Thursday 4 January 2018

The Battle of Winingamere 971AD

A little while ago I managed to catch up with some friends from my old club for a Dark Ages game using Hail Caesar.

The game was a representation of the Battle of Winingamere (possibly Newport in Essex) in 971AD which was an assault on an Anglo-Saxon burh by the Danes.

As part of the Anglo-Saxon contingent I was given command of the forces defending the burh whilst the others were send out to delay the Danes whilst the livestock outside the walls was gathered in.

Our plan revolved around forming a shield wall anchored on some woods, holding the Danes and then falling back inside the burh. Unfortunately one of our leaders had other ideas - he was rather too keen on enhancing his personal reputation and achieving glory!  So one half of the shield wall held as planned whilst the other charged on into the advancing Danes and engaged them in a rather piecemeal manner.  Rather predictably these units were engaged, out flanked and destroyed leaving our original plan in tatters.

With the troops outside the walls either dead or fighting for their lives, it was left to me to defend the burh.  But with waves of Danes lapping around the whole burh the outcome was a bit of a foregone conclusion.

Here are a couple of (unfortunately rather poor quality) photos from the game:



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