Below you will find Part 1 in a Plantagenet replay series from Cristophe Correia originally published on The Boardgames Chronicle blog. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Levy & Campaign Series developer Christophe Correia and his friend John O’Reilly face off in a run through the full-length scenario of Volume IV, Plantagenet. The scenario covers the full War of the Roses between 1459 and 1485. The scenario is composed of three smaller parts, that represent the 3 periods of activity of the War. Christophe played the Lancastrians and John the Yorkists. The Playtime for this epic scenario was around 15 hours. Christophe gives us the blow by blow, including all the many battles that will decide the conflict. Enjoy this trip to medieval England!

Protagonists will enter and leave the field, as they die and new pretenders arise! In the full-length scenario of Plantagenet, the Lancastrians and Yorkists fight across three different, shorter scenarios, representing the three main periods of fighting. The Lords of those scenarios are split between Heirs, who can end up being King, and lesser magnates, who are there to support the Heirs and help their side.

Lancastrian Heirs:

Henry VI, King of England at the start of the War of the Roses and his Wife, Queen Margaret:

Henry Beaufort and his brother Edmund Beaufort, Dukes of Somerset:

Yorkist Heirs:

Richard, Duke of York, the main Yorkist pretender to the throne:

Three of his sons, Edward, Earl of March, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester:

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the so-called “Kingmaker”:

Lesser Magnates

Henry Percy, Duke of Northumberland, who will always be on the opposite side of the Earl of Warwick
Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter

Jasper Tudor and his nephew, Henry Tudor (who historically became the King of England at the end of the Wars of the Roses)

John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and George, Duke of Clarence, another son of the Duke of York

Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, father of Richard Neville (Warwick)

Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
John Howard, Duke of Norfolk

Vassals of the Realm

Vassals present on the map show various smaller families that can help their overlord during battle and otherwise in the game.

Replay of the first War (1459-1461)

I am not going to go into much detail on each action here (contrary to the replays that I did for Inferno, see the full report here). You can find more information about Plantagenet game actions on BoardGameGeek, where I posted a series of articles depicting them.

Protagonists

The Lancastrian side from left to right:
Henry VI, Somerset, Buckingham, Exeter, Northumberland, Margaret, Somerset

The Yorkist side from left to right:
York, March, Rutland, Warwick, Salisbury

The struggle for the English crown started some years ago in 1455, when Richard York and Edmund, Duke of Somerset (father of our in-game Somerset) fought to seize the actual power – Henry VI being a king struck by mental illness.

After Henry VI recovered from his bout of catatonia the Queen’s party, led by Somerset, was reinstated to its position of pre-eminence.

Richard York and Warwick, who had held the power during the King’s absence, were lowered again and their influence started to wane. They resisted though, and the growing tensions between the two sides led to an open war.

To win the scenario, the Yorkists and Lancastrians have to gain Influence over England, to ensure their power over the English nobles, and kill the enemy heirs and leaders to gain an advantage on the field.

For that they will need to Levy Troops and Vassals and gather supply from England or abroad and Tax to ensure that their Troops don’t start to Ravage the countryside…

At the start of the scenario, the King is Lancastrian, and Yorkists are the Rebels. Henry VI is currently located with Somerset at London.

The real hostilities begin in June 1459, when – in our game – Henry VI and Somerset ambush York at Ely.

The Lancastrians, slightly more numerous, also manage to have the Yorkist Vassal Suffolk betray York and join the Lancastrians in the Battle.

Before the Battle even really begins, York fled to a ship nearby and managed to join Ireland where he would spend the next several months in Exile.

Northeast Anglia now free of Enemy Yorkist Lords, Lancastrian focus will be on the West, to repulse Warwick and the Earl of March, who are little by little strengthening their hold on Wales and the South.

But York coming back from Exile in Ireland with March joining him causes a now bigger Yorkist threat to Lancastrian London.

Action has to be taken in November 1459, and a new Battle happens at Northampton. This time no side opts for Exile: there will be a battle until one side Routs and is forced to do so.

The Yorkists being slightly outnumbered, they can however count on their superior ability to protect their Troops (higher Valour value) to potentially avoid defeat. But, as it turns out, that isn’t enough, the Yorkists end up on the brink of Collapse.

Their own personal guard (grey Retinue marker) being close to destruction, the Yorkists manage to Flee and survive (in each Battle, each Routed Lord as a 1/3 chance of dying, or 2/3 chance if their Retinue Routs).

But while that Battle gives a nice advantage to the Lancastrians (23 Influence for them at this moment, the automatic victory being at 40), their Lords are now severely weakened.

And, at the start of 1460, when York comes back from Exile again and joins with Warwick, the military advantage is reversed …

Forcing the Lancastrians to let the Yorkists take London unopposed.

Most of the Year 1460 is a war of maneuver as the Lancastrians try to gather enough Troops to conquer back London, while they bleed Influence because of their lack of resources and loss of London.

At the end of 1460, the Influence advantage has reversed: now the Yorkists have an 11-point lead. But the Lancastrians, now stronger militarily, are chasing the Yorkists around the map to create a decisive Battle to beat them.

The second big Battle of the first war happens at Bristol, where most of the Lords now on the map face off in a bloody struggle.

 
On the left flank, Henry VI and Warwick battle fiercely, and Henry VI seems to gain advantage, but at the end of Round 1, Exeter, fighting York in the Center, falls. York then easily flanks Henry VI and Routs him.

On the right flank, Somerset disposes of Rutland, Routing his Retinue.

A lot of Lords could have died there, but the Lancastrians had a plan: in case of defeat, their ships were already nearby for them to flee without their armies completely routing: none of them would die.

However, the Yorkist Rutland, Routing and failing his Death Check, dies on the battlefield, the first death of a Lord in this war. Death is decisive: we won’t see Rutland anymore in the War of the Roses.

The situation is now very grim for the Lancastrians. The Influence track shows 39 for the Yorkists, 1 point away from automatic victory. The retaking of London managed to save the Lancastrians some time, but it is running out. We are at end of 1460, and the Yorkists will win the first War if Influence is still with them at the end of 1461.

The good news for the Lancastrians in all this is that, with Rutland dead, the Yorkists have one fewer Lord to gather Troops and Coin.

The Lancastrians during all of 1461 again seek decisive battle. But they are blocked during the early days because the Parliament votes a Truce forbidding any attack

The truce lasts only 40 days, so that, in the next turn, the Lancastrians can finally go at Ipswich for a last-ditch attempt to save Henry VI’s throne.

This will very likely be the last Battle: England is now mostly Exhausted by war, and the losing side will not be able to bring enough Troops or Vassals back as a counterweight to the enemy victory.

Array for the Battle of Ipswich:

Due to Suspicion of Treachery, both March and Buckingham leave the field of battle before it even starts. Henry VI faces off again against Warwick, while Somerset goes at York.

Despite what the Array shows, the Battle goes very badly for the Lancastrians very quickly.

After the 1st Round, the situation is already hopeless for the Lancastrian side, almost completely Routed. Henry VI Flees the battlefield, hoping to survive the Death Check (Somerset would survive on a 1-2, and Henry VI on a 1-4).

Unfortunately for Henry VI and Somerset, both die at the Battle of Ipswich, closing here Lancastrian hopes for the throne in this War.

York has taken revenge for his son Rutland, killed by Somerset a year earlier.

Margaret replaces Henry VI.

A new Somerset replaces his brother.

The first War of the full length-scenario ends in a Yorkist victory, but this is far from the end of the Wars of the Roses….

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