14th October-that date is written indelibly on every Englishman's heart-why?
1) 951st anniversary of the Battle of Hastings:
2) Cliff Richard's 77th anniversary!!
Now,which one will we be celebrating?-you've guessed it,HASTINGS!!!
Everyone knows the battle and the outcome,but could we change history?well,last night we tried,and had an exhilarating game to boot!!
This is the map we worked off last night-the "English" out-post troops,are mentioned in only one source,that of Gardiner's School atlas of English History(1904) and I thought I would include them to see how it played.
Very interesting!!!
The game started with Brian and I being the Normans whilst Graham and Paul were the Anglo/Saxons.
I opened proceedings by putting in a half-hearted attack with my light infantry,and then "feigning" a retreat,hoping to lure Graham down the hill-and it worked(eventually!) Paul was a bit disappointed that the shield wall was broken,but shored up the hole from troops in his second line.
As the heavy infantry advanced,William's cavalry stood,just waiting their chance!!
Meanwhile,on Brian's flank,his light troops are advancing(albeit tardily!) trying to lure the Fyrd down the hill,but Paul was having none of it!!
The heavy infantry have made contact,and although the Saxon shield wall had taken casualties from my archers earlier on,they stood their ground and the Normans were repulsed!!
As the heavy infantry stream back down the hill,the cavalry are moving forward into charge range-this is going to be brutal!!!
As the charge goes in,you can see that the Saxons have had to compress their shield wall to compensate for the loss of the Fyrd on both flanks-great stuff!!
Look at that!!-magnificent and stirring wargaming-even with shit,shot and shell coming over the shield wall from the rear troops,the cavalry are winning the melee-will history repeat itself?
YES!!-it's all over,and a hard won victory for the Normans-well done to Brian,Paul and Graham.
Roll on next Sunday-Mongols vs Russians.
