Viking Raiders

Here's some more figures from the GB casualties & killers range. These are technically Early Saxon vignettes, but they could just as easily be Viking Raiders.

I may add some discarded weapons to this base.

Another particularly gruesome set of figures!

Again, a broken spear or dropped shield would be a good addition.

These sort of figures are great for adding an extra bit of drama or atmosphere to the table, or they can be used as markers for things such as Fatigue (SAGA) or Push & Shove (War & Conquest), etc.

Saxon Womenfolk

Every Saxon village needs ... some villagers! So here's a group of Saxon women and children. That old biddy in the centre looks to be a fearsome old battleaxe!

The figures are a mix of GB villagers and Perry pilgrims.

Whilst they do not actively take part in the game, so to speak, I do like to have civilians and casualty vignettes to add some extra detail to the table.

Three Kingdoms - The Fury of the Northmen

The tale of how the fearsome Danish Warlord, Snorri Ragnarsson, arrives with several ships full of hairy Danes...

Leofric of Glastonbury, The Book of Days, Spring 1068

"Deliver us, O Lord, from the fury of the Northmen!" wrote the blessed monks of Holy Lindisfarne, and yet more than two centuries later they still plague our shores!

Only a few days ago did several of their longships draw up on the coast of northern Somerset to spill forth the pagans. The first of our villages to feel their wrath was Swyneford; the only survivors were those carried back to ships. Every other man, woman and beast were butchered and their corpses defiled. Other villages suffered a similar fate, but forewarned by the columns of smoke from burning thatch, many of our people were able to flee to safety - thank the Lord!

Be it known that those who carry good Saxon spears and swords were not slow to come to the defence of our borders. The faithful Ealdorman, Aethelwold of Byrnsege, battle brother to Eorl Hrothgar Godwinson, gathered his housecarls and raised the fyrd. Barely had he gathered his strength than the northmen fell upon the village of Byrnsege. Perhaps in their lust for gold and slaves they did not expect to be met with stout spears and even stouter hearts!

But the tale of that day is full of woe! Aethelwold ordered many of the villagers to flee in to the woods, taking with them the relics of St Agnes the Wise, fully three feathers from the Dove that brought the olive branch to Noah. Yet they are as white as any new-plucked feather! Truly they are a wonder to behold!

Then those who could bear arms, from the most fearsome Housecarl to the most humble shepherd boy carrying nought but a sling and handful of stones, were arrayed to defend Byrnsege. At first the fighting, though fierce and terrible, went in favour of the brave Aethelwold. Even the Danish leader, Snorri Ragnarsson felt the edge of Aethelwold's blade, though he did not perish. But as the fight ground on the ferocity of the Danes proved the greater. Farmers and simple village folk are no match for bloodthirsty pagan beserkers. Aethelwold fell to the enemy blades alongside many of his most trusted warriors. The few surviving villagers fled leaving the village to the Danes. Yet the invader had paid a terrible price in blood and slaughter to capture their prize.

Even now messengers are crossing the country, at the behest of Eorl Hrothgar, summoning warriors and the fyrd, so as to drive the pagans back in to the sea. Aethelwold's brave sacrifice, may he rest with the angels, has given the Eorl enough time to muster a most formidable army. Praise the Lord for the victory to come!

Yes, the Northmen have arrived (again) and I can assure you dear reader, they are absolutely furious!

Continuing with the Three Kingdoms campaign, my wife decided to dust off the her longboats and head across the North Sea and round to the Severn estuary for a spot of pillaging. After all, with the population in revolt against their Norman oppressor, is was an opportunity that no self respecting Dane could miss out on!

As a prelude to a larger game of War & Conquest, we played the SAGA scenario "Homeland", where a smaller force of Saxons would defend their village against a marauding horde of hairy Vikings.

I had 5 points as follows

• Warlord - Aethelwold of Byrnsege
• 12 Huscarls (Hearthguard, 3 points)
• 8 Ceorls (Warriors, 1 point)
• 12 Geburs (Levy, 1 point)

The Ceorls and Geburs (armed with a mix of slings and bows) would represent those villagers who would stay to defend Byrnsege, whilst the Huscarls are Aethelwold's household troops.

The Viking raiders were 6 points

• Warlord - Snorri Ragnarsson
• 16 Hirdmen (Hearthguard, 4 points)
• 16 Bondi (Warriors, 2 points)

Here's the deployment, as per the scenario the village is represented by 3 buildings - we can assume the rest are off table. The warriors are shown 'behind' the central building as they are actually in the building. The same applies to the Huscarls behind the smaller building. To win I had to have at least one defender in one of the buildings at the end of turn 6. Having played this scenario a few times now, that's no easy task!

The brave Saxons of Byrnsege ... Hurrah!

The pesky Danes ... Boo! ;o)

After turn 1. As you can see the Vikings are not wasting any time closing in on the village. Amazingly, my Levy actually managed to kill a Hirdmen. Something they repeated several times during the battle - I knew they'd be useful ... eventually!

A closer pic of the Warlords and their retinues facing off across the village track.

Ouch! The end of turn 3 and there has been plenty of action in the centre of the field. The Viking Hirdmen accompanying Snorri have been slaughtered, though only a few Saxon Huscarls are left. The Bondi have also been rather battered. Both Warlords are fatigued (the wounded markers) after an heroic but inconclusive fight.

In this game we both seemed to make better use of our battle board abilities. Me, to add fatigue to the Vikings, Jenny, to shake off the fatigue and still fight ferociously.

In the pic above you can see that the Hirdmen near the church have been further whittled down by some fairly good shooting from the Saxon levies. Well done lads! Extra turnips all round .. if you survive the battle.

On the right there had been rather less action, with Hird and Bondi readying themselves to take on the Ceorls and Huscarls holding the buildings.

More shooting from the levies reduced the Hirdmen's numbers further still.

The next two turns saw some particularly fierce fighting, and some good use of both our boards/abilities. So much concentration was required that I forgot to take any more more pics until the end of the game! Aethelwold fell to a group of Hirdmen, having first lost his accompanying Huscarls to a frenzy of axe-work from Snorri (in SAGA, if a Warlord is wounded but has Warriors or Hearthguard within 2" then they can 'absorb' the wounds instead. After all no true warrior would see his Lord injured if he could prevent it!).

In the penultimate turn I had only a few Levies and 2 Huscarls left which meant only 2 SAGA dice for me. The resulting roll meant that if I'd have had my wits about me then I could have advanced the few Levy into the Church and stood a good chance of winning the game! But instead I took the fight to the few Vikings left on the table. Doh!?

In the final turn only Snorri remained to chase off the Saxon levy. They tried shooting but inflicted only one wound (in SAGA, a Warlord can only be slain if he suffers two consecutive unsaved wounds). He closed in on them, slaughtering as many as he could reach with his mighty axe.

And with that, the dust settled on what was an absolutely superb game of SAGA. Possibly one of the best ever games. A closely fought contest that could have gone either way, and came down to almost the last dice roll of the game.

Rest assured that Eorl Hrothgar Godwinson will summon his men and defeat the Danes in glorious battle!

Saxon Blacksmith

At Salute 2011, Wayland Games were giving away this figure with each purchase. It's the Weland the Smith figure.

Quite enjoyed painting this, plus it makes a lovely addition to my collection of villager figures.

More soon.

Legionary 2013 - Exeter

For the second year running, we teamed up with Scarab Miniatures to put on a demo game at Exmouth Imperials "Legionary" show. We took basically the same game as we put on at "Crusade" in January, the Battle of Ashingdon 1016 (so apologies if you've seen similar pics from that battle!). I also took some pics of another game that looked very interesting.

Here are King Edmund's Saxons facing off Cnut's Danes.

The Danish lines.

These poor Saxons didn't quite get away from the raiders in time.

The Saxon lines.

Let battle commence!

As before, the Vikings had a slight advantage in terms of troops, but the Saxons had a good defensive position around the hill.

Interestingly it took Rob and I the entire day to play the game (which Rob won rather convincingly!); this was because so many gamers came up to chat with us about War & Conquest, the battle itself, plus a host of other topics. This is what makes these days such fun. So a big 'Thank You' to all of you who took the time to visit our table!

A nearby demo game really caught my attention. Hopefully you can see why.

It was an "alternative history" inter-war game, set the 1930's I think, very much along the lines of "A Very British Civil War".

It was packed with lovely terrain and characterful miniatures.

Plus the guys playing the game were very friendly and clearly keen to talk about their game and hobby.

There were a range of other demo and participation games but I had very little time to spend at them, plus I forgot to take any pics. Doh!? These included a very good looking 15mm Muskets & Tomahawks game. I barely had time to make a quick tour of the trade stands, more this year than last I'm pleased to report.

My friend Steve has a better range of pics on his blog here, or follow the link on the RHS.

All in all, a good show with a friendly atmosphere. In fact the only minus point was the twit with the microphone during the raffle. What is it about some people when they're handed a public address system! ;o)

Return to the Western Front

After quite a bit of "faffing" around with various gaming projects (mainly buying figures and thinking about painting *sigh*) I think I might have settled back in to a familiar era ... The Great War.

Chums Dave and Steve have had a few games recently so I was delighted to join in a larger game with them. The basic scenario was that having broken through the more lightly held front lines (this is set in 1917) the British now arrive at the main German lines. Consider it perhaps similar to days 2 or 3 of the Cambrai offensive.

Anyway, the Germans (Dave) are holding three key objectives; a fortified but ruined village, a pillbox and fortified hill with trench system. The British objectives were "simply" to take and hold as many of these objectives as possible.

In order to make up the points for a 1917 game I opted to use the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) list from "Over The Top" as I could take HMGs but leave them off table to gain artillery support support options. Steve used the conventional 1917 BEF list (including cavalry - which was held ready at Cambrai to exploit any breakthroughs).

Here's the deployment. I should point out that the cloth we used is actually quite brown rather than the reddish hue it appears in the photos... Steve's BEF on the left, my CEF on the right.

A closer shot of Steve's army.

A closer shot of mine, complete with 'A' company Mk IV male tank "Arthur".

Here are Dave's Germans in their trenches.

More Germans in the village.

The first few turns of the game consisted of the BEF/CEF bravely rushing across No Man's Land, making best use of the scant cover, relying on their support weapons and artillery, whilst the Germans fired everything they could. But Dave's artillery support was definitely having an off day, or perhaps they were deliberately landing shots in the most open and uninhabited parts of the battlefield?

Steve's chaps also dash towards the enemy, but some of his difficult terrain tests rather slowed his attack.

A view along the lines. Note how our preliminary bombardment has opened a few small gaps in the barbed wire.

Turn 4 or 5 and Arthur rolls up to the German trenches, pouring HMG shots into the startled Germans. But it's supporting infantry company were being punished by German rifles and HMGs, spending most of the early part of the game 'pinned'

Towards the centre, A company of the CEF close in on the pillbox, but that barbed wire could prove a formidable obstacle.

Steve continues his steady advance. His HMGs, along with rifle shots from the closer platoons, inflict significant casualties on the enemy despite being holed up in the village.

A view from the German held village.

A German officer dodges the hail of HMG bullets to draw his comrades attention to the clanking behemoth about to overrun their position. However, some well placed grenades dislodge a track and literally halt the Mk IV in it's tracks.

Then an assault platoon (with flamethrower!) move up to deal with the tank.

The BEF close on the wire but yet another round of dreadful difficult terrain tests brings them to a halt just in front of the German positions.

The CEF are across the wire and ready their grenades.

But as you can see in background of the picture below, their assault detonated the pillbox ammo store resulting in a spectacular explosion, and the destruction of most of the attacking troops. Bother! Also worth noting in the foreground are Steve's gallant cavalry negotiating the rubble and the wire to mount an attack against the German held buildings.

C-h-a-r-g-e! (dakka-dakka! .... kerboom! Aaaagh!)

Noble but ultimately doomed: the cavalry were greeted with grenades and LMGs. With predictable results!

With time pressing we decided to call a halt to the game soon after. The pillbox was destroyed and both the other German positions were held only by a few determined troops. The BEF and CEF had taken terrible casualties yet could still continue the attack, so we decided that a draw was the fairest result.

A splendid game full of good humour and high drama. Many thanks to Dave and Steve for great evening of Great War gaming.

Three Kingdoms - More "fighting"

Keen to get things going, Dave and I played a second game of SAGA. This time I led my Bret... ahem... Normans against his Welsh. But things did not quite go according to plan.

A letter from Guillame de Reblochon to his cousin Baron Alain de Chavignol in Winchester

"Dearest Cousin,

I have bribed one of my guards to bring you this letter. Please ensure that he is amply rewarded as he could prove to be a valuable spy; ever have the Welsh been ready to turn their coats for gold.

As you know I set forth with the intention of teaching the Saxon pigs a lesson after they were almost caught poaching deer in my woodlands. But we then heard tales of Welsh raiders led by the vagabond Caradoc ap Theoden who had crossed the Saefern and ambushed Hrothgar Godwinson. (Remember him? One day I shall cut out his chitterlings!). We heard the Welsh were so laden with gold that they had been forced to leave some of it hidden in a nearby deserted village - another Saxon pig-sty by all accounts.

We approached cautiously yet were seen by their look outs. Perhaps they were expecting trouble from the Saxons? Some of my men were tricked in to a headlong rush in to the village by shouts and taunts from the Welsh. Fools! They were cut to pieces before we could reach them. We doubled back around a wood where I hoped to best Caradoc in noble, single combat. Alas, the sky was darkened by showers of javelins from their almost numberless cavalry. This was no mere raid; it was an army, a horde!

Bravely we fought but their numbers prevailed. My knights and crossbowmen were cut down and, despite slaughtering a good number of the enemy, I was eventually beaten and captured.

I have promised Caradoc that I am worth far more alive and that you will pay a rich ransom. So hurry dear Cousin and bring your men west, but with weapons instead of gold. My new 'ally' will guide you so look after him.

Guillame"

Here's what happened...

A nice simple Clash of Warlords to see who was the best. The Welsh started in the village where they had been celebrating a "win" against the Saxons by drinking ale and bothering the local livestock. Guillame's plan was simple... C-h-a-r-g-e!!! Well, he is a Norman after all.

The picture above shows the field after the Normans have advanced in their first turn. Guillame, with his fellow knights, intended to head straight for Caradoc whilst his mounted warriors held off the Welsh left. But alas the Welsh rolled a few dreaded "dragons" on their Saga dice and promptly taunted the lighter Norman cavalry forward a full 12". (Possibly with comments about Elderberries? ;o)).

This put them well within javelin range of several Welsh units. The few warriors that survived the clouds of sharp, pointy sticks were cut down by the Welsh Teulu. Not a great start for the Normans.

With the Welsh taking control on the Norman right, Guillame headed back around the woods with his knights whilst his crossbow armed warriors held the centre. The larger number of Norman elite must surely prevail?

There's a reason that I didn't take any more pictures ... that's because it was all over so quickly!! The Welsh used some good combos of SAGA abilities whilst I rather mishandled my SAGA board. The result was a crushing win for the Welsh. I must admit (somewhat grudgingly ;o)) that Caradoc was the hero of the field. The bards will have a great time composing this battle song.

To make things more interesting we agreed that, as Guillame had fought so bravely (if perhaps rather briefly), then he would be captured rather than slain.

Another good game against a splendid opponent! Orange Dave played really well and the first games of the campaign have given me much to consider, as well as being great fun! Will Alain head west to save his kin? Will another Welsh faction try to grab Guillame and gain the ransom? Maybe the Vikings will appear on the scene?