Markus Stumptner  - Jan 4, 2010 6:10 am (6477.)  new 
De vonstig in der Schlond o ven -- how you say -- "groovy" 	 

Well, I did get around to playing Mortimer's Cross. The difference in
the command system to the earlier quads is interesting (and the
mechanism, with its gearing to leader personalities, might also be
adaptable to the more impetuous armies of ancient times, e.g., Celtic or
German tribes). 

The rules quality is pretty spotty. The questions are generally answered
in the copious Q&A on Web-Grognards but I had to cover a couple myself
that I didn't find. 

Essentially, I had the Yorkists attack on both wings, the Lancastrians,
at least partly positioned on the hill slope, let them come. I chose
scenario 1 which has the armies pretty close and essentially no space
for the Longbows to get out of the way, which the Lancastrians found to
their disadvantage as the attack Yorkists quickly dispatched two thirds
of them, providing a consistent disadvantage for the rest of the
scenario. 

Norfolk quickly eliminated one of Wiltshire's units on the Lancaster
left, but even after outflanking the rest of Wiltshire's Battle, got
bogged down. Gloucester (on the counter - called Shrewsbury on the
charts) lost a Men-at-Arms counter quickly and reverted back to Stand.
Pembroke, seeing the difficulty on his left wing, ordered Audsley
opposite of Gloucester/Shrewsbury to Advance, and decided to Attack with
his own Battle in the center, since he (correctly) expected that Edward
would now launch an attack, and, not having a hill to defend on, wanted
to meet Edward on even terms. That turned out to be a bad idea as in the
following turn, the Yorkists activated Norfolk first (who simply kept
digging at Wiltshire's knights), thus requiring Pembroke to move forward
first. This mean Pembroke couldn't reach Edward's line but came within
reach of his missile weapons and artillery. A hit on his first line
(which had been hit in the initial exchange already) caused one of his
infantry units to disrupt and retreat, immediately followed by Edward
sending his line forward to the attack, killing one unit (and Pembroke),
then swinging on the other one. Within two turns, Pembroke's Battle was
broken. In the meantime, Audsley had broken Gloucester/Shrewsbury's
battle, and was swinging towards the flank of Edward's battle, turning
to meet him. At that point, Norfolk finally caused Wiltshire's men to
flee, and it was clear to Audsley that even if he won against Edward,
Norfolk would come to finish him off. So the Lancastrians decided to
quit the field. 

Quick game, nice narrative. Apart from Vasey's Flodden (not necessarily
the taste of the masses and nearly impossible to find), Markham's is
still the best available system for the period IMO.