Siege of Oxford 1142 - A DBA Refight (I)

The Siege of Oxford (1142), which took place during England's Anarchy, and perhaps most famous for the escape of the Empress Matilda in the snow, covered by a white cloak, was preceded by a sharp action outside the gates of Oxford.  In essence, a surprise attack by King Stephen's troops resulted not only in victory, but enable them to capture the city of Oxford in the confusion of the rout.

Stephen Simpson wrote a scenario for this engagement in his series on Anglo-Norman battles in Wargames Illustrated 30.  

The Scenario:

I think the scenario, even taken abstractly, is quite interesting.  A small Rebel infantry force has pinned the Royal infantry vanguard by the riverbank with archery fire.  Stephen's mounted troops have found a ford however and are able to move and begin crossing it before the Rebels can react.  The Rebel cavalry is near Oxford, not expecting to go into action.  The Rebel Army can try and defeat the Royal Army (unlikely) but its aim is to get enough elements back into Oxford without being routed.

The Forces:

The Royal Army: 1 x General (3Kn), 5 x Knights (3Kn), 6 x Spearmen (Sp)

The Rebel Army: 1 x General (3Kn), 3 x Knights (3Kn), 3 x Spearmen (Sp), 1 x Archers (3Bw)

The Rebel Army is split into two groups: the knights are in the rear, by the bridge into Oxford.  The spearmen and archers are by the river, facing King Stephen's vanguard.  The knights can only move after a 5 or 6 are rolled at the beginning of each Rebel move.

The river counts as an obstacle, except at the ford, which can be crossed at normal speed but is only 1 base width wide.

The break point for the Rebel Army is 3 bases, the break point for the Royal Army is 4 bases.  The Rebel Army does not lose any extra bases if its general is eliminated.  

The Rebel Army must get 6 bases back into Oxford without being broken first to win.

The Set-Up:

The battlefield: the Rebel and Royal infantry face-off over the river (bottom-centre), with the Rebel Knights currently sitting it out in the rear by Oxford (top); King Stephen is leading his knights and an infantry contingent over the ford (bottom-right)

Another view.

The Rebel Knights just outside Oxford.

The stand-off over the river.

King Stephen's troops ready to cross at the ford.

The Battle:

King Stephen leads his knights across the ford; some of the rebel infantry try to form a flank to stop the infantry being rolled up.

A closer look

King Stephen concentrates his leading knights in a line and charges the flank of the Rebel infantry (centre-left); his other knights trot towards the Rebel knights (top-left), who are hastily trying to get into some kind of order.

A closer look at King Stephen's charge

Aided by some spearmen wading across the river

King Stephen routs the spearmen in front of him (centre), but other rebel spearmen throw back the assault across the river, aided by the cavalry on the flank

By now the Rebel knights have got into gear and are charging forward - some of King Stephen's knights turn to face them (centre); the remaining Rebel infantry have formed a line (left), apart from one plucky band still fighting around the original position (centre-right, far bank)

That plucky band cannot hold out much longer however, and is put to the sword or to flight by the knights (centre-bottom)

King Stephen leads his knights in another charge against the Rebel infantry (bottom-left); whilst the remainder of his knights charge the Rebel knights (top)

A closer view of the latter.

King Stephen's knights are firmly repulsed by the determination and skill of the Rebel infantry

However, some of the Rebel knights start to flee as the Royal knights' charge proves irresistible, this leads to the disintegration of the Rebel force

Game Notes: A short but interesting game with some fascinating choices early on for King Stephen interacting with the DBA 'PIP' mechanics.  Because the total amount of 'activity' for each side is determined randomly by a D6 roll, then it isn't clear to King Stephen how much his troops can do.  He has four broad options: quickly attacking the infantry, quickly attacking the cavalry, quickly attacking both or concentrating on building up his forces on the other side of the ford for a set piece attack.  Except for the third option, all are possible even with low activity rolls.  On the other side, the commander of the Empress' forces can choose how much effort to expend on retreating the foot versus attacking with the cavalry; this is made more difficult since it isn't certain at what point the Empress' knights will be ready to get into the action.  So, a quick game (because DBA is a quick game and this is a small battle, even for DBA) but one with a great deal of interest in.  As a wargame scenario, the calculations above will change depending upon the rules, particularly in how the command rules work, the exact movement rates and how easy or difficult it is to retreat infantry in the face of mounted opponents.

 

 I am sure that no DBA players will need this mentioned, but for others DBA has a distinctive take on the odds of mounted knight versus spearman combat: the latter is more likely to win, but the cost of loss is low; if the latter loses, the defeat is catastrophic (the DBA 'quick kill'). 

Figures by Baccus 6mm, buildings by Leven and Timecast, rules were DBA 3.0.