Hastings 1066

I've been a bit slack in getting this post written up but here is my account of a truly epic days wargaming courtesy of Eric the Shed's grand Hastings game which took place a couple of weeks ago.

All the details (and there are a lot of them!) can be found at Eric's blog... here.  There is a full explanation of the set up of the terrain as well as the adaptations made to Hail Caesar including special event cards that both sides took great delight in playing at key moments.

The table was played on a 3.5 x 2m table built on boards that had been bolted together with a deceptively steep slope to the north which was where Harold was making his stand

This was a rare all day game making full use of over 1000 figures that Eric has been painting up over the last year.  I'm very chuffed with myself if I can get enough figures painted for a skirmish game so this is really impressive.  The day began with a very well-received bacon roll before we began planning our tactics.  Along with Steve and Glen, I was on the Norman side and had the honour of holding the centre as William and Bishop Odo. 

The full table length...Normans on the left

Our plan was a relatively simple one.  Hold back the Saxons on our left while the centre and right commands cut off the hill and kill Harold.

The view looking up towards the hill

On the Norman right

...and on our left

As usual our plans didn't quite go as expected.  On our left Steve did a sterling job, tying up the Saxons while Glen on the right pushed forward and drove into the Saxon left.  The Saxon dice throwing at this point proved spectacularly bad and Glen was able to drive his opponents right back to their table edge where they did manage to stage a bit of a rally before eventually succumbing

The Normans push ahead on the right

In the centre my advance was much more steady...mainly thanks to unspectacular dice throwing.  In the event this worked in my favour as it meant the Saxon centre couldn't easily assist the flanks.  I tried several times to use the event cards to lure the Saxons off the hill using Feigned Flight but they had clearly been reading their history books and stayed firmly put.

Advancing slowly towards Harold on his hill

Eventually the Saxon centre began to fragment as Glen's attacks on the right forced them to respond, and Harold abandoned the hill and his Huscarles to the safety of the Saxon left flank where they were still intact but now hemmed in.  I decided it was now time to push up the worryingly steep hill and threw everyone forward.  We discovered that Norman knights are incredibly powerful...they cut their way through several Saxon warbands before eventually becoming a bit beat up but they'd done their job...sadly in the course of this Bishop Odo fell leading a cavalry charge.

The advance up the Hill

The final act came as William led his knights up the slope and into the Huscarles who weren't able to stand and broke

The Saxon Huscarles stare down as William and the Norman Knights approach

The table towards the end of the day

So the history books were right and the Saxon line ended at Hastings.  It was a great days gaming with great company (and pizza!).  Despite the very unlucky dice throwing on Harold's side it felt like a close result.  I've only played a couple of games of Hail Caesar but it does give a very good feeling of a real meat-grinding battle with defence in depth adding lots of support.

Many thanks to Eric and to everyone who took part and made it a really fun day.  Now I'm off to knock up a quick tapestry....