'Worst Case Scenario #1': The Combat of the Thirty / Combat des Trente, 1351

I came across a description of this little donnybrook while reading Barbara Tuchman's 'A Distant Mirror' and thought it might be a good scenario for a large, multi-player game.

By 1351 the Hundred Years War was already grinding through its first generation of combatants. The Battle of Crecy (1346) had been an unmitigated disaster for the prestige of French arms and it had placed their nobility on their collective back foot for years afterwards. With the French warrior elite seriously denuded by arrowshafts it allowed bands of mercenary companies (much of them English soldiers unemployed from the King's service) to roam the countryside, raiding and laying waste to large areas of France. 


...

One of these mercenary companies which operated out of Brittany was commanded by Robert Bramborough, an Englishman under the flag of Jean de Montfort, Duke of Brittany. Bramborough's men raided far and wide, particularly making a nuicance of themselves to Jean de Beaumanoir, Governor of nearby Josselin.

Exasperated by Bramborough's shenanigans, de Beaumanoir issued a formal challenge of arms so the matter could be settled by cold steel.  The challenge was taken up and it was agreed that each party would select thirty combatants to meet in open melee in a test of combat. The combat would be fought until one side held the field, either through the death or capture of all of their opponents.

The ground chosen was at an old oak halfway between the two opposing camps ('The Halfway Oak'). The melee lasted for several hours with the contest first favouring the English but swinging to the French when Bramborough himself was killed. The French ultimately won the day but it was a bloody slog - with all the participants being either killed or wounded.  Many of the English-Breton force were captured and held for ransom. 


The Combat became legend during the period, being seen as the pinnacle of chivalric arms, and all those who survived were recognized as celebrities throughout Europe.  Many a battle-scarred veteran of the Thirty was given priority beyond his station at the dining table of lords. Pretty rollicking stuff! 


From what I can gather the majority of the combat was conducted on foot but this did not prevent fighters from mounting up and bash away on horseback as well (supposedly it was how the French ultimately broke the English-Breton group). Missile weapons were conspicuously absent as to these chivalrous men saw them as not being cricket. Other than that pretty everything else was on the menu: sword, axe, mace, lance, the works.

I think this would be a great scenario for a large group with each player getting 5 or so combatants to command. Points could be awarded for kills, woundings and captures (with bonus points for the ransom of higher ranking knights). As its a close-combat skirmish scenario the playing surface could be quite small, I'd say 4' x 4' would be more than enough room for the mayhem. For rules I'm thinking something like GW's 'Lord of the Rings' could be used... Actually, what might be brilliant is a card-driven system like 'Sharp Practice' where each knight gets an activation card and every figure is allowed a couple actions. That way the progression of the turns would be completely random, keeping all the players on their toes. I have a home-brew system called 'Leading Man' that uses a similar mechanism (along with a camera crew to accumulate 'Fame' points) it could be quite good with this scenario (hmm, look out lads!).

I primarily game in 28mm and I know there are several excellent ranges of Hundred Years War figures in that scale. Front Rank, Perry Miniatures and Foundry come quickly to mind. What about other scales? Can someone chip in with what could work in say 15mm and 20mm? I'm thinking that with a bit of liberty regarding the correctness of the armour this could easily be done on the cheap with the current Perry plastics. Just try to use models that don't have too much plate armour or the 'snout' style helmets (which I understand came in later in the period).

Below is the historical list of combatants who took part in The Combat of the Thirty. For some inexplicable reason the chroniclers have the Brits with thirty-one on their roster. Maybe the French were feeling on top of their game and allowed themselves the handicap...

Franco-Breton Force

Knights

Sir Jean de Beaumanoir, Constable of Brittany, Governor of Josselin

Sir Olivier Arrel

Sir Caron de Bosdegas

Sir Geoffroy du Bois

Sir Yves Charruel

Sir Guy de Rochefort

Sir Jean Rouxelot

Sir Robin Raguenel

Sir Huon de Saint-Hugeon

Sir Jean de Tinténiac

Squires

Geoffroy de Beaucorps

Hughes Capus-le-Sage

Olivier de Fontenay

Louis de Goyon

Alain de Keranrais

Guillaume de la Lande

Guillaume de la Marche

Geoffroy de Mellon

Guillaume de Montauban

Olivier de Monteville

Maurice du Parc

Tristan de Pestivien

Guyon de Pontblanc

Geoffroy Poulard

Simonet Pachard

Geoffroy de la Roche

Jean de Serent

Alain de Tinténiac

Maurice de Tréziguify

Geslin de Trésiguidy

Anglo-Breton Force

Knights

Sir Robert Bramborough, Captain of Ploërmel

Sir Robert Knolles

Sir Thomas Billefort

Sir Thomas Walton

Sir Hugh Calveley

Sir Hervé Laxaualan

Sir Richard Lalande

Squires & Men-at-Arms

John Plesington

Richard Gaillard

Hughes Gaillard

Huceton Clemenbean

Hennequin de Guenchamp

Renequin Hérouart

Hennequin Le Mareschal

Raoulet d'Aspremont

Gaultier l'Alemant

Bobinet Melipart

Jean Troussel

Robin Adès

Perrot Gannelon

Guillemin-le-Gaillard

Jennequin Taillard

Rango-le-Couart

Raoul Prévot

Dardaine

Repefort

Croquart the German

Isannay

Dagworth (nephew of Sir Thomas Dagworth)

Helichon

Helecoq

If someone decides to give this a go, or has already done it, please drop a comment and let me know how it played out - I'd love to hear.