Battle of Hastings (TtS!) 18mm WoFun

Good day folks!

My friend Phil and I broke out the 18mm WoFun Anglo-Saxons (Wessex) and Normans to refight the Battle of Hastings which occurred in the year 1066 AD.  As usual, click on photos to enlarge.

The initial setup from the Anglo-Saxon position.

This was my first attempt to refight this battle and wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but we had a nail-biting good game with lots of ups and downs. We haven't played To the Strongest (TtS!) in a while so I'm sure we made some minor mistakes. Well, we didn't do the ROUT TEST part of the rules so that would have changed things!

Here is the battle report along with some photos. Enjoy!

Battle of Hastings background if you are interested: Battle of Hastings - Wikipedia

Battle of Hastings Special Rules for TtS!

• All Shieldwall units are regular size units, not Deep. 2 Hits each.
• This allows up to two units per square, plus interpenetration of said units.
• Shieldwall still gives to the +1 save modifier to the unit from missile fire.
• Optional Rule: More fyrd militia arriving throughout the day? Draw a chit, on a 9 or 10 another Fyrd Militia unit arrives?  Starting on Turn X? Add to any command within command range of the closes commander. We didn't try this as it was our first playtest.
• Lance is a one-use weapon which enables a unit to play a bonus to-hit card in one melee of their choice. May not reload. Should these units have lances?
• Anglo-Saxon Army – 15 Units – 15 x 2 + 3 x 2 = 36/3 = 12 VP Medals 
• If optional Great Fyrd arrive, add 2 VP medals.
• Norman Army – 20 x 2 + 3 x 2 = 46 / 3 = 15 VP Medals
• All leaders are Heros (chit redraw) and Save on 3+

Battle of Hastings Order of Battle for TtS!

The labels really help and this eliminates the need for roster sheets as all the stats needed are on the label.

Anglo-Saxon Huscarls - per current histories I gave all the Anglo-Saxons "Javelins" or basic missile weapons that they could throw at the Normans as they charged up the hill. The two brown cubes are Javelin ammo. They couldn't replenish their ammo. 

Norman Milites had "lances" they could use for a second attack in an action, represented by these white cubes.

Battle of Hastings Map Setup for TtS!

Units align to the OOB above. I'm making a PowerPoint slide deck of all the battles from the Anglo-Saxon wars (including Vikings).

Battle of Hastings Refight

Phil was playing the Normans, while I was defending Harold's Kingdom! 

The Duke of Normandy's getting spiritual guidance from his half-brother Odo.

Meanwhile, King Harold yells encouragement to his soldiers! He is attached to his Household Bodyguard.

Phil's Norman army advanced while I stoically sat on the high ground waiting his assault. The Norman archers did little or no damage after firing all their arrows, so they withdrew and allowed the Norman spearmen to advance to engage the Anglo-Saxons.

The shield walls collide on the slope of Senlac Hill. The battle raged across the entire front with the Anglo-Saxons repulsing most of the Norman spearmen attacks! The Anglo-Saxon missile fire was fairly effective in blunting the Norman foot assault.

The Duke, frustrated by his infantry's lack of progress, launched his Milites into the fray! They caught several Anglo-Saxon units unprepared.  Orange cubes represent Disorder hits.

My Anglo-Saxon right wing commanded by Leofwine, managed to destroy most of the Breton command under Alan Fergant ("Alan the Red"). This was the left wing of the Norman army. They even killed Alan the Red and rampaged down the hill in triumph!! They Leofwine died in the ensuing scrum!! This part was too exciting and I forgot to take photos. Odo took over the Breton wing, but was also cut down!

Desperate for glory and victory, the Duke charged in the center with his rallied spearmen and milites! He drove towards his prize, King Harold!

The first spearmen hit the King's bodyguard and are repulsed. However, several of his Huscarls were sent packing by the Duke's cavalry!

The Norman cavalry charges the Harold's bodyguard!! A Fyrd unit on Harold's right retires in disorder. Harold crushes the cavalry charge, then charges into the spearmen, also routing them and winning the last of the Victory metals from the Normans!

History has changed! England was saved! Or was it???

Here is the last photo. Harold has just crushed the Normans to his front, but the Duke with a fresh unit Milites is on his flank!! So, had the battle continued for one more turn, the Duke may have wheeled, hit Harold in the flank and overrun him!!! It was a nail-biter!! 

To the Strongest delivered another strong game and this smaller battle really worked well for two players. The Normans had lost two leaders, and seven units (out of 20), while the Anglo-Saxons had lost only 3 and one leader, but many were damaged. Cheers!

Eric

Phil Comes for a Visit - Wargaming in the Holidays

My friend Phil from Charlotte dropped by just after Christmas to drop off a homemade cheesecake (out of this world flavor!) and to do some gaming! This time we did a modest schedule so we wouldn't be exhausted and would have time to complete the games we wanted to play.

As usual, click for larger image and open them in a new tab for the largest version.

Kaiser's High Seas Fleet

Monday morning, we played this game. It was thoroughly enjoyable and moved rather quickly which I thought was great. Game mechanics were fluid and made sense. I played the British (and allies) while Phil was the Germans. It was a British Victory.

BGG Link

Map and counters are gorgeous. Love the 1" counters.

My British fleet was fairly battered after this battle

Germans took some damage too!

Had to sneak a photo of this Italian vs Austro-Hungarian fleet battle! I like how the minor powers are involved in the game

Now to sail on to Spain!

King in the North

Monday Afternoon

I have always wanted to get some miniatures for this period, but just can't justify another collection to paint and acquire. 

BGG Link

I have had this game on the shelf for two years and Phil wanted to give it a go. 

The rules have some translation issues and we made several mistakes in the game play that made the game unsuccessful. We will have to try it again and play the rules correctly. I need to send the feedback to BGG with the rules questions and corrections in the near future.

Once again, this is a different and beautiful game. I played the Carlists and captured a reinforcement location and that effectively knocked out the Isebella forces. 

I really love the graphic quality of this game. Because the forces are intermixed throughout the map you truly don't know what strategy to employ. More experience will help with this. I'll see if my local gamers will play this game with me.

Six Sojourns

Monday Evening

BGG Link - I have the Deluxe Edition from the Kickstarter.

What a very pleasant surprise this game was! We loved it. Even my wife enjoyed this! Beautiful graphics and gameplay sucked us in. Another nice feature is that you can finish a game in less than 90 minutes, so why not play twice! Phil won one game and Paige one the second game. Both were VERY close games.

Sea Serpents Expansion

Phil after winning his game!

We enjoyed this so much we played the next evening!

Vikings vs Saxons (Command and Colors) - Battle of Reading

Tuesday morning\early afternoon

C&C Medieval Scenario Link

I just bought some 18mm WoFun Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and wanted to get them on the table. Phil and I have played a LOT of Command & Colors so we thought we would play this Fan-made scenario. We had a blast with my mighty Vikings eking out a narrow victory 8-6!

Battle Background

On about 4 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred brought up the main West Saxon (Wessex) army and joined Æthelwulf's forces for an attack on the Danes. The West Saxons fought their way to the town, slaughtering all the Danes they found outside, but when they reached the town gate the Vikings burst out and defeated the West Saxons with a successful counter-attack.
Among the dead was Æthelwulf, whose body was secretly carried off to be buried in his native Derby. According to a late source, Æthelred and Alfred only escaped due their better knowledge of the local terrain, which allowed them to lose their pursuers by fording the River Loddon

Map setup

I then used my 4" hex map with my 18mm WoFun minis to recreate the battle. Movement trays are 3D printed to allow for me to add a label to each one. I also use these for my To the Strongest games. I think WoFun figures are really perfect for Ancient and Medieval warfare games due to the linear nature of that warfare. A view from the Anglo-Saxon lines.

Simple, but very effective look. Now from my Viking perspective.

Here are several close ups of the figures, movement sabots, and labels.

Viking medium infantry.

Aethelwulf's command:

King Aethelred's command of warriors and medium infantry

Saxons (men of Wessex) quickly advance and disperse the Viking light infantry in front of the camps (tents). The mass of Vikings is stuck behind the walls.

The Vikings use a quick march (twice) to get their main forces from behind the walls. Red cubes indicate hits.

Hits are piling up. As the Vikings I nearly lost my Jarl twice! I was very aggressive with him.

Vikings final push before victory!

The WoFun figures (18mm) look outstanding to me when used in this way. It was a fantastic battle and a very near run thing as if I didn't seal the last Victory Banner, the Saxon dogs would have surely won.

Six Sojourns Again

Tuesday evening

This game comes with 8 different maps and about 10 expansions, and we tried out two more maps this evening.

I really like this snow map.

Phil liked this game so much he purchased it before he drove back to Charlotte!

Fighters of Europe 

Wednesday morning

BGG Link - Eric's House Rules Link on BGG

I've been working on some house rules to add more non-deterministic outcomes to the Fighters of Europe and Pacific game rules. I asked Phil to run through a playtest with me. I was the American bomber force, while Phil was the Germans. The Americans won this game. No blow-by-blow battle report just some photos of the game. Once again great components. I'm actually getting a larger map with 2" hexes that will better fit the planes that come with the game.

We thoroughly enjoyed the game with my new house rules. I'll play all future game with the house rules.

Bonus Coverage! SYW Game!

Shortly after Phil left I was able to play in a Seven Years War game pitting Prussians vs Austrians. This is Michael's fine collection of 15mm Old Glory figures and his home rules. Austrians were surprised by a Prussian attack on their camp. Still, the Austrians managed to pull out a victory!

I was the Austrians in this battle and struggled to get my cavalry to do anything but rout! Below the  steady Austrian has formed up!

My Hussars plowing into the Prussian Grenadiers. 

Hammer and tongs! 

I really liked how Michael made casualty stands with a die indicating how many hits the unit has taken and a 10mm casualty figure on it. Clever! I ordered some dice so I can do the same.

Happy New Year!!

Good night from Oak Island, NC!

Eric