PROJECT LEWES

First of all, if I’m going to assemble the 28mm armies at a representative troop scale of 1:20 or less, I’m going to need a definite idea of how many soldiers were present at Lewes in 1264 and that is not so clear cut as you might think. How big were the armies of King Henry III and de Montfort’s rebels? I have almost every reference written on the subject, several online articles, contemporary and close to contemporary chronicles, and I make particular reference to the following: E L Mann The Battle of Lewes (1976) S B Publications David Carpenter The Battles of Lewes & Evesham 1264/65 (1987) British Battlefield Series, Mercia Publications English Heritage Battlefield Report: Lewes 1264 (1995) English Heritage Sir Charles Oman Battle of Lewes from The Art of war in the Middle Ages (1898) Methuen As the Battlefield Report states, chronicles vary in estimations from 15,000 to a total of 100,000 combatants. Not all estimates include all arms but limit themselves to cava...

I began 2010 by submitting a list of project options to the Goulburn Gamers President, my good friend and long term wargaming colleague Matt Williamson. I had dreamt up a fanciful idea that we should undertake a year long project to put on a game which the world has yet to see in miniature wargames as a vehicle to promote the club and the members in it. It remains my belief that the Goulburn Gamers have collectors, model builders, painters and wargamers who produce armies and terrain as good as the best I have seen on-line or in the international journals. It was time to show it off. I a listing of parameters and the battle list ranged across the entire time line of known military history. At the top of that list was the battle of Lewes in 1264 AD. I wanted to do something original in wargaming. I wanted to put on a large scale and particularly famous battle which had an impact on history but more importantly one that had not been put on before. Further, I wanted to present it to t...