Blood & Roses

About this board game

Blood & Roses is a two-player historical wargame about the battles of England’s Wars of the Roses, with a listed play time of 300 minutes. It covers warfare from 1455 to 1487, when heavily armored men-at-arms fought mostly on foot and gunpowder artillery began appearing in noticeable numbers.

Designed for quick learning and easy play, the game uses short rules and Continual play rather than conventional turns. Players have opportunities to steal play from their opponent, while combat is resolved with a single die roll. Each battle takes about one to two hours according to the publisher’s description, although the enormous Battle of Towton can take considerably longer.

The box includes seven battles, each presenting a different historical challenge:

• 1st St. Albans: Yorkist forces defeat the Lancastrians and capture Henry VI.
• Blore Heath: outnumbered Yorkist infantry rely on longbows and a defensive position.
• 2nd St. Albans: hedges, caltrops, and spiked netting shape a Lancastrian victory.
• Towton: the largest battle in the box, fought amid a blinding snowstorm.
• Barnet: reserves, fog, overlapping wings, and cries of treason affect the battle.
• Tewksbury: extensive hedges and thick underbrush dominate the terrain.
• Bosworth: recreate the best-known battle of the wars and Richard III’s tragic defeat.

Two double-sided 22-by-32-inch maps, 2.5 sheets of counters, a rules booklet, battle book, charts, play aids, and two ten-sided dice provide the battlefield essentials. The maps use a scale of 50 yards per hex, with counters representing 250 infantry and cavalry, 150 handgunners, or several cannons. Blood & Roses brings the heavy casualties and distinctive battlefields of the era to the tabletop.