One this day in 1513 King James IV of Scotland died at the battle of Flodden. This was a battle I had heard about, but never took the time to investigate. I know much more about James VI of Scotland than I know about James IV and from what I can gather after a wee bit of research, James IV was a good king and leader, who might have been very influential in history if he hadn't died 507 years ago.
Source:
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Russel WillsWhat I learned while reading about this battle:
The bill hook, or hooked bill as I also saw it described, gave the English an advantage over the Scottish spearmen. I also learned the Scottish artillery was superior to the English and unfortunately for the Scots, poorly placed, so it didn't effectively contribute to the battle.
I found two interesting videos about the battle. The first is a good account of the battle. I never heard of Baz Battles before and it seems like a good discovery. It is only 10 minutes of your time and worth watching.
The second is a television program from 2002 called Two Men in a Trench. Two archaeologists go to different places to investigate historical events. One episode is about the battle of Flodden. In the program they explain this is the first dig for this battle site. I was surprised to learn it had not been part of a past excavation before then.
I looked for a game and I didn't find anything. I discovered someone used the
advanced Armati rule set for this battle and I'm guessing other miniature rules would work well. I am a bit surprised there wasn't a board game, especially of the print and play variety. Anyone know if a game for this battle exists?