Another Hard Day for Edward!

In the last Battle of Mortimer's Cross (see The Man Who Won't Be King), the game saw Edward IV wounded and carried away by the enemy.  That day was a hard one for Edward.

Following that episode, Chris, and the Two Dave's joined in to refight this battle for a fourth time last week.  With only three players, Dave B. (DB) took command of the entire Yorkist Army (red dice) alone while Chris and Dave C. (DC) split the Lancastrian command (blue dice).  DC would take command of the army and Pembroke's center Battle with Chris taking command of the two Lancastrian wings.

As a refresher, initial deployments looked thusly,

Initial deployments

As the title suggests, Edward may have seen another hard day on the field.  Let's find out!

When the battle begins, Edward places Herbert and his own command on Engage orders.  Devereaux is given Defend.  On the other side of the field, Pembroke puts himself on Engage while the two wings opt for Maneuver orders.

Let the battle begin!

Straight away, Pembroke and Edward collide along the Old Roman Road.  As the two bodies of men close, archers fire and retire to the rear.  The two melee lines crash into each other with Edward and Pembroke leading the way.  In the initial collision, men fall on both sides.  Edward's battle takes the worst of the punishment and falls back.  Edward is wounded in the chaos and is captured by the Lancastrians!  Deja vu from the earlier game!  DB cannot believe his luck but then neither can DC!  Pembroke either fails to pursue or chooses not to do so.  I don’t remember which!

Pembroke and Edward clash...

and the Yorkists retire without Edward!

Herbert, on the Yorkist Left continues his march toward Tudor while across the battlefield, Wiltshire takes the fight to Deveraux positioned on the Yorkist Right.

With a slight lull in the center, the wings move into action.

Tudor, who by now has successfully changed his orders to Engage, moves on Herbert.  Herbert's archers are driven off and Tudor's melee line smacks into Herbert's melee line.  Herbert suffers tremendous casualties and retires pushing his archers back as well.  Tudor follows up but cannot reach Herbert's men to continue the melee.

After driving off enemy archers, Tudor attacks!

Herbert's MAA are heavily bloodied and retreat.

Back in the fight along the Old Roman Road, Edward (well, ex-Edward now), brings up his second body of MAA forward to engage Pembroke.  Pembroke's first melee line stands firm and the Yorkists are repulsed.  With the enemy falling back, Pembroke launches a counterattack.  The Yorkists are forced back once again.  Nearing exhaustion, Pembroke cannot break the enemy's will.  The Yorkists stand firm and Pembroke retires.

Yorkist MAA attack in the center...

and are driven off!

Pembroke pursues...

but cannot break the enemy's line.

Against the Yorkist Right and Devereaux, Wiltshire goes in.  In very heavy fighting, Devereaux is pushed back not once but twice!  Wiltshire's success and tenacity pushes Devereaux and his Battle right off the table!  One Yorkist Battle broken!

Wiltshire attacks...

driving Devereaux clean off the table!

The fighting in the center continues.  Pembroke's first melee line attacks Edward's MAA.  Stubbornly and somewhat unexpectedly, the Lancastrians are repulsed!  As Pembroke's first line falls back, his second body of MAA advances to contact the enemy.  The enemy is driven back in a chain reaction as formations behind are, likewise, pushed back.  Edward's Battle clings to the edge of the board.  With Wiltshire now unopposed on Edward's right ready to strike, Pembroke makes one more push into the wavering Yorkists.  That one last shove is all that is needed to put Edward's Battle to flight.  This battle is over.  Victory to the Lancastrian Army and Pembroke!

Pembroke renews his attack and is repulsed.

Lancastrian reinforcements join in pushing the enemy back.

Yorkist Center clings to the table...

but one last attack puts the Yorkists to flight!

This was a convincing win by the Lancastrian Army as the Butcher's Bill, below, attests.  Yikes!  Congratulations to DC and Chris for a well-played game.  Despite DB's seeming inability to put up a solid defense due to the Dice Gods, the Lancastrians capitalized on every Yorkist misstep and missed opportunity.  

Butcher's Bill

DB, that was a tough game, and another hard day for Edward.  The dice rarely showed you any favor on this day.  You took it all with grace.  Usually, DC is on the end of terrible dice rolls so seeing DC's fortunes reverse was a positive even at your expense.  We should bring you fellas back to the table for a rematch but, perhaps, a new battle.

Thanks again, guys!  This was a very entertaining game.