The Scots do not appear to have had any significant number of axe-armed infantry at Falkirk; see Bannockburn.

English Army

Historical Note: The English Army, hungry but eager to fight—the mounted upper class somewhat beyond eager—was ostensibly organized in four “battles”, or divisions, each with contingents of men-at-arms, archers and pike. However, they did not arrive on the field in that form. The mounted men-at-arms, literally hot to trot, moved way out ahead, some out-cantering their mounted support. The first stage of the battle—the English cavalry driving off the Scots’ cavalry and archers, then finding out they couldn’t do anything against the schiltron—was over in plenty of time for them to fall back slightly and take a breather before the foot—mainly the ar-chers—arrived to finish off the Scots.

Leaders: King Edward I (OC) [a]; Henry de Lacey, 3rd Earl of Lincoln; Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham [b]; John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey [c]. Seizure Counters: 0 (4 in the non-historical/non-solitaire vari-ant)Standards: King (Edward I), Lincoln, Surrey, and Durham. The Standards may be placed at any time all the infantry from that Battle is on the map, and anywhere south of hexrow 28xx (inclusive).Facing: All units are faced northwest.


Henry de Lacey, 3rd Earl of Lincoln2423-2424 2 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –2, #2 –1), Lincoln3017-3018, 3116-3117, 3216-3217, 3315-3316, 3416-3417

4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), 6 Pike (#1-2 –2, #3 –1, #4-6 0)

John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey2720, 2820 2 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –2, #2 –1), Surrey

Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham 2505-2506 2 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –2, #2 –1), Durham

Edward I, King of England 2808, 2908, 3009, 3109 3 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –3, #2-3 –2), 1 English Mount-ed Hobilars (#1 +1) [d], Edward I

All other English Foot units arrive as reinforcements.

a: Edward fought while injured and in pain, since the evening before the battle his horse stepped on him while he was on the ground, break-ing a couple of his ribs.b: Bek, the Bishop of Durham—and far more a soldier than a church-man—was the one who tried to halt the headlong rush of the spirited, but not overly bright, mounted nobles, only to be told by one Ralph Bassett to go say a mass. This was a day for fighting.c: Warenne was the commander of the English army at the disaster at Stirling Bridge. That meager performance obviously did not greatly hurt his standing with Edward.d: These are really Gascons.

ENGLISH REINFORCEMENTS Most of the English foot—archers and pike—arrive as reinforce-ments. They do this in three separate groups, and must enter in this order: Durham, Edward I, and Surrey. A reinforcement group can enter when their Battle is activated, as long as the previous reinforcement group has completely entered the map. If not, they may not enter.1) Durham’s Battle : 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), 6 English Pike (#1-2 –2, #3-4 –1, #5-6 0)These units enter through hexes 3407-3408.2) Edward’s Battle : 1 English Dismounted Hobilar (#2 +2) [d], 5 English Longbow (#1-5 +1), 7 English Pike (#1-3 –2, #4-7 –1).These units enter through hexes 3407-3408.3) Surrey’s Battle : 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), 6 English Pike (#1-2 –2, #3-4 –1, #5-6 0).These units enter through hexes 3423-3424.

Historical Note: It is not quite clear whether the foot fought in “Battles,” or all together. We put them in Battles.

WHO GOES FIRSTThe English have the first Activation to start the game.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONScots - SchiltronEnglish - No Shield Wall

TIMED ENGAGEMENTThis battle uses the timed engagement rule (16.1). Initially, set the time marker in the 15 space on the General Track. The English are the timed side in this battle.

ACTIVATION (HISTORICAL/SOLITAIRE PLAY) Design Note: As there is very little for the Scots to do—most of the units can’t move or attack—we have semi-abandoned the usual activation system.

The only time the Scots Activate is when the English fail a Continuity DR. The Scots do not draw and cannot play Seizure Opportunity counters. When the Scots do Activate, all their units Activate at once.

Play Note: For this version, the Scots leaders are mostly window dressing.



TERRAINThe battlefield of Falkirk—or at least what many consider the site; no one is truly sure—is relatively flat, with a slight rise towards where the Scots are deployed. The rise does not seem to have had any impact on the battle. The two burns are shallow, but with somewhat difficult “banks”. The confluence of the two burns, the bog of pools and marsh in the center, was impassable, a fact that the English did not see until Lincoln’s mounted men-at-arms rode up to it, halted then decided to ride around it. We have started the game slightly after that decision.

THE SCOTS SCHILTRONS Although it is often used to delineate a “command,” Schiltron was a phalanx-like, hollow formation of pike infantry that, as a game rule, contains many of the elements of Shield Wall (16.2). Often, when faced with flank/rear attack, the units in the rear would turn and face in the opposite direction, creating a medi-eval version of “square.” Moreover, the infantry was trained to use their pikes to form a wall of “points” that few cavalry units could break, or even choose to try.

Historical Note: Wallace—who is often credited with coming up with the idea, although it is more likely he adapted it from prior use and trained his troops in how to use it best—has formed his pike into four, circular schiltrons. It was his orders that the pike stay in schiltron, because they were not going to do well against the large force of English cavalry if they left it.

Therefore, in the Historical, solitaire game, the Scots Pike stays in Schiltron unless Retired (and thereby eliminated).

Pike in Schiltron:• May not move or attack.• If they are adjacent to another Pike unit in Schiltron their

flank hexsides are treated as frontal hexsides. They do have rear hexsides, and are subject to any DR modifiers for being attacked through those Rear hexsides.

• Mounted Men-at-Arms units may not conduct a Charge attack through the frontal hexside, or a flank hexside treated as frontal due to bullet two above, of a unit in Schiltron. They may Shock attack normally, but do so only upon passing a Shock Reluctance DR. Use the SHOCK RELUCTANCE VS PIKE IN SCHILTRON chart.

• Units in Schiltron that become Disordered remain in Schiltron.

• Units in Schiltron ignore all Retreat results.

Play Note: The Schiltron rule for Falkirk is slightly different than that for Bannockburn, as those PK can leave Schiltron.

ENGLISH HOBILARS King Edward’s Gascon Corps is with him, about 400-450 cross-bowmen, some of whom were mounted (and part of what appears to have been the Royal Household troops). The Hobilar units that the English have may only fire while dismounted (7.4).

ENGLISH FLIGHTEnglish units that Retire before their Standard is placed on the map are Eliminated instead.

SCOTS FLIGHT In the historical version, the Scots do not have a Standard, which means they may not Rally. For Mounted Men-at-Arms and Pike units any Retired result is treated as Eliminated [a]. For any Longbow unit that incurs a retired result, roll one die:

• If the DR is a 0-6, the unit is Eliminated.• If the DR is a 7-9, place that Longbow unit, Disordered, in

the center of the nearest (Scots player’s decision in case of ties) circle of Scots PK units.

a: Much discussion as to whether the cavalry bolted and ran because the fix was in (doubtful) or because they were simply no match for the English. A few of the mounted men-at-arms did make their way into the center of the schiltrons to provide some back-up, on foot. Not enough to make it part of the game.

GAME BALANCE

Non-Historical Scenario (favors Scots)If players wish to have a more active Scot, and/or to see if they could do better than Wallace (which shouldn’t be too high a bar to leap over), you can play the game without the immobile deployment Wallace used. The Scots set up first. They may deploy their units in any forma-tion they wish, on or north of the 1900 row, inclusive, but not in a woods hex or within two hexes of the east/west map edges. The English do not change their deployment/arrivals.Scots units are Activated by their Battle leader, not all together. See the Bannockburn rules for having individual units enter and exit Schiltron.Use the normal Rally rules. The Scots get Wallace’s Standard, which is placed where you deploy Wallace. Scots units can now Retire, rather than be Eliminated by Retire results. We will as-sume, for game’s sake, that Foot units in a bad way don’t bolt into the woods for safety, as they did in the actual battle.

Design Note: Playtesters said the Scots actually have a chance here… not much of a chance, but a chance. Play Note: Someone will quickly figure out that you can line up all the Scots from one end of the map to the other, thereby “blocking” any flanking movement. Hence the restriction on allowing the Scots to setup units within two hexes of the east/west edges of the map. If alone to represent that the English had superior numbers and, if lined up similarly, would still outflank the Scots.

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: Wallace, and his army, are the wrong troops in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Falkirk shows what happens when good infantry, deployed and trained (and done so quite well) to resist heavy cavalry, cannot do so when such deploy-ment is not combined with, and supported by, sufficient archers and cavalry. Because of this, the English should have minimal



trouble winning. Maybe more if a Scots player can come up with a better plan, other than hiding in the woods.

Design Note: In the Historical version, once the Scots cavalry and archers have been driven off, the English shouldn’t lose a man.

Wallace counts as a King for Flight Points. The English Flight Level is 45. However, if you play the his-torical version and you go above 10, you should retire in shame.The Scots Flight Level is 35.

COURTRAICourtrai, County of Flanders, 11 July 1302


Courtrai, one of the major battles in the long rebellion wars between France and the Flemish (who were not very happy with the overlordship of their neighbors) is

considered as the first battle, outside of England and Scotland, to show the superiority of a well-placed, purely infantry army when faced by a mostly mounted force. The Flemish did not have many missile units, but their position and adaptation of a purely defensive stance against an army that ignored the realities of what was before them, proved a valuable lesson. The Flemish infantry, mostly local militia strengthened by the few men-at-arms the locals could dismount to fight with them, deployed behind a series of streams, behind which they dug rows of ditches to make it difficult for the mounted French to advance. The French, with total disdain for their lower class opposition, insisted on launching several mounted charges across this difficult defensive terrain, charges that were completely disastrous, espe-cially as the Flemish formed Shield Wall. By the time the French decided to use their foot, it was too late to make any difference. Momentum had shifted to the Flemish, and the French were driven from the field. Because of the Flemish success in taking prizes, this battle is known as The Battle of the Golden Spurs.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying Time is about two hours.

INITIAL DEPLOYMENTThe Flemish Army sets up first.

Flemish Army

Leaders: Guy of Namur (OC); William of Jülich; Jan van Renesse [a].Seizure Counters: 4Standards: The Standard of the Town of Courtrai is used for all Flemish units. Place where desired. Facing: As the Flemish player desires.


Jan van Renesse4618, 4717, 4818 3 Flemish Pike (#1-3 –1) [b]4312, 4413, 4513, 4614, 4714

2 Flemish Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1-2 –2), 3 Flemish Pike (#4-6 –1), Renesse

Guy of Namur4012, 4111, 4211, 4310, 4410, 4509, 4609, 4709

7 Flemish Pike (#1-2 –2, #3-5 –1, #6-7 0), 1 Flemish Crossbow (#1 +2), Namur

William of Jülich4810-4812, 4912-4913, 5014-16

8 Flemish Pike (#1-2 –2, #3-6 –1, #7-8 0), Jülich

a: Apparently, the designer of the defense plan.b: Guarding any sortie from the Castle. This rear guard may have contained as many as 1200 men. We have kept it small, mostly for game purposes.

French Army

Leaders [a]: Robert II, Comte d’Artois (OC); John II of Brienne, Comte d’Eu; John I of Ponthieu, Comte d’Aumale; Raoul de Clemont-Nesle, Lord of Nesle, Constable of France.a: All of these leaders were killed. Who commanded what is impos-sible to tell.

Seizure Counters: 3Standards: King (Philip IV) (2). Place the Standards in 4901 and 5711. All French units use these Standards. When a French unit is Retired, place it with the closest Standard. If equidistant, the French player chooses.Facing: As the French player desires.




Raoul de Clemont-Nesle, Lord of Nesle, Constable of France4009, 4108, 4208, 4306, 4307, 4406, 4505, 4605, 4704

8 French Pike (#1 –2, #2-3 –1, #4-6 0, #7-8 +1), 1 Genoese Cross-bow (#1 +1), Nesle

John I of Ponthieu, Comte d’Aumale [a]5008, 5108-5110, 5211-5213, 5313-5314

6 French Pike (#1 –2, #2 –1, #3-5 0, #6 +1), 1 Genoese Cross-bow (#1 +1), Aumale

Robert II, Comte d’Artois4007, 4106, 4205, 4304, 4404, 4503, 4603

7 French Mounted Men-at-Arms (#2 –3, #3-5 –2, #7-9 –1), Artois

John II of Brienne, Comte d’Eu 4903, 5004, 5104, 5205, 5305

5 French Mounted Men-at-Arms (#7-8 –2, 9-11 –1), Eu

Castle Contingent4718 2 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-2 –1) [b]a: There are more setup hexes than units. It is your choice where they go.b: This is the Castle Contingent. See the rules on the Castle and Sorties.

WHO GOES FIRSTThe French have the first Activation to start the game.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONFlemish - Shield WallFrench - No Shield Wall

TIMED ENGAGEMENTThis battle uses the timed engagement rule (16.1). Initially, set the time marker in the 15 space on the General Track. The French are the timed side in this battle.

TERRAIN The River Lys. Not uncrossable, but a distinct military difficulty. All the bridges leading out of the town had been destroyed, and the men inside the castle had taken losses trying to rebuild one in the face of Flemish opposition. The Brooks. Not much of a problem, except that these are what is draining the river water into those ditches, making that whole area one big mud pile from the middle of the battle on. Ditches. The most distinctive feature of the battlefield, the ef-fect of which on the outcome depends on who or what you want to blame. Several period French sources place blame squarely on the fact that these ditches were a big surprise to the French. Unfortunately, the papers and books of Robert d’Artois show that he paid a specific sum for a map showing their location. The building of such ditches was to become a standard feature of a defense-in-place, as you will see in most of the battles in the game, and is one of the reasons for the superiority of the infantry, on the defense, against a charge of mounted knights. There are others; see the Shield Wall rules (16.2). For our purposes, the

ditches, the actual location of which may have been difficult to see because of a fog (a phenomenon not mentioned in some sources), are mostly road bumps, filled with water. They slow down mounted units, negating their ability to charge, and provide a difficult path of retreat for heavily armored men. The Town of Courtrai and the Buildings (Abbey, Castle, Church, et al). No unit may ever enter the three hexes of the Abbey (3912, 4013, and 4112) or the Town of Courtrai. The bridges are blown (and logically the gates are closed, what else would they be). One unit—foot, not mounted—may enter an unoccupied Castle hex (although we doubt this will ever happen in the game), and the Movement Costs to do so, and the defensive benefits are given on the Terrain Chart. With the exception of the activity around the castle, where the French are besieged, units cannot cross the town wall.Roads. The roads negate the costs of entering town hexes and crossing the brooks where the road actually crosses that brook. If it doesn’t, it does not negate the cost. Roads do not negate the effect/cost of Ditches. A unit may not use Road movement cost when moving adjacent to an enemy unit.

THE CASTLE CONTINGENT: SORTIES The French held the Castle of Courtrai with a small contingent of men-at-arms. At least once during the battle they tried to break out to cause disruption in the rear of the Flemish lines, a prospect Guy foresaw by placing troops to guard against any such event. The units are a single Leaderless Battle (see 6.4), but they are always In Command. They may Stack together in the castle Hex. The French may sortie out of the castle hex when the Castle contingent Activates. While stacked in the castle, one unit of the Castle contingent may Shock attack an adjacent hex or move out of the Castle (it may also Shock attack that Activation). If a unit of the Castle Contingent incurs a Retreat result while inside the Castle, it is Eliminated instead.

GOEDEDAAGS Much of the Flemish Pike was equipped with goededaags, long pike-like things used to pull riders off a horse. Interspersed with the usual pikemen, these “peasants” proved to be a major force during the battle, bringing the Mounted Upper Classmen down to their level. Whenever a Mounted Men-at-Arms unit either attacks a Pike unit that is not in Shield Wall or is attacked by a Pike unit and the Men-at-Arms unit suffers a Retreat, Disorder, or Retire result, roll one die:

• If the DR is a 0–4, the mounted unit is immediately Unhorsed (in addition to any other result). Replace the Mounted Men-at-Arms unit with an Unhorsed unit, as per the rules.

• If the DR is a 5–9, there is no effect.

DITCHES AND RETREATS Thought things were bad for the French knights? They’re about to get worse. Mounted units may not Charge through, into, or start a Charge in, a Ditch Hex.



Unit placement map for Courtrai scenario

Whenever a Mounted Men-at-Arms unit (even if it becomes Unhorsed during that combat) suffers a Retreat or Disorder result while in a Ditch hex, or must Retire (and in order to reach its Stan-dard must go through a Ditch hex), the French player rolls a die:

• If the DR is a 0–4, that unit is instead Eliminated.• If the DR is a 5–9, no additional effect.

Historical Note: The French suffered most of their losses as their knights tried to retreat back through the by now thoroughly muddy quagmire of the ditches. Many, burdened with armor and trapped beneath their horses, that were also hapless in the mud after falling, simply could not move and perished beneath the rapidly building piles of bodies. Much discourse focuses on whether the ditches truly lost the battle for the French, or if they were just another contributing factor.



GAME BALANCE

Run through the Ditches (favors French)For balance purposes, players can ignore the Ditches and Retreats rule (even as they ignore the realities of the situation).

Free French (favors French)The French may set up anywhere on the map south or east of the brook running from the Abbey to 4706 to Courtrai with one condition: They must have one Battle of Infantry and one Battle of MM on each side of the road (north or south) that runs from 4900 to 5115 (but not behind Flemish lines).

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: If you play this battle with all the historical rules, you will find it very hard to win as the French. We have weighted the Flight levels towards a less disastrous day for the French. Flemish Flight Point Bonus: Any Flemish unit Eliminated or Forced to Retire by a French Men-at-Arms unit is worth double (2x) its usual Flight Points. Use a “Retired by Men-at-Arms” marker for those units; place the units so Eliminated in the ap-propriate box on the Flight Point track.

Design Note: Not about to let the lower class foot types get any of the glory, the French knights insisted on ignoring the early efforts of their pike, withdrew their infantry, and charged. We’ll make it worth your while to try it.

The Castle Contingent: If either of the units that starts inside the castle (4718) manage to enter any hex east of the River Lys and south of the brook running from 5215 to 4807, or east of the brook running from 3811 to 4705, the Flemish incur 5 Flight Points the instant it happens, regardless of what happens afterwards.

The Flemish Flight Level is 35. (This is rather high, vis a vis other battles, because of the source—noted high morale of the Flemish in defending their city. Makes the French look twice at the Men-at-Arms bonus rule, above).The French Flight Level is 35.

BANNOCKBURNStirlingshire, Scotland, 23-24 June 1314


Very briefly, the Scots, under King Robert I, had captured much of Scotland and were raiding the north counties of England. The threat to the English stronghold at Stirling

Castle was real, and King Edward II was most interested in re-gaining whatever reputation he had, most of it dissipated after his futile campaigns of 1310-11. To counter the growing Bruce threat, Edward II gathered a quite large and fairly good army for the time (over 15,000 men). He then headed north to relieve the threat against Stirling and, Edward hoped, to smash Bruce’s much smaller force.Edward, however, was in somewhat of a hurry and ignored the advice of his lords, many of whom were familiar with the Scots. Marching north at a brisk pace, his vanguard caught up with the Scots army just south of Stirling Castle, blocking the approach with the help of some heavy woods and a rather precipitous burn, a stream difficult to cross because of the heavy growth along its muddy and treacherous banks: The Bannock Burn. The Earl of Gloucester and most of the English mounted men-at-arms swung east and north, crossing over the burn at the village and making a rash attack against the command of the Earl of Moray, just south of St, Ninian’s kirk. As often happened in these days, the Scots went into schiltron and the charge was repulsed. King Robert did much for the morale of his army by defeating Henry of Bohun in a classic one-on-one battle. Henry lost when Robert’s battle-axe slammed through Henry’s helmet and cut his head in two. Very impressive. While this was going on, Edward’s main battle force, his foot, marched and straggled in much disarray towards the battlefield, arriving in dribs and drabs through the late evening. With the Scots holding the road to Stirling, the infantry was forced to spend a brief night—at that time of the year it is dark only for about 4 hours—camped on the boggy, wet and uncomfortable portion of the Carse of Balquhiderock, or with Edward’s baggage train, some distance south of the burn.



At sunrise, much of the English infantry was still arriving, some were struggling to get up and onto the field, while the rest struggled to form some sort of line behind the deployed heavy cavalry. Exactly what then happened is difficult to determine. However, it appears that an initial charge by the English mounted knights was thrown back, at which point the Scots went on the attack, pouring down from their position into the bedraggled, tired and still forming English foot, driving everyone from the field in a massive retreat.

Design Note: It is difficult to find two sources—period or modern—that agree as to exactly where the battle took place, or who was deployed where. For one, the terrain has changed much since the 14th century. What you have below is what we felt is the most likely deployment, although not the only one possible given the facts.

The battle simulated below does not include the small engage-ments of the first day of Bannockburn, as they do not make very interesting situations.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time ran about two hours for the playtesters.

INITIAL DEPLOYMENTThe English Army sets up first

Scots Army

Leaders: King Robert I (OC); Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick; Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.Seizure Counters: 4Standards: King (Robert I), Carrick, and Moray. Placed within 3 hexes of the respective Leader. Facing: All units are faced northeast.


Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray 4424, 4523-4524 3 Scots Longbow (#1-3 +1) [a]4623, 4722, 4822, 4624, 4723, 4823

6 Scots Pike (#1-3 –2, #4-6 –1), 2 Scots Axe (#1-2 –2) [b]

4722 Moray

Robert I, King of Scots 4921, 5021, 5120, 5220 4 Scots Pike (#1-4 –2), 2 Scots Axe

(#1-2 +1) [b]4922, 5022, 5121, 5221 4 Scots Pike (#5-8 –1)Any Old Roman Road hex from 4923 to 5721 inclusive

2 Scots Hobilars (#1-2 +1)[c]

5021 Robert I

Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick 5517, 5617, 5618 3 Scots Longbow (#1-3 +1)5319, 5419, 5518, 5420, 5519, 5619

6 Scots Pike (#1-3 –2, #4-6 –1), 2 Scots Axe (#1-2 –2) [b]

5419 CarrickAll Scots pike begin in Schiltron. The Hobilars may start mounted or dismounted.a: It is somewhat unclear as to whether or not the Scots had longbows, but the evidence seems to indicate that they did, and that their weapons were no different from those of the Welsh. This position is based on the discussion of what we call the Longbow in Bradbury’s “The Medieval Archer”. English missile superiority was not so much because of the type of weapon, but because of the number of archers used, and how they were used. It was a question of tactics, not weaponry.b: See the Special rules on Axe units, below. c: It appears from some sources that these units started mounted, then dismounted to join the infantry. When the English Army started to rout, they re-mounted and joined the pursuit.

English Army

Historical Note: The English Army was in considerable dis-array. The mounted men-at-arms were the only units formed and in place. The rest of the army, all the foot, had spent a brutal night (which was rather short, lasting from just before midnight to around 3:15 AM …those long summer nights up north can be hell on soldiers) in the marshy bog of the carse and the English camp, south of Bannockburn about where the charts and tables box is. The foot was just starting to form up, with much of the army still straggling towards the battlefield, when the English Men-at-Arms started the battle.There are two specific results of this. Most of the foot is scrambled all over the place—virtually negating the numeri-cal superiority the English had in pike infantry—and the pike infantry is all Disordered.

Leaders [a]: King Edward II (OC); Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester; Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford; Robert Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford; Henry de Beaumont, 1st Baron Beaumont. Seizure Counters: 3Standards: King (Edward II) is used for all English units. Place it within 3 hexes of Edward II.Facing: All units are faced southwest.


Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester 5115 1 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –3), Gloucester4515-4516, 4615-4616 4 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#2-5 –2)

Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford 4714-4715, 4814-4815, 4914

5 English Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –2, #2-5 –1), Hereford



Edward II, King of England 4713 Edward II4216, 4109, 5810 3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1)4011, 4208, 4309, 4412, 4510, 4608, 4611, 4613, 4712, 5009, 5711, 6008

12 English Pike (#1-2 –2, #3 –1, #5-11 0, #12 +1) [b]

English Camp(off-map box) 3 English Longbow (#4-6 +1),

4 English Pike (#13-16 +1) [b]

Henry Beaumont, 1st Baron Beaumont 4317-4319, 4419-4420, 4519

6 English Longbow (#1-6 +1)

4215, 4413 2 English Pike (#3-4 –1), Beaumont

Robert Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford 4910-4911, 5011-5012 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1)4709, 5213 2 Gascon Crossbow (#1-2 +1)4812, 5411 2 English Pike (#1-2 –1), Clifford All English Pike start the game Disordered.a: While we know the names of most of the major English Commanders, other than Gloucester and Hereford leading the cavalry, there is little indication who was elsewhere, or what they were doing. We have had to assign leaders to Battles they may not actually have commanded, a prob-lem exacerbated by the fact that most of the army was not fully formed. b: We suggest randomly choosing from the numbers available in this Command Color, except for those in the English Camp off-map box, which ones to go where (as they do differ slightly in abilities) randomly and blindly.

WHO GOES FIRSTThere is some disagreement as to who actually “went first”. Most—but not all—sources say the English started proceed-ings. There is enough disagreement for us to let this be decided by dieroll. High dieroll (re-roll ties) gets the first Activation to start the game.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONScots - SchiltronEnglish - No Shield Wall

TIMED ENGAGEMENTThis battle uses the timed engagement rule (16.1). Initially, set the time marker in the 15 space on the General Track. The Scots are the timed side in this battle.

TERRAIN The Burns. These small, but treacherously banked, streams were formidable obstacles to tactical movement. They define the parameters of the battlefield. Mounted units may not Shock or Charge across a Burn hexside. Moreover, any mounted unit that crosses a Burn hexside, other than by using a bridge or ford, must roll for Disorder. Roll one die:

• If the adjusted DR is a 5 or more, that unit is immediately Disordered.

• If the adjusted DR is 4 or less, there is no effect.

Bridges and Fords. These may be used only if the moving unit is not going to move directly into a hex adjacent to an enemy unit. Otherwise—and for combat—the burn’s effect must be used. The Boggy Carse. The eastern portion of the Carse of Balquhiderock was a swampy, watery bog. The watery portion was a series of low pools that covered the area, making life for the encamped English foot miserable.St. Ninian’s Kirk. This was the focal point for the Scot left flank, it has no effect on battle or movement. Potholes. To guard against the approaching English, Robert, in the fashion of the day, dug a line of potholes behind which he deployed one of his Battles on June 23. There does not appear to have been any effort by the English in this direction, other than tangential—Bruce gets to lop off the head of the rash Henry de Bohun—and there is no further mention of them in reports. Any Mounted Men-at-Arms unit entering a Pothole hex by move-ment, Advance, or crossing by Charge must undergo a Stumble Check. Roll one die.

• If the DR is 2 or less the riders are unhorsed. Replace the Mounted Men-at-Arms unit with an Unhorsed Men-at-Arms unit, and the unit stops. It may not Shock attack that activation. Mark it with a Counter-Charge Used marker as a mnemonic until the end of the Activation.

• If the DR is 3 or more, there is No Effect.

THE SCOTS SCHILTRON Although it is often used to delineate a ‘command”, schiltron was a phalanx-like, hollow formation of pike infantry that, as a game rule, contains many of the elements of Shield Wall (16.2). Often, when faced with flank/rear attack, the units in the rear would turn and face in the opposite direction, creating a medieval version of “square”. Moreover, the infantry was trained to use their pikes to form a wall of “points” that few cavalry units could break, or even choose to try. At the start of its Activation, any Scots Pike that is not Disordered/Retired and not adjacent to an enemy unit may go into Schiltron by placing a Schiltron marker on top of it.



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Pike in Schiltron:• May not move or attack (but see mechanic for Axe units,

below).• If they are adjacent to another Pike unit in Schiltron their

flank hexsides are treated as frontal hexsides. They do have rear hexsides, and are subject to any DR modifiers for being attacked through those Rear hexsides.

• Mounted Men-at-Arms units units may not conduct a Charge attack through the frontal hexside, or a flank hexside treated as frontal due to bullet two above, of a unit in Schiltron. They may Shock attack normally, but do so only upon passing a Shock Reluctance DR. Use the SHOCK RELUCTANCE VS PIKE IN SCHILTRON chart.

• Units in Schiltron that become Disordered remain in Schiltron.

• Units that Retire exit Schiltron (remove the marker).• Units in Schiltron ignore all Retreat results.

Pike, whether Disordered or not, may exit Schiltron at the start of any Activation in which they are not adjacent to an enemy unit.

Play Note: Entire Scots Battles would go into Schiltron for-mation at the same time. You don’t have to do this, but it does make for a nifty defense, especially when one throws in an axe unit or two.

AXE UNITS In an interesting exception to the Stacking rules (10.0), each Axe unit may stack (beneath) any Scots Pike unit in Schiltron.

• The Axe unit is not in Schiltron and has no effect on any combat strength or adjustments. It suffers any Disorder, Retire, and Eliminated result that the Pike above it does.

• The Axe unit may move from its hex at any time that Battle is Activated, which means it may rush out and attack!

• An Axe unit may not pass through Pike units. It may move into the hex of a Pike unit in Schiltron, but must stop when it does.

• If the Pike exits Schiltron, the Axe unit and the Pike unit must end the Move/Fire Phase of the Activation in separate hexes.

SCOTS HOBILARS The Scots have two units of light cavalry, Keith’s and Douglas’s, that are part of Robert’s Battle. We treat them as Hobilars. They acted rather independently during the battle.

• When dismounted, they are treated as Dismounted Men-at-Arms (and their Shock defense ratings reflect their somewhat lesser capabilities in that status).

• The two Hobilars are always In Command.

ENGLISH DISORDER Virtually all of the foot units in the English Army were in a state of almost total disarray. That situation hobbles the English player greatly. For a more competitive game, see the Game Balance section for another option.

Those English Pike units that begin the game Disordered may be Rallied only if in Command range of their Battle Leader. After they are rallied once, they may rally normally.

THE ENGLISH CAMP There is a box for the English Camp (bottom/south of map). Several units of Edward’s Battle start there. To enter these units onto the map, the English player Activates them using a Free Ac-tivation. They enter the map through hex 6008 using the standard reinforcement rules (7.5). Units entering from the English Camp are Out of Command the Activation they enter. They may not be Rallied until they enter and are subject to the English Disorder rule (if playing with it).

GAME BALANCE

Alternate Deployment If you wish, you can alter the balance somewhat, in favor of the English, by:

• Deploying the Men-at-Arms as stated.• Deploying 8 Longbow units within 2 hexes of 4418.• Deploying 4 Longbow units within 1 hex of 4911.• Deploying all the Pike, all Crossbows, and 4 Longbows as

desired, but “behind” (east) of King Edward II. E.g., a line from 4115 to 5210 would be one such placement.

Fear and Disorder in Scotland (Favors the English)Ignore the English Disorder special rule. The standard Rally rules for disordered units are in effect.

Too easy on the English (Favors the Scots)The ratings we have given the English “foot’ commanders are for play balance purposes. If you wish to get a more historical perspective of reality, lower the Activation and Range of both Clifford and Beaumont by one.

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: As designed—somewhat a-historically—this is a fairly balanced scenario. We have provided adjustments to reflect a greater historical reality. When using (our version of) the his-torical deployment, the Scots are heavily favored. The Alternate (non-historical, let’s ignore Reality) English deployment goes a fair way to even things up.

The English Flight Level is 40.The Scots Flight Level is 30.



CREÇYPicardy, France, 26 August 1346


Creçy is the first major battle of what we call The Hundred Years War, and the classic example of how infantry and archers, on defensible ground, are extremely difficult to

overcome with a mounted force. The French had been chasing Edward III’s much smaller force all over northern France. Edward finally decided to turn and face King Philip on a good defensive position, a rise just to the east of the village of Creçy, protected on one side by a river and the other by a forest and village. As further protection, Edward had a series of potholes dug at the base of the rise making it difficult for mounted men to advance with speed. The French Army was strung out for miles, and a heavy rain had done little for the equipment of the vanguard, vaunted Genoese crossbowmen. Still, they advanced to attack the English right, only to be outshot, and decidedly so, by the English longbows. As they were retiring to regroup, Alençon’s Battle arrived and, as was typical of the French men-at-arms, immediately charged, riding down a large number of crossbowmen who got in their way. In the first of several, similar charges, the French horses stumbled across the potholes, reaching the solid wall of English spears at a walk. The horses refused to charge, the English longbows riddled the mounted force, and then the English knights shot out from behind the line to finish off the French, many of whom had been unhorsed and were useless. This happened over and over, as the French army, all mounted—their foot and equipment was far to the rear—valued chivalry over common sense and sound tactics. The end result was a smashing English victory, and a stunned French army.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time averaged about two hours for the playtesters.

INITIAL DEPLOYMENTThe English Army sets up first.

English Army

Leaders: King Edward III (OC); Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales [a]; Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel; William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton; Godfrey de Harcourt [b]Seizure Counters: 4Standards: King (Edward III) is used for all English units. Place within 3 hexes of Edward III. Facing: As the English player desires.


Godfrey de Harcourt 4610-4613, 4709, 4809, 4908, 5008, 5108, 5209, 5309, 5410

9 English Longbow (#1-7 +1, #8-9 +2), 3 English Pike (#8-10 0), Harcourt

4613, 5510 2 English Bombards [c]

Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel 4513-4517, 4618-4622, 4722, 4823

9 English Longbow (#1-7 +1, #8-9 +2), 3 English Pike (#5-7 0), Arundel

Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales4910-4914 5 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#1 –3, #2-4 –2, #5 –1), Wales

William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton 4917-4921 5 English Dismounted Men-

at-Arms (#2-4 –2, #5-6 –1), Northampton

Edward III, King of EnglandIn any Road hex from 5119 to 5213 inclusive

3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1), 2 English Pike (#8-9 0), 3 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –3, #2-3 –2), Edward III

Any hex adjacent to, but outside, the Wagon Lager

2 English Mounted Hobilars [d] (#1-2 +1)

a: Known far and wide, but not during his lifetime, as The Black Prince.b: Godfrey was from Normandy and considered a “traitor” by the French. c: See the note, below, on these.d: In all likelihood, these Hobilars were Gascons, and thus mounted crossbowmen. They do not appear to have been involved in any of the fighting.



French Army

Leaders: King Philip VI (OC); John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia [a]; Charles II, Comte d’Alençon [b]; Carlo Grimaldi [c], Ottone Doriaa: John was very old, and very blind. Still, he insisted on fighting up front with his men. Cost him his life.b: The king’s younger brother.c: Carlo Grimaldi was the founder of the present ruling family of the Principality of Monaco. Say goodnight, Gracie…

Seizure Counters: 3Standards: King (Philip VI), Luxembourg, Genoa (all of the Genoese Crossbow use this Standard), and Alençon. Place any-where on the map when the Battle is activated or has entered as a reinforcement.Facing: All units are faced north.


Carlo Grimaldi 3908-3909, 4009-4013, 4109-4113

12 Genoese Crossbow (#1-12 +1), Grimaldi

Ottone Doria 3905-3907, 4005-4008, 4105-4108

11 Genoese Crossbow (#1-11, +1), Doria

Charles II, Comte d’Alençon 3610-3614, 3708-3714 12 French Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –3, #2-8 –2, #9-12 –1), Alençon

French ReinforcementsThe French have two additional Battles of Mounted Men-at-Arms they may enter with a Free Activation per 7.5. Luxembourg’s Battle must enter before Philip VI’s. The French player cannot enter a reinforcement group during the first Free Activation of the game.When the French player wants to enter Phillip VI and his Battle (during a French Free Activation), the French player must roll a die. If it is an even number, King Phillip Activates and enters. On an odd number, the Free Activation is transferred to any other French leader.1) Luxembourg’s Battle

8 French Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1-5 –2, #6-8 –1), Luxem-bourgThese units enter through hexes 3604-3610.

2) Philip VI’s Battle 7 French Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1-2 –3, #3-6 –2, #7 –1), Philip VIThese units enter through hexes 3609-3616.

Historical Note: The French had a large contingent of local levies and town militia—what the game would consider (rather poor) Pike. However, they were far to the rear, with the French baggage train, and they never got into the battle.

WHO GOES FIRST? The French player gets the first Activation to start the game, but must Activate either of the Crossbow Battles.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONEnglish and French - No Shield Wall


TERRAIN Clear. Normally, this would be the usual 1 MP to enter. However, it had rained quite heavily immediately preceding the battle (and see the rules on the Genoese Crossbows), and the low-lying val-leys, close to the marshy areas of the river, were very muddy and difficult to traverse. Therefore, all Level one clear hexes cost 2 MP to enter, a definite disadvantage for the French. Potholes. It appears that the English, having played such games with the Scots for years, dug small holes to the front of their entire line. These holes were hard to see by incoming mounted units, causing many mounts to stumble, fall, and unhorse their riders. Therefore, any Mounted Men-at-Arms units entering a Pothole hex by movement, Advance, or crossing by Charge must undergo a Stumble Check. Roll one die.

• If the DR is 2 or less the riders are unhorsed. Replace the Mounted Men-at-Arms unit with an Unhorsed Men-at-Arms unit, and the unit stops. It may not Shock attack that activation. Mark it with a Counter-Charge Used marker as a mnemonic until the end of the Activation.

• If the DR is 3 or more, there is No Effect.

Elevations. The right side of the hill that the English deployed on was rather steep, enough so that the French did not consider attacking across that side. The additional movement and attack difficulties are noted on the various charts and tables. The steep slopes have no effect on Fire other than the change in elevation. Roads. The roads appear to have been relatively unaffected by the rain. Units may use Road costs only if they are not using the Road to move adjacent to an enemy unit of any kind. To use the Road movement rate, a unit must move from one road hex to another via connecting roads.

JOHN OF LUXEMBOURG, KING OF BOHEMIA Even though John is a King, he is not counted as a King for Flight Points (3.0). Instead, he is treated as any other named leader. This is a French battle and he was not a French King, so his death or capture would not have the same effect on French morale as losing their own King.

THE GENOESE CROSSBOWMEN The only foot that the French had at the battle were their large contingent of Genoese crossbowmen, considered the finest of their type in Europe (even if the Pope had outlawed their use). However, Creçy was not their finest day, and many French his-torians have labeled them cowards, turncoats and the sole cause



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of the French defeat. We, along with the majority of historians, think the French missed the point of the whole exercise. Firstly, understand that the crossbows used at this time were of wooden construction, not the metal crossbows of a century later. As such, they were not as efficient nor as powerful as the latter, or the Longbow—that had greater range and penetrating power than the wooden crossbow (some 375 yards max to maybe 250 yards max). Conversely, the shorter, heavier crossbow quarrel often made up in stoutness what it lost in momentum, in terms of penetration, vis-a-vis the longbow.Rain. Most (but not all) sources say that the rainfall hurt the crossbowmen much more than the longbow archers. The latter, anticipating the humidity, had unstrung their bows, something the Genoese apparently did not do while on the march. To account for this negative effect, subtract two (–2) from all Crossbow unit fire.

Design Note: Some sources state that the crossbows were virtually useless. We don’t go quite that far.

Shields: It appears that the Shields used by the Crossbow teams—the crossbowmen operated in teams of firers, re-winders and protector/shield holders—were in the baggage train in the rear, unavailable. This rendered the crossbowmen even more susceptible to enemy archery. When firing on Crossbow units, Longbow units add one (+1) to their Fire DR.

BOMBARDS It is pretty well established in most sources that the English did have bombards—small, very primitive, cannon—at Creçy. (The arguments for and against are well-presented in Burne’s book.) Apparently, they scared the living daylight out of the Genoese crossbowmen. It is also, it would seem, the first recorded instance of the use of guns in a European field battle.

• Bombards cannot move. They can change facing to fire.• They may stack with any one friendly foot unit, in an

exception to the stacking rules in 10.0.• They are not affected by enemy missile fire.• Each Bombard unit can fire only twice in the game. They

may fire only once per Activation. A Bombard may fire at any time, even in the middle of a French Activation. Use an Out of Missiles marker to indicate it has fired once; remove the Bombard unit after the second shot.

• Bombards fire like missile units, though only through their frontal hexes. Roll one die and consult the CRECY BOMBARD FIRE TABLE. Subtract from the number of hexes between the bombard and the target from the DR. There is no other DRM for bombards. Thus, an adjacent unit would have no DRM, and a target unit three hexes away, with two intervening hexes, would incur a –2 DRM. Bombards are Artillery for LOS (11.4) purposes.

• If alone in a hex and an enemy unit moves adjacent, or the unit it is stacked with leaves that hex for any reason as a result of Shock or Charge combat, the Bombard is Eliminated.

THE ENGLISH WAGON TRAIN We are, of course, referring, to the hexes at the western edge of the map (near the Forest of Crecy), a lager of wagons that contained Edward’s baggage and all his men-at-arms’ horses. The wagons are guarded by several hundred Hobilars, light cavalry usually used on the flanks of deployed archers as protec-tion. The Hobilars are part of King Edward III’s Battle. They are always In Command, regardless of their distance from Edward. If any French combat unit is in a hex inside the wagon lager at the end of any Activation, the English incur one (1) Flight Point for each such Activation.

NOTES ON ENGLISH DEPLOYMENT The deployment of the English army, as described by historians, varies almost as widely as the number of purveyors of this in-formation. For those of you who do like to read the sources, we suggest using the deployment as described by David Nicolle, with the longbowmen and spearmen intermixed in one line, and the men-at-arms somewhat to the rear. Other sources state the men-at-arms were in the center of the front two lines, with the spears on each side and the archers on the flanks. As noted above, the Hobilars may or may not have been assigned to guard duty; it is possible they were dismounted and mixed in with the spear-carrying infantry. We believe otherwise. If you like to experiment in this area, feel free to do so.

GAME BALANCE

Freedom to Choose (slightly favors the French)The French still get the first Activation, but may Activate any Battle.

Portentous Potholes (favors the English)If mounted units attempt to Charge (not just move) through a pothole hex, 2 or less = Unhorsed DR applies, but if that same DR is a 3 or more, the Charge is completed but the Charge marker is replaced with a Shock marker.

Rain, rain go away (favors the French)Ignore the Rain rule for the French Crossbow units.

Shield of Faith (favors the French)Ignore the Shield rule for the French Crossbow units.

FLIGHT LEVELSBalance: If you play this battle with all the historical rules, you will find it very hard to win as the French. If not, well, King Edward still has a good position, but you, as the sagacious gamer you are, have far more insight into how to attack it than Philip VI and his commanders.

The English Flight Level is 40.The French Flight Level is 50.



POITIERSPoitou, France, September 19 1356


Poitiers is one of the most covered battles in medieval his-tory, yet the one with the most differences, not about what happened, but exactly why and how.

Again we have the French chasing a much smaller English army that was on a glorified pillage and loot mission, led by Edward, Prince of Wales, this time all over central France. Edward’s army ran into a problem just south of Poitiers; behind it was the French army, in front of it was a river that, in crossing, would put the English in great danger. So, Edward turned to face the French, picking out, yet again, the best possible position for his archers and foot. While the English left was guarded by a difficult marshy lowland, his front, atop a small rise, was behind what appears to be a line of low hedges—sources differ greatly on this—to which Edward added some ditches to protect his right flank. Again, the French approached in waves, as you can see from the game rules below. However, this time, the French weren’t go-ing to charge head-on into the English defensive position. (The vanguard, mercenary Germans, were of a different mind and the instant they saw the English they put spur to horse and proved, yet again, that when honor supersedes intelligence, bad things happen.) The French dismounted their men-at-arms (mostly), even removing their foot armor to aid in walking. Unfortunately, they dismounted quite a distance from the English line, and that, plus the lack of adequate footwear, rendered most of the French ‘foot” rather uncomfortable and not quite as up to the task at hand. The result was much the same as at Creçy, although Poitiers was a much closer battle in terms of final result, with the outcome dependent, to a great extent, on the initiative of Captal de Buch, who commandeered a group of mounted English knights, swept around the French left whaling away at the hedges, and surprised the French to their rear.

Two important battles in ten years had shown the French the virtual impossibility of breaking a defensive position held by good foot supported by missile fire. 60 years later, at Agincourt, they still hadn’t assimilated those lessons.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time is about 2 hours.


English Army

Leaders: Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales (OC) [a]; Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick; William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury [b]; Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch.Seizure Counters: 4Standards: Wales is used for all English units. Place the Stan-dard in 3012. Facing: All units are faced northwest.


William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury 2511, 2512, 2514, 2611 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1)2513, 2613, 2615 3 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#2-4 –2), Salisbury

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick 2517-2520 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1)2515, 2516, 2617, 2619 4 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#2-3 –2, #4-5 –1), Warwick

Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales 2814, 2817 2 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#3 –2, #4 –1)2815, 2816 2 English Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –3, #2 –2), Wales2911, 2918 2 English Mounted Hobilars

(#1-2 +1)2811, 2910 2 English Baggage Wagons (#1-2)

Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch2911 Buch [c]a: Known far and wide, but not during his lifetime, as The Black Prince.b: Warwick’s left wing was also commanded by the Earl of Oxford; Salisbury’s right by the Earl of Suffolk. For game purposes, we have merged the two on each wing. c: Jean III de Grailly, one of the Gascons in the English army. He has no “Battle”; see rules on him, below.



Historical Note: There is much disagreement as to exactly how the English foot deployed, centering mostly on whether the archers formed solely as wings to the dismounted men-at-arms in the center, or placed between the heavy infantry, as we have done. All of this appears to depend on one’s definition of a single word found in Froissart: “herce,” used to describe the manner in which English armies deployed their infantry. We have opted, at Poitiers, for the “hedgehog-like” interpretation. We should point out, though, that in the majority of battles, the English tended to place their archers on the wings.

French Army

Leaders: King Jean II (OC); Charles, Duke of Normandy, Dauphin of France; Philip of Orléans, Duke of Orléans [a]; John II, Count of Saarbrücken [b].Seizure Counters: 3Standards: Saarbrücken, Dauphin, Orléans, and King (Jean II). Place anywhere on the map.Facing: All units are faced southeast.


John II, Count of Saarbrücken2114, 2115 2 French Mounted Men-at-Arms

[b] (Clemont, Audrehem –2)1711-1712, 1717-1719 5 Genoese Crossbow (#1-5 +1)1713-1716 4 French (German) Mounted

Men-at-Arms (#4-5 –2, #6-7 –1), Saarbrücken

Charles, Duke of Normandy, Dauphin of France 1511-1519 9 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

[c] (#1-5 –2, #6-9 –1), Dauphin

Philip, Duke of Orléans 1311-1319 9 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-5 –2, #6-9 –1), Orléans

Jean II, King of France1009-1020 12 French Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#1-8 –2, #9-12 –1), Jean IIa: The younger brother of Normandy, and not yet 21. See the special rules for this battle. b: It appears that Marshals Clermont and Audrehem commanded the entire first battle. However, both Clermont and Audrehem started off the fray by charging the English line with their French Men-at-arms. The rest of the first battle, consisting of crossbowmen and mounted Ger-man knights—sources disagree on exactly what these units were—was under the command of several German counts, of which Saarbrücken is our representative. c: Some historians state that the French, convinced that the reason they had lost at Créçy was because they fought mounted, decided to dismount, for the most part, for this battle. To make it easier for the heavily weighted knights, they even cut off the points on their boots and shortened their lances. It never occurred to them that dismounting was a defensive tactic, and that, offensively, they would have to walk

up to a mile and a half in all that armor to even reach the English. The reality is that the French had been fighting dismounted for years; they understood the reasons for such and such a tactic was not unknown to them. The only difficulty for them in adapting such a posture was convincing their over-heated aristocracy that it was socially acceptable to walk around like the peasants.

WHO GOES FIRST? The French player gets the first Activation to start the game, but must Activate Saarbrücken’s Battle.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONEnglish - Shield WallFrench - No Shield Wall


TERRAIN Several features are not self-explanatory. Clear. Well, there’s clear and then there’s sort of clear. Much of what the map shows as clear, especially around the Maupertuis area, was broken scrub, vineyards, and assorted other flora that made military movement, if not difficult, at least “slower”. The Hedge. This feature is one of the factors around which some disagreement swirls. We have to take a stance, so this is our interpretation. This row of thorn bushes, that was difficult to penetrate, proved a formidable barrier in the opening hour of battle, and its effect is mentioned by several “period” sources. Then it is never mentioned again (in later hours of the battle), as if the units that finally got through managed to tramp it down, well within the realms of possibility. The rule, therefore, is once a unit has crossed (by movement or Advance After Combat) the hedge hexside, the hedge is no longer a barrier (or even pres-ent). We’ve got some counters to place along the hexsides for that purpose. And yes, there is no hedge between 2414 and 2513 (anything to help the French). The Ditch. Dug by Prince Edward to protect his right flank. It is reinforced by his wagons, just returned from their brief attempt to retreat back across the Moisson River, to the South. Roads. The Roman Road was, most likely, a cobblestone special, as were all Roman. The others are the usual dirt tracks/roads. Maupertuis. Today a large farm, it appears that back in the XIVth century it was more of a small village. So we treat it as a village.

THE DUKE OF ORLÉANS’ BATTLE Young and inexperienced, the Duke of Orléans, upon seeing men from the two battles in front of him fleeing to the rear, ordered his men off the field. Players who wish to get as much historical flavor as possible should use the following rule. Every time the French player activates Orléans —with or without a dieroll—he checks to see if his Battle sticks around. Total the French Flight Points and add the roll of one die. If the total is 25 or higher, Orléans’ Battle, and all of its units, are immediately



Unit placement map for Poitiers scenario



removed from play. If they are removed, they do not count to-wards the French Flight level.

CLERMONT, AUDREHEM, AND THE FORLORN HOPEThese French knights were given the honor of being the first to engage the English. The two mounted men-at-arms, the Clermont and Audrehem units, are part of Saarbrücken’s Battle. When first Activated they must move towards the English, and then Charge the nearest (in hexes) English troops.

JEAN III DE GRAILLY, CAPTAL DE BUCH This Gascon “general” is represented here not because he was a major leader, but because of his position in the history of the battle. It was the Captal who took a small group of men, late in the battle, circled around the hill on the English right, and attacked Jean’s Battle in the flank, driving it from the field to end the fray. To that end, the Captal de Buch can command any English units directly in his (limited) range (adjacency does not apply in this case) for whatever purpose the English player can come up with.

FRENCH MEN-AT-ARMS The Mounted Men-at-Arms of Saarbrucken’s Battle, except for the Clermont and Audrehem units, may dismount and fight that way, if the player wishes. Counters are provided for both statuses.

CROSSBOWMEN The Crossbowmen cannot be rallied. Therefore, treat any Retired result as Eliminated.

THE ENGLISH WAGON TRAIN The wagons are part of Prince Edward’s Battle. However, if he activates a wagon for movement, he may not move any combat units of his Battle. A wagon is removed if all of the following are true:

• A French combat unit ends its movement, or advance after combat (retreating doesn’t count), adjacent.

• It is not on the other side of a trench hexside from the French unit.

• It is not adjacent to an English combat unit.

GAME BALANCE

Freedom to Choose (slightly favors the French)The French still get the first Activation, but may Activate any Battle. Ignore the CLERMONT, AUDREHEM, AND THE FORLORN HOPE special rule.

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: The French fought better at Poitiers than they did at Créçy, but the deployment, terrain, and lack of French coor-dinated command still makes this a very difficult win for the French player. Each removed wagon adds two to the English Flight Points.

The English Flight Level is 30.The French Flight Level is 45.

NÁJERAKingdom of Castile (Spain), 3 April 1367


This battle, the largest in the game, allows us to see what has developed into the standard western European army against a much different, almost Eastern, tactical system

heavily dependent on cavalry. Edward, Prince of Wales, seeks to expand the income of his duchy of Aquitaine by extending its territories over the Pyrennes. He gathers together a large army for the period, some English men-at-arms, lots of longbows, and a hefty assortment of mercenaries from the bands of brigands called the free companies, including the Great Company. Standing against him is the political power of usurper King Henry of Trastàmore, inept and fading ruler of Castile. Henry deployed expecting Edward to approach his position along the road from the east. But The Prince, instead, marched behind some hills to his right and emerged directly onto Henry’s left flank. Henry’s army, gathered and trained to fight the light cavalry armies of the Moors, was of the wrong make-up for Edward’s heavier—but still maneuverable—combined arms. And the majority of the Castilian light cavalry, the genitors, were nowhere near the missile cavalry of, say, the steppe tribes and Mamluks. While they were pretty good at what they did, what they did wasn’t what the Castilians needed to hold off Edward. Edward’s longbows made fast work of most of the genitors, as Henry furiously attempted to swing his army into position. His foot was, for the most part, poor, and most of them drowned trying to flee across the river. While Nájera was one of The Prince’s great victories—although of no lasting strategic or political importance—it might have gone the other way, had Henry’s army been in position, and had not The Prince’s individual commanders all not had such a “good” day. But it did show that the heavier combined arms approach—men-



at-arms both mounted and dismounted, supported by well-placed longbows—was more than a match for the armies that had been fighting fast, light cavalry battles for centuries.

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time ran about three hours for the playtesters.

INITIAL DEPLOYMENTThe Castilian Army sets up first.

Castilian Army

Design Note: This is the largest army in this game; not, how-ever, the best.

Historical Note: The Castilian Army is set up expecting the English army to march in from Navarette down the road. Henry chose to not use the Najarilla River as his line of defense as it would have forced his cavalry to act on the defensive, some-thing they were not very good at ... as you shall see. Instead, he used the smaller Talde River (really a large stream) as a natural defense, which would have been a good position, had Edward arrived via the road. Prince Edward, as you shall see in the English deployment, had other plans.

Leaders: King Henry II (OC) [a]; Bertrand du Guesclin [b]; Tello Alfonso of Castile; Alfonso of Aragón and Foix, Count of Denia; Gomez Carillo [c]; Sancho Alfonso [c].Seizure Counters: 2Standards: Castile is used by all Castilian units. Place in hex 1902. Facing: All units are faced northeast.


Bertrand du Guesclin1916, 2115, 2314, 2513 3 French Routier Dismounted

Men-at-Arms (#1-3 –2), 1 Castil-ian Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –2), Guesclin

1817, 2613 2 Castilian Crossbow (#1-2 +1)2217, 2416 2 Castilian Slingers [d] (#1-2 +4)

Note: We have supplied mounted versions of the 3 French Routier units if players wish to mount these units.

Tello Alfonso of Castile2410, 2509, 2609, 2708 4 Castilian Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-4 –1), Castile2510-2511, 2610-2611, 2709-2710, 2809-2810

8 Castilian Genitors [e] (#1-8 +1)

2412, 2909 2 Castilian Crossbow (#1-2 +1)

King Henry II of Castile 1812, 1911, 2011, 2110 4 Castilian Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-4 –1), Henry II

1813, 1912-1913, 2012-2013, 2111-2112, 2212



Alfonso of Aragón and Foix, Count of Denia 1315, 1415, 1514, 1614 4 Castilian Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-4 –1), Denia 1316, 1416-1417, 1515-1516, 1615-1616, 1715



Gomez Carillo2305-2306, 2407 3 Castilian Crossbow (#1-3 +1)1808-1809, 1907-1909, 2007-2009, 2106-2108, 2206-2208, 2307

15 Castilian Pike (#1-2 –1, #3-9 0, #10-15 +1), Carillo

Sancho Alfonso1211-1212, 1312 3 Castilian Crossbow (#1-3 +1)1310-1311, 1410-1412, 1509-1511, 1609-1611,1708-1710, 1810

15 Castilian Pike (#1-2 –1, #3-9 0, #10-15 +1), Alfonso

a: The illegitimate son of Alfonso XI King of Castile and his mistress, Leonora de Guzman (both key figures in the French grand opera by Donizetti, “La Favorite”). Henry has been contesting the kingdom with his brother, the legitimate heir and depressingly named Pedro the Cruel, whom he has recently deposed. b: The great commander of the French free companies (routiers), he brought with him some excellent French men-at-arms, including some of the nobility that had been at Poitiers (e.g., Audrehem). c: Actually, Gomez and Sancho were elsewhere in the battle. However, none of our sources list anyone commanding the mass of Spanish infan-try in the rear—probably none of them wanted to be associated with such rabble—and we had to have someone, and their names were available. d: The Spanish armies still made use of slingers, who had not changed much since their heyday in the Roman era. While they could be effec-tive in terms of providing a hail of rocks and stones, they had no other capabilities and usually melted away at the first sign of close combat. The presence of slingers at Nájera is noted; how many is anyone’s guess. They had no impact on the outcome. e: Genitor is the English version of the Spanish/Moorish word for the Spanish Light Cavalry of the era. Fashioned after their Moorish coun-terparts, whom they had been facing for centuries, the Spanish genitors were better armed, but still fought mostly with Harass & Disperse tactics, using their lance-like javelins for throwing at a full gallop or, for the rare times they chose to close, as lances.



English Army

Historical Note: As you see from the units available, this is mostly a “French” Army—more specifically, Gascon with scattered Bretons—than English. Edward gathered a large force, many of them from the free companies. He actually had to turn away many of the latter because he couldn’t afford to (promise to) pay them. The whole enterprise was going to bankrupt him anyway.

Leaders: Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales (OC); Sir John Chandos; Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch; Sir Thomas Percy; James IV, King of Majorca.Seizure Counters: 4Standards: Wales is used for all English units. It is placed on the map during the first English Activation. It may be placed adjacent to any English reinforcement hex. Facing: No units start on the map.

Deployment:No units start on the map.

Reinforcements for the Army of Prince EdwardThe English enter in three groups, the Vanguard, the Main body, and the Rearguard. One group has three Battles. All of the groups enter through hexes 3401 and 3415 inclusive. The English player may use a Free Activation, a Continuation, or Seizure attempt by the entering leader to enter one of the English groups below as reinforcements (7.5). The groups must be entered in order: Vanguard, Main body, Rearguard. Continuation attempts to enter the Main body all use Prince Edward’s Activation Rating; the Rearguard uses Majorca’s Activation Rating. An additional group may not be entered as a reinforcement until the previous groups’ units have all entered the map.When entering the Main body, the English player Activates each of the three Main body Battles in turn. He chooses which Battle to Activate first, then Activates each Battle in turn, finishing each before moving to the next. After the Free Activation, the English player can Continue with one Battle as normal. The Activation of entry is the only Activation where all three Battles of the Main body are Activated together, afterwards they Activate separately, as normal.

1) The VanguardChandos’s Battle Enters through hexes 3401-3415:

6 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1-4 –2, #5-6 –1), 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), Chandos [b].

2) The Main bodyBuch’s Battle Enters through hexes 3401-3405:

5 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#2-4 –2, #5-6 –1), 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), Buch.

Prince Edward’s Battle Enters through hexes 3406-3410:5 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms [c] (#1 –3, #2-3 –2, #4-5 –1), 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), Wales.

Percy’s Battle Enters through hexes 3411-3415:5 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms [d] (#1-3 –2, #4-5 –1), 4 English Longbow (#1-4 +1), Percy.

3) The RearguardKing of Majorca’s Battle Enters through hexes 3401-3415:

5 Spanish Mounted Men-at-Arms (#2-6 –1) [a], 2 English Longbow (#1-2 +1), 2 English Crossbow (#1-2 +1), Majorca.

a: The contingents from Castile and Aragon were dissidents fighting against Henry’s rule, many of them provided by Pedro the Cruel, with whom Prince Edward had some convoluted diplomatic agreement.b: The nominal commander of the vanguard was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. However, his youth and inexperience meant that true command was in the hands of Chandos.c: These Men-at-Arms are from The Great Company, Castille, and Aragond: Gascons.

Historical Note: How did the English emerge onto the Castil-ian flank so easily? There’s a series of ridges north of the road, which easily hid Edward’s flanking move until he emerged on Henry, who fully expected to see the English come marching down the road.

WHO GOES FIRST?The English have the first Activation to start the game.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONEnglish - Shield WallSpanish and French - No Shield Wall

TERRAIN The battlefield was a treeless, fairly flat plain. The sole major terrain feature is the Najarilla River. This river is not crossable in a military sense (except by the bridge), at least not during a battle. However, as you will see in the Retire rules below, it had a major impact on the destruction of the Castilian army.

GENITORS The Spanish light cavalry, genitors, were not really suited to Western European combat of the 14th century. Javelin-armed, they have some unusual capabilities and drawbacks. Fire: Genitors, as noted in 7.2, may fire as part of Movement. Genitors carried only two javelins (which they used with quite deadly accuracy), they may fire only once (regardless when they do so), after which they are Out of Missiles (place such a marker atop the unit). Any Genitor may be rearmed when Activated, as long as it is at least three hexes from any enemy unit and does not move that activation. They may not both rearm and Rally in the same Activation.Shock: They may Shock, but they must pass a Shock Reluctance DR in Shock Phase Step 2:

• If the DR is a 0–2, the attacking unit may Shock.• If the DR is a 3–9, they chicken out and do not complete

the Shock.



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Genitors may not Fire and Shock in the same activation, and genitors without missiles may not Shock. Moreover, if Shock attacked in that status, the attacker gets a +2 DRM.

JAMES IV, KING OF MAJORCAEven though James is a King, he is not counted as a King for Flight Points (3.0). Instead, he is treated as any other named leader. The troops are primarily English and he was not an Eng-lish King, so his death or capture would not have a large effect on English morale.

MOUNTED OR DISMOUNTED? The Spanish Men-at-Arms had (literally) not heard about tactical developments in France and England in the previous 50 years. They never, ever dismounted, having even more disdain of do-ing so—and the social implications therein—than their French counterparts. Majorca’s Battle, you will notice, is mounted, an unusual status for English armies of this era. For one, the English army is not on the defensive here, and two, Edward planned on using them to pursue and destroy the fleeing enemy (which they did).

CASTILIAN RETIREYou will note that the Castilian Standard, around which they will rally when retired, is in the village of Nájera. That means that any unit Retiring must have crossed the Najarilla River to get there. Any unit of the Castilian player that incurs a Retire result retires to the Castilian Standard only if it can trace a line of hexes, of any length, across the bridge that is unoccupied/uninterrupted by a combat unit, of either side, and is not adjacent to an enemy unit. If it cannot do so, it is Eliminated instead (drowned trying to flee across the river, a fate suffered by many, many Castilians). The Castilian Standard may not be moved.

GAME BALANCE

Slow Down Prince (favors Spanish)Each English reinforcement group can enter on an English Free Activation, rather than a Free Activation, Continuation, or Seizure.

ALTERNATE DEPLOYMENTS For play balance, and change of scenery, players may game the battle using one of two alternate deployments, both of which will help the Castilians.

English Up the Middle (favors Spanish)This posits that Edward did exactly what Henry thought he would do, march towards his army from Navarette directly down the road. In that case, the following English Deployment is used. The Castilians remain the same. For units in each Battle, see the standard deployment.

• Chandos’s Battle Any hex ending in -21, between 2121 and 3021, inclusive.

• Percy’s Battle Any hex ending in -24, between 1824 and 2224, inclusive, and any hex ending in -25, between 1825-2225.

• Prince Edward’s Battle Any hex ending in -24, between 2424 and 2824, inclusive, and any hex ending in -25, between 2425-2725.

• Buch’s Battle Any hex ending in -24, between 3024 and 3424, inclusive, and any hex ending in -25, between 3125-3425.

• King of Majorca’s Battle In hexes on Southeast edge of the map, between 2127 and 2927 inclusive.

Castilian Pinwheel (favors Spanish)This assumes that Henry spots Edward’s approach along his left flank and redeploys his army to face in that direction. The English deploy/enter as in standard situation. The Castilian Army may deploy in any fashion that player wishes, within the following boundaries:

• All units must be south of the Najarilla River.• No unit may be N/NE of the 27-row (they may deploy in

that row).• No unit may deploy in any hex ending in a number higher

than –18.

The Castilian Army may change its lines from the historical ones, but all Battles remain the same.

Life Line (favors Spanish)Allow the Castilian player’s units to Retire using the normal Retire rules, rather than the Castilian Retire rules above.

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: Historically, this was an English blowout. Using the historical deployment and situation, we feel that the English will win handily. Using the alternate set-ups increases Castilian chances. Slingers that suffer any Disordered or Retreat result are automati-cally eliminated. However, they incur only one (1) Flight Point.

The English Flight Level is 45.The Castilian Flight Level is 60.



AGINCOURTPas-de-Calais, France, 25 October

(St. Crispin’s Day) 1415


Agincourt is, as far as the English are concerned, one of the most remarkable and famous battles in medieval his-tory. Outnumbered by as much as 4-to-1, tired, sick and

in pitiful shape, Henry V’s rag-tag army raised the three basic precepts of English tactics of the era to their greatest height: the defensive power of the longbow, a good defensive position, and the effectiveness of a creative and powerful overall command. The French? They rolled ones on life’s CRT all day. That, and having dozens of dukes and counts insist each one was supposed to be in command and at the head of every charge, plus a full morning’s carousing, didn’t help. “Henry V” is a historical play by William Shakespeare which focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Ag-incourt, There have been two major film adaptations: Laurence Olivier’s in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh’s in 1989. As you play the Agincourt Battle Module recall the words of Henry V:

From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember’d; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day

PLAYING TIMEPlaying time is about an hour.

Play Note: Because of the unbalanced nature of the historical result, this battle for Men of Iron is extremely well suited to solitaire play.


English Army

Leaders: King Henry V (OC); Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York; Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys.Seizure Counters: 4Standards: King (Henry V) is used by all English units. Place in hex 2215. Facing: All units are faced north.


Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys 1919, 2017, 2019 3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1)2018 1 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#1 –2), Camoys

Henry V, King of England 2015, 2215 2 English Longbow (#1-2 +1)2016 1 English Dismounted Men-at-

Arms (#1 –3), Henry V2415 Wagon

Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York 1911, 2012-2013 3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1)2014 1 Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –2), York

French Army

Leaders: Charles Valois, Duke of Orléans (OC) [a]; David de Rambures [b]; Jean I, Duke of Alençon [c]; Valéran de Raineval, Count Fauquembergue [d]Seizure Counters: 2Standards: King (Charles VI) is used by all French units. Place in hex 1115. Facing: All units are faced south.


Charles Valois, Duke of Orléans 1613, 1619 2 French Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-2 –1)1713-1718 6 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-4 –2, #5-6 –1)1714 Orléans

David de Rambures 1514-1516 3 French Archers (#1-3 +2)1517-1519 3 Genoese Crossbow (#1-3 +1)1519 Rambures



Jean I, Duke of Alençon1414-1418 5 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-2 –2, #3-5 –1)1418 Alençon

Valéran de Raineval, Count Fauquembergue 1313, 1316-1317 3 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms

(#1-3 –1)1314-1315, 1318 3 Mounted Men-at-Arms

(#1 –2, #2-3 –1)1315 Fauquembergue

a: This was less a battle than a line of disparate, disorganized dismounted knights under The Dukes of Bourbon and Orléans, the Constable of France, Marshal Boucicault and the Count of Eu, none of whom had any intention of coordinating their commands. We nominated Orléans as our game stand-in for this group. b: Rambures was a knight and the Grand Master of Crossbowmen. He died here, along with three of his sons. c: Alençon also represents his co-commander, the Duke of Bar.d: Also representing such others as the Counts of Dammartin, Merle, et al.

Historical Note: The French apparently had brought several bombards with them, placing them with the line of archers. However, given the massive confusion and incredible traffic jam to their front, they were never used. We have, therefore, excluded them.

Who Goes First? Historically, the battle started with a volley of English longbow fire, which volley spurred the French first Battle to charge. Therefore, the French get the first Activation but must start the game by Activating Orléans’ Battle.

SHIELD WALL/SCHILTRONEnglish - No Shield WallFrench - No Shield Wall

TIMED ENGAGEMENTThis battle uses the timed engagement rule (16.1). Initially, set the time marker in the 12 space on the General track. The French are the timed side in this battle.

TERRAIN Clear: Heavy rains had soaked the ground to such a point that the mud became a major factor in the battle, slowing any French charges to a virtual halt in places. This is represented by the move-ment cost for clear terrain. The mud is also part of the reason for the French Disorder and French Combat Results Historical (optional) Rules. Stakes: Before the battle, the English archers were commanded to cut and sharpen long stakes. These were placed in the ground in a loose belt in front of the longbow troops, with just enough space for those men to move through but not enough for Men-at-Arms, or horses. The hexsides without stakes represent the small avenues of approach to the English Men-at-Arms designed with the purpose of directing all incoming traffic towards those units.

It all worked remarkably well, totally negating any numerical superiority the French had.

FRENCH MM French MM units may not move, Retreat, Charge, or Shock across a stake hexside. As a result, if an MM unit has both a unit behind a stake hexside and one not so positioned in its frontal hexes it must only attack the unit in the “open” if it Shocks (and the penalty for attacking multiple units does not apply).

LEADERS If/when a French Replacement Leader is eliminated he is not replaced, and his Battle is now leaderless. If/when Henry V is eliminated he is not replaced, and his Battle is now leaderless.

FRENCH CROSSBOWMEN AND ARCHERS The French missile units cannot be Rallied from Disordered or Retired status. Therefore, any French missile unit that is Retired, is instead Eliminated.

THE ENGLISH WAGON TRAIN The English Wagon counter may not move. If a French combat unit ends its movement, or advance after combat (retreating doesn’t count), adjacent to the Wagon and the Wagon is not adjacent to an English combat unit, the Wagon is removed and the English incur 3 Flight Points.

GAME BALANCE Using the following optional rules will more accurately reflect the situation on that St. Crispin’s Day in 1415. However, they will also swing the balance of the game heavily in favor of the English.

French Disorder (favors English) The English had originally deployed about a half a mile to the rear of the initial setup given in the game. The French decided that they were going wait for Henry to attack and, having de-ployed, sat back and waited. For hours no one did anything. During that period, the French decided to turn the day into one big moveable feast and party. Drinking, gambling, and arguing over who would get to charge first became the order of the day, with no one of sufficient rank or presence to bring any of it to a halt. By late morning, the French army was all over the place, in no formation to do anything. With no one moving, Henry, fearful of losing his army through lack of action, moved his entire line forward. One would think that the French would take advantage of such a movement. However, they were in no shape to do so. With everyone run-ning hither and yon, and all the knights jostling for best posi-tion, by the time Henry’s line was set—about 11 AM—a totally disorganized French army found themselves under fire from his longbows. So, they charged. To represent this, for those wishing to play this historically, all (yes, all) French units start the game Disordered. Moreover, to reflect this constant state of disorder:

• The French cannot Rally Retired units. Disordered units can only be Rallied in a Continuation or a seized Activation (6.2, 6.3).

• When activated, and not Retired or Rallying, units in the



Unit placement map for Agincourt scenario

Activated Battle must move at least one hex towards and/or fire at English units, unless already adjacent to an English unit.

The above are quite dogmatically restrictive and are meant mostly for solitaire, historical insight play. They do represent the French army on that day.

French Combat Results (favors English)This is another rule that reflects the total disorganization of the French army, as well as the conditions of the field and the crowd-ing that developed in front of the English position. Whenever any French Men-at-Arms unit incurs a Retire result, the French player traces a line of hexes as direct as possible (fewest intervening hexes) from that unit to the French Standard. All French units in that path are automatically Dis-ordered (if already Disordered, there is no additional effect). Then roll a die for the original unit:

• If the DR is a 0-6, the unit has successfully Retired.• If the DR is a 7-9, the unit keeps heading for the hills and

is Eliminated instead.

FLIGHT LEVELS Balance: Historically? A slaughterhouse. Although both sides had substantial losses, the French losses were catastrophic, as almost every noble above the rank of “lord” was either killed or captured. If you don’t play the Game Balance rules, the game is much more balanced, although the English position is tough to turn. Adjust the FP for units as follows:

1 FP for each Eliminated English Longbow3 FP if the Wagon is Eliminated4 FP for each Eliminated English Men-at-Arms unit

Design Note: The French considered the lower class bowmen unworthy of attention, and certainly not a great source of pos-sible ransom money.

The English Flight Level is 14. The English do not have a DR added to their Flight Points when making Loss Checks.

The French Flight Level is 30..



English Activation Hereford’s Battle - Shock Phase

Shock Phase Step 1: Declaration of AttacksEnglish MM 1 declares a Shock attack against Scottish PK 2 and PK 4. English MM 2 declares a Shock attack against Scottish PK 1. Since there are two English units and three Scottish units, one of the English units must attack two Scottish units per rule 12.1, which specifies that all units in an attacking units Frontal hexes must be attacked by it or another unit.

Shock Phase Step 2: Pre-Shock Activitiesa) Does not apply since no units are Charging.b) Does not apply.c) English MM 1 must roll on the Shock Reluctance Vs

Pike In Schiltron Table, since it is attacking Scottish PK 2 in Schiltron. The English player rolls an 8. Checking the table, the Shock attack is allowed.

If the English player had rolled lower and the attack was not allowed, the attack by English MM 2 on Scottish PK 1 would be unaffected. Scottish PK 2 would not be attacked by MM 1 and even though it is in the Frontal hex of MM 2, the attack the attack declaration step has passed. Since an attack was declared on Scottish PK 2 rule 12.1 was satisfied, thus freeing English MM 2 to attack only Scottish PK 1.

English MM 2 must roll on the Shock Reluctance Vs Pike In Schiltron Table, since it is attacking Scottish PK 1 in Schiltron. The English player rolls a 6. Checking the table, the Shock attack is not allowed.

d) Do not apply.e) Do not apply.

Shock Phase Step 3: Attack ResolutionThe English player decides to resolve his attack in order from right to left. Since all attacks are simultaneous the order of resolu-tion only matters for advance and retreat decisions. All of MM 1’s attacks must be resolved before results are applied.

Attack by English MM 1 on Scottish PK 2The defender’s Shock Defense DRM is –2 (from the counter). The attacking MM is at a strength disadvantage of 1:2 (MM 1 declared attacks against Scottish PK 2 and PK 4, even if one of the attacks was disallowed in Step 2c and would not be com-pleted the penalty would apply), so a –1 DRM applies. From the Weapons System Matrix, a MM attacking a PK has a 0 DRM. No other DRMs apply. Total DRM –2 + –1 = –3. The attack will be resolved on the Shock Combat Results Table, since no unit is Charging, using the Defending Unit’s Status Normal column. The English player rolls a 4 –3 DRM for a total of 1, a result of Attacker Disordered, Retreat 1 Hex.

Attack by English MM 1 on Scottish PK 4The defender’s Shock Defense DRM is 0 (from the counter). The attacking MM is at a strength disadvantage of 1:2, so a –1 DRM applies. From the Weapons System Matrix, a MM attacking a PK has a 0 DRM. No other DRMs apply. Total DRM –1 +0 = –1. The attack will be resolved on the Shock Combat Results Table, since no unit is Charging, using the Defending Unit’s Status Disordered column. The English player rolls a 9 –1 DRM for a total of 8, a result of Defender Eliminated, Continued Attack.Rule 14.1 last paragraph details how to combine combat results in the case of one unit attacking two units. The attacking unit is Disordered. The Retreat is ignored and the Continued Attack result is implemented. English MM 1 will Advance into hex 4918, without changing facing, and be marked with both a Shock attack marker and a Continued Attack –1 marker. During Step 4 of this Shock Phase, English MM 1 will be forced to Shock attack Scottish AX 1.Had the result of English MM 1’s attack on Scottish PK 4 been any other result than Defender Eliminated, Continue Attack, English MM 1 would have become Disordered and then Retreated 1 Hex. If the combat result was Defender Retired, that would also be implemented. Results of Attacker Disordered, Retreat 1 Hex, Attacker Disordered, or No Result would also result in English MM 1 becoming Disordered and then Retreating 1 Hex.

EXAMPLE OF PLAY



SOURCES Armstrong, Peter, Stirling Bridge & Falkirk 1297-98

Armstrong, Peter, Bannockburn 1314Bradbury, Jim, The Medieval Archer

Burne, Alfred H., The Crécy WarDelbruk, Hans, History of the Art of War, Vol III

DeVries, Kelly, Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth CenturyGravett, Christopher, English Medieval Knight 1200-1300

Gunn, Robert M., “The Battle of Falkirk (1298)” (www.scotwebshops.com/history/features/falkirk)

Heath, Ian, Armies of the Middle Ages, Vol INicolle, David, Medieval Warfare Source Book, Vol I

Nicolle, David, Crecy 1346Norman, A.V.B., and Pottinger, Don, English Weapons & Warfare, 449-1660Oman, Sir Charles, A History of The Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol. Two

Payne-Gallwey, Ralph, The Book of the CrossbowRogers, Clifford J., Medieval Warfare

Rothero, Christopher, The Armies of Crécy and PoitiersSeymour,William, Battles in Britain, 1066-1746Sumption, Jonathon, The Hundred Years War IVerbruggen, J.F. and Kelly DeVries (Editor),

The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Courtrai, 11 July 1302): A Contribution to the History of Flanders’ War of Liberation, 1297-1305 (Warfare in History)


GMT Games, LLCP.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA, 93232-1308www.GMTGames.com

A. Activation Phase• If this is a Free Activation, choose a Battle, Standard

(15.2), or Pass (6.1). If Pass is chosen, the non-Active player gets a Free Activation; the Time marker may be moved (16.1).

• If a Standard is Activated skip to Phase D or move the Standard and skip to Phase E (15.2).

B. Move/Fire PhaseDuring a Battle Activation any or all units of the Activated Battle may Move (7.0) and/or Fire (11.0).

• Place any replacement leaders (5.5).• Before any unit is moved or fires, first the Non-Active

player plays any Battle Cry or Unsteady Troops Seizure counters, then the Active player plays any Battle Cry or Unsteady Troops Seizure counters (6.3).

• Before any unit is moved or fires check Command status for all Activatedunits (5.2 & 5.3).

• A foot unit armed with missile weapons may fire only at the end of its move. Genitors units may fire before, during, or at the end of their move. A unit may fire without moving.

• Each unit must finish its movement/firing before another unit may begin to move/fire.

• The Non-Active player’s units may qualify for Reaction/Return fire (11.2) or Counter-Charge (13.9) depending on the Active player’s actions.

C. Shock PhaseDuring a Battle Activation, after all movement/firing for the activated Battle is complete, Shock combat (12.0) and Charges (13.0) may be initiated.

1. The Active player designates which of his units are attacking which defending units, including Charges (13.0).

2. Pre-Shock activities:a) One at a time, the Active player places each Charging

unit adjacent to its target. Any Reaction Fire caused by this is resolved (11.2).

b) Roll for terrain-induced Disorder checks for attackers; apply automatic terrain-induced Disorders.

c) Roll for Shock/Charge Reluctance (13.5).d) Any Retreat Before Combat (12.2) by the defender is

resolved.e) The defender attempts any Counter-Charges (13.6) of

which he is capable.

3. The Active player resolves all his Shock and Charge attacks, in any order he wishes. The Charge Table is used as long as at least half of the units in an individual attack succeeded in Charging (not Disordered by Reaction Fire or Counter-Charged); otherwise the Shock Table is used. Continued Attack (14.7) markers are placed and Advances (12.4) are taken.

Exception: Attacks by a single attacker against multiple defending hexes are resolved at the same time, and they are considered to be going on simultaneously, with results (which can be cumulative for the attacker) applied after both attacks are resolved.

4. All Continued Attacks (14.7) are now resolved. Begin again at Step 1, except that only units marked with Continued Attack markers Shock and they must declare a Shock attack; Charging and Counter-Charging are not allowed.

D. Rally PhaseDuring Battle Activation, Rally (15.0) any Disordered units that did nothing for the entire Activation and that are currently not adjacent to an enemy unit. If a Standard was Activated, Rally (15.0) any Retired unit belonging to that army in or with-in one hex of the Standard, and not adjacent to an enemy unit.E. Continuation PhaseIf the completed Activation was a Free Activation, both play-ers make a Loss Check (3.0). If the game does not end due to Loss Check, Pass or choose to Continue with a Battle or Army Activation (6.2).

• This cannot be the Battle that just Activated, unless the Active player has only one Battle.

• A Battle Activation can follow Activation of a Battle or Standard.

• The Non-Active player may attempt to Seize Continuity (6.3). If so, he plays a Seizure Opportunity counter and chooses one of his Battles to Activate. The Active player may play a Seizure Negation (6.3) counter and the Continuation attempt is then resolved, otherwise the Non-Active player makes a Seizure DR attempt. If successful, he Activates that Battle and proceeds from Phase B with that Battle. If not, the Active player gets a Free Activation, proceed to Phase A; this Free Activation may even be used to Activate the Battle that just completed Activation.

• If no Seizure attempt occurs, make a Continuation DR attempt (6.2). If successful, Activate that Battle and proceed from Phase B. If not, or the Active player Passes, the Non-Active player gets a Free Activation and proceeds to Phase A.

Men of Iron Extended Sequence of Play

Documents

The Rebirth of Infantry · What we do see across this period is an increased number of archers and a greater reliance on those troops, often deployed with infantry, usually, but not