Today's big Dark Age game, the final game of our 1066 trilogy, the one and only Battle of Hastings. Played using the Mortem et Gloriam rules with about 1,000 28mm scale minis (approx 30,000 points per side) on a 12'x6' table.
A pretty traditional set up with the Anglo Saxons deployed on top of Senlac hill blocking the London Road and just slightly down on the number of Huscarls they had available following casualties from the earlier games. They did though have a steady trickle of fyrd re-enforcements coming on during the game.
On the Anglo Saxon side Jon Keeling took the role of Harold Godwinson while John Bland and Rob Hutton took on the roles of the other two Godwinson brothers Leofwine and Gyrth.
On the Norman side your's truly took on the role of Duke William whilst Mark Betts and Simon Dunsterville took on the roles of Alan Fergant with the Bretons and William fitz Osbern with the Franks and Lombards.
There were a number of scenario specific rules in play in the game, and aside from the usual MeG army break points the Anglo Saxons could win the game by keeping hold of the London Road whilst the Normans could win by killing all 3 Godwinson brothers.
The Normans, Bretons and Franks advanced quickly to the Anglo Saxon positions and fairly rapidly dispatched the few Anglo Saxon archers and slingers with their own archers. They then set about trying to entice the Anglo Saxons down off the hill. The Bretons using their feigned flight ability and light cavalry units, The Norman's with their archers interspersed with cavalry charges that broke off and then charged again, and the Franks with their archers plus trying to apply pressure to turn the Anglo Saxon left flank.
It was at this point that things started to unravel for the Normans. The Breton feigned flight unit was caught and wiped out and the Anglo Saxons decided to move decisively and together against the Norman archers and foot units that were peppering them with arrows. The Anglo Saxon Huscarls and Select Fyrd were too good for the Norman infantry, that the archers fell back behind when they were charged. Soon the Breton and Norman Pedites and dismounted Milites started to break under the pressure. However it was against the Franks that the Anglo Saxons had the most stunning success with some truly spectacular dice rolls from John Bland, he broke unit after unit of Frank and Lombard infantry and the repeated cry went up "Where's Bishop Odo?".
Our scenario rules included a special rally ability for Bishop Odo and Duke William. Basically Odo, though he had his own small command, spent most of the game charging around the Norman rear giving routing units a "stern talking to" and benefiting them with a reverse KAB test to try and put them back in the fight. It worked and several routing units were turned round and fed back into the fight which probably prevented the Normans from breaking completely.
Despite a few isolated successes the Normans were being pushed back. The Anglo Saxons were at least temporarily off the hill now, so the Norman side chanced their arm with their heavy cavalry and hit them before they could reverse back up the slopes of Senlac hill. Despite repeated charges and break offs, even throwing William's body guard against Harold's in an attempt to decapitate the Anglo Saxon command, they were never able to get in behind the Huscarl and Select Fyrd shield wall due to the steady stream of Great Fyrd units backing them up and protecting their flanks.
With the light fading both in game terms and in real life we called the game at that point.
It was a scenario win for the Anglo Saxons having seen off the Norman attacks and still being in control of the London Road.
Many thanks to Jon for providing ALL the figures for the game. Despite yet again being on the losing side, the game was never the less great fun.
I've attached the scenario details here in case anyone is interested in finding out more about how we approached the game.
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