Stamford Bridge 950 Years Later

[Melnibonean]

Today a group of friends and I played Stamford Bridge using Hail Caesar. It was a great game full of tension, tough decisions and tough fighting.

I wrote the scenario trying to put the historical evidence into some sort of game context. One thing I was unsure of was the possibility of crossing the river other than using the bridge. Overall it worked well but if I was to do it again I think I'd include the possibility of locating other crossing points (with the crossing leading to disorder). This would diminish the choke-point that the single crossing caused.

There is a full AAR and lots of photos on my blog at: http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/stamford-bridge-950-years-later.html

[Arlequín]

Good game and AAR! 

As always there are a multitude of opinions on battlefields. The Derwent at Stamford flows over a rock slab and when the river is low it can be crossed on foot, otherwise it averages at around 7m deep. Shortly upstream (a mile or so) is Low Catton, which was once half of a Roman settlement connected by a bridge to the other half in Scoresby. You can make a guess if that bridge was still partly serviceable back then and some folk have suggested that Harold actually launched a two-pronged attack across the two crossing points, with the Northmen making their last stand at High Catton; the only sort of high ground (30m or so) in the local area.

I could see the English approaching from York along the West Bank, trying to fall on the Northmen via a crossing at Low Catton. The famous axeman might indeed have delayed matters, allowing the Northmen to form up hurriedly where High Catton is today, while the English also moved men upstream to cross at Stamford itself, besides eventually succeeding at the Low Catton bridge. 

Nobody can be wholly accurate over what was and not was back then, so if having two crossing options gives a better game, nobody can really argue. It's not like Henry of Huntingdon was an eyewitness, he wrote his account some sixty years afterwards.   

[Norm]

A lovely looking game. I do Stamford by starting after the bridge crossing and have the armies arrayed on the other side, with the Viking reinforcement contingent under Orri arriving on the scene at around two thirds of the way through the game.

[aircav]

Great stuff, I will go & have a read of the blog 

[A Lot of Gaul]

Very nice battle report and pics, Melnibonean!  

I doubt that anyone really knows the numbers involved in this battle (please correct me if I'm wrong) so I wonder if it may not play better as a big skirmish rather than a mass battle.
Wonder how it would play with Saga?

Estimates vary, but all agree that there were several thousand combatants fighting on either side. The Norse invasion fleet comprised some 300 ships. IMHO the engagement is much more suited to a mass battle ruleset like Hail Caesar, or the upcoming Swordpoint. OTOH, I suppose that you could make the battle work with a skirmish set like Saga, if you focused exclusively on the bridge crossing and pretended that there had been only a handful of combatants on either side.

[Neldoreth]

A most excellent report and display!

I have to admit that when I saw the 'Hastings' battle report first I thought to myself "Why doesn't anybody ever play Stamford Bridge?" Well, my foot's in my mouth since I saw this post!

I really enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.

n.