Dear All,
I just finished fighting another battle with my medieval troops, and I would like to share some of the pictures from it. As I did in my previous thread covering a battle, I'll give a blow-by-blow account to explain the action.
I used rules I made up for myself (and yes, I will post them, eventually!), and quite a lot of the situations, and indeed the overall outcome, depended on chance (roll of the dice). I didn't plan this -- it just happened this way!
Anyway, to give some background... This is a made-up battle, not an attempted recreation of a real one. The story: Duke Waltheof has been aggressively taking over more and more land, through means legal (purchase), semi-legal ('persuasion' of the previous landholders) and illegal (outright seizure). Waltheof hopes to re-establish control over the wide ranges of territories his ancestors were originally granted by the Emperor Karl long ago. He has been joined by a number of his vassals, as well as Odo, marshal of the Knights Templar, who is something of religious zealot.
A trio of lords in neighbouring counties (Earl Aubrey, Earl Wulfmaer, and Count Remigius) have decided enough is enough, and have defied Duke Waltheof's demands that they recognise his lordship. Waltheof has decided to invade their territory. Odo has spread false rumours that Aubrey, Wulfmaer and Remigius are somewhat less than orthodox in their religion, and this has convinced a number of other lords to join with Waltheof.
The first photo shows the battlefield with the opposing armies deployed: Waltheof's troops are toward the bottom left, the trio's men toward the top right. The site is a relatively narrow one: toward the top of the picture, a fence demarcates one edge, while on the right hand side, sheer cliffs mark the other edge of the field. In the middle is the land and farmstead of Paarchman, on whose land the battle will be fought.
Aubrey, Wulfmaer and Remigius know they have to hold the line here: if Waltheof breaks through, he will be able to advance into their lands, and his campaign to take over the whole region will succeed...
