And now for that most festive of Christmas traditions - Dark Age slaughter!
Ketill was angry after the attack on the tower failed. "If even the peasants in this land can beat us," he said, "there is little chance any of us will be remember fondly back home." His men didn't agree, as they all wanted nothing more than to go home and lick their wounds at this point, but they were all too scared of Ketill to say so.
Ketill made them row the boats a way up the river during the night while the Saxons were still celebrating their victory up on the hill. The river soon became marshy on one side, then the other, and finally there was nowhere to row as the bottom was too shallow and covered in reeds. Ketill knew where the Saxons had come from and reasoned their towns must be on the south bank, so he gave the order to put ashore there.
It was hard going wading through the marsh at night, and the men moaned a lot. But after some tough going, they reached a causeway made of reeds that clearly led somewhere.
"This is our chance for revenge," Ketill said. "Their town must be over there. We will burn it before dawn. Draw swords and tread light..."
Yes, just in time before the Yule bells cut us off, it's a return to the world of saga and our rather slow burning Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons campaign. Still, better burnt than never, as King Alfred doubtless had it.
Kraken here in Viking and Plain...
Stylus reporting in bold Anglo-Saxon!
I'm taking a raiding force of warriors with no berserkers this time. Too fragile, plus they all died last time so I guess I've run out. Straight over the fords to slaughter their hordes, that's my plan, with an elite flanking unit of Hearthguard down one side and one to keep Ketill, now an ordinary Warlord, safe. I don't remember the rules well enough to leave him bardic.
I'm fielding exactly the same force as before: two great big levies, and a couple of warrior units, divided up to increase my Saga dice allocation. I'm taking the same force because I've incorrectly remembered them being very effective from the last battle (in fact, it was a meatgrinder that I only won on points). But I was right about them being more fun than Anglo-Danes, so here we go.
I'm already on the back foot with deployment, as my force starts further from the fords, and so I have to counterattack the Vikings before I can even get my own guys across. Mind you, I'm enjoying more asymmetrical scenarios (must be the effect of Age of Sigmar) - what battle is ever really fought under equal terms?
Ealdorman Æthelwulf frowned. The Northmen had moved faster than expected, and were already more than halfway across the causeway.
"Send the levies forward!" he bellowed, following the tried-and-true method of lobbing peasants at a situation. And then, flanked by four of his better-equipped warriors, the warlord edged forward to properly supervise their advance.
"And stand together, you clods!" he added, for the enemy were sure to attack.
Ketill's men ran up into a ruined hut by the side of the causeway and stood there shivering. Some of them even tried to slink off home, but Ketill swiftly rounded them up and sent them forward.
The enemy were already blocking the road ahead with shield walls, but Ketill was in no hurry to attack. "Let them come to us," he told his men. "We've waded a long way through the swamp already, they can tire their legs out for a while."
"They Northman have crossed two of the three passages, my lord!" Bǣda reported, and caught a clip around the ear for stating the obvious.
"Send the Fyrd of Chiwe to block the crossing on our flank!" Æthelwulf snarled, "And send the Fryd of Welles to block the passage of the main causeway!
The Ealdorman glanced nervously over his shoulder. And bring my warriors forth - it's getting lonely up here!"
Now the fight was starting to get going. Some of Ketill's men charged the enemy shield wall, and broke through, killing a few of them. The militia backed off, keeping their line in order, but looking scared.
Ketill's men were all tired by now, but Ketill wouldn't leave off haranguing them to get them to fight, and they were feeling desperate after the long slog through the night, so they weren't about to quit.
Seeing the failure of their lord's attack, the levies on the western crossing took a moment to recover their strength, mindful of what was to follow.
There were many more of the Anglo-Saxons than Ketill had men to kill. "All to the good," he said. "Heroes don't count the foe, just kill."
Realising that they would have to fight or die, Ketill's men burst out of their cover and laid into the nearest enemies, killing a lot of them. But several of their own were hurt. Thaddi Beardnose lost his left arm below the shoulder, and someone put an axe in Mads Goatface's groin. They both lived, but never fought again.
Ketill still sounded off as much as ever, but even he looked glum at the odds.
Æthelwulf reeled. From whence came this sudden ferocity of the Northmen? More importantly, whence had gone all his troops? The Fryd of Welles had melted away under the counterattack, while he had only survived at the cost of their shielding him with their own bodies.
Calling up the freshest and largest unit of Warriors to his side, he also needed something to swing in his favour. The Fyrd of Chiwe hit the Viking Hirdmen with redoubled effort, slaying two of them and driving the survivor back off the crossing.
At lest that was something resembling success, but the main body of the Viking force was now swarming over the main causeway, and his warband was getting weary.
"Now the red tide rises!
Crow father calls all, one eye winking.
Hel's halls welcome with steel shod stools!"
Ketill's men neither understood nor welcomed this new verse, and several of them leapt on to the waiting spears of the foe rather than listen to more, or so it seemed to Ketill.
"A poet is never cheered at his own hall," he muttered. However, his own sour, trollish appearance was daunting enough to beat away the enemy, and he killed four himself. The shield wall was now broken, and he could see the enemy captain.
There was only a handful of them left by now, the rest either dead or too badly hurt for more swordplay. Ketill knew there wasn't much chance of making it home, but glory still beckoned.
"I will be remembered, even if not fondly," he said. His men finally found they agreed with him, and they all charged in together.
Sure enough, it was close to a reckoning. Ketill still stood in his party as the two lines parted, but he was on his own. Not that there were many of the Anglo-Saxons left either, rather a great slough of dead men in the mire. It was a grim and dreary sight, but the luckless Ketill seemed to revel in it.
"I knew it would turn out like this," he said.
Æthelwulf wiped the blood from his helmet's visor. His men had all been slaughtered, and yet somehow he had survived.
Only the Viking warlord now stood on the causeway. Calling up his final body of warriors, Æthelwulf led a last charge into the monstrous Viking that brought him low.
"Let God be thanked! The Almighty makes miracles when He pleases, wonder after wonder, and this world rests in His hands!"
Bloodied and weary, Æthelwulf pushed his warriors to secure the fords, just as the sun began to set.
"Feast well, my warriors! And someone round up the Fryd again. I have a feeling we shall be needing that sword fodder once more."
This is what happens when you let your campaign go cold!
I'm not sure how I won that. I had a bad position, and made some bad moves. And what I really noticed about the Anglo-Saxons is they don't have much of an end-game. Once your numbers drop below 10 (or 8, if you can boost them), it really limits what you can do on the Battle Board.
My one stroke of luck was the Warlord's survivability (one instance was earned - when I used Bretwalda - another may have been a glitch of mixed combat rules, when the Viking Bondi were unable to cause any casualties because their opponents had already died taking the Warlord's wounds for him). Either way, the Ealdorman's presence gave me some badly-needd combat punch, as well as a point to rally around.
We were seriously rusty playing this game, but it does deserve more attention. The saga of Æthelwulf and Ketill rolls on!
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| "Dear Lindisfarne Monks, You were out when we called, so your sack and pillage has been left with a neighbour. Love and hugs, The Vikings." |
Ketill was angry after the attack on the tower failed. "If even the peasants in this land can beat us," he said, "there is little chance any of us will be remember fondly back home." His men didn't agree, as they all wanted nothing more than to go home and lick their wounds at this point, but they were all too scared of Ketill to say so.
Ketill made them row the boats a way up the river during the night while the Saxons were still celebrating their victory up on the hill. The river soon became marshy on one side, then the other, and finally there was nowhere to row as the bottom was too shallow and covered in reeds. Ketill knew where the Saxons had come from and reasoned their towns must be on the south bank, so he gave the order to put ashore there.
It was hard going wading through the marsh at night, and the men moaned a lot. But after some tough going, they reached a causeway made of reeds that clearly led somewhere.
"This is our chance for revenge," Ketill said. "Their town must be over there. We will burn it before dawn. Draw swords and tread light..."
It's All-Skype Fight Night!
Yes, just in time before the Yule bells cut us off, it's a return to the world of saga and our rather slow burning Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons campaign. Still, better burnt than never, as King Alfred doubtless had it.
Kraken here in Viking and Plain...
Stylus reporting in bold Anglo-Saxon!
I'm taking a raiding force of warriors with no berserkers this time. Too fragile, plus they all died last time so I guess I've run out. Straight over the fords to slaughter their hordes, that's my plan, with an elite flanking unit of Hearthguard down one side and one to keep Ketill, now an ordinary Warlord, safe. I don't remember the rules well enough to leave him bardic.
I'm fielding exactly the same force as before: two great big levies, and a couple of warrior units, divided up to increase my Saga dice allocation. I'm taking the same force because I've incorrectly remembered them being very effective from the last battle (in fact, it was a meatgrinder that I only won on points). But I was right about them being more fun than Anglo-Danes, so here we go.
I'm already on the back foot with deployment, as my force starts further from the fords, and so I have to counterattack the Vikings before I can even get my own guys across. Mind you, I'm enjoying more asymmetrical scenarios (must be the effect of Age of Sigmar) - what battle is ever really fought under equal terms?
Deployment
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| Yay! Kraken Mats! This is Stylus's one, the non-snowy version of the larger one I own. My vikings huddle in the ruins on the left, with a single unit of Hearthguard down the bottom. The large roads are impassable rivers (heavy traffic in the Dark Ages), the areas marked by walls are the fords/zebra crossings that we're fighting over. |
Vikings - Turn 1
SAGA dice: Hirdmen activation (3), Bondi activation (2)
As they advanced along the causeway, they saw torches ahead and heard voices. "Someone must have been moaning too loudly," Ketill said. "They have heard us coming, and now we will have to fight them." This made nobody feel any braver, but Ketill felt no sympathy for his men.
Instead, he composed a swift verse and used it to convey his orders.
"Two-pronged, my fork twitches
Bearing blood and meat-bits
Against the white tooth wall!
Hungry, I howl."
None of his men had much skill with verse, so they didn't understand what he was on about, but they went forward as best they could in the circumstances.
As they advanced along the causeway, they saw torches ahead and heard voices. "Someone must have been moaning too loudly," Ketill said. "They have heard us coming, and now we will have to fight them." This made nobody feel any braver, but Ketill felt no sympathy for his men.
Instead, he composed a swift verse and used it to convey his orders.
"Two-pronged, my fork twitches
Bearing blood and meat-bits
Against the white tooth wall!
Hungry, I howl."
None of his men had much skill with verse, so they didn't understand what he was on about, but they went forward as best they could in the circumstances.
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 1
SAGA dice: Ceorls activation (1), The Muster activation (2), Shoulder to Shoulder (+1 Armour, +2 Defence Dice)
Ealdorman Æthelwulf frowned. The Northmen had moved faster than expected, and were already more than halfway across the causeway.
"Send the levies forward!" he bellowed, following the tried-and-true method of lobbing peasants at a situation. And then, flanked by four of his better-equipped warriors, the warlord edged forward to properly supervise their advance.
"And stand together, you clods!" he added, for the enemy were sure to attack.
Vikings - Turn 2
SAGA dice: Hirdmen activation (2), Bondi activation (2), Frigg (remove one Fatigue and +1 Attack dice)(2)
Ketill's men ran up into a ruined hut by the side of the causeway and stood there shivering. Some of them even tried to slink off home, but Ketill swiftly rounded them up and sent them forward.
The enemy were already blocking the road ahead with shield walls, but Ketill was in no hurry to attack. "Let them come to us," he told his men. "We've waded a long way through the swamp already, they can tire their legs out for a while."
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 2
SAGA dice: Thegns activation (2), The Muster activation (1), Shoulder to Shoulder (+1 Armour, +2 Defence Dice)
"They Northman have crossed two of the three passages, my lord!" Bǣda reported, and caught a clip around the ear for stating the obvious.
"Send the Fyrd of Chiwe to block the crossing on our flank!" Æthelwulf snarled, "And send the Fryd of Welles to block the passage of the main causeway!
The Ealdorman glanced nervously over his shoulder. And bring my warriors forth - it's getting lonely up here!"
Vikings - Turn 3
SAGA dice: Hirdmen activation (2), Bondi activation (2), Frigg (remove one Fatigue and +1 Attack dice)(2)
Now the fight was starting to get going. Some of Ketill's men charged the enemy shield wall, and broke through, killing a few of them. The militia backed off, keeping their line in order, but looking scared.
Ketill's men were all tired by now, but Ketill wouldn't leave off haranguing them to get them to fight, and they were feeling desperate after the long slog through the night, so they weren't about to quit.
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 3
SAGA dice (1): Stout Hearts (increasing all units +2 models for battle board rolls) + The Fyrd (allowing all units of 10+ to roll an extra SAGA dice = 3 more)
SAGA dice (2): Ceorls activation (1), Defenders of the Realm (gain two dice, plus two extra for 10+ units), Shoulder to Shoulder (+1 Armour, +2 Defence Dice), Clash of Shields (extra Attack dice for one-third of unit)
"Attack!" Æthelwulf cried, his patience as first blood was spilt. "Drive them out!"
The Ealdorman himself led the Saxon Geburs as they charged the ruins to flush out the Viking Warriors. But the Bondi were too well-ensconced in their defences and drove back the attack with ease.
"Attack!" Æthelwulf cried, his patience as first blood was spilt. "Drive them out!"
The Ealdorman himself led the Saxon Geburs as they charged the ruins to flush out the Viking Warriors. But the Bondi were too well-ensconced in their defences and drove back the attack with ease.
Seeing the failure of their lord's attack, the levies on the western crossing took a moment to recover their strength, mindful of what was to follow.
Vikings - Turn 4
SAGA dice: Hirdmen activation (2), Bondi activation (2), Frigg (remove one Fatigue and +1 Attack dice)(2), Thor (immediately fight another round of combat)
There were many more of the Anglo-Saxons than Ketill had men to kill. "All to the good," he said. "Heroes don't count the foe, just kill."
Realising that they would have to fight or die, Ketill's men burst out of their cover and laid into the nearest enemies, killing a lot of them. But several of their own were hurt. Thaddi Beardnose lost his left arm below the shoulder, and someone put an axe in Mads Goatface's groin. They both lived, but never fought again.
Ketill still sounded off as much as ever, but even he looked glum at the odds.
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 4
SAGA dice: Thegns activation (2), Stout Hearts (increasing all units +2 models for battle board rolls), Saxon Kingdom (10+ Levies consider Warriors)
Æthelwulf reeled. From whence came this sudden ferocity of the Northmen? More importantly, whence had gone all his troops? The Fryd of Welles had melted away under the counterattack, while he had only survived at the cost of their shielding him with their own bodies.
Calling up the freshest and largest unit of Warriors to his side, he also needed something to swing in his favour. The Fyrd of Chiwe hit the Viking Hirdmen with redoubled effort, slaying two of them and driving the survivor back off the crossing.
At lest that was something resembling success, but the main body of the Viking force was now swarming over the main causeway, and his warband was getting weary.
Vikings - Turn 5
SAGA dice: Hirdmen activation (1), Bondi activation (2), Njord (discard fatigue from Warlord and units within M), Valhalla (eliminate up to 3 Warriors or Hearthguard to gain 3 Attack dice per model)
"Now the red tide rises!
Crow father calls all, one eye winking.
Hel's halls welcome with steel shod stools!"
Ketill's men neither understood nor welcomed this new verse, and several of them leapt on to the waiting spears of the foe rather than listen to more, or so it seemed to Ketill.
"A poet is never cheered at his own hall," he muttered. However, his own sour, trollish appearance was daunting enough to beat away the enemy, and he killed four himself. The shield wall was now broken, and he could see the enemy captain.
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 5
SAGA dice: Ealdormen activation (1), Thegns activation (3), Ceorls activation (1)
To the west, the Fyrd of Chiwe surrounded and killed the last of the flanking Hirdmen. The causeway was clear, but it had become irrelevant. The day was failing too fast for the Saxons to circumvent their foes - the only path to victory was through them and up the central causeway.
As the last survivor of the large warrior group limped away, a smaller group replaced them by Æthelwulf's side. With them, the Ealdorman darted forward to slay two of the Hirdmen, but they lost one of their own in the deed, and now faced a counterattack by twice their number.
To the west, the Fyrd of Chiwe surrounded and killed the last of the flanking Hirdmen. The causeway was clear, but it had become irrelevant. The day was failing too fast for the Saxons to circumvent their foes - the only path to victory was through them and up the central causeway.
As the last survivor of the large warrior group limped away, a smaller group replaced them by Æthelwulf's side. With them, the Ealdorman darted forward to slay two of the Hirdmen, but they lost one of their own in the deed, and now faced a counterattack by twice their number.
"Lock shields, brave warriors!" the lord commanded. "And remember: I'm to die last."
Vikings - Turn 6
There was only a handful of them left by now, the rest either dead or too badly hurt for more swordplay. Ketill knew there wasn't much chance of making it home, but glory still beckoned.
"I will be remembered, even if not fondly," he said. His men finally found they agreed with him, and they all charged in together.
SAGA dice: Bondi activation (2), Thor (immediately fight another round of combat), Valhalla (eliminate up to 3 Warriors or Hearthguard to gain 3 Attack dice per model)
Sure enough, it was close to a reckoning. Ketill still stood in his party as the two lines parted, but he was on his own. Not that there were many of the Anglo-Saxons left either, rather a great slough of dead men in the mire. It was a grim and dreary sight, but the luckless Ketill seemed to revel in it.
"I knew it would turn out like this," he said.
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 6
SAGA dice: Thegns activation (2), Combat Pool (+1 Attack dice), Bretwalda (+1 Armour for Warlord, re-roll failed defence dice)
Æthelwulf wiped the blood from his helmet's visor. His men had all been slaughtered, and yet somehow he had survived.
Only the Viking warlord now stood on the causeway. Calling up his final body of warriors, Æthelwulf led a last charge into the monstrous Viking that brought him low.
"Let God be thanked! The Almighty makes miracles when He pleases, wonder after wonder, and this world rests in His hands!"
Anglo-Saxons - Turn 7
Bloodied and weary, Æthelwulf pushed his warriors to secure the fords, just as the sun began to set.
"Feast well, my warriors! And someone round up the Fryd again. I have a feeling we shall be needing that sword fodder once more."
Aftermath
Bugger. The Vikings have once again shed all their own blood at the expense of mere rabble. No glory here, just a long way back over the whale road and nobody at the oars to get us there.This is what happens when you let your campaign go cold!
I'm not sure how I won that. I had a bad position, and made some bad moves. And what I really noticed about the Anglo-Saxons is they don't have much of an end-game. Once your numbers drop below 10 (or 8, if you can boost them), it really limits what you can do on the Battle Board.
My one stroke of luck was the Warlord's survivability (one instance was earned - when I used Bretwalda - another may have been a glitch of mixed combat rules, when the Viking Bondi were unable to cause any casualties because their opponents had already died taking the Warlord's wounds for him). Either way, the Ealdorman's presence gave me some badly-needd combat punch, as well as a point to rally around.
We were seriously rusty playing this game, but it does deserve more attention. The saga of Æthelwulf and Ketill rolls on!
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