The final stand ! Final battle of our 1088 Campaign

 And so It came down to the final confrontation.  The North had risen up and was now marching south to expel the Normans from the land -  The Vikings had been given a deal - side with us and be paid gold for securing the Saxon crown so they had tuned mercenary and now march with the Anglo Saxons, and finally a Norman lord and his men had seen an opportunity to gain more land.

Confronting this was the strongest contingent of Normans yet and surprisingly also two southern  Saxon lords who had benefited from Norman rule (basically really bad blokes who where in on the gang of crooks running the country!)

5 commands a side this was the largest battle of the campaign and would settle who was victors!.... well till the War of the Roses where all the dodgy stuff would be bound to come up again :P

My lads rebased take the right and have Darrens Saxons ( a new lord who had come to the side of the Anglo-Saxons is in the center)

Anglo Saxon Deployment - we had a reserve command as well that we deployed in the center.

Norman Scum.... sorry our noble opponents deploy with the traitorous Lord Wal and his two lots of Saxon fools.... I mean valiant saxon commands on the their right. 

The view from the Norman Lines -  across from them is the valiant Sir Peter who's Normans had seen the light and joined the righteous side ...

The lines glare at each other ! Lots of insults and jibes to be had!

The Norman center starts to move forward, they had left it weak and where going to work on the Anglo Saxon flanks -  It was going to prove a risky play in the end.

Sir Peter Launches his rebel Normans - falls short but puts the whole Norman side into panic as he begins to menace the center.

Jarl Bjorn the Devil pushes his command forward to deal with the Normans on his flank as they whimpshly... I mean wisely stay back and look for opportunities. 

The Norman Ccnter begins to weaken even more attempting to lure the Vikings into the trap.

The scrum on the right continues to get ready to engage- here would see bitter fighting.

Sir Peter's Cavalry fling forward and smash a unit to their front and their glorious charge is started!

The Vikings had a tough job to secure the flank and felt a forward defense was best. Pushing forward their spears and axes where flung at the cavalry and cause units to fall back in terror......

The battle on the Anglo Saxon left is joining - Saxon v Saxons and the battle is tough and bloody and Lord Greg and Lord Wall duke it out.

The Center where not much happens as Lord Darren fails allot of Command roles and is not able to support either side.

The Norman trap is sprung and my brave Vikings go down, run over by horse on the flanks-  a heroic end to their efforts over the last few battles.

The battle on the right gets even more intense!

and the Center continues to stare at each other.... if only he had been able to push forward while the Vikings died to keep all the Norman Cavalry tied up.

My Vikings finally succumb to weight of horse and the command breaks.

The right now becomes the focus of the battle and its on a knife edge- one of the Saxon commands for the rebels breaks only to have a loyalist Saxon command of Wals break.

The high tide for the Anglo Saxons

Norman Cavalry begin to reform to take on the Saxon Center

The Destruction of the Norman Left is complete but is it enough to win the day -  both sides are now two commands lost and it comes down to if the Saxons in the center can hold and the victorious rebel Normans and Saxons on the left can finish the job!

Mopping up operations and Lord Peter's rebel Normans destroy Lord Wals last command and send him packing.

The Final insult to injury for Lord Wall is a double one on a moral roll -  much mirth and laughter was heard from one side of the table.....

The menacing Norman Cavalry begin their charge

The Saxons attempt to stall it.

The Saxon left attempts to reform.

In the center rebel Normans begin their assault on the loyalist center

The ring of death on the rebel Saxon right.

The Final stand of the rebel Saxon right and the game ends with the Norman scum winning by the skin of their teeth ...!

All in all an epic end to the series of games - this one had it all -  massive cavalry charges -  hard fought infantry battles and nail biting results - it hung on one or two rolls in the end and could of gone either way.  The Norman center held out longer than the Saxon center and that was what decided the battle !

I have to say we all completely enjoyed the games and felt the way the battles where linked and the free flowing way the narrative built made it truly memorable. I think personally it helps when you have  a great bunch of people who all stay on the same page, ie have a laugh, a beer/red and enjoy the hobby.

Hats of the Ian, Wal and Niel for achieving the win and lets just say generations later scores will be settled in the Wars of the Roses !

I have pictures of the 1st practice game we had on Saturday (posted shortly) and I am working away on getting a battle painted to participate in the latter stages of the Campaign - stay tuned for the 1st Campaign game report in the next week or so !

Till then :)

Cheers

JP