Bosworth: A Giant DBA 3.0 After Action Report

A few weeks ago we tried re-fighting Bosworth, a battle from the English War of the Roses. Bosworth was a critical battle in history as Richard III, of the Yorkist Plantagenete dynasty, was killed and his forces defeated by Henry Tudor. We used Giant DBA 3.0 rules, slightly modified.

Below shows the forces deployed. The forces of Richard are on the right, while Henry's are on the left. The involvement of Northumberland's command (lower right in the photo) and the Lord Stanleys command (Thomas & William, upper left in the photo) were via die roll. Richard rolled a "6" on turn one and Northumberland became involved immediately.

Below is a close-up of Richard's men. Note that the billmen (blades in DBA) are providing side support to the longbowmen.

Below is a close-up of Henry's forces, which include French Mercenary Pikemen. Our referee, scenario designer, and owner of these miniatures for the game, Mr. Bob, is in the background.

The Yorkist artillery park is below. The artillery exchange during the battle would become particularly deadly for the Yorkists.

Below, the Stanley's (Thomas & William) waiting to come into action. Or rather, waiting to see what the best course of action would be.

The battle begins below. Both sides advancing toward each other. Northumberland (lower right) is working his way around the marsh.

A close-up.

The approaches further developing. The Yorkists have already lost an artillery element in the mutual artillery duel.

A close-up of the Tudor right flank (left in photo).

Just as things looked promising for the Yorkists with Northumberland coming up on the flank, the Stanley's decide to intervene and arrive behind the Tudor right flank (center-left in photo).

The battle starts developing into a slugging match below, especially on the Yorkist left. Northumberland still hasn't made his presence felt. Only one Yorkist artillery element is left while the Tudors have lost all of theirs (with the exception of Stanley's). The French mercenary pikemen are taking loses in the center.

Below, the Yorkist left hits Stanley, while Northumberland is still lagging back (though moving at full BW's). 

Below shows the end of the game when our time limit was reached. The center was a confused melee. Northumberland finally hits Stanley on the Yorkist left, while on the right, the Yorkists were pressing forward to engage the Tudor left. The element losses for both sides were even at 14 per side at this point, so we called it a draw. A couple more turns would have brought a conclusion. For the game, we decided to use a total army break-point of 33%, instead of individual command break-points. Total elements per side were about 48.

Richard Plantagenete survived the battle. The scale of the figures are 28mm, many by Front Rank.