Battle of Hastings 1066AD

Having completed my Norman and Saxon armies,in preparation for a display game at Shildon in October (16th-two days after the actual anniversary!) I decided to put the armies on the board and have a go at recreating the battle.
As there was only three of us,Paul and Brian elected to be the Saxons,under King Harold,and I was to be Duke William commanding the Normans.-what a game it turned out to be!!

The scenario and table before any movement are shown in the two photo's-we played on a light green cloth,as we will play the game at Shildon,and all of the figures are from Warrior Miniatures Saxon and Norman range,apart from a few Norman archers which are from their "El Cid" range.

A splendid line of Norman infantry await the order to advance,closely supported by Knights.

Another view of the Norman line.

An equally splendid line of Saxon Huscarls stand on top of Senlac Hill awaiting the Norman attack.

The attack begins-I ordered the Bretons on my left flank and the "French" on my right to advance quickly,whilst the Normans in the centre were to advance at a much slower pace.

The Bretons cross the brook-I had deliberately made the fighting and morale points low for the flank troops,hoping to simulate them getting beaten in melee,and falling back,hopefully to be chased by the Saxon Fyrd(also stationed on each flank) as per the actual battle-and it worked!

My right flank "French" were first to make contact,cutting into the Fyrd like a knife through butter!!But then the Fyrd fought back and forced a morale test,which the "French" failed and retired(it's good being retired) chased hotly by the Saxons,down into the valley,where the Norman cavalry were waiting-hurrah!!!

A move later and the Bretons have made contact,the same thing happening on this flank as happened on the other-history repeating itself!!

Now the Norman foot have made contact-this was not going to be easy as I had made the Huscarls very high in fighting and morale points,but had earlier caused a few casualties with archery-note I am massing all of my archers in the centre,in readiness to take off furhter casualties.

The Fyrd have chased my "French" troops,and have,themselves,been caught!!-hurrah!!
Meanwhile the central battle goes on,but previous casualties are now telling and the Saxon Huscarls are losing a couple of melees.

This shows my right flank,with my cavalry about to destroy the Fyrd.But what of the other flank?

With my Infantry in dis-array,I thought a quick cavalry charge would discomfort the Fyrd still on the hill-wrong!! they stood and drove the cavalry back-this isn't in the script!!!

My archers are now in place,I will order the infantry to retire(it's good being retired) and let the archers do their work,then charge home with the bulk of the cavalry-job's a good'un!!

My central infantry are retiring in this shot-the archers managed to just get enough casualties off the Huscarls to force them into testing morale,and the end two units failed-hurrah!!-time for a cavalry assault upon the hill.

One last photo-the cavalry are just about to deliver the "coup de grace" upon the Saxons.
This was a great game,full of excitement,colour and tension,and the gaming outcome mirrored the historical outcome,which was very gratifying.Well done to Paul and Brian,and roll on Sunday,probably an Ancients game,if I can come up with a scenario!