Viking Raid : Dragon Rampant

Following the same theme of practising Dragon Rampant and having spotted on somebody else's blog some really nice dark age figures I thought it would be nice to get as many of my collection on the table as I could. So Vikings vs Saxons, we played two slightly linked scenarios with a simple overall theme. Vikings invade steal Saxon women, Saxons not happy so they have a big battle to get them back ! This of course feels intuitively historically accurate ?

So we played the first scenario with about 2/3 of the units, and then brought everything onto the table for the final 'blood bath'. Scenario one required the Vikings who are already in the village to escape with the Saxon womenfolk back to their longboat.....the Saxons just have to stop them ! The Vikings started in the village and the Saxons split between the two other corners. I was hoping the Saxon light mounted troops which would give greater mobility and speed would prove decisive ?

This is after the first turn or so, Viking Jarl is encouraging his retinue down the hill as quickly as possible. The Saxons are attempting to harry them with javelins from the hit and run light cavalry. The boat seemed such a long way away 🤓

 

Closer shot of the Saxon settlement on the hill being sacked by Vikings.

 

Saxon infantry is now closing the net around the Vikings, but the Saxon cavalry in the distance has worryingly fled.

 

View from the other side, the womenfolk who are effectively carried by one unit can be seen at the bottom of the hill by the church. Looks like they have only taken the attractive women as some have been left behind in the village !

 

Fighting now all over the battlefield, the Jarl Odin and his son (the figure with the red shield) are cleverly using their 3" zone to protect the unit with the women, as both the Characters are elite infantry they will be difficult to defeat in combat.

 

Eventually the Saxons had to bite the bullet and attacked from all sides attempting to rescue their women but the Norsemen were too tough.

 

....and eventually the Vikings broke through. To add insult to injury as they made for the boats you can see Jarl Odin standing by the Saxon cross shouting insults at the remaining Saxons. Sensibility of my readers prevent me repeating what he is shouting !

 

So we reset with all our troops in a bloodbath battle, the Saxons seeking to push the invaders back into the sea. The Saxon battle line set up at the base of the village, this is probably the largest Dragon Rampant battle we have played with about ten units on each side. At this scale the 3" separation rule starts to become a problem.

 

Not sure what has happened to the colour in this shot from behind the Viking line.

 

The Saxon line makes a general advance.

 

Odin sends his lighter troops out through the woods on their right flank.

 

Both sides were slightly reluctant to engage full on with the risk of failed attack rolls, preferring to push forward one flank, this caused the two battle lines to turn sideways.

 

Eventually the powerful Viking heavy infantry on the right pushed the lighter Saxon troops back away from the church and whilst the Saxon cavalry was more effective in this battle pushing the Vikings away from the cross on the hill they just couldn't break the Norse line.

 

At this stage with Saxon numbers dwindling it became clear the Vikings had won and the Saxon women would be making their way across the North Sea  to keep Jarl Odin and his retinue warm at night ! 

 

A fun battle and it was great to get nearly all my Vikings and Saxons on the table with a simple rule set. I need to paint some more figures from the lead mountain.......