War of the Thorns Battle of Honey Knob Hill

21 August 1471: Edward of Westminster forges an alliance with the Scots and fails in his bid for revenge against Edward IV.

Where things diverge:
You thought it was amazing that young Edward survived at Tewkesbury? Somehow the young prince managed to get James III and John of Islay to reconcile their differences. Convincing that Edward IV didn't care for them or their interests was a contributing factor, and the young prince offered favourable terms with estates and trade should they fight for the Lancastrian cause.

The defection of the Duke of Brittany to the Yorkist cause is not one that's fully understood at this time, particularly given the presence of German troops, but may be that Francis II is moving against Louis XI. Edward IV has an alliance with Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold. War between Louis and Charles would break out in 1472.

In the afternoon we played a BBDBA game, with the sides being (left flank, centre, right flank):

Karsten (Y) - Diether von Isenburg, with a German mercenary army (IV/13c)

Daniel (Y) - Edward IV of England (IV/83a)

Django (Y) - Francis II, Duke of Brittany (IV/8)

Peter (L) - Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (IV/83a)
Lyle (L) - John of Islay, Earl of Ross (III/78 )
Stephen (L) - James III of Scotland (IV/16)

The events were chaotic, with myself being destroyed by Stephen's Scots fairly quickly after a futile charge, and then the rest fo the armies breaking in turn.

In the end only one was left standing, I can't remember if it was Lyle or Django - but the first time I've played BBDBA with 6 players - there's not much room to site and play when you're that close to one another.

And a plague is stalking the land, with most of us working from home now. Let's see how long this will last.