1066, Tears to Many Mothers: The Battle of Hastings

1066: Tears to Many Mothers wears historical costume, but to me it is historical more in flavour than in strict simulation. It is easy to pick up, entertaining, and not entirely shallow, even if it can be a little wordy and rather lucky. This is not a game to approach as though you are issuing real orders at Hastings; it is a game for having a good time in a battle that often puts you in the role of putting out fires.

The core is the cards and drawing them, and that is where both its energy and its weakness lie. What arrives in your hand heavily affects what you can do, so I do not often feel like a great strategist. I feel more like a crisis manager: I look at the situation, see what the deck has allowed me this time, and try not to let the opportunity slip away or the damage get worse.

Interaction comes from that clash between the cards available to each side and the threats the other player creates. Once both players know roughly what is in the decks, the games become noticeably better, because you can read the odds and your opponent's options a little more clearly. Without that knowledge, the randomness can leave you feeling as though you are simply reacting to whatever you happened to draw.

Even so, I do not think it is a bad game at all. Especially since it is not terribly expensive, it is worth seeking out if you want quick, satisfying two-player games with a war theme. I can easily get two or three full confrontations out of this in the time I would want for one good, more involved battle of Undaunted or War Chest. I would simply like more tools to soften the luck of the draw—something like tutoring mechanisms, if the later games in the series have them—because I think they are almost essential in this style of game.

Updated session

My later return to it, during a period full of extra two-player sessions and while I was obsessed with Uther, son of Uther, and company, did not substantially change my opinion. I still found it fairly basic and dependent on random card draws, but it remained enjoyable and effective as a short, substantial confrontation. The main difference was that I better appreciated its place as a quick alternative to heavier battles, rather than as a game that would replace their depth.