Agincourt Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Agincourt
  • Initial Deployment
  • Historical Background
  • Playing Time
  • Who Goes First?
  • Shield Wall/Schiltron
  • Timed Engagement
  • Terrain
  • French MM
  • Leaders
  • French Crossbowmen and Archers
  • The English Wagon Train
  • Game Balance
  • Flight Levels

Agincourt

Pas-de-Calais, France, 25 October (St. Crispin's Day) 1415

Initial Deployment

The English Army sets up first.

English Army

Leaders: King Henry V (OC); Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York; Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys.

Seizure Counters: 4

Standards: King (Henry V) is used by all English units. Place in hex 2215.

Facing: All units are faced north.

Deployment:

• Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys: Hexes 1919, 2017, 2019 — 3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1); Hex 2018 — 1 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –2), Camoys.
• Henry V, King of England: Hexes 2015, 2215 — 2 English Longbow (#1-2 +1); Hex 2016 — 1 English Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –3), Henry V; Hex 2415 — Wagon.
• Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Duke of York: Hexes 1911, 2012-2013 — 3 English Longbow (#1-3 +1); Hex 2014 — 1 Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –2), York.

Historical Background

Agincourt is, as far as the English are concerned, one of the most remarkable and famous battles in medieval history. Outnumbered by as much as 4-to-1, tired, sick and in pitiful shape, Henry V's rag-tag army raised the three basic precepts of English tactics of the era to their greatest height: the defensive power of the longbow, a good defensive position, and the effectiveness of a creative and powerful overall command. The French? They rolled ones on life's CRT all day. That, and having dozens of dukes and counts insist each one was supposed to be in command and at the head of every charge, plus a full morning's carousing, didn't help.

"Henry V" is a historical play by William Shakespeare which focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt. There have been two major film adaptations: Laurence Olivier's in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh's in 1989. As you play the Agincourt Battle Module recall the words of Henry V:

From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day

Playing Time

Playing time is about an hour.

Play Note: Because of the unbalanced nature of the historical result, this battle for Men of Iron is extremely well suited to solitaire play.

French Army

Leaders: Charles Valois, Duke of Orléans (OC) [note a]; David de Rambures [note b]; Jean I, Duke of Alençon [note c]; Valéran de Raineval, Count Fauquembergue [note d].

Seizure Counters: 2

Standards: King (Charles VI) is used by all French units. Place in hex 1115.

Facing: All units are faced south.

Deployment:

• Charles Valois, Duke of Orléans: Hexes 1613, 1619 — 2 French Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1-2 –1); Hexes 1713-1718 — 6 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1-4 –2, #5-6 –1); Hex 1714 — Orléans.
• David de Rambures: Hexes 1514-1516 — 3 French Archers (#1-3 +2); Hexes 1517-1519 — 3 Genoese Crossbow (#1-3 +1); Hex 1519 — Rambures.
• Jean I, Duke of Alençon: Hexes 1414-1418 — 5 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1-2 –2, #3-5 –1); Hex 1418 — Alençon.
• Valéran de Raineval, Count Fauquembergue: Hexes 1313, 1316-1317 — 3 French Dismounted Men-at-Arms (#1-3 –1); Hexes 1314-1315, 1318 — 3 Mounted Men-at-Arms (#1 –2, #2-3 –1); Hex 1315 — Fauquembergue.

Note a: This was less a battle than a line of disparate, disorganized dismounted knights under The Dukes of Bourbon and Orléans, the Constable of France, Marshal Boucicault and the Count of Eu, none of whom had any intention of coordinating their commands. We nominated Orléans as our game stand-in for this group.

Note b: Rambures was a knight and the Grand Master of Crossbowmen. He died here, along with three of his sons.

Note c: Alençon also represents his co-commander, the Duke of Bar.

Note d: Also representing such others as the Counts of Dammartin, Merle, et al.

Historical Note: The French apparently had brought several bombards with them, placing them with the line of archers. However, given the massive confusion and incredible traffic jam to their front, they were never used. We have, therefore, excluded them.

(A unit placement map for Agincourt appears in the original battle book but cannot be reproduced here; the hex listings above give the deployment in full.)

Who Goes First?

Historically, the battle started with a volley of English longbow fire, which volley spurred the French first Battle to charge. Therefore, the French get the first Activation but must start the game by Activating Orléans' Battle.

Shield Wall/Schiltron

English: No Shield Wall. French: No Shield Wall.

Timed Engagement

This battle uses the timed engagement rule (16.1). Initially, set the time marker in the 12 space on the General track. The French are the timed side in this battle.

Terrain

Clear: Heavy rains had soaked the ground to such a point that the mud became a major factor in the battle, slowing any French charges to a virtual halt in places. This is represented by the movement cost for clear terrain. The mud is also part of the reason for the French Disorder and French Combat Results Historical (optional) Rules.

Stakes: Before the battle, the English archers were commanded to cut and sharpen long stakes. These were placed in the ground in a loose belt in front of the longbow troops, with just enough space for those men to move through but not enough for Men-at-Arms, or horses. The hexsides without stakes represent the small avenues of approach to the English Men-at-Arms designed with the purpose of directing all incoming traffic towards those units. It all worked remarkably well, totally negating any numerical superiority the French had.

French MM

French MM units may not move, Retreat, Charge, or Shock across a stake hexside. As a result, if an MM unit has both a unit behind a stake hexside and one not so positioned in its frontal hexes it must only attack the unit in the "open" if it Shocks (and the penalty for attacking multiple units does not apply).

Leaders

If/when a French Replacement Leader is eliminated he is not replaced, and his Battle is now leaderless. If/when Henry V is eliminated he is not replaced, and his Battle is now leaderless.

French Crossbowmen and Archers

The French missile units cannot be Rallied from Disordered or Retired status. Therefore, any French missile unit that is Retired, is instead Eliminated.

The English Wagon Train

The English Wagon counter may not move. If a French combat unit ends its movement, or advance after combat (retreating doesn't count), adjacent to the Wagon and the Wagon is not adjacent to an English combat unit, the Wagon is removed and the English incur 3 Flight Points.

Game Balance

Using the following optional rules will more accurately reflect the situation on that St. Crispin's Day in 1415. However, they will also swing the balance of the game heavily in favor of the English.

French Disorder (favors English): The English had originally deployed about a half a mile to the rear of the initial setup given in the game. The French decided that they were going wait for Henry to attack and, having deployed, sat back and waited. For hours no one did anything. During that period, the French decided to turn the day into one big moveable feast and party. Drinking, gambling, and arguing over who would get to charge first became the order of the day, with no one of sufficient rank or presence to bring any of it to a halt. By late morning, the French army was all over the place, in no formation to do anything.

With no one moving, Henry, fearful of losing his army through lack of action, moved his entire line forward. One would think that the French would take advantage of such a movement. However, they were in no shape to do so. With everyone running hither and yon, and all the knights jostling for best position, by the time Henry's line was set—about 11 AM—a totally disorganized French army found themselves under fire from his longbows. So, they charged.

To represent this, for those wishing to play this historically, all (yes, all) French units start the game Disordered. Moreover, to reflect this constant state of disorder:

• The French cannot Rally Retired units. Disordered units can only be Rallied in a Continuation or a seized Activation (6.2, 6.3).
• When activated, and not Retired or Rallying, units in the Activated Battle must move at least one hex towards and/or fire at English units, unless already adjacent to an English unit.

The above are quite dogmatically restrictive and are meant mostly for solitaire, historical insight play. They do represent the French army on that day.

French Combat Results (favors English): This is another rule that reflects the total disorganization of the French army, as well as the conditions of the field and the crowding that developed in front of the English position.

Whenever any French Men-at-Arms unit incurs a Retire result, the French player traces a line of hexes as direct as possible (fewest intervening hexes) from that unit to the French Standard. All French units in that path are automatically Disordered (if already Disordered, there is no additional effect).

Then roll a die for the original unit:

• If the DR is a 0-6, the unit has successfully Retired.
• If the DR is a 7-9, the unit keeps heading for the hills and is Eliminated instead.

Flight Levels

Balance: Historically? A slaughterhouse. Although both sides had substantial losses, the French losses were catastrophic, as almost every noble above the rank of "lord" was either killed or captured. If you don't play the Game Balance rules, the game is much more balanced, although the English position is tough to turn.

Adjust the FP for units as follows:

• 1 FP for each Eliminated English Longbow
• 3 FP if the Wagon is Eliminated
• 4 FP for each Eliminated English Men-at-Arms unit

Design Note: The French considered the lower class bowmen unworthy of attention, and certainly not a great source of possible ransom money.

The English Flight Level is 14. The English do not have a DR added to their Flight Points when making Loss Checks.

The French Flight Level is 30.