Battle Report, Deadline London, October 1066. Duke William's Normans killed King Harold of England in a close- fought battle which saw Harold's Saxon forces assaulting the Norman camp and being struck in the rear by the mounted enemy.

Malcolm of Scotland and Gryffyth of Wales spent the game keeping away from any antagonists, avoiding any possibility f winning in the end as well! (NOTE: This game was played at our local Historical miniatures Association meeting the last Sunday in June. I can accommodate up to ten players: two Normans, two Saxons, two Vikings, a Mercian earl, a Northumbrian earl, a Welch and a Scots player.

The mapboard is the Brittania gameboard with two dozen 'communities' markers with values of from 50 points for Durham to 300 points for London and York. The object of the game is to acquire as many points as possible by either capturing and holding populated areas or by ravaging them and getting a d10 percentage worth of their printed value. Points are also awarded for destroying an enemy army and killing an en leader.)

Edwin of Mercia/Northumbria did a very good job of keeping Vikings away from his northern holdings by taking the war into south of England, to the chagrin of the Saxon King! Actually the Edwin player fought a pitched battle with Gyrth's forces an destroyed his Saxon neighbors as they assaulted him in piecemeal fashion.

The value of a campaign system such as this is that the umpire can play.

I played Tostig and managed to get myself surrounded by both Norman armies (William and Odo). Unaware of simple fact that we should have been working in close cooperation, the treacherous Normans attacked my badly outnumbered force which had holed up in a large woods. (NOTE: At this point, the battle would shift to the tabletop; a 2'x2' field with pre-set terrain. Each army consists of 12 elements of pre-selected troops who fight it out until one side has lost four elements and the opponent has lost less. In the campaign game, in order to keep things short and sweet, once an army is beaten, it is removed from play.)

William's forces attempted to gain entrance to my small camp, while Odo's forces attacked me frontally the Normans had two armies and two generals to my one (see map).

I had little choice but to savagely and swiftly attack William's army as it swooped down on my poorly defended camp (if you lose your camp, it counts as losing two elements of troops). My attack was unexpected and I managed to destroy four elements of Normans but lost my general's element in the process (an immediate cause for losing the game!).

The final tally of points gave the crown of England to William. The entire campaign took a total of six game-turns, with six tactical battles, lasting a grand total of under 2 1/2 hours!