The Anniversary of the battle is on Monday, so I pulled Invasion 1066 by Revolution Games and played it through.
An AAR is on the blog, together with a couple of shots of my growing 12mm Kallistra miniature 1066 armies.
Link
http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2019/10/1066-hastings-anniversary-2019.html
Broken link old chap.
Thanks Will, I fixed it with an identical link! a Google querk I think
Very nice Norm :).
:-bd =D> :-bd
Very nice indeed
Take care
Andy
Nice write-up!
Great one Norm
Nice!
Nce one, Norm.
Cheers - Phil
I enjoyed reading your report and studying your boardgame pics (let's face it, it is easier to understand what's going on with counters rather than swirling masses of unlabeled figures. :) ). Your counter design is really quite effective and elegant. As far as I can tell you don't stack combat units, so another huge plus!
The game achieved something close to the historic result but the Norman archers were pretty dang effective. When I was studying the combat power of both sides (using the numbers on the counters) the two armies seem pretty well balanced but the relatively large number of archers on the Norman side is telling.
Are the archers always this effective? Also, in your experience, how often do the Anglo Saxons win?
Because of the near asymmetrical troop types, it looks like this would be a fun game to play over and over with different deployments ( you cover this in your 2014 report so I now need to re-read!)
Thanks all.
Bill, the Norman archers were more effective in this game than usual, as in turn two they caused three disruptions. Then chance favoured the Normans again, the attacks being effective against those disruptions. This so early on in the game was not at all typical.
What was typical was by the start of the turn 3, most of the archers had left the game for being 'out of arrows', which is a design mechanic to bring the'archer phase' of the battle to an end and to see the hand to hand phase start.
If William ever calls a Lull, which is a special turn that REPLACES a game turn, to allow him to reorganise his army, then everything pulls back and gets a crack at re-ordering with a favourable modifier and the archers in the'out of arrows' box come back, re-supplied and ready to open up a new phase in the battle. This happened historically. The downside is that it burns off a precious turn and the Norman player almost always is under pressure to just crack on and use the turn to fight 'just one more go'!
The game tries to evoke an emotional connection in the game by making the Norman task feel like a a really tough gind, but with light invariably at the end of the difficult tunnel and for the Anglo-Saxons that they continually feel under pressure and fear that their position is about to crack at any time.
When I first put the game together, my first draft had the system as a solo game with Anglo-Saxons managed by the system, as I thought there would not be enough game for them ..... wrong, wrong, wrong! it turn out that with player involvement they get a very full game, it is just different from Norman play and from that perspective there is a different feel that reflects the different armies and the different situations of attack / defence that they find themselves in.
It is a very straight-jacketed situation with a frontal assault being the only route, yet it feels quite fresh when played as the number of variables at the local level are engaging. Sounds like I am waving my own flag - sorry :-)
Looks to be a flag well worth waving :)
Great read, cheers
Great game and report Norm.
Hastings is one of those battles in history that for some unfathomable reason I seem to have an emotional attachment to. Just can't get it out of my head that 'we wuz robbed'! :'( If only Harold had had a bit more patience......
Cheers Paul
Like T13A, I seem to have an emotional connection as well. When I was eleven or twelve I read somewhere that the Times publishes an obit for Harold on the battle anniversary (today) noting that he died in defense of his country. Don't know if the Times still does this but the idea has always stuck with me.
I think waving the flag is with good reason, Norm. The game system looks so clean and intriguing that I just ordered a copy of both battles. Of note Revolution Games is currently having a sale!
Thanks all and thanks Bill for the trust in a design.
I wonder whether modern generations know the significance of 1066 or even care compared to say forty years ago?
We bumped into friends the other day who had had a decorator in the house .... who didn't know who Napoleon was! I mean you just assume don't you, that everyone knows. I am frightened to test this on my (adult) children in case the answer shocks me!
Quote from: Norm on 14 October 2019, 04:52:21 PM
Thanks all and thanks Bill for the trust in a design.
I wonder whether modern generations know the significance of 1066 or even care compared to say forty years ago?
Needs to be a graphic novel done up as a movie! :)
The "High Sparrow" (GoT) is very well known, Bishop Odo not so much.
=)In 4th grade in mid-1950s we had to know 1066, 1215, 1689 at minimum.
Now there is even vagueness about the significance of 1776.
No country for old men. :)