Hastings - Battle Pack

[Old_Warrior]

Ok - I decided to stick with the series and rough it out - hoping that the updated FoG and future FoG2 will be worth my patience ...

I bought the battle pack today and I believe that the Hastings battle has issues. I am no great historian on this battle and perhaps someone can correct me but ...

1. The Anglo-Saxons had VERY few skirmisher units at the battle. Why? Because they did not have the mounts available for the men to ride to the battle. Usually the skirmishers (archers, what have you) rode to the battles and dismounted. My source is Peter Maaren's "1066 The Battles of York, Stamford Bridge & Hastings." Top of page 106 he says that there would have been few archers at the battle as they would not have been able to keep up with the rest of the army (which I assume the author claims rode to the battle from the Stamford area).

2. The map is far too basic. I would think that for a project like this that the map would have been better researched.

I do like the differentiation between the Anglo-Saxon troop types. I do not see the Norman army the same way as the OB for the battle pack's scenario. Also the lack of leaders for the Normans (only 2) I think was a mistake. Giving them long command ranges is probably not historical. I much prefer William and a few leaders of lower command range.

Hoping that a better version of the scenario will come out in the coming months/years. I am going to post my version of the battle on the forum very soon.

[Turk1964]

I have to agree with you on the issue of the English having archers at Hastings. Everything i have read on this battle indicates that Harold had very few archers at Hastings,so why have they been included?As for the size of the armies thats another case altogether. How many men and horses was William able to cross the channel with?I think most wargame representations give far too many Cavalry/Knights for the Norman army. You have to remember that Harold fought a hard battle at Stamford Bridge and would of lost quite a number of his Elite Huscarls so the Quality of his troops at Hastings was nowhere near the quality in numbers William had.My own view on the Battle of Hastings is that the Norman archers/crossbowmen were the deciding factor as they were able to keep the English pinned down. The Cavalry had a roll too but that was more prelevant once the tide of the battle was turned.