The Wihte Swan

 Post One.

The White Swan blog page. This is where I will post my thoughts, ideas and pictures for my 'Wars of the Roses' gaming collection. 

Edward of Westminster the Prince of Wales and the son of Henry the V1 and Margaret of Anjou.

First of all, here is a quick look at my games table.

The table is 8 by 4.5 foot with a homemade terrain mat placed over the top of some small rounded hills.

I will cover the terrain in future posts.

My figure collection is mostly based around the lords that were present at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, the 3rd phase of the war 1469 -1471. It is impossible to collect an army for every battle in the period so.. I class the troops as Yorkist or Lancastrian! I try to collect and paint the main protagonists if I game a battle.

The two armies so far.

Edward the Prince of Wales killed at Tewksbury. 

My units are fielded in  groups of 4 bases.  For household units I have the heavy infantry of armoured Men at Arms (MAA) in the front ranks with Billmen retainers in the rear. However, there is also a sub -unit of retainer Archers that I group together. The sub - unit follows the Men at Arms around and can be in front or behind. Here are the lords Devon and Clifford fielded together into a 4 base Heavy Infantry MAA unit, with their retainer archers in front that can retire behind the MAA after they loose their arrow storm.

I play a number of rules but at present I'm playing a slightly modified version of the Hail Caesar rules with a house rule for replacement of Archers and Heavy Infantry.

A close up of some Retainer Billmen from the Household of the Prince of Wales. Figures are mostly Perry Miniatures with one resin figure from Charlie Betts who has his own fantastic blog at https://fullharness.blogspot.com/

The Household units of the Prince of Wales in black and red advance on the Household troops of Edward the IV the Yorkist King of England.

A fortified manor building made for my collection many years ago by James Sharpe.

This is all for my first blog post . I hope to blog and post more images of games and painting as this collection grows. 

Post Two:

The Household of Richard Neville Earle of Warwick, known as the King Maker. Warwick died at the battle of Barnet in 1471.

Originally a Yorkist and a King Edward the IV supporter. Warwick changed sides to the Lancastrians after a fall out with King Edward and meet his death fighting against him at Barnet 1471.

Post Three.

Edmund  Beaufort Duke of Somerset. 

Somerset's household with a small unit of mounted men at arms. Killed 1471 after the battle of Tewksbury.

Edward IV Yorkist King of England.

Here are the household units of Edward IV. The retinue archers are in front of the kings unit of MAA and Billmen.

An update on the two armies. 

Yorkist 13 units.

Lancastrian 14 .