The Battle Plan

Edward IV's Command

The plan is to create both the Yorkist and Lancastrians forces at Towton.

I’m not following any wargaming army list, as they figures are mainly for my own amusement rather wargaming per se. What I want is set of stands to represent the main Battles on each side, with at least one base each of archers, MAAs and a command unit for each battle. And to reflect the relative strengths of each Battle and the two Armies. That said since I started the project, I’ve been impressed by the simplicity and efficiency of the Basic Impetus list as so cleverly used in the Stoke Field blog and if my bases can fit the Basic Impetus model that will not be a bad thing and should allow me to field some modest Lancastrian and Yorkist forces for wargaming if needed.

The size of forces I’ve plumped for are based on mainstream literature on the subject, with the Yorkists fielded between 25,000–30,000 men, and the Lancastrians approximately 30,000–35,000 soldiers

So far I’ve done far more research on the Yorkist forces in terms of the relative battles, sub-units, leaders, key personalities, livery colours and the like.

The estimated 25-35,000 Yorkists were divided between four battles under:

Edward IV, Duke of York                             -           c 8,000 men

William Neville, Lord Fauconburg                 -           c 8,000 men

Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick            -           c 5,000 men

And

Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, & Thomas Howard,

whose battle arrived late in the day and turned the tide.                  

-           c 5,000 men

Three down, two to go

Using these figures, I decided each base will represent c2500 men, plus a separate command base, so the Yorkist’s will look as follows:

Edward IV:     A command stand, 2x bases of MAAs, a 1x of archers and 1x crossbows;

Fauconburg:    A command stand, 2x stands of archers, and 2x MAAs;

 

Edward's MAAs - with Lord Audley

 

Warwick:         A command, 1x archer and 1x MAA

& 

Norfolk/Howard, will be portrayed marching to the battle – with a mounted command stand (Howard as its believed Norfolk wasn’t present), 2x MAAs; and 2x archers.

The photos's show most of Edward's the general plan, but need another base of archers and MAAs. I'm still grappling with photograpghy as well as paint.  Advice on both welcome.

As yet, I have still to work out how to represent the Yorkist cavalry but are likely be under the command of Wenlock and Dinham, who the sources tend to describe as key in the final cavalry charge against the fleeing Lancastrians forces. And I havent even contemplated the Lancastrians.