"the King of Scots had sieged, 'saulted and in a great stormy night scaled and won the castle of Norham", James IV's siege of Norham, August 1513

This weekend I visited Stuart and we played a couple of scenario's written to showcase his two new Scots guns: https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/2024/09/scots-artillery.html. The choice of one of these was easy as we have been meaning to game James IV's assault on Norham Castle for a while and this was the perfect opportunity. For the second we chose a scenario based on a letter sent from Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, following James V's unsuccessful siege of Tantallon Castle in 1528. This continues the series of games we have played that centre around the minority of James V.

The host of James IV arrayed outside the walls of Norham Castle.

The Scots army prepares for the assault.

Carrying ladders the Scots troops will cross the ditch and assault the battered walls of the castle.

Accoring to Hall the Scots "made thre great Assaultes thre dayes together, and the Capitayne valyauntly defended".

James IV's assault on Norham Castle, August 1513

Norham castle was first built in the 12th century and had already been witness to numerous sieges by the time of the Scots King James IV's invasion of England in 1513. James himself had attempted to take the castle in 1497 when he had besieged the Northumbrian border fortress on the banks of the River Tweed for two weeks before an English relief army arrived. In that siege the famed bombard "Mons Meg" of Edinburgh castle had been used to pound the walls of the fortress. In the 1513 campaign Mons Meg remained back in Scotland and James brought more up to date heavy guns that would prove extremely effective in demolishing the outerwalls of the castle.

Norham castle belonged to the Bishop of Durham, Thomas Ruthall, and at the time of the 1513 siege was captained by the constable of the castle, John Anislow or Ainslie, the surname differs in different accounts. It had fallen to the Scots in 1136, 1138 and 1322 but had successfully withstood Scots attempts to capture it in 1215, 1318, 1319, 1327 and of course 1497. Anislow just had to defend the castle long enough for an English relief army to arrive as had happened 16 years before. The castle had undergone constant improvements in its defences since its initial construction and Bishop Ruthall had been sending supplies to the castle over the summer as it seemed increasingly likely that a war with the Scots would breakout.

It seems that initially James positioned his guns on the Ladykirk bank on the Scottish side of the Tweed from where they were effective in smashing Norham's outer walls to pieces. As the Scots army crossed the Tweed the guns were then repositioned to the west of the castle and used to batter the gatehouse. There is a story that this was under the instructions of an English traitor but this is probably a later addition. The destruction of the walls and gatehouse to the west meant that infantry assaults could then be delivered.  Hall's chronicle states that over the course of three assaults the garrison were driven back into the inner bailey and the great keep claiming that Anislow wasted ammunition  and was thus forced to surrender: "...the kyng of Scottes with hys greate ordinaunce had rased the walles of the Castell of Norham , and had made thre great Assaultes thre dayes together, and the Capitayne valyauntly defended hym, but he spent vaynely so muche of hys ordinaunce, bowes and arrowes and other municions that at laste he lacked , and was at the vi. daye compelled to yelde hym symply to the kynges mercy. This castell was thought impregnable, if it had bene well furnished, but the Scottes by the undiscrete spendynge of the Capitayne, toke it in sixe days..."

 In a letter to Wolsey written on 18 September Bishop Ruthall wrote of his castle that "the King of Scots had sieged, 'saulted and in a great stormy night scaled and won the castle of Norham; which news touched me so near with inward sorrow that I had lever to have been out of the world than in it". Gervase Phillips in his excellent "The Anglo-Scots Wars" states "It is far more likely that the ageing castle was simply battered into surrender and, once surrendered, looted and cast utterly to the ground". The scale of damage to the castle is backed up by a further letter from Bishop Ruthall to Wolsey on 20 September, once he had received news of the Scottish defeat, in which Ruthall stated "The dungeon (keep) stands. The walls, gates, and ordnance taken away, and the lodgings destroyed".

However it actually fell the castle was taken on 29 August meaning James had achieved a key objective of his campaign removing a powerful fortress from the English border and opening up a clear route for operations in the future. Of course events soon to follow at Flodden eleven days later would reverse this success and mean Norham would be back in English hands within weeks when work would begin to rebuild it. 

The western gatehouse has been battered by James IV's heavy guns.

The state of the art Scots heavy guns keep up a steady bombardment of Norham's walls.

The Scots gunners work from the safety of the gun emplacements.

Scenario

In this game we both played part of the Scottish assaulting force with one retinue under the command of James IV and the other under the command of Alexander Home, Lord Home. We used our modified Lion Rampant rules. Victory went to the player with the most victory points once all the objectives had been achieved.

The victory points were awarded as follows:

One point for the first unit to reach the keep gate of Norham castle 

One point for the first unit to scale the walls of Norham castle
One point for the first unit through the battered western gate 

One point for the unit that killed or routed , John Anislow, the constable of Norham

One point for the first unit through the breach of Norham 

One point for each culverin captured (destroyed or routed) 

Two points for the player who's gun caused the most destruction to the walls during the assault 

A player would loose two points if their retinue leader was killed or routed during the assault.

The locations of the keep gate, breach, the western gate and the culverins are shown in the photo below.

"with hys greate ordinaunce had rased the walles of the Castell of Norham"

One of the ways to achieve victory points was to smash the walls with the heavy Scots guns. Each player had one large gun in their retinue. They could fire this gun as part of their turn in the normal way but they could not move the gun, it remained in its entrenched position. Every time they successfully fired the gun the player would record how many hits they achieved. The player with the most hits at the end of the game would score two extra victory points. A draw meant neither player got points for this. In our rules the guns becoming increasing hard to fire the more they fire. This added a difficult decision to each of our turns as scoring more hits on the walls would mean the two victory points were more likely but a failed gun activation, which became increasing likely the more the guns fired, would end the turn.

John Anislow and the garrison of Norham

The garrison was comprise of static units and randomly controlled units.

The Static Units

The archers and culverins in the garrison were static units. The only movement these units could make was to return to their position if they had retreated out of it. All of the static units could try and activate every turn. They would activate before the randomly controlled units. They would always try and shoot at the nearest enemy unit. The two organ guns attached to the archer units would fire the guns once they were in range (8")

The Randomly Controlled Units

 Both of us started with 5 playing cards. Each turn we played a card and whoever played the highest got to control the randomly controlled units for that English turn. Both of us then took another card. These units behaved like a normal retinue and a failed activation ended their turn.

"scaled and won the castle of Norham"

Three units in each of the Scottish retinues carried ladders which could be used to scale the walls. The ladders were placed by the units to represent this. The units carrying ladders could move, shoot and attack as normal. If a unit carrying a ladder was broken or destroyed it would loose the ladder. To pick up a ladder a Scots unit had to move into contact with it and next turn it was considered to be carrying the ladder. English units could not pick up the ladders.

They ladders could not be used to cross at the towers, only the walls. They did this by moving into contact with the wall. On the following turn an attack activation would mean the unit could cross to the other side but the player had to roll a D6. On a 1-2 the unit took D6 casualties in crossing. On a 3-4 D3 casualties and on a 5-6 no casualties. Once the ladders had been placed other Scots units could use them to enter the outer bailey but they still had to roll a D6 in case any defenders on the walls attacked them.

The Breach

To cross the breach took a whole turn, so a unit had to move into contact with it and on the following turn another move activation meant they had crossed and were inside the outer bailey. Any unit crossing the breach had to roll a D6. On a 1 it took 2D6 casualties due to falling masonry and enemy action! Units could not shoot or charge through the breach.

The West Gatehouse

As the western gatehouse of Norham had been so battered it could also be moved through in the same way as the breach and so took a turn. As with the breach any unit passing through the gatehouse had to roll a D6. On a 1 it took 2D6 casualties due to a hidden English gun that blasted them as they entered the gatehouse. Units could not shoot or charge through the gatehouse.

A view of the table showing the Scots army arrayed before the walls of Norham and the outer bailey of Norham at the top with the garrison deployed within it. Some of the objectives in the game are shown. The first units to enter via the western gate, the breach or to scale the walls will score victory points as will units reaching the keep gate, killing the garrison's captain and capturing the English culverins in the outer bailey. The Scots heavy gun that hits the walls the most during the game will also win victory points.

A breach has been made in the outer bailey's walls.

The keep of Norham castle with the keep's gate shown on the centre right of the photo. Some of the Bishop of Durham's administrators can be seen in the foreground. They seem to be discussing the severity of the situation the Bishop's castle is in! 

The western gateway has taken a pummeling from James's guns. Members of the garrison rush back inside as the assault is imminent.

The Armies

As described above the units in the garrison either automatically attempted to shoot every turn or were under the command of Stuart or myself depending who played the highest card. For the Scots retinues Stuart chose to take command of Lord Home and his force of borderers so I took control of James IV's retinue.

The Garrison of Norham Castle

The Randomly Controlled Units

2 Units of Foot Knights (1 unit contains John Anislow, Constable of Norham, the retinue leader)

3 Units of Garrison Billmen

The Static Units

4 Units of Garrison Archers (2 have organ guns attached) 

2 Culverins

The Army of James IV, King of Scotland

James IV's household

2 Units of Foot Knights (1 unit contains King James IV - retinue leader)

4 Units of Scots Pike

2 Units of Borderers

1 Culverin (see special rules above)

Alexander Home, Lord Home and the Borderers

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Lord Home - retinue leader)

1 Unit of Scots Pike

3 Units of Borderers

2 Units of Borderers with Polearms

1 Culverin (see special rules above)

As normal a brief write up of this chaotic game follows whilst the pictures and captions also do a good job of catching some of the action. The layout of the actual castle is shown here: http://castlefacts.info/Assets/photographs/12656/fullimages/Norham%20Castle-33%2007042013%20145941.jpg, although the image is from 1560 the layout at the time of the siege was very similar. The intention of our terrain set up was to show the west gate with the keep behind it. You will have to imagine that an already battered wall and the River Tweed are just to the left of the keep and gatehouse in the photos!

The attack starts with a salvo of shot from one of the Scots gun batteries.

The Scots troops begin their advance towards the walls but are slowed by the castle's ditch.

A group of Kennedy troops under the banner of the Earl of Cassillis are first to reach the walls...

...they fight their way over the walls, taking losses...

...and are quickly slain by the archers and guns in the outer bailey.

The assault began with James IV's guns sounding the attack. The Scottish infantry advanced on mass clambering into the castle's ditch and man handling the scaling ladders across it. It was men under Lord Home's overall command that first reached the walls. The fighting was fierce as they fought their way over the walls and into Norham's outer bailey. Once inside the castle they were caught in a killing ground and quickly slain as arrows showered down and an organ gun was brought to bear. The terrifying hail of shot the gun unleashed soon stopped their attack.

Further down the lines fighting started when a courageous band of men at arms and billmen sallied out of the ruined west gatehouse in an attempt to drive the attack back. Encountering a force of borderers they were quickly driven back inside the walls. The borderers pursued them into the outer bailey but like the first men to scale the walls, once inside they were quickly slain as the billmen and men at arms turned back to attack them and arrows rained down on them from the walls. 

On the other side of the attack lines some of the garrison bravely sally out of the shattered west gatehouse...

...in the face of overwhelming numbers they are driven back inside...

...the borders who push their way through the gatehouse meet the same fate as the Scots who were first to scale the walls. They are quickly slain once they enter the outer bailey.

Outside the walls the Scot's guns continue to fire...

...in an attempt to suppress the fire coming from the castle's towers.

Most of the Scots force is yet to reach the walls...

...James IV's troops push forward.

The walls are reached and the Scots raise scaling ladders to the walls...

...and prepare to enter the breach.

As the guns continued to pound the towers with shot the curtain walls and the breach were attacked at multiple points. There was fighting all along the walls as the ladders went up whilst at the breach the fighting was especially intense. The first Scots through it were slaughtered as some of the garrison's guns had been moved into position right behind the breach with the intention of providing a murderous welcome to those brave enough to storm it. As the smoke cleared a unit pushed through only for a large part of the curtain wall to fall on them, burying them in the rubble. Through the smoke and dust further units pushed into the breach. Under the leadership of Norham's Constable, John Anislow, the garrison's billmen and men at arms charged the attackers and a ferocious melee developed.

As the fighting raged around the breach the attacking Scots continued to scale the walls. A unit under the King's direct command scaled the curtain wall close to the west gate only to be broken by another deadly organ gun which was fired into them at point blank range. The attackers were taking terrible casualties but their numbers were beginning to tell. With the defender's ammunition running low and the outer bailey filled with Scottish troops the Constable, John Anislow, panicked and fled back to the inner bailey, abandoning many of his men to their fate. This hit the morale of the defenders allowing more Scots over the walls as the garrison fell back.

The garrison fiercely defend the breach with bills and poleaxes...

...as the Scots attempt to force the breach with their pikes.

A group of Scots scale the wall by the gatehouse...

...only to be met by the furious fire on an organ gun once they make it into the outer bailey.

The assault on Norham Castle is in full swing.

Fighting is ferocious in the outer bailey...

...as the Scots force their way through the breach and over the walls.

The garrison's Constable, John Anislow, flees back into the keep fearing the outer bailey has fallen!

Home's men pour over the walls and join the fight but sustain heavy losses.

The fighting swings back and forth with some of the garrison's men at arms charging back out of the gatehouse in an attempt to drive the Scots back.

More Scots force the walls and enter through the ruined gatehouse...

...they push forward in an attempt to reach the gate to the keep.

Reinforcements push in behind the Scots that have already entered the outer bailey...

...and as the fighting continues it looks like the momentum of the assault has been maintained.

Billmen from the garrison are driven back by Graham men at arms...

...who then successfully reach the gate to the keep.

Not all of the defenders had lost heart and one band of men at arms once again sallied out of the shattered west gate in an attempt to rout the attacking Scots. This failed and a group of Graham men at arms, fighting under the banner of the Earl of Montrose, counterattacked. They pushed through the ruined gate clashing with billmen in the outer bailey. With pikemen storming the walls behind them the Graham men at arms fought their way through the outer bailey reaching the gate to the keep.

At the same time Lord Home himself braved the arrows and shot of the defenders to scale the walls and support his borderers in the attack. With his own personal retinue being heavily armoured he was able to force back the garrison's archers reaching two of the garrison's guns. Home and his men quickly slew one of the gun crews whilst the other crew fled in an attempt to reach the safety of the inner bailey and the keep. 

The outer bailey had fallen but at a tremendous cost to the attackers. The inner bailey and keep were still held by the Constable, John Anislow who had fled in front of his men at the height of the attack. Surely it would only be a matter of time until he was forced to surrender?

Across the courtyard, on the other side of the outer bailey, Lord Home and his men at arms enter the fray...

...Home charges into the outer bailey and captures the two guns the garrison had been using as a second line of defence. The Scots attackers have sustained awful losses but the outer bailey has fallen and only the keep still remains in English hands.

For our second game we returned to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus and his struggle for power with the Scottish government.

The Earl of Angus's ambush of the Royal Artillery Train, November 1528

Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, had taken control of his step son James V's Scottish kingdom in 1525 (see the Battle of Melrose under https://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2022/12/cleanse-causeway-edinburgh-1520.html)  and held onto the reins of power even when challenged by force in the field as demonstrated at Linlithgow Bridge in 1526 (https://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2023/03/linlithgow-bridge-1526.html). Despite his military success Douglas was unable to maintain his position permanently and the young King finally escaped from Douglas in 1528 and headed to Stirling. Douglas was attainted and the King and his mother, Margaret Tudor, who was also Douglas's ex-wife, banished him to the north of the River Spey. Douglas ignored this and instead left Edinburgh for his stronghold at Tantallon from where he could easily journey to England to stir up trouble for James and Margaret south of the border.

Seen as a centre of Douglas power Tantallon, , or "Temtalloune" as Douglas calls it in the letter below,  was besieged by James V on 28 October 1528. Douglas himself was not in the fortress which was commanded by one of his men Simon Penango. Borrowing guns and, according to Douglas, assisted by troops from Dunbar castle, which was being held by a French garrison of the Duke of Albany, James bombarded Tantallon for twenty days but was prevented from doing any real damage to it by the deep outer ditch and defensive works. Unable to make any progress James V lifted the siege and returned to Edinburgh, leaving the guns, which took longer to move, with a force of infantry and cavalry, "ane hand of fut menne and ane cumpany of horss menne to convoy hame the artaillierie", under the command a captain named David Falconer. Ever confident of his military abilities this gave Douglas a chance to counterattack and as the guns slowly began to make their way back to the Scottish capital he attacked the Royal Artillery train at night with a fast moving mounted force of one hundred and sixty of his followers or in Douglas's own words "wele horssit menne of myn awin, to noumer of aucht score" . In the fight that followed David Falconer was killed and the guns captured along with other prisoners.

Douglas recounted the event in a letter to his English ally at the time, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. If you have found the excerpts from Hall's Chronicle tricky to read, try some of Douglas's letter. I have included the whole letter as it is only three sentences long:

"My Lord, in my maist hertly manere I commend me unto your gud lordschip and to certify the sammyn of such novelles as occuris here. Emplesit your lordship, call to rememberance how the King my master assemblit his army the xxiii day of October last hipast, notwithstanding the tender and speciall lettrez the Kingis hienes of Eingland directit to his grace in favouris of me, and incontrar the said convocacioune or asseigeing of my houss of Temtalloune, at the quhilk he and his army, with artaillierie of his awin and of Domhar Castell in greit quantite has lyne and assiegit rycht scharply baithe he gunnis and inginiouss menne, baithe Scottis and Frenche, that myndit the wallis in such sort that as can he rememberit, thare was nevir sa mekill pane, travell, expensis, and diligence done and maid for the wynnyng of ane houss and the sammyn escaip in Scotland sen it was first inhabit; and apone Weddynnsday, the ferde of November the King removit to Edinbrurght, bot xvi mylis fra Temtalloune, and left ane hand of fut menne and ane cumpany of horss menne to convoy hame the artaillierie; and that sammyn Weddynnisday, at nycht I, and part of wele horssit menne of myn awin, to noumer of aucht score, and levit the lave of my folkis behynd me at Temtalloune, followit in efter thame, and a litill eftir the mone rysing or it was day, set upone thame, and has defait thame all, loving to God, haithe horss menne and fut menne, and slane David Falkconer, principall capitane of the fut menne, the best man of wer in Scotland on the sey, and was takin be Einglismenne nocht land ago; and I have takin aneuther capitane of the fut menne, and has him in firmance; and also I tuk the maister of the artaillie, and wane all the sammyn, and had baithe menne and artaillierie all in my will and dangare; bot becauss the King my maister is sa neir of blud to the Kingis hienes of Eingland, that has done sa mekill for me, and sa gud and graciouss prince to me, and mekill the better he your solicitacioune; I wald nocht dishonour the King here sa fer as to hald his artaillie bot convoyit the sammyn my selff quhill it was furthe of danger and sufferit the maister of artaillie to pas, and prayit him to commend my lauly service unto my soverane, and to schew his grace that I have bene trew servand and subiect to the sammyn, and that I gave his grace na wyte of ocht that was done to me, bot to the evill avisit personis about his grace nocht worthy thereto, and had done sich dishonour to him at this tyme thai mycht nevir amend it, and I had plesit put it to executioune, My Lord, thir premissis ar of verite, and howbeit I mycht have ane way and appoyntment, I will do na thing therein bot be the ordinance of the Kingis hienes of Eingland and the aviss of your lordschip, and hes writtin presently to the Kingis hienes to send command to the Commissionaris nocht to tac na trewis nor paex without I and my frendis be restorit to our heritagis, benefices, offices, rumys and possesssiouns, and his grace abyding thereat, I knaw perfit all wilbe as his hienes will have it. And forther, in every behalff my brother your servand cann informe your lordschip, quhame God conserve eternaly, writtin at Coldingham Abbay this Setterday.

Yours 

Ard, Erl off Anguss"

In the moonlight David Falconer, "principall capitane of the fut menne, the best man of wer in Scotland" leads James Vs guns back to Edinburgh from the failed siege of Tantallon accompanied by "ane hand of fut menne and ane cumpany of horss menne to convoy hame the artaillierie".

Scenario

This scenario was centred around Douglas's mounted attack in the moonlight on the artillery convoy as it struggled to make it's way back through the night to Edinburgh, accompanied by some Scots and French troops under the leadership of David Falconer. At the start of the game the artillery convoy was placed on the table up to 20" from the table edge (see the photo above).

"to convoy hame the artaillierie"

Two large guns accompanied the convoy which were each placed with a foot or mounted unit. These units could move a maximum of 6" per turn and would loose the gun if they were defeated in combat or battered. They could not attack or skirmish but could shoot whilst they had the gun. Units could pick up the "lost" guns by moving into base to base contact with them. A unit was then considered to have picked up the gun and could move with it. The guns could be picked up by both Douglas or Royal units. If a Royal unit reached the edge of the table it was headed for it could leave with the gun as could a Douglas unit if it stole a gun.

"followit in efter thame"

Douglas's retinue started off the table and could arrive on either side of the table to the artillery convoy or from behind it. The Douglas player had to write down which units would arrive from which table edge at the start of the game. The units could arrive via move activations only. Units could not shoot, attack or skirmish on the turn they arrived.

Victory points

Victory in the game was based on victory points which were awarded as follows:

Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus:

One point for each gun captured

One point if David Falconer was killed or routed

David Falconer and the Royal Artillery:

One point for each gun that reached the other end of the table safely

Two points if Douglas was killed or routed

As the horsemen leading the convoy pass through a small hamlet they sense something is wrong as they hear the sound of other horsemen approaching...

...the night is light enough for them to make out the Douglas banner as the Earl of Angus and his "wele horssit menne" appear on the crest of a hill.

The Armies

Stuart chose to play as the Royalist force under David Falconer in this game so I planned the ambush in charge of Douglas's horsemen.

Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus and his "wele horssit menne"

5 Units of Demilances (1 unit includes Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus - retinue leader)

4 Units of Border Horse 

David Facloner the royal artillery and "ane hand of fut menne and ane cumpany of horss menne"

1 Unit of Foot Knights (David Falconer - retinue leader)

3 Units of Scots Pike

1 Unit of French Men at Arms from the garrison of Dunbar

1 Unit of French Crossbowmen/Shot from the garrison of Dunbar

1 Unit of Demilances

1 Unit of Border Horse

2 Units of Arquebusiers

A brief write up of the ambush follows. The photos have a lot of shadows in them as we were trying to recreate the effect of this being an ambush that took place "a litill eftir the mone rysing".

Douglas's calvary attack the cavalry at the head of the column and defeat them.

The front gun is vulnerable and the men accompanying it panic and flee in the night.

As the convoy of Royal gun's struggled on in the moonlight the horsemen at the head of the convoy thought they could hear horses in the distance, despite all the noise made by the artillery wagons, marching soldiers and their own horses. With horror they saw horsemen silhouetted on the crest of a hill to their left. Moments later they were under attack as Douglas's horsemen descended on them, causing them to flee into the night.

The next unit in the column of Royal troops panicked and fled as they came under attack from skirmishing border horsemen. They abandoned the artillery wagon and gun that they had been escorting allowing Douglas's retainers to capture it. As the Douglas troops prepared to secure the gun they were charged by a troop of French men at arms. The gun in question had been one of those borrowed from Albany's French garrison of Dunbar Castle and they were determined to not let it fall into Douglas's hands. The French men at arms crashed through the Douglas horsemen only to then be countercharged by the Earl of Angus himself. With his heavily armoured personal bodyguard Archibald Douglas joined the battle and sent the French men at arms fleeing back to Dunbar.

A view of the table. The ambush has been sprung with the main attack falling on the gun column's left flank.

Douglas's borderers prick at the columns left flank in an attempt to find a weakness to exploit.

Under the command of David Falconer James V's troops put up a good defence. The arquebusiers drive off some of the harrying attacks of Douglas's borderers.

The abandoned front gun is seized by Douglas's armoured retainers. The retainers are then charged by a band of French men at arms, troops from the garrison of Dunbar castle in the employ of the Duke of Albany. Douglas men are defeated and flee.

Seeing this fight around the gun develop Douglas himself charges into the fight, driving the French troops back...

...and allowing a band of his border horsemen to seize the gun.

With the French put to flight Douglas ordered a group of his borderers to seize the abandoned artillery wagon and take the gun back to Tantallon, the castle it was being used to attack only days earlier. He had successfully halted the column of Royal troops but had now lost the element of surprise. His borderers continued to press skirmishing attacks but the arquebusiers, both Scots and French, that had been assigned to defend the artillery train did a good job of keeping them at bay and preventing them from pushing home any attack.

Knowing that David Falconer. "principall capitane of the fut menne, the best man of wer in Scotland" was keeping the artillery train in good order Douglas ordered his armoured retainers to charge his banner in an attempt to kill or capture him and thus break the column. Supported by his pikemen Falconer easily saw off the attack ordering some of his arquebusiers to advance in an attempt to shoot the Earl of Angus. This attack also failed with Douglas charging the arquebusiers and sending them fleeing back to the shelter of the Scots pike blocks. Unable to break the rest of the artillery train Douglas had the retreat sounded. As his horsemen rode off into the darkness he would have to be content that he had captured one of the artillery pieces used to batter his home. As the artillery train began to move again and headed towards Edinburgh it was clear the ambush had ended in a stalemate.

As the ambush develops David Falconer is attacked but supported by his infantry the attack is driven off.

Falconer sends a group of arquebusiers in pursuit of Douglas but the Earl charges and defeats them. Douglas is forced to retreat having taken one of the guns. Falconer restores order in the column of Royal troops and they continue the march through the night back to Edinburgh.

The attack on Norham was a real spectacle and a lot of fun to play. My castle worked well on Stuart's superb terrain, at times it felt like we were gaming in a diorama instead of on a wargames table! I scored victory points for having the first unit through the western gate, through the breach and to reach the keep gate whilst Stuart scored points for having the first unit to scale the walls and for taking both of the English guns. Neither of our retinue leaders fell and both of us were denied the chance to kill or capture John Anislow as he rolled a blunder for an activation which resulted in him retreating two full moves and thus off the table! In the end it did come down to the two guns and I just managed to hit the walls more times than Stuart so won by two points. It was a great debut game for Stuart's Scottish heavy guns. Not only did they look great firing on the walls from their gun emplacements but in the end who won or lost the game depended on them.

I really enjoyed planning the ambush in the second game although I was unable to successfully break up the advancing column it was a lot of fun trying. Both Stuart and myself made efforts to pick off the opposing retinue leader but it was just not to be so the game ended in a draw. As always the games gave us lots of ideas for future clashes on the table in the new year.