A fictional battle set in 1307 Scotland between Robert the Bruce and Edward II of England using Two Hour Wargames' Warrior Kings.

Robert Bruce needed a victory. His hard fought guerrilla campaigns had gained him soldiers and some momentum, but he needed the support of Scotland's fickle nobles. To get this he needed a major victory against the English, and the perfect opportunity had arisen.

Robert the Bruce

Bruce received word that earlier this month King Edward I, the "Hammer of the Scots" had just died in the village of Burgh-On-Sands, while moving an army towards the Scottish border. Bruce realized that Edward II was not the man his father was and began to preparations to meet the English in battle.

Edward II took command of the English invasion force and prepared to finish what his father could not, the end of the Scottish claims to independence. King Robert, wary of the dangers of an open field battle with the English, felt that he could wait no longer. He stood on a small hill watching his army pass by below him and he was encouraged by what he saw. He had a couple thousand spearmen from Ayrshire, woefully few archers from the Ettrick Forest, and a small number of mounted nobles on stout highland ponies. Bruce hoped that his messengers to the lord of the isles and the nobles that "hurried to support him" would answer his call to arms. If they did not arrive, he would have to again met away into the countryside without any major victories to give his kingship any teeth.

Two days later, Bruce's fortune began to change. Angus Og McDonald, Lord of the Isles had sent two thousand of his fierce, axe wielding, but impetuous islesmen to Bruce's aid. Also, James "The Black" Douglas sent word ahead to Bruce's camp of his return and that he had another 1500 spearmen and a much needed 300 cavalry. The Scots now had as large of an army as they had fielded since William Wallace had led them to the disaster of Falkirk.

Scouts had informed King Robert of the English movements and he knew that they were going to once again burn their way through his beloved lands of Carrick. Bruce knew the ground well and selected a field in the English path that was well suited for defense against heavy cavalry. There were two large gentle sloping hills flanked on the right with thick woods. Another large woods behind the hills would offer an escape rout should they lose the day. Bruce set up camp and awaited the English to arrive.

As evening fell Scouts came in with the news that the English army had come to within a few miles of their camp.

Those same scouts reported on the English forces. There were at least 1500 heavy horse and a large contingent of levy foot. Almost as dangerous as the heavy horse were the 3000 plus Welsh longbowmen. The Bruce could contend with the heavy horse in this terrain, but the bowmen were a serious worry.

King Robert called in his trusted friend James Douglas to discuss the next morning's battle plan. The plan called for two large schiltrons (blocks of spearmen) to form, on the front slope of each hill. James Douglas would command these, while Robert would keep in reserve a third Schiltrorn in the Scots' center. The cavalry would stay on the reverse slope or the hill on the left flank. The few Scots archers were to position themselves in front of the schiltrons to protect them from the enemy archers as long as possible. The islesmen were on the far right flank between the woods on the edge of the hill. In the woods were a few highlanders positioned to harass any bowmen that approach to threaten the Scots' right.

Edward II awoke to the news that the Scottish forces were still on the hills across the field. He stated with surprise "will yon Scots fight?"' He had expected the Scots to hit and run as they had done for the past several years. This was an opportunity to end the years of frustrating and fruitless campaigns and to win some favor with the bickering English flower of chivalry.

King Edward arrayed his troops with confidence. He put the archers in two large blocks on each flank. Behind them he placed two of his three blocks of levy spearmen, which he hoped he would not have to rely on to fight. The third spear unit was placed in reserve in the center.

Two blocks of English knights were placed in the center with a unit of sergeants and retainers on the right flank in reserve. King Edward kept a third unit of knights with him in the center.

The plan was simple: the longbows would run off the Scottish bowmen, then soften up the schiltrons for the heavy horse to ride down. The infantry would protect the archers from flanking infantry or Scottish horse, should it appear. Along with the three golden lions, Edward's standard-bearer raised the dragon standard signifying no quarter, and the advance was sounded.

The two blocks of Welsh bowmen crossed the open field to within range of the schiltrons and formed up to fire. As they did so the Scots archers began to fire at the Welsh on the English right. The Scottish short bows had little effect on the Welsh, but the opposite was certainly not true. The Welsh poured a deadly fire into the Scots archers and being outnumbered three to one the Scots wavered and fled.

As this was happening however, several hundred highlanders appeared out of the woods and began to throw javelins into the flank of the Welsh to some effect. One block of the archers became uneasy with the enemy on their flank and began to back away from the woods.

Meanwhile, on the Scottish right, things were not going well. The longbowmen had no skirmishers to impede them and they closed to effective range with the left-hand Schiltron. Their fire immediately began to tear holes in the Scottish ranks. Casualties began to add up quickly and the Bruce knew that he must counter this threat. He signaled for his small band of horse to move against the bowmen on his left flank.

Sir Neal Campbell, close friend of the king, led the Scottish nobles over the crest of the hill. As they moved into position, the Welsh quickly prepared for them. Sir Neal gave the word to charge and the Scottish chivalry surged forward, but there was too much ground to cover and a hail of arrows from some 2000 archers decimated the ranks. Ponies and soldiers screamed in agony and fell on top of each other. The attack never reached the Welsh and instead the Scots cavalry retired to safety behind the hills, leaving half of its original number dead or dying on the field.

Edward was pleased and felt the day would soon be his. He ordered the Welsh forward towards the second Schiltron and the islesmen. A contingent of longbow was left to deal with the highlanders. As the bow came into range of the islesmen, they unleashed a barrage into the wild men of the isles.

The islesmen had been ordered to hold their ground, but as the arrows fell among them they responded quickly. Feeling that dying on a hillside without ever swinging an axe was not an honorable death, they rushed down the hillside in a ferocious charge. The leading Welsh elements had no chance. They held their ground, out of courage or shock at the speed of the charge, but it didn't matter. They were cut to pieces in a matter of minutes. Very few escaped.

As the islesmen on the far right cut through the bowmen, they found themselves in front of the English levy spearmen. Edward's captains ordered the spearmen to charge into the disorganized islesmen, but they froze in terror. The wild men from the isles, covered in blood, with their deadly axes, struck fear into the levy. As soon as the islesmen saw the spearmen they charged. The spearmen remained frozen as the islesmen fell upon them. It was short, gruesome business. The English spearmen put up almost no fight at all before routing with heavy losses. The islesmen had now scattered themselves, and the English in front of them, across the field.

Some of the Welsh regrouped and poured fire into the other group of lightly armored axemen with lethal results. The islesmen fell in droves and began to waver.

At the same time, Edward sent a body of his knights to end this threat from the wild axemen on his left. The lead element of the islesmen had cut their way deep into the English flank, and now stood alone. Unsupported and exhausted, the sight of heavy cavalry was too much for the northmen, and they began to run for their lives. Some made the woods, many didn't. The knights also cleared what remained of the highland skirmishers, who retired to the woods ahead of the remnants of the axemen.

Not having a good day.

As the Bruce watched the attack of the English knights destroy his right flank, he made one last attempt to save the day. Sir Neal had rallied his horse and regrouped them again on the crest of the hill on the Scots' left. Bruce reluctantly ordered the cavalry to charge once again, and they did without hesitation. Their bravery however could not save them from the Welsh. The bowmen calmly held their ground and fired a deadly volley among the horsemen. Half of the remaining cavalry fell from their saddles, and the rest could fight no more. The survivors fled back over the hill, and routed from the field. The Welsh then turned their attention to the unpro- tected schiltrom to their front. Showers of arrows fell among the men from Ayrshire. James Douglas shouted for them to hold, but some began to run. The Scottish King, seeing that the day was lost, attempted to save the res of his army. He ordered a retreat and he Scots headed for the woods be nd the hills and safety. The English heavy horse was still too far away to catch them and the Bruce escaped with the majority of his spearmen. The defeat was costly though. Most of his valuable and rare horse was gone, and he would have to return to guerrilla warfare in the hills again. Word of the defeat would cause even more of the vital Scottish nobles to sit on the fence and see if this king could survive before throwing their lot and lives in with his cause.

Conclusion

I played this as a solo game using Warrior Kings. I ran the Scots, and let the "solo system" run the English. The rules play very well for a solo game and allow for a lot of unpredictability. The reaction tests are the key. Units on the field must take reaction tests to things such as attempting to charge, being charged, being fired upon, involved in a melee and leader lost. The units must roll two D6 and consult the appropriate chart for their response. There are modifiers, and it is possible to pass two, one or no dice with various consequences for each. I think the way that this is done is quite innovative.

Another aspect I really like is the way an army is generated. There are basic army lists with a core army, but players must roll for additional elements from a menu not knowing exactly what they will get. I think for feudal and medieval battles this is quite realistic. There is also a campaign system in with the basic rules set which looks fun as well, though I have not played it yet. I played the entire game from roll- ing up my armies, selecting and plac- ing terrain, and playing the game in less than two hours. The basic rules set includes army lists for various peri- ods. The game I played did not have army lists, so I created lists for the two armies. The format makes it easy to create a list if one isn't available. 

Feudal English: 2/A/0/7
Units	Type	Class	CV	AC	Spec.	Figs	Cost	Recruit Roll
2	Knights	Mtd. Melee	5	4	3	3	36	6,12
1	Sergeants	Mtd. Melee	4	4	2	3	30	4
3	Levy Foot	Melee	3	2	0	4	20	2,7,10
3	Longbow	Missile	4	2	0	3	15	3,8
0	Gascon X-bow	Missile	4	2	0	3 or 4	15	11
0	Irish Kerns	Melee	4	2	0	3	24	5
Scots Common: 2/C/0/9
Units	Type	Class	CV	AC	Spec.	Figs	Cost	Recruit Roll
1	Mtd. Nobles	Mtd. Melee	4	2	1	3	24	2
7	Lowland Spear	Melee**	4	2	0	4	24	5,6,7,8,9
1	Ettrick Archers	Missile	4	2	0	3	15	11
1	Highlanders	Skirmish	4	2	-2	2	8	3,12
0	Islesmen-Frenzy	Melee	4	4	0	3	30	4,10

**Count as Pike only vs. mounted.

I gave the English a better army morale because of their confidence against the Scots, and I gave the Scots a C battle tactic because I felt that they fought a defensive battle the majority of the time.

I am also looking for a way to distinguish longbow from other missile troops to reflect their superiority on the field. A +1 modifier seems steep though, any ideas? Maybe range? I was also considering the +1 vs. mounted only after the first round of combat. If a mounted unit is fighting the first round of it's first melee, I was thinking of no + 1 for the opponent since the horses would be fresh.