DBA Battle of Hastings 1066

Right then, it's off to the Battle of Hastings, keeping the theme of '1066 the Battle for Middle Earth'.... Our intrepid heroes have just thrashed the mighty Vikingr. No sooner have they settled down for a cup of nettle tea, then news reaches them that 'The Orcs' have landed, the Normans have hit the shores of Middle-Earth.


To run this game we used the 'Battle of Hastings' scenario from the book on the left, Historical Medieval Battles by Peter Sides. It's basically full of famous battles set to DBA/DBM Army sizes. Well worth it, if you can get hold of a copy. In this scenario the Norman's have 26 elements to the Anglo-Saxon's 21. We set victory for the first 8 kills. Extra rules for the battle..... First, the Anglo-Saxon's would have to hold the hill in a Shieldwall & could not advance 'en masse'. Second, ...however if a combat resulted in an enemy recoil or any Norman element in contact retreated, then the Anglo-Saxon element would follow up (like a Knight). This would give a little realism to Anglo-Saxon's actions on the day.

Well Jack & Amy's 'bloodlust' was up & they opted for command of the Norman's, while yours truly would be 'pinned' to Senlac Hill........... Bring it On!!!

______________________________________

The Battle of Hastings set-up

______________________________________
Anglo-Saxon set-up

______________________________________

The Norman's arrayed in three Battle groups...

______________________________________
The Norman's Attack!

______________________________________
Up the hill they come, Spear & Bow first.

______________________________________
Harold's Huscarls stand ready...

______________________________________
The Breton's advance, the Breton Cavalry is ready to help out.

______________________________________
Arrows & Bolts fly everywhere, but only 1 element recoils.

______________________________________
In go the Norman Spears.....

______________________________________
RaHoo!!! Down go TWO Norman Spears..!!

______________________________________
HA HA HA!!! Take the pain Jack!

______________________________________
On the left it's pretty much stalemate.

______________________________________
Overview at this point, the Norman centre is buckling,

while on the right it could be a bit tricky as the Anglo-Saxon

Shieldwall is getting dragged down the hill.

______________________________________
Jack sees the opportunity & the Breton Cavalry advances.

______________________________________
Norman Knights wait for an opening.

______________________________________
The right flank, the Breton's give ground.

______________________________________
In the centre, the Norman Knights advance to plug the gap.

______________________________________

It's not good for the Anglo-Saxon's, as they get dragged down the

hill in the centre.

______________________________________
The Norman's have the advantage in numbers on the right.

______________________________________
A better view of the right flank.

______________________________________
Aaaargh! The Breton Cavalry pounces....

______________________________________
Booo! Down go the Heroic Fyrd.

______________________________________
Some Huscarls are mega impetuous & push the Norman's right down the Hill.

Meanwhile the Norman Knights Charge!!!!!

______________________________________
The charge of the Huscarls!

______________________________________
However the supporting Huscarls are pushed back.

______________________________________
The Breton Spears retire, dragging the Anglo-Saxons with them.

______________________________________
Overview of the battle. The Anglo-Saxon lines are shown in dotted Maroon.

However the Shiedwall is broken in too many places (broad maroon line).

The Anglo-Saxon right flank is not looking good.

______________________________________
Good Old Harold stands like a Rock.

______________________________________
Jack is slowly picking apart the Anglo-Saxon right flank.....

______________________________________
The Norman centre is steadied & the attack is back on.

______________________________________
Come on! The Huscarls hack the Norman's to pieces...

______________________________________
Nooooo! The Spear & Cavalry combo's are killing the Anglo-Saxon Right.

______________________________________
Another view of the right flank.

______________________________________
On the left flank, Amy sends in the Norman Knights.

______________________________________
YES!!! What an opportunity, the MAD Huscarls hack their way through....

.....Duke William is in sight!

______________________________________
The casualties are mounting for the Anglo-Saxon's.

______________________________________
The Breton Cavalry is running the show.

______________________________________
"It's Clobbering time!".....in goes Harold

______________________________________
Amy's Knights gallop up the hill.

______________________________________
Visions of a great Victory are..... dashed!

Duke William holds out & the MAD Huscarls bite the dust.

______________________________________
The Anglo-Saxon's are still in the game... Come on!!

______________________________________
ANNOYING!!!! The pesky Breton Cavalry..........

______________________________________

Go on our Harold!!! The Dragon Banner is flying in the wind.

______________________________________
The right flank is a shambles.... From an Anglo-Saxon point of view!

______________________________________
'Harold & the Fyrd' could swing the battle!

______________________________________
I quickly form a defence on the right.

______________________________________
Another Norman is thrashed in the centre...

______________________________________
It's carnage, but it's close.... Casualties all over.

______________________________________
NOOO!! The Normans take the day 8-6...

______________________________________
However.... Our Harold isn't a casualty....

Edith Swan-Neck, on a white charger, gallops to Harolds rescue.

They leg it from Senlac Hill......... To raise another Army????

______________________________________

The horror's are whooping loudly, The Normans win our version of Hastings, just like history. However it was very close indeed. We felt the extra rules were spot on, the splintering of the Shieldwall worked well. It allowed the Breton Cavalry to make a big impression.

SO, does it end here? Who knows perhaps a Anglo-Saxon/Welsh/Scots Army may take on William the Conqueror next???

DBA Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066

So... Off we went to the DBA table to re-fight The Battle of Stamford Bridge. A quick look round at existing scenarios reveiled two possibles, the first was from Peter Sides Historical Medieval Battles (we'll use this book for our Hastings Battle), a cracking book of DBA/DBM battles.

However we went with Arnstein Orten's scenario, here's a link to it..
http://folk.uio.no/arnsteio/DBA/stamford.html . Standard 12 elements each side, except that the Viking army has two units deployed on the opposite side of the river at the start of the game, these are a holding force. The main Viking force awaits Harold on the other side of the river. Plus there are two elements off table (guarding the Viking fleet). After Harold & his boys cross the river AND if a roll is made then these two elements are released. I played the mighty Vikingr & Amy played the Anglo-Saxons, she was eager to have Tofi & Leofric bash the Vikings!

__________________________________
The set-up of the battle.

__________________________________
The mighty Vikingr!!!

__________________________________

Harold & the boys make short work of the Vikings at the bridge.

__________________________________

The Viking Psiloi leg it across the river & take a position on the flank.

__________________________________
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to scrap we go......

__________________________________
The Viking Psiloi get stuck in.

__________________________________
The Anglo-Saxons cross the river & the Viking reinforcements are called for.

__________________________________
The lines form up....

__________________________________
Amy sends some Spears to aid the Anglo-Saxon Psiloi & duly takes out

the pesky Viking Javelin throwers.

__________________________________
Kapow, thud, bop...... Both lines engage & recoils occur.

__________________________________
Up-close to the action (Amy took this pic...not bad!)

__________________________________
Same round...Different angles....

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________
Another round & this time casualties.

__________________________________
An Anglo-Saxon Spear bites the dust...

__________________________________
A Viking Blade....

__________________________________
....and another Anglo-Saxon Spear.

__________________________________
Amy rolls high PiPs & she reforms the Anglo-Saxon line.

__________________________________

__________________________________

A couple more rounds & the fighting is back on....

__________________________________

It's back & forth...

__________________________________

The Vikings fight back...

__________________________________
Amy manages to flank the Viking line & a chance for victory....

But the mighty Norsemen hold firm!

__________________________________

WAAAaarrrrggh!! The Vikings fight back & the battle is evenly matched.

__________________________________
OOO... A possible advantage on this flank for the Vikings??

__________________________________
NOOOO!!! Amy sends in everything on the other flank & finally the Vikings fall.

Victory to Harold's Boys!

__________________________________

A nice scenario, well matched & very close at the end. Well worth a try out if you like the period. Now we'll re-fight Hastings, let's see if Harold & the Huscarls can change history....

III/71 Anglo-Danish

Cracking 2 part program on the box this week, 1066 The Battle for Middle-Earth, recounting the 3 battles that took place during the fateful year of 1066. A great watch, if you missed it or can't receive Channel 4 then here's a link to catch up TV http://www.channel4.com/programmes/1066/catch-up

SO.... Off we went to the DBA boxes & morphed a Anglo-Saxon army to battle the VIKINGR! Tofi, Leofric and Ordgar come to life on our battlefield & we re-fought the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Hopefully we'll re-fight Hastings against the nasty Normans later...

_________________________
The heroic Army ready to defend Middle-Earth

_________________________

_________________________
King Harold

_________________________
King Harold & the Huscarls (Blades)

(sounds like a dodgy Boy Band!!! ooo eerr)

_________________________
Anglo-Saxon Fyrd (Spears)

_________________________

_________________________

Psiloi

III/40a Viking

Rowing.. Rowing.. Rowing.. Rowing.. Rowing..

Here's our Viking Army ready to raid the British Isles.... Coming from the North east of England there's lots of reminders of Viking influence, the city of YORK with it's JORVIK centre is just down the road http://www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/ . While further up North there's many more historical sites. It's a pity then, that we haven't played too many games with the Vikings. I can feel a game idea coming on....

III/40a Viking 790-849AD
1x4Bd(Gen), 2x4Bd, 8x3Bd, 1x3Bd or 3Wb or 2Ps

With a few extra elements we can easily morph the other options in the Viking/Leidang list.

______________________________

The mighty Vikings....

______________________________

______________________________

The Viking Chieftain up close with his band of merry men

______________________________
Extra Viking Blades

______________________________
Viking Warband

______________________________

The massed ranks

______________________________
Viking camp, a wrecked ship on the beach.

Beyond the Golden Gate Intro

I've always had a interest in Warhammer Ancient Battles (alright don't boo too much..), indeed it what we started with. However it didn't work out for our style of gaming, obviously DBA was the way for us. One thing continued though & that is collecting the WAB Supplements. No matter what you think of Games Workshop, you cannot fault any of publications for information & photo quality. One absolute favourite of mine is BYZANTINE: Beyond the Golden Gate. I've mentioned before that I love the Sassanid Persians, so.... here's our next campaign.

One check of the DBA Rulebook and in the Suggested Historical Campaigns is THE RISE OF ISLAM 633AD. We'll let the Byzantines, Sassanids, Arab Conquest & the KHAZARS battle it out. I had fancied using all six of the armies suggested but the III/1 Slavs looked very boring, so we'll stick with just the four. Of course we like to 'SPICE' things up, so as well as giving each leader an attribute.... we are going to use DOUBLE sized DBA armies too...... }:o)

__________________________________

II/69 Sassanid Persians

1x3Cv(G), 8x3Cv, 3x4Kn, 2x2LH, 2xEl, 2x3Ax, 4x7Hd, 2x2Ps
(Instead of a 2nd General added an extra 1x3Kn)

KHOSROE II = Divinity, re-roll any dice roll twice per game.

__________________________________

III/25. Arab Conquest
1x3Cv(G), 9x3Cv, 2x2LH, 8x3Wb, 4x3Bw

(Instead of a 2nd General added an extra 1x3Cv)

Saad Ibn Waqqas = SWIFT, +100 Paces to own Groups Movement

__________________________________

III/16. Khazar

1xWWg(G), 6x3Cv, 8x2LH, 4x7Hd, 4x2Ps, 1xArt.

(Instead of a 2nd War Wagon +Arty, we've added 2x3Cv)

The BEG = WISE, +1 PiP per round

(The 'Beg' was the military leader of the Khazars rather like a Shogun)

__________________________________

III/17. Maurikian Byzantine

1x6Cv(G), 6x6Cv, 6x2LH, 3x3Kn(Optimates), 4x4 Bd + 4x2Ps
(Swapped out the 2nd General for an extra 1x3Kn)

Heraclius = RASH, can make own group double move to end in combat
__________________________________

Special ability (or disability) Chart

2D6 was rolled for each one & matched against the following chart.

2 SLOW = -100 to own GROUPS move

3-4 IDIOT = -1 PIP per round.

5-6 WISE = +1 PIP per round.

7 SWIFT = +100 Paces to own GROUPS move

8 RASH = Can make own group Double move but must end in Combat.

9 SCRAPPER = Extra +1 to Combat rolls (own element)

10 ROCK HARD = Any KILL result drops to a RECOIL (own element, once per battle)

11 DIVINITY = Re-Roll any die (1-3 times per game)

12 LUCKY = Roll two combat dice & discards the lower

DBA II/33 Polybian Roman

Here's our Polybian Roman's, a superb army, probably one of my favourites because of it's simplicity, but still extremely effective. They have always done well in our games. This lot are by Essex Minis, very nice castings & easy to paint as well.

II/33 Polybian Roman 275 - 105BC
1x3Cv(Gen), 1x3Cv, 6x4Bd, 2x4Sp, 2x2Ps

__________________________________________

Massed Ranks ready for War.....

___________________________________

___________________________________
Roman Cavalry & General

___________________________________
'Hastati & Principes', the Mighty Roman Blades.

___________________________________
'Triarii', the veterans of the army, Roman Spears.

___________________________________
'Velites', the Roman Psiloi.

PUN6 Rome vs Syracuse

Work.. Work.. Work.. Work.. Work....... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

..Finally, the last round of our Epic Punic Wars Saga. The Polybian Romans, led by yours truly against the Syracusans, led by Jack.

___________________________________

The Syracusan & Polybian Roman line-ups.

___________________________________

Plan of attacks..

__________________________________

Jack rolls decent PiPs & he sends forward a group of Spears.

___________________________________
'Err... What are we doing here lads?'

___________________________________
I am bemused by Jacks move.....

___________________________________
Lovely view of the Polybians.

___________________________________
Oh it's looking good.

___________________________________
'On they came in the same old style....'

___________________________________
Clash of Arms all along the battle-line.

___________________________________

Oh it's a Disaster for Syracuse!

First Blood to Rome, down go 2 Syracusans.

___________________________________
Recoils & Flee for the Syracusan Horsemen..... Plus the 2 casualties up close.

___________________________________

A fight back, the Roman Psiloi are repulsed.

___________________________________
Jack matches up the Romans.

___________________________________

The end is nigh!! The Romans batter the Syracusans.

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

Final positions

___________________________________

Well that wasn't a suprise! The Polybian Romans are an extremely effective killing machine. They are Kings of the Med. Final points total for our Punic Campaign...

Polybian Romans --- 9 + 10 + 9 =28

Carthage --- 1 + 9 + 9 = 19

Gallic --- 11 + 0 + 1 = 12

Syracuse --- 0 + 2 + 2 = 4