100 YW English - Britain

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Historical Overview Section

The Hundred Years' War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans) was a conflict between France and England lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453 fought over claims by the English kings to the French throne. It finally ended in the expulsion of the English from France, with the exception of the Calais Pale. Many other European conflicts can be linked to the war. Militarily, it saw the introduction of new weapons and tactics, which eroded the older system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. The first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire were introduced for the war, thus changing the role of the peasantry.

This list covers battles against the Scots during the 100YW period.

User-contributed links about this army:

Tips on Using Longbow Armies

  • Your aim with this army is to shoot as much as possible. Make sure you get your long range shot and 2 more at short range.

LBw to the front in 8’s, with small 4s of billmen set 4-5" back from the LB line give rear support with limited risk. And can often get back any victorious Kn who do break through. Armoured ones are good enough.

  • Units of 6 LB are slightly more manoeuvrable, but they suffer as only 1 base out of 3 shoots from a rear rank. Never forget that your billmen and men at arms can interpenetrate your LB.
  • Adding a General when charged means for the Longbow men the rerolls on both shooting and melee dice will make the difference. If you are charged by knights and LBw can disrupt them by shooting you should win the impact with 12 dice vs 6. If not, you still have a decent chance to bounce knights even without stakes.
  • Stakes are a beginners safety net, but they makes you immobile. Make sure the longbow men are drilled and have a commander with them when you want to emplace the stakes (Assuming you don't do so until the enemy mounted are in bow - and hence probably charge - range)! Lack of them can lead to some nervous moments if your LB are charged by mounted in the open, but a General with rear support should address that just as well. Stakes are expensive for what you get - remember foot ignore them as well. Stakes make you near invincible vs Knights & mounted - but everyone knows that and so only a knave or a varlet will attack you while on a horse when you are carrying them.
  • The dismounted knights act as bastions of strength between the longbow units, spreading casualties over more units, and even if you lose at impact they can mean that you've got a better chance of winning in melee.
  • If you are disrupted by charging knights after melee they won't bounce, so you'll have a chance to slog it out in a long combat, which is going to be tough.
  • The best way to beat knights is to kill an element so they take (if they're run in 4's) -1 on CT’s for 25% losses, and this stands for every test. With 10-12 dice at Impact (including shooting) and a general in the front rank you'll likely get 3-4 hits, which means even if the knights win, hey lose a base a 1 or maybe a 2, which is a very bad thing for them.
  • At 800 pts use three/4 generals IC/FC, +TCs. For 600 pts use two generals, TC/FC, TC

Even though the LB are swordsmen, they don’t want to be in combat – they can win most shooting battles anyway, at far less risk to themselves.

  • Try to get as much Uneven and Rough down as you can, as LB move through it normally but Knights and HF don't like it.

Tournament Results

7 / 14 SA02 100 Years War English (Britain) Northern League 2008 R4 (open)
(check other 100YW armies as results published by comp organisers may omit the precide classification)

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures suitable for Late Medieval Armies

You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site

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Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army

800AP version - seize the initiative?

  • 10 base widths of Field Fortifications
  • 4 LH Pr/Avg/UnDr/Lance-Sword
  • 6 Cv Pr/Poor/UnDr/Sword - dismount as MF Pr/Avg/UnDr/DefSp
  • 4 HF Pr/Poor/UnDr/DefSp
  • 4 HF Pr/Poor/UnDr/HvyWpn
  • 8 MF Pr/Avg/Dr/LB-Sword
  • 8 MF Pr/Avg/Dr/LB-Sword
  • 4 HF HvArm/Avg/UnDr/HvyWpn
  • 8 MF Pr/Avg/UnDr/LB-Sword
  • 4 HF HvArm/Avg/UnDr/HvyWpn
  • 4 MF UnPr/Avg/UnDr/LB-Sword
  • 8 MF Pr/Avg/UnDr/LB-Sword
  • 8 MF UnPr/Poor/UnDr/LB-Sword
  • 8 MF UnPr/Poor/UnDr/LB-Sword
  • 4 HF HvArm/Avg/UnDr/HvyWpn
  • CinC IC, 2 Sub TC

800 AP, 14 BG, +3 PBI
All these longbowmen would like the initiative in order to obtain favorable terrain, supplement that with the use of Field Fortifications (that they do not necessarily remain behind), and react to enemy deployment. Poor quality LB are suitable to oppose enemy LF and LH and some non-shock troops. They should have rear support as possible.

Poor-tastic list from Julian Lopez Hundred Year's War (Britain):

  • 4xTC
  • 1 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 2 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 3 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 4 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 5 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 6 Town & Country Longbowmen 8xMF Unprotected Poor Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 7 Hobilars 4xCV Protected Poor Drilled Swordsmen
  • 8 Town & Country Billmen 6XHF Protected Poor Undrilled Heavy Weapon
  • 9 Experienced Longbowmen 6xMF Protected Average Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 10 Experienced Longbowmen 6xMF Protected Average Undrilled Longbow Swordsmen
  • 11 Retinue Billmen 6xHF Armoured Average Undrilled Heavy Weapon
  • 12 Retinue Billmen 6xHF Armoured Average Undrilled Heavy Weapon
  • 13 Men-at-arms 4xHF Armoured Superior Undrilled Heavy Weapon
  • 14 Northern Border Horse 4xLH Protected Average Undrilled Lance Swordsmen
  • 15 Northern Border Spearmen 8xHF Protected Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen
  • 16 Northern Border Spearmen 8xHF Protected Average Undrilled Defensive Spearmen


To make the list less fun and more effective I would get rid of the Town & Country Billmen and upgrade both Northern Border Spearmen BGs to average and one Town & Country Longbowmen BG to protected. Still huge but just that bit more reliable where it counts.

Deployment:
Experienced Longbowmen in the centre, Town & Country split between each wings and the billmen behind them wherever most suitable. Most opponents will concentrate on one flank so place the Border Horse opposite it to delay it long enough to swing you other wing towards the centre. The Hobilars just hang around at the back to provide rear support and as a mobile reserve. Remember to deploy your longbowmen 22cm from the long table edge so you can put the spearmen in front of them opposite enemy shock mounted. Works every time. The LH are absolutely key. Without them to delay the enemy's attacking wing (could also be his entire army) you just won't have enough time to get your other flank to come to the rescue and the army list no longer makes any sense. If you're going to take it on the chin with no fooling around on the flanks you may as well go for better quality foot in the first place. This list needs to get all 60 longbowmen shooting at some point to stand a chance.


Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

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