December 31, 2025 Andy Hobday

The Barons’ War: King John – Crowns in Conflict: England, France and the Angevin Struggle

As The Barons’ War: King John draws ever closer, we want to step back and look at the great scenic backdrop to the drama: the long, bitter conflict between England and France. This struggle shaped not only King John’s reign, but the entire world that our new supplement brings to the tabletop.

John inherited more than a crown from his brother Richard. He also inherited a formidable enemy in Philip II “Augustus”, king of France. Their rivalry had been years in the making. When Richard returned from the Third Crusade in 1192, Philip immediately began plotting to seize territory along the contested border between France and Normandy. Open war soon followed, and in one of history’s more delicious ironies, John himself, then count of Mortain and earl of Gloucester, initially fought on the French side.

Richard’s capture and ransom in 1194 drained England’s coffers, but once free he spent the next five years relentlessly reconquering Normandy. His death in 1199 brought John to the throne of England and Normandy, along with the unresolved feud with Philip. Although the two kings made peace in 1200, it proved fragile. Many nobles in Anjou and Brittany favoured John’s nephew Arthur as their overlord, and Philip was only too happy to support them with arms.

Arthur’s mysterious disappearance from Rouen castle in 1203, followed by widely believed accusations that John had murdered him in a drunken rage, fatally undermined support for the English king. When Philip invaded Normandy in 1203–4, local magnates offered little resistance. The fighting was largely left to English barons and paid mercenaries. The fall of Richard’s great fortress of Château Gaillard in March 1204 marked the end. John returned to England, supposedly to gather reinforcements, but by summer Normandy, Anjou and Brittany had accepted Philip’s rule.

For the rest of his reign, John struggled to defend Aquitaine and Gascony, his last continental possessions, and to reclaim the lost Angevin inheritance. This obsession passed to his successors, occupying Henry III, Edward I and Edward II, and eventually spilling into what we now call the Hundred Years’ War. England’s barons, however, had largely made their peace with the loss of their overseas lands. Few felt any personal investment in the king’s cause, and most would only fight if paid. That, of course, required money. A great deal of money.

The tragedy is that England and France had much in common and might, under different circumstances, have been natural allies. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the dukes of Normandy were loyal supporters of the French crown. Everything changed with the rise of Henry II. By 1154 he ruled an enormous patchwork of territories as duke of Normandy, count of Anjou, Le Mans and Poitiers, and king of England. This vast power bloc worried the French kings, but it was Henry’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, fresh from her separation from King Louis VII of France, that guaranteed lasting hostility.

All of this history feeds directly into King John on the tabletop. The book allows you to recreate the fighting for Normandy using an amended Feudal European retinue list. The troop profiles will be familiar from The Barons’ War rulebook, but we have taken the opportunity to tidy up equipment options drawn from the excellent Wargames Atlantic plastic kits. More importantly, the purchasable Abilities from the rulebook are now available to every retinue in King John, with the Feudal European list gaining its own selection of retinue-specific Abilities. This gives you complete freedom to theme forces around England or France, while retaining all the flexibility players expect.

Both John and Philip relied heavily on paid soldiers, so King John also introduces a fully fledged Mercenary retinue. This expands an option first seen in Death and Taxes (a supplement for version one) into a list in its own right. Mercenaries were professionals, reliable and hard-fighting, provided you could afford them. If you like the idea of a force of seasoned serjeants led by a low-born but battle-hardened capitano, this is your list, and a perfect excuse to add more Wargames Atlantic kits to your collection. Mercenaries are not required to include any Green troops, allowing you to field an elite retinue if you wish, though you can still bulk out your force with bowmen, cutthroats and cheap but unruly bandits.

Mercenary companies came from across Europe and often reflected the martial traditions of their homelands. To represent this, Mercenary retinues can purchase an additional Ability to model the ferocious Brabançons, the disciplined Flemish or the tough, aggressive Gascons. While this costs points, it counts as an extra inherent Ability, leaving you free to further customise your warriors.

The war between England and France is more than background colour. It is the engine that drives King John’s story, and now it is ready to drive your games as well.

New to The Barons' War? Check out the Starter Box set here.