The English under the Earl of Bedford (aka Gary McMahon) arrayed themselves with archers and artillery spread across the centre of the ridge line and the billmen clumped behind the crest on the left of their line. (3 inf +1 lt inf + 1 arty translated into 2 Battles each of 4 bills, 4 bows and 1 gun ( 1 company of bows being replaced by a company of  arquebusiers)

The Scots under the Earl of Lennox (aka me) marched on along the road. (6 inf, 2 lt inf, 1 cav and 1 arty being translated as follows) Lord Home's 4 companies of border horse leading followed by the Campbell with 6 companies of highlanders, then the Earl with 6 Scots pike and 2 arquebusier and finally the Rhinegrave with 8 Landsknecht pike and 2 arquebusiers and 2 light guns all in French pay.

Lord Home advanced on the hill but was twice driven back by bow and cannon fire, finally succeeding in working around the English left. The Highlanders then deployed and stormed the hill. Lightly armoured, they fell in heaps under the arrow storm but enough of the chieftain's household remained to sweep away the archers and over run the guns before collecting their wounded (and spoils) and returning to camp. At this point, the Earl of Bedford led his sturdy billmen over the ridge. Lennox deployed his pikemen to face them while his arquebusiers skirmished forward. Evening was drawing nigh (Turn 9 of 12) and the English had high hopes of holding till dark but outnumbered 2 to 1 with their archers scattered, the English foot faded away into the shadow of the woods.

Click on picture for a closer look.

Things got off to a good start for the Persians. The first volley of arrows routed the Roman archers at the ford exposing the legionaries. The Roman cavalry trotted forward and were wiped out by one close range volley from the clibinari and horse archers combined. One cohort charged forward and swept away a unit of slingers but that brought them into close range of the massed archers and it was a small remnant that fell back in good order onto the hill. Over the bridge the Persian cavalry charged and broke the Roman cavalry taking the archers with them. By end of turn 4 it looked in the bag. The horse archers completed crossing the river and surrounded the remnants of the cohort that had marched to the bridge while the  mercenaries broke into skirmish order and along with the heavy cavalry crossed the river into the gap left by the Roman cavalry. The spearmen and elephants moved forward as well. Suddenly the Roman cohort demonstrated the advantage of well trained troops, turned and charge the horse archers, with no where to flee to they unleashed their weakest volley of the game and were broken, every unit of skirmishers within range panicked and ran as well. The clibinari charged the flank of the victorious legionaries but they must have been dismayed, 6 charging spears only managed to down 1 Roman and the 8 remaining legionnaires stood. The Persian lights rallied but dusk was falling and their spearmen were barely 1/2 way across the river. Barely 30 Romans remained in 3 battered cohorts backed by a few archers but remain they did and the Persians had failed to breakthrough before dark. In retrospect, I had failed to keep track of time  and waited too long before launching my spearmen and elephant forward to exploit the effects of the archery. The early success seem to have lulled me into believing that my cavalry and light infantry could do it all themselves and even there I had left it till the last possible turn and gotten careless with my horse archers as well. Gary's seized the moment and his counter attack secured the ford till dark.         
Rules: Warhammer Ancient Battles

The English consisted of: a General with his bodyguard of Pensioners, a Captain of lancers with 2 lancers and a border horse, a Captain of bills with 3 armoured bills, 4 bows and a light gun, a Captain of light infantry with 2 bows and a company of arquebusiers and a spare card  to level out the deck and allow them to pass once per turn if though advantageous.

The Scots had a General and 5 companies of pike with 2 shot, a Captain of lancers with 1 lancer, 2 border horse and 2 mounted arquebusiers (well the scenario said the irregulars had 1 mounted unit with missile weapons and that's what I had), a Captain and 5 companies of Border horse and a captain with 9 companies of highland swordsmen.

Things went badly wrong for the English in turn one and went down hill from there, dice, cards, everything seemed against them while the Scots could do no wrong. Even the parties of light horse sent on a wide flanking movement passed every control check. The Scots cavalry overran the English horse then the general, the Highlanders took on and broke the billmen, while the flanking horse rode over several archers and into the limbered gun. It took barely an hour to reduce the English army to a few scattered  remnants.

In case it was a rules problem (or, perish the thought, prejudice) I replayed the game using the same broad plans. This time the Scots stalled when out of command control and the English archers plied their bows with effect. A clash of cavalry destroyed both parties leaving the way open for the Scots pike to charge head on into the Bills. In a flurry of dice, the General and 1/2 the pikemen went down. The English archers stepped up and supported by the artillery cut down the Highlanders in swathes then turned their bows on the border horse driving them off. The way was clear to march on with serious but acceptable losses. 

     I decided to stay with the 16th C pitting English vs French on the continent to test the revised rules.  Each scenario unit was replaced by 4 companies of infantry or cavalry or 1 gun. The English were in the middle with 4 Battles, after dicing for deployment of battles their army began as: In advance: 4 Border Horse, on the right: 4 Bills & 4 Bows, on the left: 4 Bills, 4 Bows & 1 light gun, in the middle: 4 Demi-Lancers inc the General. In similar fashion I formed the French army then dice for the placement within each force. Force 1: Left: 6 Levy Pike & 2 shot. Right 4 Light Lancers, Force 2: In advance & to the right: 4 Gensdarme inc General, 2 mounted arquebusier, 2 reiter, behind and to the left: 4 pike, 1 crossbow, 2 shot, 1 swordsmen, 1 light gun. Force 3: 6 pike, 6 shot, 1 heavy gun. Forces 2 & 3 were beyond "detached" and had to take a control check each turn, all 3 Captains rolled "Bold". I was going to roll for battle plans but the point of escape seemed so  obvious for the English that I just went for it and rushed the French up as quickly as possible.
     The game began with the English light cavalry quickly moving to face the French light lancers, the left hand infantry backed them up, the demi-lancers faced the French main body while the right hand infantry began a slow retreat facing the enemy. On the 2nd turn the light cavalry clashed shaking both bodies but driving the English back. Arrows drove off the remnants of the French lights leaving the way open for a clash of Bills vs Pikes. Despite the depth impetus the pikes were driven back but then dug their heels in and the melee continued for several turns. The French Gensdarmes crashed into the English cavalry but got the worst and were driven off. Turn after turn the main body of French Landsknechts stalled but finally they got in motion, deploying the artillery on a hill and pushing some skirmishers forward. A brisk skirmiah action across the entire front went on as the English slowly backed up, archers evading the occasional charge, the reiters did follow through onto the bills but were repulsed. Once a company of bills from the Right Battle moved across and outflanked the French Pikes, they finally broke and ran leaving the way open for the English to retreat off table. The English lost 7 companies out of 25 so technically it was a draw but given the bloody nature of the rules I can't picture how they could have gotten away with much less so have awarded them a marginal victory.          

Click on picture for a closer look.

This scenario seemed perfect for the 16thC Scottish Border Country so I played it out using  Rough Wooing but it was on the small side and over in under an hour with Scots escaping with nearly enough troops to count as a victory.  So, I decided to reset and play again 1st with MacDuff in the War of 1812, lack of cavalry seriously hindered the British and the US forces marched off with barely a casualty. A sharp clash where the 2nd NY Dragoons routed some Canadian volunteer cavalry early on being decisive. 

So I reset Red & Blue and played again using HofT and my glossy toy soldiers. This was the hardest fought game with Larsen's Lancers outflanking the Blue army, catching the 2nd infantry in march column, scattering them and capturing Brigadier Zinn. (He can be seen being escorted off the field at left) A subsequent charge onto the 3rd Infantry was repulsed but they earned their pay. The 1st Dragoons repulsed a charge by the Queen's Hussars then fell back but the 2nd Dragoons  were caught by the Director General's Bodyguard and cut to pieces. The FTC Rocket Horse Artillery battery was particularly effective, pounding Blue's artillery then catching a troop of dragoons bunched up in the narrow streets of Foamcorburg and dispersing them but the coup de grace came when the Green Tigers stormed up the road through the smoke of the rocket explosions, catching General Scott by surprise and taking him prisoner as well. Another victory for the Red Queen's forces. Has the tide turned?

Click on picture for a closer look.

Click on picture for a much closer look.

The game began with the Moravian Hussars supported by Saxon Dragoons hotly pursuing Saxe's Lancers across the plain. The Russo-Saxon's won the initiative and charged. The lancers had 2 choices, evade or turn and fight, comparing the Hussar's movement dice to the gap between them, they needed to roll an 8 on 2 dice to escape so they risked the 50% chance to turn and form line. It turned out to be a poor choice as the Hussars hit them stationary and broke them.  At the end of the turn the French Heavy Cavalry appeared, 1 to the right of the lancers, 2 to the left, none of them appeared behind the allies. The allies pulled back swiftly next turn and it looked like they might escape almost unscathed but then fickle luck smiled on the French, they seized the initiative and rolled well for movement, the Orleans regiment deployed into line and headed straight for the enemy with Fitzjames moving to support them while the Colonel General Regiment sped past the town to cut them off. The Saxons choked on their movement and were now within 9" of the enemy so could only retire at 1/2 speed. On the next turn, the initiative switched back but the pincers were closing and there was no way to ride out without a fight. The Saxons deployed 3 troops to face the Colonel General while 2 moved to form a reserve for the Hussars.  Orleans spurred forward and were met by the hussars led by their Brigadier. Carnage was heavy but the melee was drawn. There was now hope that they could disengage but the initiative shifted again and in the ensuing melee, the French heavy cavalry cut up the hussars and sent the remnants fleeing.  The Saxons braced themselves but having inflicted nearly 40% casualties on the enemy, the Chevalier reigned in his men and rode to the inn calling for wine.