I have opened a new tab in the menu on the left called Campaigning 1471.

It will be added to over time, giving the full story as it happens in my Wars of the Roses campaign.

Having given up on Google's Blogger, no further posts about the campaign will appear on the Battlefields & Warrior Blog, but it should all be manageable here, albeit with fewer photographs.

Game turn 1 is over there now, just click on the tab.

New in today at my bookstore (Waterstones - UK). 

First Kings - Forged by Vikings in England and Norway, hardback 246 pages by R.A.J. Waddingham, published by The History Press.

I picked this up to have a look at the history 150 - 50 years before 1066, the setting of the scene if you like of power brokers and the inter-relationship between England and Norway.

I had a quick scan through in the shop and I have the impression that there is a delivery of an awful lot of useful information, without any distraction of filler content, this author knows their stuff and they want you to know that!

'No previous southern king had ruled in York. The seat of an influential archbishop and a teeming centre of trade, its mint was soon stamping out coins declaring Athelstan rex Anglorum.'

Another book to move up the reading queue!

Well …… I think I am about done with Blogger for now.

At one time, when posting on Blogger, you just pressed the 'publish' button and hey presto, the post was live and at the top of everyone's blog reader.

Over the last few months, there have been delays in blog entries moving from submitted status to posted status and the Battlefields & Warrior Blog has been impacted by this.

The longer you wait for the posting to happen, when it does appear, the further you will have fallen back down a reader list and once you go off page 1, it becomes increasingly unlikely that the post will be noticed and read.

So putting a lot of effort into a blog post isn't worthwhile at the moment.  

It has just taken Google 27 hours to publish my most recent blog post and I must have pretty much fallen off most Blog Readers by now.

This recent post in particular had a ton of work behind it and will go largely unread,  so it's just not worth doing this meatier stuff anymore on the Blogger platform.

Google Blogger has been made aware of the posting delays, but to date the problem persists. For whatever reason, Google have been very slow in responding and so the time has come for me to step back from the Blogger platform until a more reliable and timely service can be restored.  

I will continue posting snippets here to my Commanders site, which I fund and functions as intended.

Inspired by the campaign section in the Wars of the Roses, Hail Caesar Supplement by Warlord Games, I have put down a structure to run a themed campaign, giving a nod to the events of 1471.

The map includes Tewkesbury and Barnet, the locations of the two significant battles from that year, but anything is possible.

The notes include a campaign sequence of play, an Events Table, starting forces and admin notes.

I'm hoping that this initial play testing of the campaign will bring a lot of fun and good play.

For anyone interested in such things, there is a lot of information over on the Warrior & Battlefields Blog at this link;

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/08/practical-campaigning-1471.html

Following our game last week, last night we swapped sides and had another go.

The Normans had an unusually good opening with their archers disordering the Saxon line in 3 places and their infantry managing to break into the Saxon position two of those locations. The game then settled into pinning, inflicting casualties and looking for positions of advantage against the shieldwall.

The Bretons on the Norman left collapsed quite early, encouraging Harold's men to come off the hill and start to press against that flank. The Bretons began to flee in greater numbers, exposing the Norman flank and in their efforts to deal with that, they became a little stretched in the centre.

The Papal flag provided some good narrative. It was dropped by a routing Norman unit, captured by a Fyrd unit, re-captured by Norman cavalry and once again dropped in a rout. This time the Fyrd unit that captured it brought it back into the interior of Harold's lines (worth 5 victory points to them).

The fighting was intense enough for Harold to lose both flank commanders, Leofwine and Gyrth.

By the end of the game, casualties were high, both sides were freely routing and battle became defined by small knots of men fighting independent of anything resembling a unified line.

It was close, but in the end, the victory points tipped enough to favour Harold, despite a last-minute personal intervention by William, who risked all to have one last crack at Harold's centre.

All-in-all, another good game, with both sides fully engaged and a game conclusion reached, with the last turn played.

Drive on Voronezh (28th June - 24th) arrived in the UK today from Legion Games following direct pre-order and what a lovely package.

For those in the UK, this arrived in a very durable card sleeve without any signs of damage and there were no associated import costs / duties.

The package is a delight, if all my WWII stuff looked like this I would be more than happy. Of note, the map by Edmund Hudson is very attractive, very clean and clear with overly sized hexes that with take the large counters nicely. The counters will stand out against the muted tones of the map.

The design is by John Theisson. A turn represents 2 days, units are mostly divisions for the Germans (two steppers), a hex is 9 miles. 

highlights are; move / combat / exploit phasing, stack 3 divs plus 1 brigade (for the Germans), all round zocs - zoc bonds, mech attacking on the move, HQ's, supply, voluntary combat, results use disrupt, step loss, retreat, elim. Uses random events based upon chit draw ..... these events are powerful enough to change the narrative in a zoomed in space, but gentle enough that the randomness does not cruelly deal a blow.

All of this is wrapped up in a less than 12 pages of rules, in a readable and nicely presented rule set. I have not played yet, but my instict is that this will be an easy to get into system that will punch above its weight.

Overall a delightful package that begs an early outing. 

The recently released Wars of the Roses supplement from Warlord Games is superb. Full of information and rich in both historical and ‘what if’ scenarios.

At the end of the book is a campaign system that I am quite enthusiastic about.

There is a bit more information over on the Battlefields & Warrior Blog, which discusses the new supplement and also links to a gamers YouTube channel, which showcases the start of his new campaign.

Taken together, there is much there to enjoy. LINK

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/08/campaigning-two-nice-sources.html

I have been looking at this book for a couple of months and couldn’t decide whether to buy as it is not a prime area of interest for me, but yesterday I jumped (Waterstones UK high street book store).

It’s a 300 page paperback by Michael Livingstone, published by Osprey Publishing.

The subject has been covered many times before, so what’s different here. Well Livingstone takes a more forensic approach, with the sources put under close scrutiny. Self described as a ‘ground breaking study’, there should be much to like and perhaps it should move up the reading pile. 

Here is some blurb stuff from the covers;

‘Fresh, new and exhilarating’ Dan Snow

‘Livingstone debunks myths, he explodes long-cherished historical theories and he moves battlegrounds.’ Dan Jones

‘This astonishing book fixes the myth of Agincourt and adds to our understanding of what led to that slaughteryard of horrors, atrocities and for at least one side, unforgettable glories.’ Bernard Cornwell ….. (who also writes the forward).

‘Bold and conversational, forensic and vivid, this is an extraordinary history of Agincourt - full of remarkable insight - that grips from the very first word and it doesn’t let go.’ Helen Castor (author of The Eagle and the Hart).

Quite a lot of thought went into how to put together the Battle of Oxcroft Field. Essentially some firm decisions were made about what to include, but then the Random Unit Creator and the Unit Quality chart from the Test of Resolve rules were used to take a goodly amount of the scenario building out of my control.

Further the dice helped with the placement of some elements. This all helped mix things up a bit.

So we have the Stanley rearward with extra melee troops, Percy's vanward with extra archers, Richard with inferior (levy) billmen! Lord Zouche with pretty much everyone inferior, the French Mercenaries being competent with their handguns, crossbow, pike (long spears) and billmen and finally, Oxford misses out on a men-at-arms unit, no doubt due to excess losses, just a few weeks ago at Bosworth.

It is all to fight for. I ran the battle and found it a good gaming experience, but all is outline in a post at the Battlefields & Warriors Blog and so to save giving spoilers here, please use the link below, for the battle that becomes more important than Bosworth :-) 

LINK

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-battle-of-oxcroft-field-17th.html

Richard’s army left York in a grand procession surrounded by music and cheering crowds. For a recently defeated king, he was in high spirits and the morale of the army was good.

His planned route was to be made via Doncaster, down the north / south road,  leaving the main route road at Spink Hill and moving on down through Chesterfield, Derby and Tamworth, allowing the army to approach Coventry from the north west, avoiding Nottingham altogether. This approach brought its own perils as the area around Derby was under Stanley influence and Richard doubted that his army could move here without Stanley being promptly informed!

13th September

Richard reached Doncaster, his approach was observed by Henry’s light cavalry, who promptly withdraw to shadow Richard, while sending fast riders back to Henry to advise him.

Elsewhere, Thomas Holmes, acting as herald, was carrying an instruction from King Richard for John de la Pole (Lincoln) in London, to bring forces to Coventry by the 19th September.

Holmes had already been delayed once at West Rottington due to the presence of Lord Trebian’s Lancastrian patrols. Now he was delayed again at St. Albans, just 20 miles outside London, but this time he was rumbled and detained.

Under questioning he revealed the stated aim of his mission. Fast riders were sent to warn Henry, who was still at Nottingham (100 miles away).

14th September

Once Henry received the news that Richard had reached Doncaster, his army began their march to meet him, by the end of the day, reaching the monastery Felley Priory. Richard was at Bramley (just 30 miles apart).

16th September 

On hearing the report from St. Albans, that the royal army intended to gather at Coventry on or about 19th September, Henry now knew not only where Richard was, but where he was going to.

He could not allow that rendezvous to occur, a reinforced royal army might spell disaster for his respectably sized force of 12,000 men. He decided to deal with Richard immediately and then turn back south to face the southern Yorkists gathering at Coventry. 

By the end of the day, his army, moving north, was approaching Bolsover. Reports were coming in that Richard’s army was just 8 miles away at Spink Hill. The area was pro-Lancastrian, with his uncle, Jasper Tudor having title to the land.

With the approach of night, Richard had set up camp on Spink Hill. His patrols returned with news that Henry was nearby. How unlucky, he had just narrowly missed avoiding Henry altogether. If he would have had just 24 hours march on Henry, he would likely have been ahead of him, passing  Chesterfield and on the way to Derby. Instead, Henry’s army was too close and in the morning there would be fighting. Another chance perhaps, to once and for all, settle this festering civil war. 

The armies would meet at Oxcroft, a featureless, farmed plateau, with its crop of peas, beans and late barley, still being lifted.

17th September 1485 - the armies approached each other, this battle would over-shadow Bosworth in its significance ….. the Battle of Oxcroft Field!

Henry’s army had marched the 35 miles to Nottingham, an important position in central England, that governed the north / south movement between York and London. He was convinced that Richard would only have one of two objectives in mind, Nottingham or London. From here, Henry could intercept that expected approach.

He now needed to know where Richard was. He was certain that the impulsive king might already be on the move to Nottingham. Light cavalry were sent up the northern road to Doncaster (50 miles away), with instructions to report back on any enemy movement.  

Unbeknown to Henry, at the moment, the royal army was of course still in York, making final preparations to march.

7th September. 

As Henry’s cavalry pushed hard to get to Doncaster, they reached the Hamlet of Piggy Longton, in the Parish of Dungborough, estates controlled by the Yorkist, Lord Darcy (above photo).

Here they met determined resistance from Darcy’s Household and leaving several dead behind, they were forced to retreat. Denied the bridge crossing at the Smoggy Brook, they were forced into making a long detour to reach the safety of West Rottington, on the estates of Lord Trebian, a loyal Lancastrian, where they rested their horses and tended to the wounded, before pressing on for Doncaster.

Richard was both grateful to see the degree of potential support that remained loyal to him, but personally frustrated by virtue of his impatience at wanting to start the march south now, but he had heeded the warning of Viscount Lovell that the army was not yet ready.

The harvest was still being brought in and so the magnates had fewer men to spare than might otherwise have been the case.

Richard had lost most of his guns at Bosworth, but had managed to secure a small artillery train from northern nobles and local town arsenals, though a little time was needed for them to be assimilated into his army.

At a Council of War, it was agreed that the army should, if possible, avoid an engagement with the rebel army until such time that support from the south had joined the ranks of the royal army. With Henry likely to control the north/south road at Nottingham, they settled on Coventry as being the most practical rendezvous point for two weeks' time … 19th September. 

To make Coventry for that date, Richard’s army would need to start the 120-mile march in four days' time, on the 9th September, the 11th at the latest if the weather held. There was a renewed urgency in preparations.

Percy (Northumberland) would take the vanward, reinforced by additional bowmen from Viscount Lovell’s contingents. Richard would take the mainward and John de la Zouche  the rearward. Confidence amongst the royal army was slowly being restored. It was time to take the fight to Henry.