Hundred Years War Campaign - Game 7

The Sheriff of Lockdew and his forces were slow to march north to join Prince Riddick and Sir John Chewford. This provide the opportunity for Baron Chastain to marshal all available units and march upon the English rear.

Neither force had the baggage in tow and so would be fielding two less foot sergeants or archers due to attrition on the campaign, desertion, sickness and dispersed troops foraging for food. Every 3 campaign games reduces the number of available troops by 1 to reflect the hardships of campaigning.

Campaign map

Baron Chastain lined his forces up behind the river between the two crossing points:

• 1 x mounted men at arms
• 1 x foot men at arms
• 2 x crossbow men
• 1 x foot sergeants

French deployment

The Sheriff of Lockdew fielded:

• 1 x mounted men ay arms
• 1 x mounted sergeants
• 3 x longbow men

His plan was quite simple. Wear down the French with volleys of arrows then charge in with his mounted forces.

The English archers moved up and volleys or arrows were exchanged, but the better shooting was done by the French crossbow men. The English archers started to drift away from the fight. Emboldened by his crossbow units success, Baron Christian ordered his foot sergeants across the wooden bridge to apply more pressure on the English.

Both sides exchange volleys of arrows (and bolts for crossbows?)

The French gain a foothold across the river attacking the English archers

The Sheriff sent his mounted sergeants across the stone bridge in an attempt to disrupt the French crossbows who were proving to be very accurate this day. French mounted men at arms lead by Baron Christian soon countered the English threat and had them on the run.

Half the English army had been eliminated (run off, wounded or killed) and not wanting to offer a major victory the Sheriff left the field of battle without once engaging in battle. A minor victory is eliminating half the opposing forces, while a major victory is that and eliminating the opposition commander.

English forces quickly fled north to join the rest of the English army. The Sheriff is turning out to be quite the villain of the English army after he was overheard explaining to Prince Riddick his horse had lost a shoe at a critical point during the battle, and he was unable to join the fight. The Prince observed wryly that while he could not join the fight, he was able to join the flight, but he was just grateful to have his army consolidated again.

Campaign map after the battle