"Battle of Barnet (War of the Roses) Historicon Game Report" Topic

Saturday morning at Historicon I ran my "Warring Roses in the Mist game, which featured the Battle of Barnet fought 14 April 1471, using "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" rules and 10mm figures. In the battle, King Richard IV arrayed his Yorkist army to fight against he Earl of Warwick and his Lancastrian army on a foggy morning; so foggy in fact that the two armies lined up offset, so both had dangerously threatened flanks.
After a hard fought battle, King Richard and his commanders were able to pull off a decisive victory against their Lancastrian opponents.
All the players said they had a great time, and several said they were eagerly looking forward the the rules being published early this Fall. As a GM I enjoyed running the game for a super group of players.

For more photos and the fulll reort, please see my blog:

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" In the battle, King Richard IV arrayed his Yorkist army to fight against he Earl of Warwick "
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.. um, think you mean Edward IV!!

"One of the main features of the battle, other than the visibility limiting mist, was several hedges that cut through between the two armies, hindering their movement."
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There is no evidence in the chronicles that describe the battle for "several hedges". There is indeed a reference to a "hedgesyde", but this is widely understood to be the substantial hedge that marked the boundary of Enfield Chase and therefore ran north-south to the east of the battlefield.

Oops! Honest mistake on the names. Comes from trying to squeeze in blogging quickly between real life tasks. I've corrected the blog.

As to the hedges… I don't claim to be a WOR expert, and in fact this is my first effort into the era, so my research was limited. I mainly used the Osprey Tewkesbury Campaign book and Wikipedia for my info.
The Osprey book mentions hedges several times, including "(Exeter's division) partly overlapped that of Hastings and was protected to some degree by the thick hedge." And, " on the western side the, the hedges particularly hampered the Yorkists, who, says the Arrivall, had to cut their way through to get to grips with their opponents."
Quotes like these combined with the Osprey map, which showed the countryside crisscrossed with several hedges, led me to believe that they were significant enough to include on the table. My apologies if this was in error of the actuality of the battle.

This is one of the games I wanted to participate in but I was already scheduled in Walley's Basement then had a game to run at 2pm. I would have liked to seen it at least as I am curious about the rules as well. Looks like a good game. Thanks for sharing the information.

Good looking game!

Looks like it was great fun. Well done.

who, says the Arrivall, had to cut their way through to get to grips with their opponents.

You can read the Arrivall for yourself here:
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the only reference to a hedge is:
" And so he toke in his companye to the felde, Kynge Henrye; and soo, that aftar none, he roode to Barnete, x myles owte of London, where his aforne-riders had founden the afore-riders of th'Erles of Warwikes hooste, and bet them, and chaced them out of the towne, more some what than an halfe myle; when, undre an hedge-syde, were redy assembled a great people, in array, of th'Erls of Warwike."