Death of Eadwulf the Good

Our next instalment of Dux B campaign played out last Friday night and saw a dramatic shift in power in the west. Ivar the Coward having been pushed back into the sea came back in force. In our second straight battle scenario the Vikings rushed onto the field. Broadly speaking the quality of the troops on the Viking side is better as they have no lower quality levy troops, but the British here have the advantage of being able to form a defensive shield wall. Nothing for it but to form up and await the onslaught. This came in two directions through the trees and eventually straight up the hill. It was going to be tough to hold them back. The initial shock hit the levy who bravely held but where eventually overwhelmed and broke up or fled.


Vikings rush on through marshy ground

British form shield wall a wait

Eadwulf and Athelgard form up on the hill



Levy take the full force of Viking charge

The second and larger attack saw Ivar the Coward charge directly up the hill. Perhaps his reputation wasn't deserved, the pictures show the clash of shields as the forces met. This rapidly turned into a push of shields with shock developing on both sides and the dead mounting up each turn. You can see at one point Eadwulf's unit had 8 shock. Eventually Athelgard the champion was killed defending his Lord. But Eadwulf was able to pull Noble Godwald into the fight as well.


Push of shields on the hill

Shield wall against aggression in the balance

Eventually it looked as though the British were getting the upper hand, loses were great but they had pushed the Vikings back down the hill, the danger was they had been forced to break out of their defensive shield wall to pursue them.


Vikings pushed back ....but wait

The Vikings came back up the hill and with terrible losses the British started to break, Eadwulf made a hasty break for safety, but exhausted from the battle he just wasn't quick enough to get away and Ivar the Coward true to form chased him down an axe blow to back saw Eadwulf the Good hacked down. Although his two nobles eventually survived the battle it had been a grievous blow to the British and a new Lord would need to be found to unite the tribes and raise any siege the Vikings undertook. A very close battle which could have gone either way but suddenly slipped into a major win for the Vikings.



...........Eadwulf run down and butchered in the back !