After a lengthy period of inactivity, here comes a bit of Saga. Anglo Saxons finished and pitted against a ruthless invading force of Vikings.
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| The Anglo Saxons at home to visitors |
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The full army consists of four groups of 12 Ceorls (Levy) armed with spear and shield (warrior-lite), two groups of 8 Thegns (Warriors), one group of 4 Ealdormen (Hearthguard) on foot and one group mounted, and the Warlord, who can also be mounted if feeling suicidal.
I need to get some bow armed Levy to add a bit more variation, maybe more warriors too.
For this 6 point battle, I picked the mounted Ealdomen, two units of Thegns (one as a 12 man unit and the other as a 4 man unit to hang about with the warlord), and three units of Ceorls.
Facing them the Viking army consisting of three 4 man Hirdman (one of which were berserkers), two 8 men Bondi and one group of bow armed Thralls.
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| The Warlords meet to discuss terms |
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The Battle
The terrain was quite bare, one hill that ended up on my left rear, and one large building centrally located.
I set up across the table edge, well spaced out, cavalry on the right (away from the Viking bows).
The Vikings set up to the left of the building, leaving the right flank free
Turn 1
The Vikings advance, 1 unit of Bondi turning to hold off a flanking movement by the Anglo Saxons.
The Anglo Saxons counter, sending the cavalry right round the flank (taking a fatigue) and charging into to building (also gaining a fatigue).
Turn 2
The Viking Hirdmen attack the building but are repelled by the Saxon Levy, who take three casualties
The Viking beserkers and their warlord attack the Anglo Saxon warrior unit causing many casualties, using the power of Thor to force an extended melee.
The Anglo Saxons fail to hurt the warlord but the beserkers expend themselves with valour (apart from one lone survivor)
We had to re-fight this after mistaking the warriors for levy the first time round as well as mistiming the use of abilities, fatigue etc. (Well it was our first game of these rules, and the first melee of the battle!)
The remaining Anglo Saxon warriors take a break to recover fatigue.
Turn 3
The Viking warlord and remaining beserker charge back in, killing all but 2 warriors for the cost of the last beserker. The remaining Saxon warriors fall back and take no further part in the battle.
Anglo Saxon ceorls advance on the left flank towards a bondi unit.
The smaller, 4 man warrior unit move forward to shield the Anglo Saxon warlord.
Turn 4
The other Viking Hirdmen unit advances to support their warlord.
The Viking Thrall archers move up and kill most of the small warrior unit.
Anglo Saxons go on the offensive with some helmet/horsey action and get the Saxon Kingdom ability going - All the levies now count as warriors for the rest of the turn.
The force in the building charge out and do some damage to the Hirdmen outside before being repelled back, then the unit on the right side of the building charge in finishing the job.
On the left flank, the Ceorls charge into the Bondi and push them back.
Round about here the fog of war and poor memory take toil and a gap in the photostream doesn't help either!
In summary the Vikings do some more damage with their archers before falling back while the Saxons advance on the left flank. The cavalry charge in on the Bondi holding the flank and get exterminated, but defeat most of them but fail to get through to the archers.
Turn 6
The Viking warlord charges single-handed into battle with the Ceorl unit on the left flank who pile on the order dice (Horsey, Axe, Axe and Helmet) on Defenders of the Realm, and Combat Pool for 6 extra attack dice and manage to defeat him for the loss of all but one man |
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| The Viking Warlord |
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| The Vikings advance! |
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| Anglo Saxons move off |
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| Hirdmen try to take the building. |
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| Beserkers! |
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| After the beserker fight. |
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| Ceorls advance! |
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| Time to leave the building (for a bit) |
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| More Hirdmen |
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| Viking Warlord works out a new plan |
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| Ceorls push the Bondi back |
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| Victorious Saxons at the Building |
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| Vikings retreat towards their boats. |
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| Half the cavalry dead but will that stop them, unfortunately no |
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| Vikings ponder their future. |
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| The Viking warlord makes his way to Valhalla... |
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| ...helped on his way by Saxon Ceorls |
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Summary
The casualties on the Saxon side were appalling - we lost more than the Vikings, however we started with more and they lost more expensive troops.
It was a close battle and could have swung either way near the end, but watching the dead Saxons pile up off table at twice the rate of the Viking casualties it looked like ending up with a loss right up to the end, however looking back the victory points were closer to parity if not slightly in my favour.
There you go! A tabletop battle finally after a long pause, and an army finally painted after lurking shamefully on my bookshelf in undercoats for many months.
Hopefully more to come.
