"Not Flodden on the table today" Topic

I started a game today its not Flodden but we have English and Scots from that period on the table. The rules are Hell Broke Loose (HBL)from James Roach who posts here as Olicana.

HBL are designed for the Italian Wars and belong to the Piquet family of rules. I really like them and thought why not try them for Flodden. Today's game being a bit of a practice.

So we have the English line in three commands archers and guns forward with Billmen in reserve. Each of the English flanks rest on a gentle hill. On the right flank Dacre's command of Border Horse and nobles in full armour were intended to flank the Scots.

The Scots are also in 3 commands. King James with two very strong pike blocks and the artillery and on each flank smaller pike blocks with their flanks protected by Highlanders, and on the left, Border Horse.

So far the Scots have advanced along the line at various speeds leaving them in a rough echelon formation with the Highland right about to make first contact. The Scots guns are dawdling and have yet to deploy.

The English have found themselves outnumbered on their right and have reinforced their left to meet the Highlanders and pike block. Consequently a lot of faith is now being placed in the archers and guns in the centre.

At that point we stopped and will resume in the morning. So far its all working nicely.

How are they different from Band of Brothers rules for Piquet in the period?

I'd say they are very FOB influenced so perhaps more streamlined might be a good way of putting it. No need for the PK Master rules. You can play a game of HBL in about two hours or so.

We began again earlier this morning.

The Highlanders who outnumbered the English two to one charge uphill into the Billmen. One unit is repulsed with losses but the other remains in melee. The repulsed Highlanders go in again and the Bills are pushed back down the slope.

The Scots pike block has also come up and is now in short range of the English guns and of a unit of archers. The guns roar and the archers loose. When the smoke clears the Scots pike are still in formation but in need of rallying having become 'vexed' and loosing 2 points of unit integrity. The Highlanders finally rout the plucky English Billmen.

The English rapidly form a new line with fresh Billmen but the advantage of ground is now lost. The Scots commander attempts to rally his men and fails.

In the centre King James has his pike blocks ready to charge home. The English archers have come out to try and fire on the Scots flanks. In fact the whole English centre now resembles the blade of a saw. The archers fire but once again they have no effect on the well armoured Scots.

The Scots guns plod onwards and have yet to deploy and come into range.

On the English right Dacre would like to hit the flank of the Scots pike but fears being rolled up by yet another Scots pike square following close behind. He elects to despatch his Border Horse to see off their Scots equivalents.

This is the crisis of the battle. I'll post how it turned out later.

On the English right the Borderers engaged each other with no discernable outcome. Dacre sat on his hill and the Scots pike continued to protect the flank of the royal pike block.

On the Scots right the Highlanders charging down hill swept away the English archers and routed the English Bills. The English guns however halted the Scots pike block and had the battle continued would have destroyed it.

In the centre King James routed the English archers and followed up into the waiting English gentry and dismounted nobles. The second Scots pike block swept away the Billmen opposing it.

At this point the English were out of Morale Points and the battle was lost.

All in all it was an interesting encounter and we agreed it had a 'Flodden feel'. Some units like the Scots guns never engaged. Others like the English archers found themselves up against the best armoured Scots troops and proved ineffectual. They would have done better against the Highlanders.

Next time we will field some English heavy cavalry.

Next time we will field some English heavy cavalry.

Just so long as you're not Flodden a dead horse.

Well yes SM but they could be useful against the Highlanders or on the flanks of pike blocks.

Mind you in the game above none of the Highlanders used their bows. I guess they would have if threatened by cavalry.

Thanks for posting.
Always enjoy reading about anything connected with Flodden. As you say although not Flodden it does have a very Flodden feel about it. The rule set sounds very interesting. Does it deal with the particular nature of the Scots army or did you make some modifications or did you just use the rules as written?
I'm particularly interested in how the rules handle the Scots pike blocks with their training from the French which served them well until they ran into difficulties (brittle morale)and their hard outer shell of heavily armed nobles.
When we refought Flodden on the 500th anniversary we used DBR and that worked very well. But always interested in alternatives.
Look forward to future posts.
Regards

You can use the HBL rules without modification. They were written for the Italian Wars but the English and Scots can be slotted into appropriate catergories.

With the pike blocks the Scots enjoyed frontal protection by virtue of the nobles armour from the English archery to their front. Had the English managed to fire into the flanks they would have had more effect.

HBL has specific rulles for pike blocks. Had the front rank of nobles been lost in combat the Scots would have fought at reduced effectiveness and become more vulnerable to casualties.

Nor in my game did the Scots get disrupted by bad terrain, if they had I think the outcome would have been different.

You might ask James for a copy of HBL and try them out youself no rebasing is required and I think you would enjoy them.

If you do it would be great to hear your view.