Wargames Atlantic continues to roll with their Great Battle Scale ranges. Let’s check out their newest addition.
The Grand Battle Scale (10mm) sets from Wargames Atlantic are coming thick and fast. Feudal Japanese armies can be built from two boxes that have already hit store shelves. An Orc Army box is currently in tooling (the process of creating the plastic injection molds) and now a new army has just been shown off: Azincourt! This is the French spelling of one of the most lopsided battles in history. Most readers will more likely recognize the anglicized spelling of “Agincourt.”
In 1415 Henry V of England was trying, very unconvincingly, to conquer France. His army had sat outside the fortified port of Harfleur for nearly two months, and the soldiers began dying of disease instead of battle. It was October, the start of the rainy season and a bad time to march an army anywhere, but Henry wanted to shock and awe the French with a show of force, so he decided to march his army to Calais (another English-held port in Northern France). Unfortunately for him, the rain slowed his army significantly, exacerbated the sickness running rampant through it, and the English were cornered by a much larger French army at Azincourt.
The battle that ensued is the stuff of legends, Shakespearean orations and endless depictions in books, films and tabletop battles! The English army had dwindled to somewhere between 6 and 8,000 tired and sickly soldiers, approximately 5/6ths of whom were longbowmen, the rest being dismounted knights and men-at-arms (knights in everything but name – not the peasants for The Old World). The French fielded perhaps as many as 10,000 knights and men-at-arms and 5,000 bowmen, crossbowmen and shield bearers. Another 10,000 armed servants were available as well, and thousand more French soldiers were still expected to arrive later in the day. The English army arrayed themselves at the edge of a newly plowed field, turned to mud by the rain, with woods on either side. Certain of their victory, the French shunted their ranged units to the wings, effectively leaving them out of the battle, and obligingly advanced over this awful terrain.
Over a thousand mounted knights and men at arms charged the English lines to break up the archers. Slowed by mud, enduring a rain of arrows and unable to ride through a line of sharpened stakes, the cavalry attack failed. French Infantry then advanced over the field in mud up to their knees, becoming so exhausted and tightly packed that their numbers counted for almost nothing. The English longbowmen loosed until they ran out of arrows, then rushed the flanks of the French infantry with swords, axes and two handed “mattocks.” After three hours of fighting some 7-8,000 French were killed, wounded or captured, to less than 600 English casualties.
The Azincourt set from Wargames Atlantic looks to be able to recreate both armies from this iconic battle and the period in general. Like the previous two ranges, this box will come with a variety of unit types and groupings of miniatures. There are mounted and dismounted knights and men-at-arms, bowmen loosing, standing in ranks, and armed with hand to hand weapons, and crossbowmen loosing and standing in ranks. There are also casualties for all unit types, which is an added touch I really love.
This one boxed set could easily depict French and English forces in the later Hundred Years War. They will also likely pair well with the upcoming Orcs for a more fantastical encounter, if you so wish. Will you be picking these up when they are released? Let us know in the comments!
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