Wednesday 12 May 2010

Going to the Battle of Hastings


Hi! As you may know, last Saturday I went to the site of the Battle of Hastings (where the town of Battle now stands) to meet up with an old Canadian friend of mine.



Here is a short vblog that I made of my journey (the contrast is really out of whack on a lot of this - it was one of those very bright grey days...):




I didn't record any video while there - too busy chatting to my friend and his wife.

This is the view up the hill from the Norman's side of the field. At the top is Battle Abbey which is where the Saxons stood awaiting the Norman attack.

We played our game on a picnic table under a huge tree.

The armies are about to clash:



King Harold checking to see if his escape route is clear:

William encouraging his troops:


A promising start for the Saxons, as some cowardly French are driven off:


The start of the end, as the Saxon left starts to crumble:


We managed to get the same result as history, with the help of my utterly terrible dice throwing and the fact that my opponent was clearly a "cheating foreigner"! (A running joke between the 2 of us).

A great day, hope to do it again some time - with bigger armies and better dice I might win next time!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

We root for Wallace!! (influenced by Mel Gibson's Braveheart)

I just envy you British with your rolling hills and lawns :(

Rock Chef said...

Shadowthorne - Sterling Bridge would be a great one to refight! FREEDOM!!!!!!!!

Teresa said...

Had a HUGE smile on my face the entire time watching that. I loved how you updated and edited them together...that was fun...now if only real life could be that easy and quick...lol.

Okay so thru the years here I've still never understood the game you play but now I see there is dice involved and apparently the number rolled on the dice determines what?...how many moves you make in a certain direction and who get there first wins?

Nonetheless how AWESOME was that to play that right where it took place??? Freaking cool!!!

terri said...

Really cool! Like Teresa, I never understood at all how the game was played until you mentioned dice here! Now it all makes sense! (Sort of!)

Fun video and great pictures!

Shrinky said...

How lovely to see your face and to hear your voice, kind of fleshes out who you are behind the blog (grin) - my God, how long did that journey actually take?? Got to hand it to you, you sure are devoted to the cause.. but what a great setting to do battle in! I've been meaning to ask, what exactly is it you are studying for?

Rock Chef said...

Teresa - Hm, maybe I should do a post that explains it all? Glad you enjoyed the video!

Terri - Glad you enjoyed it. Again, maybe I should do a detailed wargames post...

Shrinky - The journey was just over 3 hours - not too long, but enough. I am studying for a degree in Geography, which is only appropriate as I work in a Geography department in a university! Great fun, except for the exams...

Claire said...

I loved this!!! The figures are fantastic - the painting looks perfect! Did you both handpaint all these figures? Will we ever stop asking you questions???? Nope

James said...

Hi John,

nice v blog. Glad you enjoyed the game. Was it in 28mm?

Rock Chef said...

Claire - Yes, they are all hand painted by my own fair hand.

James - Yes, the figures are a mix of Perry and Gripping Beast. I got most of them in a trade - I painted an army in exchange for them.