King John's 1204

The Forces involved:

The King of England and his loyal barons.
The Rebel English Barons
The Marcher Lords
The Welsh Prince
The King of Scots
The Irish Pale
The Irish Kings
The French King
The Norman, Breton and Anjou Nobles
The Flemish Wool Citys.

The deck

1.      French Invasion of Normandy
2.      First Barons War
3.      Second Barons War
4.      War with Scotland
5.      Welsh Marches raid
6.      War with the Welsh
7.      Revolt of the Irish Kings
8.      Revolt of the Marcher Lords
9.      Battle of Bouvines
10.    Pope threatens excommunication Unrest +1 per year until the King pays.
11.    The Royal treasure lost in the wash
12.    Royal marriage. Unrest -1
13.    A powerful Earl or Bishop in play Unrest -d6
14.    Magna Carta is raised Unrest -d6
15.    Reform of the English legal system Unrest +1
16.    Bad harvests double all prices and Unrest +1
17.    Scutage is levied on all of the King's nobles. Unrest +1
18.    French Pirates in the Channel.  Unrest +1
19.    Revolt of a noble character in play.
20.    Royal Birth or Death, Unrest -1

 

Troop types
Good Cavalry. 5. BR
(May dismount as foot knights. 5)
Average Cavalry. 3 BR
Good Infantry. 4 BR
Average infantry. 3 BR
Good Missile infantry. 4 BR
Average Missile infantry. 3 BR
Skirmishers. 2 BR

Nobles in Play

1. Robert Fitzwalter
2. William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke
3. Prince Louis, Dauphain of France
4. William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury
5. William Earl of Arundel
6. Ranulph Earl of Chester
7. King David of Scotland
8. King Louis of France
9. Simon De Montfort Earl of Leicester
10. Theobald Lord  Butler of  Ireland
11. De Burgh, De Braose, De Lacey. Lordship in Ireland
12. Geoffrey Fitz-Henry, Archbishop of York

1204 

Card 1 Royal marriage. 

Card 2 Unrest -1

Card 3 The Flemish challenge the French

Card 4 A battle in Ireland 

Actual events 1204:

8 March – French capture Normandy. They take Château Gaillard from the English.

Good Friday, Ireland, Sir Hugh de Lacy captures Sir John de Courcy whilst he is at prayer.  I`ll extend this into a battle.

24 June – Philip II takes Rouen ending Plantagenet rule in Beaulieu Abbey founded in Hampshire.

King John frees all of Devon except Dartmoor and Exmoor from royal forest law.

Jersey, Guernsey and the other Channel Islands become self-governing possessions of the English Crown.

Game One

The Flemish challenge the French King

Low Countries

1 General Good Cavalry 

6 Good Infantry Guildsmen pike 

1 Good Missile Infantry Guild Crossbowmen

2 Ave Infantry Feudal levy Spearmen

1 Skirmisher archers

Feudal French

1 Good Cavalry, General and Knights

4 Good Cavalry, 

1 Ave Cavalry Hobilars

2 Good Infantry Communal Militia

2 Average Infantry Feudal Spearmen

2 Average Missile infantry Crossbowmen

1 Skirmishers Breton Javelinmen

The Low Coutries dice for deployment and get the Northern (top) edge.  Its a game of defend the stream then!

The defenders deploy

The French attackers ready themselves

The French surge forward

But the Low Countries get their line to that stream

Some good work with the bows

And Stirling Bridge is in the future, so the French don't realise how unwise this attack across is

In fact its defeat in detail

and before I realise it the French have lost critical numbers

although the Low Countries are not far behind.

The French slope off.  A victory for king John`s allies