Battle of Hastings 1066 and Happy Christmas

 

Well, I'm back! That was a longer absence than I expected!  I was determined to get at least one more post in before Christmas, mainly to thank you all for your kind comments on my posts during the year, but also to wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

I have been busy painting and playing some excellent games too.  Since July, blogging posts have taken a back seat as my second job became busy and also the shooting competition season started in earnest (after having been postponed for so long due to Covid).  Something had to give and it was the blog posts.

I have lots of freshly painted units to take photos of and post but this is all going to take time. This might well be where the holiday period comes in very handy.

The posts below are from a very recent Battle of Hastings game. Ian commanded the Normans and I took charge of the Anglo-Saxons: 

As per the historical battle, the Anglo Saxons awaited upon Senlac Hill for the advance of the Normans.  The rules used were 'Hail Caesar' which ,when tweaked for the period of history being played, we generally find to be excellent.  

A few skirmishers seen leaving the Anglo-Saxon position to hurl sling-shot at the approaching Normans.  Various extra rules have been put in place. For instance Huscarls form the front rank. As soon as a unit becomes worn, the rear Fyrd fill the front lines and their stats are used instead.  This represents the fatigue and disproportionate weight of combat wearing out the Huscarls.

The Normans advance solidly onwards.  The Normans are a mix of Conquest Games, Old Glory and Gripping Beast.  I have just added Victrix Normans to their army (these are slightly larger but look fantastic).

The infantry melee begins!  The red dragon banner of Wessex in the foreground with King Harold attached ready for combat.

The red pipe-cleaners denote 'worn' status. The Normans attacking uphill into the axes and spears of elite troops suffer but they achieve their goal of wearing down the Huscarls.

Casualty markers increase among the Anglo-Saxons (Aeronautica Imperialis flight bases - most useful for the Stamina and excess casualties stats - they do need to be made prettier though!)

The worn markers start to appear too as the Norman cavalry rip holes in the Anglo-Saxon line. I might need to reduce the size of the pipe cleaners - it's interesting to see the pics and realise how ugly too many markers can appear

With the cavalry beaten off the Norman infantry return. This time they force the ridge.

Great gaps appear in the line.  In the picture above we see a Norman unit in retreat towards the retreating Anglo-Saxons. The reason for this is that the Norman unit had managed to flank the Anglo-Saxon's and the latter had to turn a unit to fight them. Having won, the Norman's run in the wrong direction. Alas the Anglo-Saxons now have an enemy to their own rear.

A view from the Norman lines as the gaps are ripped in the Anglo-Saxon shield wall and units break.  Ian commands the Normans to a great victory.  There are many losses to the Normans but that  means more booty to share among among the victors!  Another fabulous game!

As usual after a game, I look at the troops where I have shortfalls, and how a collection can be improved. Inspired by the game I usually make an order within a day or two and get painting on the new units.  I ordered Victrix Norman Infantry after this game. They really are superb figures and I still have 2/3rds of the order to paint up!

Anyway, Have a great Christmas and superb 2021 if I don't get to post again before!

1066 Anglo-Saxons - Gripping Beast - 28mm

Some hard as nails Huscarls this time and some Fyrd too.  I built and undercoated these last year and have only just got around to actually painting them. I do have quite a few figures like that, all waiting their turn patiently until inspiration strikes.

This time the inspiration was from a solo game that I set up two weeks ago. I was quite impressed how my armies were shaping up. It has only taken nearly 30 years to get to the point of being 'playable', however some glaring holes remained and this became apparent in the solo game.

My Anglo-Saxon army had no skirmish troops at all, so the Normans could always come up quite close and put close range archery fire in, almost with impunity.  In the 'Hail Caesar' rules there is a short range distance for line troops (known during our games un-officially as 'chucking stuff' range) which would probably include random javelins, rocks etc. Though the distance is understandably short.

This problem must have been understood at the time. No troops want an enemy who can just stand off and pour in shafts of wood and iron.  So some skirmishers with missile weapons must have been desirable.  I retrieved some unpainted slingers which I purchased a few years ago when I first learned this lesson (!)

...and then I thought, I could do with some Huscarls painted up, and a stand of Fyrd would be useful too. Simple uniforms so it shouldn't take too long.  Well this is true. Compared with lots of Napoleonic lace they are quick to paint and rather fun. 

So I painted this batch in one group; Huscarls, Fyrd and slingers and today, after two weeks off and on, I reached the end of the production line for them.

I have to say, that the extra work that the shields require is always worth it. I could never paint the patterns and battle damage as well as these decals from Little Big Men Studios.

I said that the figures are by Gripping Beast and this is largely true. I think some Fyrd head conversions are in there too from the Wargames Factory sets. It might be the case that a Wargames Factory Huscarl is in there too. I just can't remember from when I built them last year. 

The Fyrd are from the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors set.  The slingers are from the Gripping Beast metal sets.

It's funny how one can really try to finish painting a unit in order to paint something else from another period that you are reading about.  You finally finish the painting with relief and then you look at your new freshly painted unit and think...'Hmmmm...those are really ok, maybe I should paint some more!'

I have that feeling now of wanting to paint more of them. I had ordered 3 boxes of Zulus from Perry Miniatures to get us through the pandemic lock-down, but alas they have just today ceased production and deliveries. Which is fair enough...I have plenty of other things to paint.

Let's see what comes off the painting table next. It might not be long with this compulsory painting time.

Stay safe out there.

Norman Infantry Command 28mm - Battle of Hastings

Most of my Norman command stands are mounted. This one is the exception so far.  I thought it would be fun to have one commander ready to lead and stand with his men on foot.

The figures are from Gripping Beast and were again, very enjoyable and quite quick to paint up.

The standard is from 'Flags of War' and I selected this one just because it was large and colourful.

The shield transfers are from 'Little Big Men Studios' if I recall correctly.

This takes care of my immediate need for commanders for my Normans. I have built and undercoated lots more foot figures ready to take to the next stage, however, my interest is now firmly onto another two periods of history (two just to make it harder to paint everything quickly!).

So there will be a delay before I get onto to painting more Normans. It only took me 24 years to paint up commanders for my Normans, so I'm sure the new infantry don't mind a little wait! This is another reason why I'm moving into smaller scales...I actually want to have playable ranges...but I'll keep my existing 28mm figs and just add to them slowly.  I do enjoy painting the detail.  Anyway - there will be something different in my next post to follow soon.

Count Eustace of Boulogne - Battle of Hastings

Here we have the command stand of Count Eustace II of Boulogne.  It is believed that Count Eustace carried the Papal Banner, and here we have it in all it's glory.

Count Eustace seems to have been a colourful character, having been excommunicated by the Pope, being involved in rebellions and getting involved 'in a brawl' with the citizens of Dover which caused a rift between King Edward and Lord Harold Godwinson (if my easy research from Wiki is accurate!)

Wiki also claims that Eustace might have been the patron of the Bayeux tapestry, and then goes on to claim that Eustace is shown pointing in retreat on it. I'm not convinced that a patron of the tapestry would have himself immortalised telling the chief that the army should skedaddle!

William of Poitiers who chronicled the Norman conquest did write the following about Eustace though (which also shows that one doesn't turn one's back on a line of angry Anglo-Saxon's!).

'With a harsh voice he (Duke William) called to Eustace of Boulogne, who with 50 knights was turning in flight and was about to give the signal for retreat. This man came up to the Duke and said in his ear that he ought to retire since he would court death if he went forward. But at the very moment when he uttered the words Eustace was struck between the shoulders with such force that blood gushed out from his mouth and nose and half dead he only made his escape with the aid of his followers.'

To me it appears that the tapestry shows that Eustace is drawing attention to William who has raised his visor. 

My figure of Eustace has one of his entourage doing the actual carrying of the Papal Banner.

The figures are from Gripping Beast and the banners from Flags of War. Shield transfers are from Little Big Men Studios (if I recall correctly).

I do enjoy painting Normans - a good covering of chain mail makes painting a simpler task than many troop types!

Well, I am away working again this week and I have taken plastic 28mm Normans and Saxons with me to build - hopefully I will get to paint some more up too. It's nice to take uncomplicated things away to do in my time off in the evenings.  So hopefully more to follow soon!

Bishop Odo - Battle of Hastings

Here we have Bishop Odo, brother of William the Bastard of Normandy.  The figure is from the excellent Gripping Beast range with a fine banner from Flags of War.  The shield designs are from Little Big Men Studios.

I was going to give Bishop Odo the Papal Banner, but it does seem that Eustace of Boulogne was given the honour of carrying it with him.  I have given Odo a different very bright and expensive looking banner to reflect his high status.

There were weapon options in the pack and I decided to go for the wooden mace option as per the Bayeux Tapestry. I have read that it is thought that Bishop Odo may have commissioned the tapestry, in which case one would have thought that he might have wanted to have been represented fairly accurately in terms of armour and equipment.

The quilted armour certainly stands out on the tapestry.

Hopefully a 1066 Battle of Hastings can be recreated on my wargaming table soon. I started my little collection in the early 1990's but progress has been slow.  I think a few more troops and it might soon be playable.  Unusually I now have enough commanders to make it feasible.

...And finally a little joke which I thought of earlier.  This is how it might look if the Kubrick movie 'The Shining' had been made in 1066...!

28mm William of Normandy Command Stand

Since the summer my wargaming year has so far consisted of re-basing...lots of re-basing!  This started with my Napoleonic armies that I was on the cusp of selling and then as I was photographing it all for the purpose of selling, I just found that I really liked them (but they would need rebasing!).  This continued with my 15mm ACW collection (last blog post). An update on all that to follow soon!

So having to work away elsewhere and in accommodation that I really couldn't leave static grass, old basing texture and sand scattered everywhere I realised that I would have to take paints and a real painting project in case there was any decent 'downtime' from the work.  In the event, there was a lot of downtime and I was able to paint 4 command stands (minus basing!) in one week.  This was immensely pleasing but also reflects badly on me in that I found that I can virtually imprison myself for a week from dawn to midnight just to paint!

I am always desperate for command stands. Rules these days tend to be much more command focussed (and rightly so in my view) and leaders play an obviously important role.  But between painting a 24 man unit of fusiliers and a command stand, I'll paint the fusiliers every time!  In this case I took away with me all of my paints and the Norman commanders and some plastic Infantry to build. As I was 100 miles from home and driving to my job, I realised that I had forgotten to bring polystyrene glue! - so no figure building for me - It was going to be focussed command stand painting only.

I have had my Norman commanders for quite a long time. I think they are from Gripping Beast. If they are then then they have clearly improved on their old crappy horses.  As I got to work on the command stands I really enjoyed working on them. These characters are great and the paint really made them come to life.

As we see here this is William of Normandy doing his famous tapestry pose of 'Hello everyone - look I'm not dead' and sliding his helmet up.  The banner was randomly chosen for William and chosen just because it looks really nice.  I have studied photos of the Bayeux Tapestry for many hours and cannot find his personal banner shown anywhere.

The banner is from Little Big Men Studios and the shield designs are from Battle Flag.

I have much to say on basing which I might save until I post my ACW figs freshly rebased on to my blog.  I have changed techniques, both to save money by using static grass instead of just clumps of expensive grass and the various shades of grass also looks more realistic I think.  I'm moving away from painting the edge of the MDF base too.  I usually paint the edge brown but it looks like the figures are based on a chocolate biscuit when I do that.  I quite like this worn effect from the various basing effects on the MDF. It blends nicely and stops the eye from being drawn to the base edge, I think.

Anyway, I took these photos with my phone camera as the cheap Poundland batteries were all dead in their box so I cannot use my main camera (yes the one with the pike scratch on the lens!). At least these pics don't have the scratch (even if they do look a bit soft-filtered!).