A Little Trip To The Site Of The Battle of Hastings

With all the talk of Kings of War Vanguard and Monday nights chat from Andy at Black Jack Legacy's live stream, a few weeks ago I was at Battle near Hastings and visited Battle Abbey which is on the grounds of were the Battle of Hastings took place.

This was a perfect chance to get some ideas for terrain that could be used in a fantasy/ historical setting as well as soak up some history.

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England.

The Abbey was built on the grounds of the battle latter by William the conqueror as penance for the bloodshed. The battle field became part of the grounds.

 With all the buildings and history I could not help get a bit giddy and take some photos for inspiration for gaming.

Here are some of the weapons used in the battle..

 

 

I can tell you from getting a chance to hold these weapons they must not have been the lightest or easiest tools to use..

Walking around the grounds there were fantastic looking buildings and it was interesting to see how the weather has affected them over time... perfect to get colour pallet ideas for painting stone.

 

 

 

 

This was used for ice storage  on the grounds when it was used as an Abbey and on first look you could mistake it for a Hobbit house.

 

These stairs caught my eye. I have been thinking how I can recreate these on the tabletop..

 

 

 

 

 

As you walk around the grounds you end up on a viewing platform where you get to see the field where the battle took place. 

Theres even an arrow to show where they think King Harold famously was struck down by an arrow in the eye.

You can even take a walk around the field itself but unfortunately I did not have time.

I really enjoyed my day out at Battle Abbey taking time to walk around and look at the buildings and ruins on the grounds as well as getting some history. It  given ideas on how colours change in stone work over time due to weather and age which will provide useful for future terrain builds.

Now as I was leaving through the shop I could not resist getting a little memento ...

If your visiting the Hastings area I would definitely recomend visiting Battle Abbey.

Lets set the scene..