Battle of Hastings Midgard Game

 

Normans advance

Opposite end

Anglo-Dane javelin men attempt
to protect the flanks

Norman archers and crossbowmen
advance into the killing zone

Breton milites under Count Alan
launch a Thunderous Charge

Breton milites disengage

Bishop Odo urges on the infantry

Last Tuesday afternoon Craig and Garry came over to my place and we played a Battle of Hastings Midgard game out in the shed. Craig commanded the Anglo-Danes and Garry and I commanded the Normans, the armies were 500 points each. Rob and Andrew dropped in briefly as well. This turned out to be a very close and hard fought game which could have gone either way right up until the final turn. The Normans advanced and tried to wear the Anglo-Danes down with bow and crossbow fire before launching their cavalry charges. This had limited success and the Normans were forced to charge early with the cavalry to avoid being shot up by the Anglo-Dane skirmishers.

The Anglo-Dane huscarls and even the fyrd were a tough proposition with all the supporting units they had on the hill and the milites were forced to disengage and try their luck on the left flank. The early milites' charges gave the Normans a buffer of reputation tokens as heroes and units receive additional tokens for charging into combat. This was quickly diminished as Anglo-Danes charged down off the hill and broke Norman archer, crossbowmen and spearmen units. In the end the Normans managed to hang in there on the right flank, while William's milites on the left flank were able to destroy some Anglo-Dane skirmishers and half strength units to finish the game.

Anglo-Dane fyrd charge off the hill
Norman pueri counter charge

Breton and Norman milites try
their luck on the left flank

Anglo-Danes charge down off the hill
and break Norman infantry units

William's milites line up a charge on
slingers and a fyrd unit behind them

William's milites line up a charge on a
half strength fyrd unit on the hill

Count Alan's half strength milites support them,
only three units on the Norman left flank have survived

Anglo-Danes lose their final reputation token,
Normans win a hard fought game.