William the Conqueror: 1061 to 1066

Your infantry are stationed to pin down the wings of the English army, while your knights crush their way to Harold through his center division. You are with the reserve and it takes all the cavalry at your disposal to destroy the housecarles and thegns who form the powerful English center. As you lead your Normans up the hill to finish the fight there, you see the rags of your infantry divisions being done to death: the English are in full pursuit on either hand, but you cannot go there, because Harold is up on the hill still fighting stubbornly with the last of his bodyguard. Arriving on the north side of the battle, you press into the English formation with the whole weight of your cavalry reserve and cut your way to Harold's standards. Soon the uneven battle on the top of the hill is ended: Harold is dead.

But his two brothers were evidently fighting with the wings: they are not found, and much of the English army has escaped from the field with them.

Falling back upon your camp at Hastings to recoup and reorganize, you see that well over a third of your army is either dead, sorely wounded or missing. The situation becomes worse, when it is learned that Gyrth has been crowned in Harold's stead; and the English army is as strong as ever, having been reinforced by late arrivals to the muster. Gyrth and Leofwin Godwinson have cut you off from the interior by bringing their men down to Hastings and digging in across the road that leads out of the peninsula. Their fleet has been positioned to interdict your supply vessels, so your camp is soon experiencing hunger. Winter comes and your cause is now hopeless: your men only want to go home. They will not fight, and you doubt that they would even hold the fort if it came to an English assault. Finally bowing to the realities, you parley with king Gyrth: you agree to pay a ransom for your captured men, and promise never to attack England again.

Back in Normandy, you paint the defeat with a different face: you have been revenged upon your deceitful friend, Harold Godwinson. But William the (spiteful) Bastard doesn't have quite the same ring as "the Conqueror", now does it?

Contemplate the heavenly city, you will have nothing more....