Our Annual Hastings Refight AAR

by Ken Kaergard, guest blogger

On Saturday, October 17 in Belvedere IL, Bill Garrett was host to Bob Pavlik's Hastings game. Al Hulton, Ron Jaffe, and Mike Zemuda played the Saxons, while Bill, Bob, and I played the Norman side. We used Bob's "Red die/White die" system of play for individual figure combat. Although we were unfortunate in having a shortened time to play due to events outside of our control (blame the train schedulers), the game did move quickly and got to a crucial point. The miniatures are 25mm Minifigs, painted by Bob in the late 1970's. 

On the Saxon side, Mike commanded their left, Ron the center and Al the right. For the Normans, Bill commanded the left (the Bretons) opposite Al, Bob commanded the Normans in the center, and I commanded the Flemish on the right opposite Mike.

The photos reflect the following:

The Saxon army has deployed. The Normans take heart that the Saxons haven't anchored their flanks on the swamps.

The Normans deploy with archers to the front, followed by infantry and then cavalry.

Al and Ron discuss their deployment.

The Normans approach Senlac Hill.

The Norman army begins to close, and the Saxons secure their position on the hill, also beginning to extend their flanks to reach the swamps. Norman archers have started to weaken the Saxon line, but they run out of arrows and withdraw.

 Another view

Action beginning on the Norman left.

Bill's Bretons are the first to strike, hitting Al's right with horse while closing with his infantry. On the right I cautiously close on Mike, trying to get a feel for where there might be a weak spot in his line. He's left none. Ron thoughtfully adjusts his deployment to deal with the archery losses while Bob steadily advances.

On the Saxon right, Al deals Bill's horse some serious losses, including the loss of their commander. Bill's infantry engages to help the remaining horse be able to fight their way out. On the Saxon left, Mike deals some losses to me as I close to combat with  him.

Another view.

Mike's lines thin as the Flemings grind away, but the attackers take their share of losses as well. Bill and Al both come up for air as they continue to face off, and Bob and Ron have their first direct contact as Bob's Normans try to force their way up the hill.

The final disposition leaves it pretty clear that the outcome is still uncertain. The bulk of the Norman army has yet to strike home, but both Norman flanks are becoming weak from the attrition of the battle. The Saxons are also growing weaker, many of their huscarls and well armored troops have been killed, but substantial numbers remain. The Norman archers performed well, and were ready to return to the fight, and the Saxon Fyrd had performed far better than would be expected. By all appearances, the battle seemed likely to continue as a meat grinder until one side or the other would become too weak to sustain itself.

It was unfortunately at this point that the players mostly ran out of time. Nonetheless, it was good to play this scenario again, and it provided an opportunity to practice for next year's game, which will be for the 950th anniversary of the battle. 

Hastings Using ADLG, an AAR

Our group likes to re-fight Hastings every year in some form or another. My friend Bob Pavlik & I got together last week and did a small re-fight of Hastings using ADLG. We used 12 units per side, which in ADLG works out to about 100 pts per side, so we used the optional rules for that size game. We used preset terrain and Bob's collection of 25mm Minifigs, which were beautifully painted by Bob back in the late 1970's, when those figures were "state of the art." The figures were based individually for another set of rules, but for this game, Bob made "flying carpet" sabot bases that were 3" wide for using rules like DBA or ADLG. Bob has enough figures that we could have done a much larger game, but he only had enough sabots done for our game.

The photo above shows the deployment. On the left, Saxon Fyrd and Huscarls on the hill. On the right, the Normans were deployed with 2 units of bowmen in the front, a second line of dismounted knights, and mounted knights in the rear. Note: We forgot about the 6 unit maximum frontage of groups in ADLG. It didn't effect the battle, as the Norman dismounted knights split into 2 groups later anyway.

A view from behind the Norman lines.

Behind the Saxon lines.

The Normans advancing.

Normans maneuvering as approaching the Saxons on Senlac Hill. William is a "Strategist" in ADLG, which allows him to add +3 to command rolls. We rated Harold as "Brilliant" (+2).

After a few turns, Norman archery finally took effect and routed a huscarl unit in the center of the Saxon line. The Norman dismounted knights split into 2 groups, manoevering towards each of the Saxon flanks. Note the Saxon javelinmen waiting in the marsh in the lower left of the photo.

The Normans have begun engaging both Saxon flanks. Harold & his Huscarl unit are behind the gap in the line. Saxon & Norman units have taken cohesion hits, marked with small die behind the units.

The far right flank Saxon Fyrd unit has routed, opening a gap in the Saxon line (lower left of photo).

King Harold pondering his fate.

The Norman left is beginning to roll up the Saxon right flank. The Normans have taken fire from the Saxon skirmishers in the marsh. On the Norman right, they have just routed 2 Saxon Fyrd units and pursued into the gap.

The Norman perspective of turning the flank.

The end of the game. Lost and disordered units hvae brought the Saxon casualty count to 13, which ends the game. The Normans casualty count was  7. Harold temporarily survived.

One thing we are not used to in ADLG is that, unlike DBA, there is no recoiling. We enjoy seeing troops recoil. Therefore in our scenario games, we are pondering an optional rule that would allow recoils if a unit suffers a cohesion loss. We are also thinking that a recoiling unit could be prevented from doing so by "standing fast," and taking an extra cohesion point loss. There would also be mandatory pursuit of recoiling units by impetuous enemies.