I am looking at doing a Hastings project in 12mm on hexes this year and have just put up a blog post outlining the approach, orders-of-battle, basing and terrain needed etc.

LINK
http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/1066-hastings-initial-project-update.html

As always Norm, a good read. One day I might get around to playing all of 1066, from Stamford Bridge, through Hastings and the move on London. Don't hold your breath though .

Excellent, Norm.

I shall come back to this one and have a more thorough read......Looks damn good at a 'skim through'.

Cheers - Phil

Good project Norm. Like the way you are thinking about the key factors of the battle and how to model them on the table top.

The Housecarls do sound like they should be part of the same unit as the Thegns - certainly at the scale you are looking at. They would perhaps provide a bonus, that could be lost once a certain level of fatigue or castulaties is reached?

Thanks all, I envisage plenty of interesting things to tackle and get right. I think writing about progress will help me stay on course for a 2018 completion.

Fred, those Housecarls, they are such an interesting aspect to weave into the fabric of the game. It is the case in this battle that as the warrior fighters in the front line fell and gaps opened up - troops of lesser fighting capability stepped forward and over the course of the battle, the 'frontline' was less able to withstand the onslaught .

An interesting read, as always Norm

I like Fred's idea of a bonus for the Housecarls until a certain level of fatigue

Another option might be a critical hit approach, for each hit a unit takes roll (at low probability) to see if the Housecarls fell and so the stand loses the bonus... 

Thanks Paul. In the boardgame, Harold's army is divided by warrior class, William's army by nationality. So Harold has General Fyrd as one warrior class and the Thegns as another, though the Housecarls in this battle are lumped in with them. So They have two warrior classes and William has three nationalities.

Each of those individual groups have their own unique break level figure and every time a unit is removed from play, those friendly units adjacent to it, must take a morale check by class / nationality. The morale check is current losses plus a D6, if the result is greater than the break level for that warrior class or nationality, then the testing units rout. The higher the losses, the greater the chance of rout.

So in the game, the Housecarl / Thegn have a higher break level than the General Fyrd. So as the Housecarls / Thegns get removed from play and the line thins, the replacement units (General Fyrd) that push forward, will put up a more fragile defence.

On Williams side the Bretons (left flank) have the lowest break level of all and can offer a flavour of early routers!   

Coming on nicely

Take care

Andy