Orders of battle, 1st draft

After some research, i have managed to get a basic idea of the forces involved and what i'll been for the Battle.

So, let's start from the top...

The Battle pitted Edward and his men against the forces of Owen and Jasper Tudor. From some reading and  educated guesses, i've got the compositions of the armies for my game. Sort of.

Remember this is just my interpretation, so don't use what i say to justify a scholarly discussion. :D

Edward had around 5000 men, drawn from the Welsh Marches. He was also accompanied by Sir William Herbert (founder of Raglan Castle), John Tuchet (Lord Audley, son of the man of the same name killed at Blore Heath), Lord Grey of Wilton and Humphrey Stafford.

Owen and Jasper Tudor had less men than Edward, perhaps 1000 men less, and were accompanied by James Butler, Earl of Ormond who led a force of Irish, and some French and Breton mercenaries. The force is described being less experienced than Edwards force.

And, er... that's all the sources give us (and even there i've chosen the numbers as nothing solid remains). So what follows are my own ideas.

First let's deal with Edward's force. His force is described as being more experienced than the Lancastrian force, perhaps suggesting a large number of followers and their retinues. There was some militia in the force, but given the number of names of important men present at the battle i'm guessing the force has a decent amount of good soldiers (retainers).
Owen's force, however, is mostly composed of Welsh militia men, probably based around the retinues of Owen, Jasper and Ormond. Ormond also has some mercenaries, which might be of average or good quality.  Although being Welsh, i really doubt that the Welsh still fought like they did earlier in the era, with spears and daggers and whatnot. Although spears might be used instead of other polearms, i think that most would have fought like the English, ie in bodies of close foot. Being militia though, they wouldn't have had any training so might have fought in a rough, almost open formation (at Bosworth, the Earl of Oxford ordered his men to stay within 10 yards of their banners).

Time for numbers, ratios and how many little men i'm going to have to paint. I've done a couple of 'orders of battle', rather basic for the moment but it's a start. I'm using the Dux Bellorum rules, with a base representing around 200 men.

The Lancastrians
Central battle: Led by Jasper Tudor, around 1500 men (8 bases).
1 Men-at-arms base, 2 'retinue' archer bases, 2 militia archer bases, 3 militia archer bases
Mostly Pembroke militia, with the retainers being from Jasper's personal retinue. He is described as being an adventurer, so maybe i'll swap a militia base for a base of retainers.

Right battle: Led by Owen Tudor, around 1250 men (7 bases).
1 Men-at-arms base, 1 mounted men-at-arms or pricklers base (on the flank), 1 'retinue' archer base, 2 militia archer bases, 2 militia bases
Again, mostly militia with some cavalry on the flank (not sure if they existed but why not?)

Left battle: Led by Ormond, around 1250 men (7 bases).
1 Men-at-arms base, 1 Irish light horse base, 1/2 Irish foot bases, 1 'retinue' archer base, 2 or 3 mercenary crossbowmen bases.
Ormond has his personal retinue with him, English is style with perhaps a few gallowglaich thrown into his men-at-arms. The Irish foot are tricky; many Irish still fought as kerns with darts and javelins, but mentions of polearms, swords, shields and bows are mentioned in later documents. So these will be a mix of men armed with some javelins but ready to get stuck in with their melee weapons.
The mercenaries are armed with crossbows, both the Bretons and the French.


The Yorkists
Central battle: Led by Edward, around 2000 men (10 bases).
2 men-at-arms bases, 2 'retainer' archer bases, 1 'retinue billmen' base, 2 militia archer bases, 2 militia bases, 1 mounted men-at-arms/prickler base (reserve)

Right battle: Led by ?, around 1500 men (8 bases).
1 men-at-arms base,2 'retinue' archer bases, 2 militia archer bases, 3 militia bases

Left battle: Led by ?, around 1500 men (8 bases).
1 men-at-arms base, 1 'retinue' archer base, 2 militia archer bases, 3 militia bases, 1 mounted men-at-arms/prickler base (reserve)

I will find a suitable commander for the above battles, there were plenty of them present so i guess the most powerful got the commands.
If i put 6 men on every base, i will need a total of 270 figures. I already have around 150, so not an insurmountable task! Some things need revising though, mostly the Irish as if they fought in loose groups, i should include more bases as each base would represent less men. Should there be a few more archer bases? And the million dollar question, what colour are the livery coats?
But that's for another post.

Any suggestions are gladly welcome!