I had missed out on the 'Never Mind the Billhooks' experience when it first came out and the accounts I had read since didn't seem to justify the interest they had aroused. But, knowing I am very poor at judging rules without playing them I thought, when offered a game, I would seize opportunity to see if playing them would change my mind.
John, my most regular opponent these days, kindly brought over everything required a game, set it up and explained the rules to me. He even let me take the Yorkist side, as I do have a clear preference in this period (actually Neville rather York). The two sides were:
LANCASTRIAN YORKIST
Somerset (CinC, Commander) Fauconberg (Hero)
2x Bow units 2x Bow units
1x Man-at-Arms unit 2x Bill units
1x Bill unit
Devon (Commander) Edward IV (CinC, Commander)
1x Bow unit 1x Bow unit
1x Bill 1x Man-at-Arms unit
1x Pike
Northumberland (Dolt) Norfolk (Commander)
1x Knight unit 1x Knight unit
1x Light Horse unit
In addition, both sides had one cannon and two skirmish units (one crossbow-armed and one with handguns).
Deployment: being wrapped up getting my head around the rules I forgot to take a photo of the armies as set up so, the first photo shows the table after the manoeuvre phase, which I brought to a close by opening fire with my cannon.
Manoeuvre Phase: the overview below is from the my, Yorkist, side of the table. During the manoeuvre phase my skirmishers units had moved to the field (rough ground) on my left, matched by the opposing Lancastrian handgunners.
On the other flank I had advanced my light horse while the enemy crossbowmen had occupied the wood. I then advanced my cannon and opened fire.
This turned out be a great start inflicting a kill on the enemy bowmen to their front.
Turn 1: started pretty much the same way with my gun knocking off another bowman; indicated by the strength dice next to the bow unit dropping from 12 to 10 (the green die indicates they have arrows for six shooting actions).
On my left flank the shooting was less gratifying as my skirmishers advanced and shot at the enemy handgunners without effect, while the enemy skirmishers did kill one of my handgunners.
In the centre Fauconberg advanced his bows and bills to the forward edge of the ridge; not far enough to bring any of the enemy into range ...
... even though their centre has also advanced.
On the right flank, while the cameraman was looking elsewhere, Devon's bill and bow unit advanced (twice) up onto the hill where they were charged by the Yorkist light horse who didn't fancy waiting for them to start shooting. Once the dust had settled ...
... the light horse had been cut to a quarter strength (2 out of 8) by the billmen behind whom the bowmen had wisely withdrawn.
Turn 2: saw the Lancastrian centre and right advance much closer to the Yorkist position, where they won the long-range archery duel despite only shooting once against two shooting actions by the Yorkist bowmen. All three Yorkist archer units failed to inflict any losses from a total of six shooting actions! Clearly Fauconberg had lost the knack of winning these long-range shoot-outs[1].
At the same time my two Yorkist skirmish units on the left still couldn't land a hit on the single unit opposing them. Conversely, the Lancastrian handgunners were wreaking havoc on mine - things could not go on for long like this.
On the Yorkist right flank, to the relief of my light horse, Devon failed to activate (was the last card in the play deck[2]).
Turn 3: saw the Yorkist right, Lancastrian left, flank remaining fairly quiet with Devon moving to catch up with his men and advancing the skirmishers.
Elsewhere, the shooting suddenly took a lethal turn with the Yorkist archers finally getting the range and driving back[3] both Lancastrian bow units in the centre.
Unfortunately for me, while my two left flank skirmish units finally managed to inflict their first kill on the Lancastrian handgunners the return fire broke my handgunners and the accompanying crossbowmen rattled by this also broke!
The newly-crowned King Edward looked on, distinctly unamused as this spoilt the generally favourable appearance of the battlefield at the end of this turn, not helped by his archers retreating daunted at the end of the turn after falling below half-strength (see below).
Turn 4: Somerset sought to retrieve the Lancastrian fortunes by launching his dismounted men-at-arms, now unsupported by any bowmen and taking losses from Yorkist archery, against the Edward's foot.
This was a bloody contest, with the Lancastrians just edging a win[4] but, with Edward looking on, the Yorkist morale held firm.
Apart from desultory archery, not much else took place in the centre.
But, on the Yorkist right the Lancastrian crossbow skirmishers were starting to inflict serious losses on Norfolk's knights. The photo below shows an overview of the battlefield at this point; the victorious Lancastrian skirmishers can be seen in the distance advancing through the field vacated by the routed Yorkist skirmishers.
Turn 5: and Norfolk, unwilling to let his knights just sit and be shot at, sent them in against the Lancastrian foot.
They won the melee against the billmen, who once again took the hit as their bowmen ducked back behind them. Unfortunately, for me, the billmen's morale stayed rock solid and my knights had to fall back from the fight. After which Devon advanced his bowmen back to the front rank.
Elsewhere, the Lancastrian's handgunners advanced to harass Edward's foot; their knights were brought forward; and, their men-at-arms lost the second round of melee, falling below half strength. In reply Edward pivoted his archers to fire their last arrows in reply, to no effect.
The absence of the Lancastrian men-at-arms in the above, is due to their breaking as a result of the morale test required for being below half-strength at the turn end.
An overview of the field of battle at this stage is shown below.
Turn 6: and Norfolk got to go first and again launched his knights at Devon's foot before they could shoot.
The result was draw, and with the knights blown[5], and the opposing foot still well-supplied with arrows, Norfolk, courtesy of a special event card called a local truce. this meant neither unit could attack or shoot an enemy unit unless they are shot at or attacked.
In the centre Somerset threw in his billmen, where despite their lower numbers they managed a draw against Fauconberg's foot.
Next, Somerset threw in his knights against the Yorkist men-at-arms, beat them, and drove them back, 'daunted', through the archers behind them putting them into disarray. The knights followed up into the ('daunted') bowmen and, unsurprisingly broke them.
This saw Edward, the fourth king of that name, who was attached to the archers fleeing the field with his men. And, being the commander in chief of the army this caused the Yorkist army to cede the field, handing the win to the Lancastrians.
Post Mortem
This had been an enjoyable game and convinced me there is actually much I like about the rules, and, with the availability of Perry Plastics, I can understand how the game has become so popular.
In the post-game discussion, the only aspect I hadn't liked was the way that the morale system seemed ensure that most battles would be fought almost to the last man. On questioning whether we had this right, I asked about the exact wording of the morale system and John went through it line by line. This revealed that we had gone wrong by adding lost morale tokens to the opponent's pool of morale tokens; they should go in a discard pile. Looking at the respective holdings at the end of the game it was pretty clear that the Lancastrian army should have collapsed earlier in the game.
So, a fun game and both of us able to claim 'a win', what more could one ask for?
Notes:
[1.] The losses on the Lancastrian bow unit (top right in the photo) are from the Yorkist cannon.
[2.] Commanders activate, and use their orders (1,2 or 3 orders depending on whether they are rated as: 'Dolt', 'Commander' or 'Hero') when drawn from the play-deck. The last card in play-deck is not played.
[3.] The exceptionally heavy losses from Yorkist archery (and artillery) caused both Lancastrian bow units to take a morale test which they failed forcing them to retreat 'daunted'.
[4.] The Yorkist advantage in numbers after this melee is due to the shooting casualties the Lancastrians took before the combat.
[5.] Cavalry may only charge (including counter-charges) twice during a game.
