October 1066,
Harold Godwinson, king of England is victorious. With tactical brilliance, he had caught the invading viking force off guard at Stamford Bridge a few days earlier and crushed them. Harald Hardrada, claimant to the throne of England, has been slain. However, Harold has no time to celebrate his decisive victory. The English king must march south at speed with his battle-weary army to protect his crown from an even bigger threat. William the Bastard, the norman invader, has just landed.
Thanks to favourable winds, the duke of normandy was able to cross the English Channel with a large invading force of Norman knights and foot soldiers, reinforced by contingents from Brittany, Flanders and Picardy. After raiding the surrounding countryside, he has know fortified his position at Hastings and awaits the english army.
Thus, with a favourable wind, they all reached Pevensey, and there without opposition they freely disembarked. [...] Rejoicing greatly at having secured a safe landing, the Normans seized and fortified Pevensey and then Hastings
- William of Poitiers, The Gesta Guillelmi
After a few days spent in London resting and mustering troops, Harold has now deployed his army at Senlac hill, confident that the terrain will help counterbalance the effectiveness of the norman cavalry. William the bastard has accepted the challenge and marches north to meet him. On the fourteenth day of the month, in the early hours of the morning the two armies are face to face. The battle for the english crown begins…
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TIME AND PLACE
The event will be held on the 29th of March at 17.00 BST (beware of the daylight saving time change on that day).
All participants from the public host will be required to be present on the Discord server at least 10 minutes before the start of the event. A microphone is not needed. All clans will be required to have one representative connected to the discord server as well.
MODE
The event will be played in two consecutive phases. First, we will play several rounds of battle mode on a new map called Senlac Hill, during which tactics will be limited and infantry will have to fight in no more than three large units (here refered to as hosts) to reenact the battle as truthfully as possible. The second phase will be a small siege on one of two new maps depending on the victor of the first phase: Romney in case of a norman victory, Fort of Hastings for an anglo-saxon one.
SIGN-UP
Non-affiliated players
Code:
Name (historical preferably):
I have read and agree with the rules.
I accept to fight in formation within the public host.
I will be present on the discord server during the event.
Steam URL:
Only applications following the template will be considered. Non-affiliated players will be assigned to the public host. They are required to use the default faction banner and to use the basic infantry class.
Clans Template
Code:
Clan Name:
Clan Thread(If any):
Expected numbers:
We have read and agreed with the rules.
We understand and accept to fight in one of the host alongside other clans during the first phase.
Leader Steam URL:
Regular Víkingr clans and non-Vikingr clans may sign up as a group. This is a serious commitment however and clans must be able to bring about at least 10 players. Applications will be accepted at the organizers' discretion. The clans will be required to fight alongside the other clans present in their host for the duration of the first phase. The organizers of the event will retain the privilege to allocate clans to either host for balancing purposes.
The special class slots (archers, calvary etc) will be assigned by the leaders of each side.
EVENT RULES
Please note, this will be an organised event, therefore some rules apply. It is required for all participants to know these rules, as any failure to observe them will result in a kick from the event, please find them listed below:
All
- Organisation rules
- The usual community Víkingr Rules must be followed. It implies of course that any form of voluntary teamkilling, trolling and insulting will be punished.
- Do not spread the password outside your discord/teamspeak channel or your own clan.
- I invite players unfamiliar to the mod, to read the great Vikingr guide by Lily-Livered River Pirate which contains very good advice.
- Battle rules
- Battle formations must be respected, as a player (from a clan or not), stay with your host at all times.
- Dismounted cavalrymen should try to join the infantry if they are able to do so.
- Archers must stay close to the infantry at all times.
- Players cannot flank an enemy formation on their own !
- Equipement
- You may use any equipment within your assigned class that you have the money for.
- Avoid uniformity. That's especially true for clans who should avoid picking a single color scheme or shield design for all its men.
- Inform the admins beforehand if you should fail to muster enough men.
- This thread will keep being updated until the event so make sure to check it out regularly.
Players and clans are highly encouraged to get authentic period names for the event. See here for Old Norman French names and or here for Old English names.
CONTACT
For any questions regarding the event that hasn't been addressed by this thread, please post in this thread. You can also contact me on Steam or via PM.
FURTHER READING & SOURCES
The wikipedia article of the Battle of Hastings
The Bayeux Tapestry at Reading Museum
An informative video of the Battle of Hastings by BazBattles
The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers
History of Battle Abbey and Battlefield by the English Heritage
William the Conqueror's March on London
What happened after the Battle of Hastings? by HistoryExtra
AFTERMARTH
On the fourteenth day of the month, the two great armies met at Senlac Hill. After sending a few volleys of arrows, the Normans advanced towards the hill and attempted to break the English formation. But the shieldwall stood firm and the first three Norman assaults were repelled with ease.
The Normans were pushed back and morale was low in their ranks but the sight of the duke, riding on a white horse, rallied the troops. Under his banner, they walked again towards Harold’s army for a fourth assault. A group of Norman knights successfully crashed into the side of the English shieldwall, causing havoc and offering an opening for the foot soldiers. Twice the exhausted English formation broke and suffered heavy casualties. Harold was now exposed to the Norman attacks who suddenly had the upper hand.
Yet, in a turn of fate, when all seemed lost for king Harold, the Englishmen rallied and, with renewed strength, pushed the Normans back down the hill. In the chaos, many a baron fell and rumour was spreading that the duke had been killed. Panic spread and the Norman troops fled back to Hastings in disarray.
Harold had secured both his crown and his kingdom with this decisive victory. But before any celebrations could take place, the English king had to make sure that the pretender had been killed and the threat of invasion completely dealt with.
Harold and his men chased the remaining Norman soldiers to Hastings, where they had entrenched themselves in the wooden fort built days earlier. In a last effort, the Normans tried to held the English back but soon the gates were destroyed and the king’s huscarls flooded in, armed with great two handed axes. Many Norman leaders were killed in the melee and only a handful men were allowed to sail back to their homeland. Harold was victorious, having defeated two invading forces. He had showed to all that his crown was not for the taking.
— Odo de Baieus
VIDEOS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to all who fought in today's event. Thanks to all the clan leaders as well for helping making the moderation and preparation of the event much easier for me. Special thanks to Marko for helping with the organisation, Baptiste for making the wonderful maps and to the Cintra clan for lending us their game server. Thanks to Þorkell for helping promoting the event on steam and bringing back old veterans to the game. Thanks to the devs for making this wonderful mod, that is still enjoyable as ever. Do not hesitate to give us feedbacks, post your screenshots or recordings of the event.
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