Battle Report – Blood and Rose board game

I managed to fight two and half battles in one evening with Uncle Napoleon a few weeks ago. Two rounds of the First Battle of St Albans and Tewkesbury, from the Blood and Roses WoRs set. 

We both won a St Albans a piece, in each case victory came to the defending Lancastrians, though narrowly in my case having just staved off a flanking move by Uncle Napoleon’s Yorkist forces via Cock Lane, before I launched a headlong charge into the Middle Ward of Richard, Earl of Warwick.

St Alban's - commencing battle

 When I fielded the Yorkists, I tried a more headlong, brutal onslaught on the town, which backfired with Richard of York’s death.

Tewkesbury - Fighting through the thicket

Our battle of Tewkesbury was halted near midnight with my Lancastrians in ascendancy .Unlike the historical events, Somerset’s assault on Gloucester’s ward was successful, ultimately killing Gloucester. Elsewhere across the battlefield, the two sides were more evenly balanced, and seriously hindered by the wooded lanes much noted in the chronicles of the actual battle, and misfiring artillery.

The games were fast paced, well for board games at least, and had a realistic feel. The heraldry is evident, the wards act as independent fighting units, the landscape really matters – whether St Albans’ narrow streets and orchards or Tewkesbury’s thick hedges, and the battles turn quickly on effective archery barrages and the loss or betrayal of a commander. Highly recommended.