"Verneuil 1424: a DBA AAR" Topic

I had a go at recreating a Verneuil-inspired scenario this morning, using DBA v3 and my Wars of the Roses troops filling in for their 100YW counterparts:

link

Many thanks to the TMP brains trust TMP link who provided some extra material and inspiration.

I note your order of battle is 15 v 12 bases, I always thought DBA was a 12 v 12 system, have I got that wrong?

I like the idea of unequal sides.

I note your order of battle is 15 v 12 bases, I always thought DBA was a 12 v 12 system, have I got that wrong?

DBA v3 allows for unequal sides when recreating a historical battle.

Norm,
Basic DBA is 12 v 12. There are 'Big Battle' rules that basically set three armies on each side against three on another. However
I ran a campaign where armies were anything from 12 to 24 bases, though all armies received just 1D6 pips per turn. It worked surprisingly well, with the equal command making it possible (though not easy) for a significantly outnumbered force to overcome a large one. Break point was always 1/3 of the starting number of bases.

Very nice, thanks for the AAR.

Great reading, thanks! I wrote the Days of Knights scenario quite a long time ago, and it gave a very fun game. "Levies with bowfire" was simply a useful gaming convention for creating a troop type with less archery capability, nothing more intended by the terminology.

Someday I'll go back and do an updated version. Latest research and comments by Waurin would indicate a Scottish battle consisting of men-at-arms and significantly more archers. Good excuse to buy new figures.

I'm doing this battle for the up coming Great Battles for DBA 3.0 book. Here are the orders of battle for Big Battle DBA 3.0 and the special rules needed:

English
Bedford's Battle (Total Elements: 11; Break: 4)
1 Duke Bedford & retinue(Blade/CIC)
1 English/Norman Men at Arms (Blade);6 English Archers(Lb);
The Reserve (counting as part of Bedford's Battle):
1 Mounted Archer (Mtd Lb); 2 Reserve Archers (Lb)

Salisbury's Battle (Total Elements: 8; Break: 3)
1 Salisbury & retinue(Blade/Gen)
1 English/Norman Men at Arms (Blade); 6 English Archers (Lb)

French
Alcenon's Battle (Total: 15; Break: 5)
1 Duke of Alcenon & retinue(Blade/CIC) (actually lead by Jean d'Harcourt, Count of Aumale)
1 l'Hire & his French knights on barded horses (Knight); 2 French men at arms (Blades); 4 Town & Feudal militia [2 Pavisers (Spears) & 2 Volugiers (Blades)]; 3 French/Italian Heavy Crossbowmen (Crossbows); 1 Spanish skirmisher (Psiloi)

Lombard Ally (count as part of Alcenon's Battle) 3 Lombard men at arms on barded horses (Knights).

Scottish Battle (Total: 12; Break: 4)
1 Douglas & retinue(Blade/Gen)
1 Scottish men at arms (Blade); 2 Highland axmen (Fast Blades); 8 Scottish archers (Fast Lb)

Special Rules:
1) To reflect the "horse" barrier created around the English Camp give the Camp a +3 CF.
2) By this date in the Hundred Years War English archers had acquired both armor and close fighting skills making them, in historian Matthew Strickland's words, "universal soldiers". To reflect this ability give all English archers a CF of +3 against Foot (like Shooters in Hordes of the Things).
3) Similarly crossbowmen had steadly improved both armor and the power of their weapons. While gaining in power, the crossbows now had to be drawn by mechanical devices and cranks, further slowing their effective rate of shooting. To reflect these changes, troops identified as "Heavy Crossbows" have a CF of +3 against Foot but shoot only in their own bound.
4) Vernieul saw the first large scale use of metal horse barding to counter the effect of missile weapons, though smaller scale use of barding had been tried at Poitiers and Agincourt. To reflect the effect of barding, Mounted Elements identified as "barded" count as a Foot target against Distance Shooting (but not in Close Combat).

Special Rules 2-4 (the "Medieval Package") can be applied to most European medieval battles occurring after 1300.

TomT